Blog

January 27, 2025

Dear Friends,

It was an inspiring afternoon for many of us at today’s Legislative Luncheon. We had a robust turnout both in person and on livestream, and were able to hear several of our legislators speak about many of the issues that are on many of our minds, including safety and rights for trans people, immigrant rights, climate justice, reparations, education funding, and antisemitism. We are so grateful to our legislators for their time, their persistence, and deep care for the wellbeing of all who live in Massachusetts.  

On this last topic, we are grateful in particular to Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra, who opened her welcoming words with a message of care for the Jewish community and a clear stance against antisemitism.  

Her words, and the support of our elected officials meant so much more this week, as we recently learned that Cafe Balagan once again experienced an act of targeted vandalism. This is not the first time that Balagan has experienced actions like this over the past year. We want to be clear: Singling out an Israeli-owned business as accountable for the actions of the Israeli government is an act of antisemitism. It is not an appropriate or effective way to advocate for Palestinian freedom, which we believe is not mutually exclusive with Jewish safety, and also important to fight for. It is cruel to target a business and its owners because of their national and/or religious identities.  

As a Jewish community that contains political diversity, we can hold varied opinions about the Israeli government and its actions and also recognize when activism crosses a line and causes harm. As the leaders of CBI, we emphatically denounce these acts of antisemitism that are deeply harmful to us all.  

We appreciate the support of the City of Northampton in responding to the matter, and want to make it clear that Cafe Balagan is a beloved part of our Jewish community, as well as our city’s community.  

Relatedly, a small group of us, including the rabbis, presidents, and a few community members have a scheduled meeting to speak with Senator John Velis who is Chair of the Special Commission for Combatting Antisemitism in Massachusetts (and unfortunately was unable to attend today’s lunch). We look forward to sharing some of our thoughts with him, including our hope that we will see clarity around responding to antisemitism while also protecting legitimate protest and activism. We know that many other community members continue to be involved in local efforts around antisemitism as well. 

Today marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. As Rabbi Ariella shared earlier during the Legislative Lunch, this day is a reminder that we have had to face many Pharaohs in many generations, and we don’t ever want to have to do it alone again. May we continue to stand together in community, and continue to strengthen our ties with our neighbors so that we know we can truly work together to make this place a safe home for all. 

B’shalom, 

Rabbi Ariella Rosen, CBI Interim Lead Rabbi 

Rabbi Jacob Fine, CBI Assistant Rabbi 

Barbara Black, CBI Co-President 

Pamela Schwartz, CBI Co-President 

Dear Friends, 

Please read on below for a rather long note from me. I'm grateful that Rabbi Jacob and our co-presidents, Barbara Black and Pamela Schwartz, have signed on as well. I welcome further conversation with you. 

With blessings for a Shabbat Shalom,

Ariella

What We Stand For  
 
by Rabbi Ariella Rosen, co-signed by Rabbi Jacob Fine, with the support of CBI Co-Presidents Barbara Black and Pamela Schwartz 

What is this document? 

This document distills many months of thought and conversation, summarized into a few key points, explained and expanded upon below. The key points will be displayed in signage and other graphics as part of our decision to share more publicly our values and beliefs.  They are: 

Release the hostages 

End the war/ceasefire deal now 

Jewish and Palestinian safety and sovereignty are intertwined 

These statements, like all sound bites, can be misunderstood without context. This document clarifies what I/we mean when we use these words.  

Why/Why now?  

In full transparency, it has been hard to figure out how to lead this year, to respond to the depth of grief and anger in our community, including several among us with family members and friends who have been killed or taken hostage, or have had to flee their homes.  Serving somewhat unexpectedly as interim rabbi, there has been a lot of learning on the job. I have never worked in a community with such a wide range of perspectives, and we don’t have many models in the broader Jewish world. This diversity is a point of pride, and also brings with it deep challenges. I would not trade us for anyone else, and still the leadership path has not felt clear.  

In trying to understand the nature of our community, I have done a lot of listening, which has been invaluable in better understanding who we are, what our perspectives and needs are around having our Jewish identities and values seen and acted upon. I have also gotten the message loud and clear that listening alone is not enough. CBI also needs a clear stance and public message from leadership. I am prepared to provide that now, and I am grateful to be joined by Rabbi Jacob and our CBI Co-Presidents in doing so. 

My starting point: 

I hold deep love and care for everyone in this community, for all of you. And I have been absorbing your hurt and pain, confusion, and often competing asks and needs. So these words are shared in love as well, as an attempt to chart a course forward. It might not be the course you would have chosen, and it’s possible that this course will change. I hope this can be a foundation for further growth, learning, and action for us all.  

As I shared in my sermon on Rosh Hashanah, living through this time is to live in contradictions. There are many conflicting truths that I and many of us have been striving to hold over this past year (and truthfully, for much longer than that) with regards to Israel and Palestine. [When I say "Palestine," I refer to Gaza and the West Bank, territories that are called by that name by most Palestinians. My use of "Israel" refers to the State of Israel exclusive of those territories.]  

It is likely that you will find something you appreciate or agree with below. It is also likely that there is something here that does not align with your values. May this be an opening to further conversation, and an opportunity to arrive at clarity.  

So who are we and what do we stand for? This is how I would answer that question.  

Some personal background:  

I have not shared much of my own feelings and perspectives on Israel and what has transpired since October 7th. At times it did not feel like it mattered- our job has been to support our community, to hold the feelings and perspectives of others, and my pastoral training taught me to be aware of and push aside my own feelings to be present for others. And yet, we are in community together, in relationship with one another, which means I share myself with you, too 

This is just a snapshot of some of what informs and motivates me: 

My experiences with Israel started from a young age: I learned from Israeli teachers at Jewish day school, watched my father officiate at the funeral of a rabbinical student from our community who was killed in a bus bombing, I heard stories of my parents’ experiences living in Jerusalem in college. After several youth trips, I followed suit, spending a year of college at the Hebrew University and then a year in rabbinical school in Jerusalem as well. I felt like a sponge in those years, soaking up the language, music, poetry, food, and traveling as much as I could. Israel is still a place where some of my favorite restaurants, hiking trails, and people are located, and I am regularly awed by the beauty of the spoken Hebrew language, and the layers of meaning that come from the physical land’s place in Jewish history and spirituality. During that second year of study, I also had the opportunity to learn more about Palestinians and their lives, experiencing home hospitality, checkpoints, and the separation barrier in Bethlehem with Encounter, and touring Hebron with Breaking the Silence. I coached ultimate frisbee with Ultimate Peace. I began to better understand the Occupation and how unsustainable it is as a strategy to build long-term safety and stability for both Israelis and Palestinians.  

These days, I have found additional sources of guidance, learning, and hope in the incredible activism of people on the ground, on both sides of the ocean. I have been inspired by the work of Standing Together, who are steadfast in their work to shift the narrative inside Israel, calling for a ceasefire, return of hostages, and an end to the occupation. I’ve also found solace and alignment in the messages from T’ruah, and have signed onto several of their letters in the past year. I have found role models in colleagues such as Rabbi Sharon Brous and Rabbi Amy Eilberg, who speak courageously from a place of moral conviction and love for the Jewish people. And I have learned from so many of you, who advocate, push us, and live your values clearly and proudly.  

So after much thought, here are three statements that feel clear and true. I want to be clear that these are not recent realizations or sentiments for me. It is the direct articulation of them in this format that is new, something I know many of you have been waiting for. They cannot tell the whole story- there are not enough words for that- but they can ground us as we move forward.  

1. Release the hostages- Pidyon Shevuyim 

I have been living in anguish knowing that fellow Jews have been in captivity for over 400 days. Because of the interconnectedness of the Jewish world, there are several taken hostage with whom I have only a couple of degrees of separation. (Including Omer Neutra z"l, whose death on October 7th was confirmed this week.) I know that for some of you, that degree of separation is even smaller, and you have been suffering immensely as a result. 

Rambam (Maimonides), wrote that “there is no greater mitzvah than the redemption of captives.” (Gifts to the Poor, 8:10) This is echoed in prominent law codes such as the Shulchan Arukh, which continues on to say that “Every moment that one delays redeeming captives, where it is possible to do it sooner, it is as if one is spilling blood.” (Yoreh De’ah 252:3) 

While debating the specifics, Jewish law is clear that when fellow Jews are in captivity, it is our absolute priority to free them. We have a clear responsibility to work toward the safety of members of our own community.  

In this moment where all words can be understood in different ways, we need to be clear about what we mean when we use these words.  

In North America, the phrase “Bring Them Home” has often been used in contexts that do not differentiate between support for the hostages and support for the actions of the Israeli government. As such, the phrase has sometimes been rejected as not leaving room for acknowledging the tremendous loss of innocent life in Gaza that has been a consequence of this war. This humane and moral issue then becomes political, regardless of intent.  

Instead, when we call for the release of hostages, we use these words in solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who take to the streets regularly, feel that the government has abandoned the hostages, and are demanding a deal that brings them home and ends the war. They saw the release of 80 of those hostages as a result of negotiation in November 2023, and believe strongly that the continued bombardment of Gaza is not the path toward their loved ones returning home.  

Quoting the Israel Prayer we have been reciting weekly for over a year, we raise our voices alongside all those who call to “return all those who are kidnapped safe and sound to their homes, without the spilling of more innocent blood, without any more souls being tarnished by horrific acts.” (by Hannah Ellenson) 

2. End the War/Ceasefire Deal Now 

October 7th was a horrific day, and Israelis are still living in its aftermath. Grieving the 1,200 lives lost that day, continued war, tens of thousands displaced from homes across the north and south, 101 hostages still in Gaza (only some confirmed still living), and fears of further harm from Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, are among the challenges. There is plenty of reason to share in the suffering of fellow Jews. 

As Rabbi Sharon Brous writes in her book “The Amen Effect,” “validating someone else’s suffering does not diminish our own.” While still carrying the pain and trauma of these events, we have ample room in our hearts for Palestinian suffering as well.  

And life for Palestinians has been absolute hell. Gaza has been destroyed (a majority of buildings have been damaged or destroyed), over 40,000 people have been killed, most of them civilians, including 13,000 children. People are starving and have nowhere safe to go when issued evacuation orders. West Bank settlers have acted with even more impunity than before, causing harm to Palestinians, their homes, and their lands.  

I have read many arguments over the past several months blaming Hamas, blaming the Netanyahu government, pointing fingers at those who had the power to direct a different reality. As Jonathan Polin, father of Hersh Goldberg-Polin z”l who was killed in captivity said at the DNC, “in a competition of pain, there are no winners.” Rather than be distracted by arguments over cause and fault, my focus remains on the millions of people across the region who are deeply suffering right now, and have no power to change their circumstances. 

For their sake, and with concern about the stability of the current ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, we call for a ceasefire agreement that ends the fighting in Gaza, releases the hostages, and enables all people in Israel and Gaza the opportunity to rebuild their lives, and for so many, their literal homes.  

3. Jewish and Palestinian safety and sovereignty are intertwined 

I remember watching the handshake between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn on TV as a second grader, watching my teachers cry tears of hope. That moment had a tremendous impact on me, and my subsequent experiences with Israel. I became a two-state solution advocate, having formative conversations with Israelis and Palestinians, volunteering with coexistence NGOs, traveling into the West Bank to better understand the Occupation in action, and learning from activists who love their homeland and were fighting for the future they believed in.  

A two-state solution and the end to the Occupation felt farther away than ever before October 7th, and all the more so now. The trauma of this moment will be with both peoples for generations. And yet, I hold firm, with millions of others, to this truth: Israeli and Palestinian safety and sovereignty are mutually dependent and inextricably connected. All people deserve to live in safety and without fear.  

I yearn to see in my lifetime an independent Palestine alongside a secure State of Israel that does not feel forced to operate from fear of harm.  

What’s next? 

For all of the reasons outlined above, as leaders at CBI, we are committed to displaying at CBI the following statements as a summary of our values: 

Release the hostages 

End the war/ceasefire deal now 

Jewish and Palestinian safety and sovereignty are intertwined 

Thank you for continuing in this journey with us. We are so grateful for our community. 

Written by Rabbi Ariella Rosen 

Co-signed by Rabbi Jacob Fine 

With the support of CBI Co-Presidents Barbara Black and Pamela Schwartz 

Dear Friends,

I am very excited that Professor Joel Kaminsky will teach a 4-session series beginning January 12 on Wealth and Poverty in the Hebrew Bible.  This mini-course will focus on both legal and prophetic texts that explore the creation of wealth, inequities between rich and poor and visions of a just society.  Joel is the Morningstar Professor of Bible at Smith College, and as anyone who has taken his courses will tell you, he is a master scholar and teacher.  

Even in this unprecedented time, we are offering this course as part of our CBI Chevruta series, in which we engage local scholars to take us on extended explorations of classical texts.  To date, we have had the privilege of treasured teachers walk us through topics in the Bible and Talmud, mystical literature of the Zohar and Hasidic masters, halakhah and aggadah.  

In keeping with the tradition of CBI Chevruta courses, we are asking for a suggested contribution for this course of $25, but it is at your discretion and no one will be turned away.  

To register for this course, please follow this link or the one above.

So, as we head into winter, save these dates for your own inspiration through study as we continue to build community through our culture of learning.  In the meantime, I look forward to connecting with you soon.

B'shalom,

Rabbi Justin David

Dear Friends,

This year, I am thinking about how Hanukkah reckons with the past to guide us toward a future shaped by our yearnings for justice, wonder, and the depth of human connection.

It seems that the Rabbis knew that the original story of Hanukkah was too fraught to stand on its own as the foundation for a sacred and celebratory holiday. The triumph of the Maccabees in the original text in the Aprocrypha, while throwing off the oppressor and bringing hope and liberation, raised additional questions about the problems of militarism, power, zealotry and intra-communal conflict.  But the Talmudic story of the miracle of one canister of pure oil for the Temple lights that lasted for eight days, a story the Rabbis invented out of whole cloth, resets the holiday.  Instead of discussing how or whether to emulate the Maccabees, the great sages of the School of Shammai and the School of Hillel debate how to light lamps at the darkest time of the year.  Our practice of adding a candle each night follows Hillel, with the rationale that we “ascend in holiness, and do not descend (B. Talmud, Shabbat, 21b).”  And so, the Talmud transforms Hanukkah into a festival of light by radically re-interpreting the past in order to celebrate the aspirations and dimensions of the human spirit. 

9 months into our pandemic, with likely several months to go until vaccines are widely available, I find myself embracing Hanukkah as a frame to imagine how we will all emerge from this time of illness, fear, and struggle.  I, like all of you, know people whose lives have been devastated by Covid and the accompanying despair of this moment, and speak with many who live in ongoing fear over their own vulnerability or those whom they love.  I regularly speak with parents who struggle to provide their children with meaningful and educational experiences in this time, and with young people frustrated by the challenges of finding companionship and work.   

And yet, I am also inspired by elders and other vulnerable people in our community who have adapted and found ways to live with a measure of satisfaction and purpose.  I am amazed that people I know who struggle to keep up with work, family and social connections often reassure me that they are holding up and managing. And despite our collective isolation, I know that in the future, I will think of this time as one when we joined together to protest racial injustice, hear the Shofar in the CBI parking lot, and spontaneously celebrate online and downtown at the prospect of a hopeful future.

For our community, I am similarly taking the opportunity Hanukkah affords to look back so as to envision greater hope, solidarity and celebration for the time ahead.  

Following the current insights of our Covid-19 task force, I believe we should anticipate both the status quo of protective distancing for the immediate future as well as the possibility that conditions may eventually become safer and therefore permit more in-person opportunities down the road.   

With this in mind, I am committed to work with our CBI staff and leadership to help us move forward in the following ways:

• Maintain our feeling of community through services and study on Zoom, but also create safe, micro opportunities to gather in person as is possible.
• Create and initiate conversations, both 1:1 and small groups, for members of our community to experience a greater feeling of connection.
• Create ongoing learning opportunities for the community that provide us a sense of ongoing growth and learning.
• Envision and plan for the re-opening of Gan Keshet when conditions make it safe to do so, and to plan enhanced educational and social opportunities for our youngest children in the interim.
• Plan for expanded in-person learning for ALMA and educational/social gatherings when conditions allow.
• Envision hybrid services and group learning, encompassing simultaneous robust in-person gathering as well as livestreaming, for when infection rates fall to create safer conditions.
• Plan for both limited in-person work on Abundance Farm, as well as for the possibility of expanded in-person farm activities based on changing conditions.
• Pursue ongoing tikkun olam/social justice work to rally our community around meaningful action as well as continue to develop relationships with groups seeking equity and social change.

These intentions are just the broadest outline of the work that I, along with the synagogue staff and leadership, intend to pursue in the coming months.  I am sure that I inadvertently neglected to mention an initiative that is important to you, or perhaps didn’t consider when writing this note.  With that in mind, if there is something you want, need, or even have the ability to help create, please be in touch with me, Rabbi Jacob or Emily Kieval.  Community is a collective partnership - we’re all in this together, especially now.

In the meantime, I wish you a Hanukkah that brings you - and the world - its beauty, joy, and hope, and I hope you will join us for our community lighting each night at 5:00 and Friday night at 4:00.

Chag Urim Sameach,

Wishing everyone a joyous Festival of Lights,

Rabbi Justin David

Shalom Hevre,

Rabbi Jacob and I are switching off week to week now so that we both have the great privilege of teaching and connecting through these conversations.

Here are tomorrow's sources.  They are a piece of Talmud and a midrash on "De-Othering" Ishmael and Esau.  When such marginzalization lives on and flourishes in our tradition, it creates all kinds of disturbing moral consequences, which is why finding examples of "de-othering" in our texts has been a long term project of mine.  Here's a link to my video d'var Torah for this week where I riff on this theme a little more, but don't worry - no spoilers for our learning tomorrow.

Why is Esau so marginalized, particularly when the biblical account is so sympathetic?  Rabbinic tradition totally went overboard in demonizing Esau (though reasonable so when considering Roman domination of 3rd Century Palestine), and so it falls on us to undo the "othering" and its consequences for the 21st Century.  Do we find hints, shards, or clues to undoing this demonization in the Talmud and midrash, which were the very engines of this "othering?"   

Take a look at these texts and join the conversation tomorrow morning!!

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Justin David

Shalom Friends,

Getting this just under the wire - this week's video D'var Torah - hope it gets to you in time.  

The basic idea: the Torah ushers in a social revolution that says the "Other" is Us!

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Justin David

Dear Friends,

Join us tonight for an Erev Election Gathering tonight at 7:00 to remind us of the inherent hope of human solidarity in community.

We'll pray a little (simple Ma'ariv with Sh'ma and Amidah), reflect a little (on a text TBD), and sing a bunch.  The entire gathering should be an hour or so. 

Absolutely all are welcome and look forward to seeing you there!  

B'shalom,

Rabbi Justin David

Shabbat Shalom Friends,

Here is my video d'var Torah for this week, Noah: Revolution and Moral Vision, In Honor of Tikva Frymer-Kensky, z"l.  Frymer-Kensky, who died in 2006, was a towering scholar of the Bible and the Ancient Near East, and I draw from her book, In the Wake of the Goddesses.  I also highly recommend her book, Reading the Women of the Bible, which I will draw on again in a couple of weeks.

For more information on this great teacher and thinker, here is a biographical sketch by Dr. Jane Kanarek, Professor of Talmud at Hebrew College in Boston.

I also draw on a comment about the story from the scholar Carol Ochs, the author of a number of books on Judiasm and feminism.  The comment is actually found in the The Torah: A Women's Commentary, published by URJ Press.

Of course, I highly recommend David Seidenberg's book, Kabbalah and Ecology.

Follow this link to some of the classic Talmudic reflections on Noah and his generation.

Hebrew readers, this midrash on the phrase from Psalms, "Deep calls to deep" is quite amazing as well.

As always, I would love to hear your feedback, particularly if there is something you'd wish I'd done differently.  In the meantime, wishing you a Shabbat Shalom,

B'vracha,

Rabbi Justin David

Dear Friends,

As we begin Parashat Beresheet, the beginning of Genesis, I am committing to a year of teaching in which I center the voices of thinkers who, in the words of the groundbreaking feminist Judith Plaskow, mine texts and ideas to bring about transformative change.  Most of these thinkers will be Jewish feminists, while some may not necessarily identify themselves as feminists or as Jewish.  But all will share a vision that flows from a critique of power and a goal to lift up voices and people who have historically been silenced.

Why am I doing this?   This is a time, I believe, that calls for the insights of those who are committed to moral renewal for the good of human society and our planet.  More personally, centering these thinkers represents a tikkun for me as a rabbi.  While I would like to believe that my teaching of Torah has been shaped by feminist and other liberatory frameworks, I have developed the habit of  focusing solely on the texts themselves when I teach, often neglecting to hold up those who have influenced my underlying outlook.  The reasons are many and perhaps understandable, but the silence is wrong.  It does not properly give credit to courageous and creative thinkers, and it prevents you from hearing about compelling work that you may find illuminating as well.  I embrace this project as an exciting challenge to grow, giving me the opportunity learn and share Torah in new ways.  

I hope to share a recorded d’var each week, each one 5-7 minutes in length, their brevity also a personal challenge.  Inevitably, some weeks I won’t be able to.  Ultimately, these divrei Torah are intended not as stand-alone statements, but threads of an ongoing conversion, so I hope you will be generous in sharing with me your responses, comments and critiques.

As we approach Shabbat Beresheet, here is the first d’var Torah for a new year, in which I draw on Judith Plaskow and her challenge to re-envision depictions of God, sharing links to some sources below.

Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom and, in these last days of Tishrei, a Shanah Tovah.

Warmly,

Rabbi Justin David

For more on Judith Plaskow, follow this link.

Rashi on the beginning of Genesis.

Nachmanides on the beginning of Genesis (scroll down for English). 

Midrash on the beginning of Beresheet.

Dear Friends,

As we look toward the end of the holidays, I hope you will consider joining with the community either for our in person Hoshanna Rabba and Simchat Torah gatherings, or our celebrations of Sh’mini Atzeret (including Yizkor) and Erev Simchat Torah online.

Hosanna Rabba (in person): Friday, October 9, 9:00 - Join us for this in-person service celebrating the final day of Sukkot, with Hallel and a socially-distant procession around the perimeter of Abundance Farm.  

Please register for this service by following this link.

Sh’mini Atzeret:  Erev Sh’mini Atzeret (Friday, 6:00 PM) coincides with Shabbat, and here is the link.

Beginning at 9:30 on Saturday morning, we will gather for Sh’mini Atzeret as we typically do on Shabbat, taking some extended time for Talmud study as we usually do.  The full schedule is:

9:30 - 9:55 - Shacharit

9:55 - 10:15 Hallel

10:15 - 10:25 - Partial Chanting of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes)

10:25 - 11:15 - Talmud Study

11:15 - 11:30 - Yizkor

11:30 - 11:45 - Musaf, including Geshem (Prayer for Power to Bring Rain)

Erev Simchat Torah Singing Online - Saturday Evening, October 10, 6:30 PM - Make a l’chayim, bring a nosh, and join us online to celebrate this year of study during unprecedented times by singing and reading from the final parashah of the Torah.  Although we won’t dance, we will most definitely sing, and I do hope you’ll join us.  And, we take requests!!

Simchat Torah In Person AND Online - Sunday, October 11, 9:30 AM - Join us for an in-person service that we will simultaneously make available online.  Following Shacharit and Hallel, we will finish reading the Torah and begin again!  Please note that we will have amplification for this service and it will be broadcast on Zoom.  If we have critical mass, we will be able to host two minyanim, one with technology and one without.  

Please register for the in-person service by following this link.

In-Person, Socially-Distant Unrolling of the Torah - Sunday, October 11, 12:30 PM - As we did for the sounding of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, we invite families and anyone who would like to join us in the CBI parking lot as we behold the entire Torah in one gaze.  Perhaps we will take some moments to chant from beloved sections we know (10 Commandments, Song of the Sea, Priestly Blessing, favorite b’nei mitzvah portions) and sing as well.  

Looking forward to connecting with you over these final days of Z'man Simchatenu, the Season of our Joy, even in this unprecedented time.  

Shanah Tovah and Chag Sameach,

Rabbi Justin David

Dear Friends,

We are offering opportunities for community members to visit the CBI Sanctuary between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur for private moments of reflection and personal prayers in front of the open Ark. 

You can sign up for a 15-minute timeslot here.

A few guidelines:

• Please arrive on time. 
   

• Before you leave your home, complete our COVID-19 Symptom Tracker, which can be found here. Bring your completed form with you to CBI. We will have extras available on site.  If you answer YES to any questions, please stay home.

• Please enter through the parking lot entrance and exit through the Prospect Street doors.

• Wear a mask that covers your mouth and nose snugly at all times.

• Use hand sanitizer, provided by CBI or your own, at your arrival.

• Inside of the building, you may only access the Sanctuary. No other parts of the building can be accessed, including bathrooms.

• In the sanctuary, you are invited to stand in front of the Ark. Please leave the Ark open.

• Please wear gloves (provided by CBI) if you wish to touch the Sifrei Torah (Torah Scrolls). Do not touch the Torah without gloves.

• Do not kiss the Torah Scrolls or kiss your gloved hands and touch the Torah Scrolls.

• If you'd like to wear a kippah and/or tallit, we encourage you to bring your own from home. We will have kippot and tallitot, if you choose to use ones from the synagogue. There will be separate bins, one for unused tallitot and one for you to place used tallitot.

• Please honor your time limit in the Sanctuary and exit so the next group can enter.

• If you wish to talk to other friends while you're on campus, please do so while maintaining physical distancing outside the building.

• Feel free to use this time to offer your most personal prayers from the heart. We will also have handouts available with words that can guide you during your time in the sanctuary.

G'mar Chatima Tova!

Dear Friends,

Given that this year’s High Holidays will not be like any other we have experienced, I wanted to write an overview of our online services as well as the thinking behind them.  My hope is that this letter will help you in a few ways: to guide you to the sections of the service that speak to you given our limited capacity for attention on screens; to help make the online experience more meaningful by altering you to some of its hidden features; and to help you figure out for which portions you will engage with the community and which you will reserve for your own personal practice.

In general, Felicia and I followed a few principles when planning the service: shortening the service where possible while keeping core elements; emphasizing live, spontaneous moments while pre-recording more passive experiences; centering the experience of the shofar on Day 2; finding opportunities to bring in the voice of our community into prayers for healing. 

With all that in mind, here is an outline of the two days of Rosh Hashanah:

1. Early Morning Meditation    This will be an opportunity for quiet reflection, drawing on some of the opening prayers, Psalms, and melodies of the day.  In place of some of the traditional Psalms, we will invite people to participate in more quiet niggunim and periods of silent meditation, framed by the rousing morning blessings and the melodies that frame the mood of the day.  

2. Singing Shacharit    The goal here is to provide a rich but streamlined morning prayer experience to heighten the spontaneity made possible by singing.  We will have the core elements - the Sh’ma, the Amidah, and the blessings that surround them.  But much as we do now on Shabbat, we will mostly skip over extended sections in which people pray to themselves.  On Rosh Hashanah, we will also forgo a full silent Amidah in place of a  “Heikha Kedusha,” in which we invite people to chant the Amidah with some of its piyyutim (poems) and singable portions with us.  While there is no Avinu Malkenu on the first day because of Shabbat, it returns with a roar on the second at the end of this section.

3. Two options for Torah service   In place of a full Torah service, we will offer a couple of choices.  One is an interactive study with me on the confounding, haunting, and yet grand Torah readings for each day.  My hope is that the opportunity to have some Torah conversation will be a highlight for people much as it has been on Shabbat.

At the same time, we will provide a link to a pre-recorded chanting of the Torah portion from the Sefer Torah (Torah scroll) as well as the Haftarah.  This way, you may participate in one or both - participate in the Torah study and then hear the Torah and Haftarah chanted whenever you would like, or listen to Torah and Haftarah at the point in the service when we would normally hear them.  The choice is entirely your own.

4.    Prayers for Healing and Sounding the Shofar    As the first day of Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbat, we will sound the Shofar on Sunday, day 2.  While these prayers and songs have been mainstays of our service for years, on this year they take on special resonance.  We saw this as an opportunity to amplify the community voice by inviting people to share their yearnings for healing and their aspirations for the new year, which we will weave throughout these moments of reflection.  These prayers and songs build upon our individual longings to encompass our commitment to creating a more whole community and contributing a sense of healing to the world.  And at that moment, we will sound the Shofar.  When we do, please feel free to sound your own shofar if you have one!

5.  D’var Torah    After much internal debate, I decided to share a d’var Torah in real time on each day of Rosh Hashanah.  While I considered pre-recording the d’var for private viewing, I felt strongly that there is an improvisatory, “in the moment” feel that fuels how I present my ideas.  That being said, I did try to make my divrei Torah shorter than usual, which is always a good thing, but particularly now to accommodate our finite attention spans on screens.

6.  Musaf.  After hearing the Shofar, Musaf is the liturgical highlight of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, featuring the sounding of the Shofar again.  While keeping the central elements of Musaf, we have taken steps to make Musaf considerably shorter.  On both days, it features U’ne Tane Tokef, in which we confront the fragility of our lives and affirm the centrality of Teshuvah (return), Tefilah (prayer) and Tzedakah (acts of generosity and kindness) to bring wholeness to our lives.  On Rosh Hashanah, the middle of Musaf consists of chanting biblical verses related to attributes that the Rabbis of the Talmud ascribed God: Sovereignty(Malchuyot) in all its grandeur, Remembrance (Zichronot) as a manifestation of kindness and justice, and Power (Shofarot) to reveal truth.  At the end of each of these sections we sound the Shofar again.  To shorten Musaf to approximately an hour, we are skipping certain meditative prayers and poems, and we will begin by chanting Musaf out loud in place of an extended time for silent prayer beforehand.

This will be my last email to you before Rosh Hashanah - I want to say what a great privilege it has been to be in touch with you and offer opportunities for our collective reflection over this past month.  It has been a time that has shown me the depth of people’s yearnings for justice, for hope, and for personal and spiritual connection.  Rosh Hashanah will be just the beginning of 5781 - I look forward to continuing to walk with you in the weeks and months ahead.

L’shanah Tovah u’Metukah,

Wishing you a good New Year filled with health, joy and Shalom,

Rabbi Justin David