CBI is a progressive Jewish community in Northampton
We offer opportunities to learn, pray, celebrate, and be in community through spiritual, cultural, religious, and educational pursuits. Our deep commitment to social justice is embodied by Abundance Farm, a food justice farm at the center of our campus, and our community’s history of activism spearheaded by our Tikkun Olam Committee.
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Our welcoming and inclusive community is rooted in tradition and history while embracing innovation, evolving practices, and creative transformation. We are a unique hub for both traditional and non-traditional points of connection to Jewish practice as we work to meet the needs of people with different Jewish backgrounds, identities, and ways of practice. We strive to create a sacred community through the cultivation of meaningful relationships, dedicated spiritual work, and the practice of authentic service.
Mission
The objectives of this Congregation shall be to maintain a synagogue, religious school, a cemetery, and such additional educational, religious, social, and recreational activities as will tend to strengthen Jewish life.
It is a simple, prosaic mission statement, with profound implications. Each generation following the founders strives to strengthen Jewish life in Northampton while also recognizing that we live in and are affected by events and societal changes in the larger world. Maintaining our synagogue and our educational and social programs has meant continually adapting to the changing needs and desires of our congregation, while holding fast to the Jewish ideals and values that have sustained our people for thousands of years.
Land Acknowledgment
Congregation B’nai Israel recognizes and honors the original inhabitants who first settled in the valley of the Kwinitekw River. CBI acknowledges that we are on Nonotuck land. We also acknowledge our neighboring Indigenous nations: the Nipmuc and the Wampanoag to the East, the Mohegan and Pequot to the South, the Mohican to the West, and the Sokoi Abenaki to the North.