Among the silver linings of this terrible time through which we have been living has been the opportunity to be part of the CBE community since last March.. I am grateful to Rabbi Timoner for allowing me to share some thoughts with you this Shabbat.
It’s not an accident that Hanukkah encompasses the longest, darkest nights of the year. That’s because it contains the new moon closest to the winter solstice, combining the lunar calendar with the solar calendar for maximum darkness.
What are we doing when we pray?
My guess is that this is a question that many of you have asked yourselves before. Presumably if you’re here this morning, many of you find something within prayer that’s worth drawing you away from other holiday weekend festivities.
Among the clergy at CBE, I am probably the least likely to ask the question: What are we doing when we pray?
Last night was a sad night for a lot of people. Even if you made a full meal and had your family around you, even if you zoomed in with family and friends all around the country or world, few of us were able to gather with the joy and feeling of fullness, with the full mishpacha we would usually enjoy.
Aaron and Sam, I love that you wrote one d’var Torah together. I don’t think we’ve ever had anyone do that before, and it was as if your medium was your message. And your message, about the particular closeness of twins, was a great way to approach a question for all human relationships and really all human existence.
“Most of what we’ll be doing is out and around the Sukkah. Families can bring a blanket, have a picnic, but stay separated from other families, but [they] still have the feeling of community, the opportunity to be outdoors and the opportunity to celebrate the holiday.”
Rabbi Timoner was recently interviewed by NY1 outside the CBE sukkah. Read the full article here.
There once was a man on a journey who came across a beautiful palace, but the palace was on fire. He looked around, trying to find help to put out the blaze. He wondered, surely there must someone who owns this palace, someone who cares for it. This, the rabbis teach in the midrash (Genesis Rabba 39:1), was our ancestor Abraham.
“The main thing that Judaism tells us God believes about us is that no matter what we do and what we’ve done, no matter how we’ve fallen short of that ideal of justice, peace, love and compassion, no matter in what ways we’ve closed our hearts and failed to see how we’re harming others, how we’ve erred, there is endless opportunity for us to turn. God absolutely believes that human beings can endlessly improve ourselves, that there is no end to the learning curve, no limits on our capacity to become righteous.”
Read this powerful interview with Rabbi Timoner by journalist Abigail Pogrebin, originally published in The Forward, as part of her series Still Small Voice.
At a time when progressive Zionists have united in opposition to annexation, Peter Beinart’s provocative essay in Jewish Currents, and his New York Times op-ed, divides allies. Beinart’s contention that a two-state solution is unattainable, and that a binational state provides the only path to achieving a just resolution to the conflict, has challenged the conventional wisdom and ignited a vigorous debate.
Dear CBE Friends,
These are harrowing times. A pandemic, a nationwide cry for justice, fires and destruction, and police and now military deployed by the president to “dominate” our streets.
If you are feeling afraid, despairing, overwhelmed, or uncertain, you are not alone. Your CBE community and clergy are here for you, I am here for you, and our tradition is here for you.
“We felt it was important to create a new voice in New York that focuses on state and local issues, that serves as a central address for liberal Jews whose Jewish values shape their priorities, both with respect to domestic issues and with respect to their support for Israel and their commitment to combating anti-Semitism.”
Rabbi Rachel Timoner shares the mission of the New York Jewish Agenda, which she recently co-founded with several other progressive NYC rabbis, activists, and politicians, in this new article by the Times of Israel.
As part of a series of articles on Judaism and American democracy published by eJewish Philanthropy, Rabbi Timoner wrote the following article on the imperative of Jews and civic engagement especially during this particularly challenging time.
With each passing year, as with each passing day, we pray for peaceful transitions from work, to rest, to renewed wakefulness. This brooding, poignant melody, originally set to the text of Psalm 121 (“I lift my eyes to the mountains…”), brings out our essential human vulnerabilities but also calls us to reaffirm our faith in God’s essential grace and compassion. And it reminds us that no matter how scary the night may seem, we find courage by traveling through it together, as one community.
The month of Kislev heralds shorter days and colder weather, and the Jewish people respond by gathering in the warmth of community and kindling lights. In the midst of Kabbalat Shabbat, Psalm 97 draws an explicit comparison between increasing light and increasing happiness, and Psalm 98 exhorts the entire world to shout and sing with abandon at the wonders in our midst. Our medley of these two psalms incorporates melodies which match the unbridled joy of these ancient words of praise.
Tom Pnini is our Early Childhood Center’s Admissions Coordinator and Art Studio Teacher. Tom runs our “Cardboard Studio,” a classroom that has been completely transformed into an interactive art studio for kids to explore their creative side without limits. Our preschool students work with Tom in the Cardboard Studio as part of their curriculum.
As the Jewish community emerges from weeks of holidays and enters the month of Marcheshvan, we take comfort in the simple weekly rhythm of Shabbat.
Check out this beautiful article written by our friend Rev. Dr. Daniel Meeter of Old First Reformed Church about his meaningful relationship to Judaism and CBE.
Ki HaMalchut Shel’cha – Friday Nights at CBE: Sounds of Shabbat
At the heart of Rosh Hashanah morning liturgy lies “Aleinu l’shabeiach,” an affirmation of God’s ultimate, singular sovereignty over everything that is.
Rebecca Kleinhandler-Dahan is a longtime CBE member and our wonderful lay leader for Shir L’Shabbat, a weekly Shabbat service geared towards young families with infants and young children up to age 4. Shir L’Shabbat is a special way for families and their little ones to welcome Shabbat together, filled with singing and dancing with our extraordinary songleader Debbie Brukman. Be sure to stop by and say hi!
Read Rabbi Timoner’s review of Rabbi Mike Moskowitz’s recent book, Textual Activism, a collection of essays, articles, and teachings offering a new perspective on Torah, with an emphasis on contemporary issues of justice and inclusion, especially around gender identity.
For the past several years, CBE has been experimenting with how Friday nights feel, look, taste, and sound. We have assembled a core community of dedicated regulars, a world-class jazz quartet in partnership with the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, and a unique collection of melodies that together transport us out of the workweek and into Shabbat: a sacred time of rest, refreshment, reflection, and utter joy.
Julie Markes has been a member of CBE for over 20 years. A professional photographer, Julie has also graciously photographed many CBE happenings, including B’nei Mitzvahs, Rabbi Green and Rabbi Epstein’s Installations, camp, and Chazakah.
We are thrilled to welcome Paul Taylor to CBE as our new Aquatics Director.
Tehilah Eisenstadt recently joined the CBE team as Director of Yachad & Family Engagement. Tehilah has an extensive career in Jewish education, having received Master degrees in Jewish Education and in Midrash/Biblical Exegesis from the Jewish Theological Seminar and certification in Early Childhood Administration. She is a graduate of HUC-JTS’s Leadership Institute, and a proud alumna of Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. She also has a deep commitment to social justice. Notably, she was instrumental in forming the New York coalition of Bring Back Our Girls, which strives to raise awareness about the 276 school girls from Chibok, Nigeria who were kidnapped by the terrorist group Boko Haram in 2014.
Forty-four protesters were arrested while demonstrating against Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) cloud contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at a New York Amazon Bookstore Sunday evening.
Rob Raich has been a Trustee at CBE since 2010 and currently serves as our President, beginning his term in 2018. Rob works closely with our Board of Trustees, clergy team, and staff to ensure that CBE continues to be a welcoming and vibrant hub for Jewish life.
Rabbi Timoner’s article, “Hope for Independence and Peace for All”, is featured on the Union for Reform Judaism’s Ten Minutes of Torah series. In it, she reflects on visiting the village of Sanoor, where every Shabbat a delegation from Physicians for Human Rights Israel comes to the West Bank to offer a mobile medical clinic.
By Larry Rothbart
There were several large takeaways for me from our group trip to Israel. One, which several people have noted in their essays and became the group’s running theme, was that Israel is a complex and complicated puzzle.
Alan Herman recently joined CBE as our Executive Director & Chief Operating Officer. Alan previously served as the Executive Director of Sutton Place Synagogue, and was an active lay leader at Central Synagogue and member of their Board of Trustees.
Bobbie Finkelstein is our Director of Youth Services. Bobbie oversees our five-day-a-week after school program during the school year, as well as all of our summer camp programs!
Jonathan Fried has been an active member of the CBE community in many different capacities since his childhood. Notably, Jonathan served as CBE president from 2014 to 2017.
By Betty Leigh Hutcheson
Aliza, Our Holocaust Survivor, Addressing the Mission. Photograph by (ret.) Lt. Col. Peter Lerner in April 2011.
Aliza Goldman-Landau buried her cousin’s son the same day she served Shabbat dinner to six members of our tour. She had agreed to be a host for the evening meal after services at Kehillat Mevasseret, a reform synagogue in a Jerusalem suburb. That Aliza continued with her commitment was incredible to us, but was a minor feat for this quiet, tiny woman—small in stature but large in spirit. Even more astonishing that evening was hearing her life story.
Aliza emigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine from Poland, arriving in 1947 by way of Cyprus when she was 9, an age when our children are considering treats, swimming pools, soccer in the park, and the secret comfort of a parent’s lap. Aliza’s life was much different. By the age when she was old enough to enjoy outdoor sports, her family had left Lodz to hide in the woods during the Nazi occupation. They hid in the forest for months and ate what they could find around them while the Nazis destroyed Jewish culture and lives throughout Europe.
By Rabbi Rachel Timoner
When innocent children are separated from their parents and held in camps, we are in a crisis.
When two synagogues experience Antisemitic murders within six months, we are in a crisis.
When hate and scapegoating are whipped up by the leader of the country, we are in a crisis.
When the president vilifies the press and threatens the freedom of the press, we are in a crisis.
When the president defies and delegitimizes Constitutionally-mandated oversight by Congress, we are in a crisis.
By Ed Bleiberg
One aspect of my relationship with Israel has always included my interest in languages. My year-long stay in Jerusalem in 1974-75 was primarily to learn Hebrew. On the recent CBE congregational trip to Israel, language took many forms.
By Bonnie Bader
The light in Israel is brilliant. It floated over the Mediterranean, the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan River (which is neither deep nor wide). It reflected off the Dome of the Rock, emanated from the candles held in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and reflected off the Kotel; men and women praying in their separate sections. The light danced off faces: white, beige, brown, black, sparkling in the blue and brown eyes.
The light in Israel is mystical. Wandering through the cobbled streets of Tzfat, one of the four Holy Cities, I took in the blue doors, gobbled down a delicious Yemenite sandwich, and visited art galleries with work inspired by the messages of Kabbalah, and old synagogues each with its own story.
Marrion W. is a member of our incredible maintenance staff. He can often be seen helping set up at events, fixing anything that needs to be fixed, and working to ensure that CBE is safe and clean for everyone. Be sure to say hi the next time you see him!
By Rabbi Rachel Timoner
I remember the first Dyke March, organized by the Lesbian Avengers in 1993 during the LGBT March on Washington. I was there, and I remember feeling that I was finally free — that we dykes could claim all of who we were — our full and complex identities, our bodies, our love, our commitments to equality and justice for all — and be utterly unashamed. It, and the subsequent marches since all over the country, have been profoundly liberating for so many people.
By Emily Sachs
Parshah B’midbar begins with an accounting/a census of military age Israelite men.
“So Moses and Aaron took those men, who were designated by name, and on the first day of the second month they convened the whole community, who were registered by the clans of their ancestral houses—the names of those aged twenty years and over being listed head by head.” Numbers 1:17
As the mother of a twenty-year old, whom we named for Jonah, the reluctant but effective prophet to the people of Ninevah, I think a lot about who counts, who serves, and what courage, service and peace-making look like.
After a comprehensive and thoughtful process led by a committee chaired by Danielle Mindlin with members Leslie Lewin, Marc Sternberg, Mara Getz Shaftel, and Jonathan Spear, and in close consultation with our clergy team and Yachad staff, we are thrilled to welcome Tehilah Eisenstadt to CBE as our new Director of Yachad and Family Engagement, effective July 15.
CBE members had an idea: what if kids around the country wrote personal letters to the kids who’ve been separated from their parents and are being held in detention in Homestead?
We are thrilled to welcome Alan Herman as our Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, effective July 15.
Hannah Grossman is the Assistant Director of Yachad, our signature K-12 Jewish and Hebrew Education program. Hannah is a passionate Jewish educator, and brings a wealth of experience to Yachad.
Rabbi Leora Ezrachi-Vered recently joined us as part of her Golden Fellowship through HUC-JIR, which brings Israeli rabbinical students and recently ordained Israeli Reform Rabbis to intern in North American Reform congregations. Read Rabbi Ezrachi-Vered’s heartfelt reflection to CBE.
In the past week you may have noticed me around. I’ve had the good fortune to be able to visit CBE as a “Golden Fellow” (thanks to the generosity of the Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion), getting to know your wonderful community, learning from your spiritual leadership and joining activities.
A CBE member for 30 years, Carol Shuchman organizes our annual Respite Bed Shelter, which she helped to launch eight years ago. The five-week shelter – operated in conjunction with CAMBA – is hosted in the Rotunda; it provides 12 homeless men with a warm, safe place to sleep, and a hot, protein-based meal prepared and served by CBE families and volunteers.
Brian Shuman has been a member of CBE since 2010 and has been an invaluable volunteer leader for our previous and upcoming CBE Fun(d) Run on May 19.
One of my favorite aspects of the seder is that we eat reclining. In this one move, the seder invites us to act out the release of stress from the body. The four questions tell us that on other nights we might eat sitting upright — tense — our minds on the work or hardships of the day, full of worry about what tomorrow will hold. But tonight, the freed slave experiences the psychic safety to recline, and we re-enact that sense of emotional and physical release. When my kids were little, they’d decorate their own special pillows for this purpose, which led them to nestle in to the shoulders or onto the laps of their neighbors. We’d make sure that everyone around the table had a pillow in order to fully lean on one another. This leaning on others reminds us that we’re connected, and the people around us can help hold us up.
Meet Stephen McBurnie! Stephen is one of our security guards who is often the first person to greet you when you visit CBE.
First reported on by The Brooklyn Paper, “students at [St. Saviour Catholic Academy] trekked to a local synagogue to gift their Jewish neighbors an orange tree, in memory of a massacre that claimed 11 lives at a Pittsburgh temple last year.
The Jewish coming-of-age ceremony stretches to accommodate the new gender fluidity…
Meet Tom O’Connor! Tom is our Facilities Manager, overseeing and managing our maintenance staff.
Rabbi Rachel Timoner recently appeared on an episode of the Beliefs Podcast, a weekly news podcast covering religion, faith, and ethics. Rabbi Timoner and Dr. William Baker had a meaningful conversation about progressive activism, Zionism, the great potential of the progressive Jewish movement in America, and the crosswinds and squalls for American Jews during the Trump Administration.
CBE is excited to announce its first annual Unleavened Plays Festival.
The Festival is seeking six 10-minute plays, each reflecting the underlying theme of “PLAGUE(S).” The plays will be performed as an evening of staged readings at CBE on Sunday, April 14, 2019 — the weekend before Passover begins, as people around the world begin to think about the Jewish people’s efforts to escape Egypt and head out into the desert toward freedom.
Rabbi Matthew L. Green identified as “an exceptionally innovative leader” in an article written by Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of Union for Reform Judaism. Article originally published on urj.org.
Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, in partnership with CBE and Brooklyn Jews, opened their search to commission a new play focusing on the American Jewish experience. The commission is looking to support an emerging, early-career playwright in creating a new work that will encourage meaningful dialogue around the complexity of being Jewish in America.
Distinguished writer, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Chris Hayes of MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes, recently sat on the bimah in the main sanctuary to discuss the current political climate in America.
Rabbi Rachel Timoner sat down with Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America and host of “America, We Need to Talk” on WBAI Radio, to discuss the current climate of anti-Semitism in America, what we as Jews (and as people) can do to eliminate it, and the importance of welcoming and embracing the other. Rabbi Timoner’s interview begins at 01:05.
Earlier this week, American Jewish Committee launched #ShowUpForShabbat, an initiative encouraging people to come together this weekend in solidarity with the Jewish community of Pittsburgh and Jews across the nation.
Cantor Josh Breitzer recently contributed to the New York Festival of Song’s Song of the Day series, highlighting specific songs that connect with corresponding days of Sukkot.
Rabbi Matthew L. Green is this week’s featured guest on ReformJudaism.org’s weekly Torah podcast, On the Other Hand: Ten Minutes of Torah. Download the most recent episode to hear him chat with Rabbi Rick Jacobs about what the weekly bible portion means in modern life: apple.co/1Rr87Nc
Farewell Speech from Rabbi Marc Katz
Marc’s Last Lap Farewell Event, June 3, 2018
The amazing thing about the Jewish tradition is that there is a prayer for everything. There is a prayer for new beginnings, a prayer for seeing lightning and a different prayer for the rainbow after the storm. There is a prayer for seeing a beautiful person, and prayer for smelling a flower, even a prayer for using the bathroom.
But my favorite prayer has always been the prayer of endings, because it completely defies expectations.
LGBQT Leadership
Bringing Young Ideas to Veteran Institutions
In 11th annual installment of The Jewish Week’s 36 Under 36 special section, CBE’s Assosiate Rabbi, Matt Green was recognized as one of the The New Bridge Builders; a group of leading changemakers reaching across divides and edging the Jewish community forward.
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, talks about how leaders like CBE’s rabbinic intern, Matt Green, are building community through new models of belonging.
T’ruah Honors Rabbi Rachel Timoner with the Rabbinic Human Rights Hero Award.
Rabbi Rachel Timoner was one of three Jewish educators invited to participate in Avodah’s Speak Torah To Power Speaker Series. Watch* her powerful speech, Radical Humanity: Inalienable Dignity and American Public Policy.
Last month, we shared the bittersweet news that Rabbi Katz will be leaving CBE at the end of June to lead Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield, New Jersey. You can see that announcement and Marc’s beautiful letter to the congregation here. Four weeks ago, we were thrilled to announce that Matt Green will become CBE’s new Assistant Rabbi after he is ordained in the spring. You can see that announcement and read about Matt’s stellar achievements here. Today, we share the exciting news that CBE is expanding our clergy team with a third rabbi, and to introduce you to Rabbi Rebecca Epstein.
Washington, DC – On Wednesday, January 17, Rabbi Rachel Timoner joined Bend the Arc Jewish Action, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, the Anti-Defamation League, and other clergy, leaders, and grassroots volunteers from across the Jewish community in a historic act of Jewish civil disobedience.
More than 100 participants occupied the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill to demand that congress include a clean DREAM Act in the government funding bill.
All Saints Episcopal Church welcomed Rabbi Katz as a guest preacher during their MLK Day celebration on January 15th. Read his full sermon:
Rabbi Timoner arrived in Israel today to begin an extraordinary, week-long mission with interfaith women clergy leaders from around the United States. Follow her trip on Facebook and Instagram (@cbebk).
Dear CBE Community,
We hope that you’ve had a chance to read Rabbi Marc Katz’s announcement last week. While it is not possible to ever replace Rabbi Katz at CBE, and while his imprint will remain on our community and on our lives for many years to come, we are grateful to have an extraordinary new rabbi ready to serve our community in his own unique way. We are thrilled to share the wonderful news that Matt Green will be CBE’s new Assistant Rabbi beginning on July 1, 2018.
PODCAST: Judaism Unbound, talks with CBE’s Rabbi Rachel Timoner as part of a series focusing on the exploration of Reform Judaism.
To My CBE Family,
It is with excitement for the future and gratitude for the last ten years that I announce I will become the Rabbi at Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield, N.J. starting July 1st.
Dear CBE Community,
I’m pleased to let you know that after six and a half years of faithful service to our congregation, Cantor Josh Breitzer will be taking a sabbatical from January through June of 2018.
Rabbi Rachel Timoner and other leading rabbis from all corners of the Jewish world are asked their thoughts on the most pressing issues of today in a series of articles from the Forward.
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Take a listen to the moving and inspiring High Holy Day sermons from Rabbi Rachel Timoner and CBE president, Jonathan Fried using the playlist below. Also check out our sermon archive for corresponding text and other historical addresses.
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To My CBE Community,
At the funeral for 32-year-old Heather Heyer, may her memory forever be a blessing, Heather’s mother said:
Brooklyn Borough President, Eric Adams, spent a night in the CBE shelter. Here’s what he had to say on Instagram about his experience and commitment to homelessness awareness:
Watch Rabbi Rachel Timoner co-present the New York Ordination Address at HUC-JIR’s Service of Ordination on May 7, 2017.
Tablet discussed how CBE’s Sukkah, which featured educational materials from HIAS, was especially designed to bring awareness about the world refugee crisis.
Bklynr published an article about when rocker legend Patti Smith visited CBE’s Brooklyn by the Book event and performed “Because the Night” in our very own CBE sanctuary.
Bklynr covered CBE’s Brooklyn by the Book event which featured author Toni Morrison who discussed her most recent book, God Help the Child.
The Observer’s piece talks about Rabbi Timoner’s new role at CBE and her focus on social justice activism.
The JTA features CBE’s Hebrew language immersion summer camp for kids, Ha’Geemnasia as a fun, effective, and enlightening way for children to learn Hebrew and about Israeli culture.