Dear Congregation Beth Israel members and friends,

This morning a friend texted me a graphic showing the five weeks before the winter solstice, and the five weeks thereafter. Along with the image came a short message that read, simply, “We made it!” The literal darkest season of the solar year is behind us: cause for rejoicing indeed.

On the Jewish spiritual calendar (which is lunisolar, shaped both by our planet’s orbit around the sun and the waxing and waning moon) we’re poised to rush headlong from winter into spiritual spring.

Dear Congregants and Friends,

Though winter still has its grip on us here in the Berkshires, CBI continues to provide light and community with its ongoing Shabbat services and programs for adults, children, and families, both in-person and remotely via Zoom. I want to highlight some of what we have accomplished in recent months and what’s coming up.

Our monthly Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat services, led by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat, are enhanced by our choir, who bring beautiful melodies, some traditional and some newly composed, to our services. Families gather for once-a-month Shabbat morning services led by Rabbi Jarah Greenfield. Children fill the classrooms and sanctuary Monday afternoons for religious school. We are also blessed to have monthly Shabbat morning services led by Rabbi Pam Wax and occasional services led by cantorial soloist and CBI member Ziva Larson. CBI is so fortunate to be able to draw on the spirituality and wisdom of such talented Jewish professionals. We had a wonderful community Chanukah celebration, with music by the bonfire and homemade latkes and donuts.

In addition to our regular services, we continue to celebrate Shabbat together at home via our First Friday evening Zoom gatherings. The Adult Programming Committee plans and sponsors monthly programs, including our Meditative Sound Bath, which took place last Sunday, and our monthly book club on Zoom. This month, the CBI Book Club will feature an appearance on Wednesday, February 15 by author Aaron Tillman. On Sunday, February 22 at 4pm, Dr. Brahim El Guabli, Williams College Assistant Professor of Arabic Studies will give a presentation on “Reckoning with Loss: Moroccan Jews Return in Literature & Film.” Look for more information on all our upcoming programs in our weekly CBI Announcements.

We are very excited to announce that we will be holding an in-person Community Passover Seder, led by Rabbi Rachel, on Thursday, April 6 — the second night of the holiday. Jen Burt and her family will once again be catering. Please mark your calendar and plan to attend! We can’t wait to celebrate together.

Thanks to significant funding from the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires, CBI enhanced its security through several improvements to our existing systems. The Board is continuously evaluating and updating our systems. We thank all those Board members and other CBI members who usher, and those who RSVP to services and programs to let us know to expect you. Our goal is to be a welcoming and inclusive community at the same time as we strive to keep everyone safe. Everyone has a role to play — both in welcoming people and remaining alert to our surroundings and anything troubling or unusual.

And finally, we are reimagining what a Jewish education should look like with the help of our parents, Education Committee, teachers, and Rabbis. We have applied for an Education Grant from the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires and are waiting to hear back from them. We are planning an exciting collaboration with Kesher Shalom, a group of unaffiliated young families from southern Vermont and northern Berkshires.

I hope you will participate in our many offerings and lend a hand by volunteering. I’d love to hear what interests you — please contact me at president@cbiberkshires.com.

Warmly,

— Natalie Matus

Friday, February 3, 7:30pm (EST): First Friday Shabbat Zoom Gathering
Stay connected with CBI friends and neighbors, or meet new ones, as we gather together around the Zoom table to celebrate the Jewish traditions of Shabbat and light the candles and bless the wine and challah. Please RSVP via our website if you plan to attend.

Sunday, February 5, 2pm–4pm: Celebrate Tu BiShvat with CBI & Kesher Shalom Families
CBI is thrilled to continue our collaboration with Kesher Shalom — a group of Jewish families living in southern Vermont and northern Berkshires — who have invited our CBI families to join them in this joyous celebration! Give thanks for all that trees give us, taste the fruits of our very own land, and plant parsley to grow at home in celebration of Tu BiShvat, the New Year of the Trees! We will meet at the home of the Sternberg-Kol Family in Shaftsbury, VT; please RSVP to Rabbi Jarah Greenfield for address details.
(Please note that we will not be holding a separate Tu BiShvat program onsite at CBI this year.)

Saturday, February 11, 9:30am: Family Shabbat Service
Join together with other families in a joyous celebration of Shabbat through songs, stories, prayers, movement-based activities, and more related to the week’s Torah portion. There will be roles for young children and for older kids to actively participate. All are welcome to attend! RSVPs and masks are required; this service will be held onsite only.

Wednesday, February 15, 7:30pm (EST): CBI Book Club
Our upcoming February meeting of the CBI Book Club is an extra special one: Aaron Tillman, the author of the short stories we’ll be discussing, will be joining us over Zoom! We’ll be discussing three of Tillman’s engaging and provocative stories (chosen by him), along with Malamud’s The Jewbird, which the group read in 2022 (you’ll see why when you attend). Free PDFs of all four stories are available for those interested in attending. To RSVP, please email Suzanne Levy Graver at sgraver@williams.edu.

Friday, February 17, 7pm: Multi-Access Kabbalat Shabbat Service
Join us on Friday night as we light candles and welcome Shabbat with prayer and song. Let go of the week, breathe in the “extra soul” that Shabbat brings, and let poetry and melody begin to replenish heart and soul. At this Kabbalat Shabbat service the CBI choir, led by Adam Green, will offer harmonies to lift our hearts and spirits! All are welcome to join us onsite, but you must RSVP via our website if you plan on attending; masks are required. Service will still be available online for those who wish to participate on Zoom.

Wednesday, February 22, 4pm (EST): Reckoning with Loss: Moroccan Jews Return in Literature and Film
Please join us on Zoom for an informative and fascinating presentation on the accounting of Morocco’s emigrated Jewish population from Dr. Brahim El Guabli, Indigenous Amazigh scholar and Assistant Professor of Arabic Studies and Comparative Literature at Williams College. Moroccan literature and film are finally accounting for the loss of the country’s emigrated Jewish population. Waves of migration between 1956 and 1973 took the majority of Moroccan Jews outside their country of origin, leaving a deep void in the places where they used to live. Although the former presence of Moroccan Jews is the object of a vivid intergenerational memory, cultural production, for the most part, avoided any engagement with this crucial part of the country’s history until the last twenty years. However, a vibrant and increasingly rich literature and film are finally rising from Morocco’s Jewish-Muslim past, accounting for the departed Jewish community. This talk will contextualize the return of Moroccan Jews in literature and film within a larger context of reckoning with the country’s past. Particularly, the talk will show how literature and film are creating space for a novel Jewish-Muslim history in Morocco. Please RSVP online if you plan on attending.

Saturday, February 25, 9:30am: Multi-Access Shabbat Morning Service
Multi-access Shabbat morning service will be held at 9:30am. All are welcome to join us onsite, but you must RSVP via our website if you plan on attending; masks are required. (Please note that we will not be holding a kiddush / oneg at this time.) Service will still be available online for those who wish to participate on Zoom.

Friday, March 3, 7:30pm (EST): First Friday Shabbat Zoom Gathering
Stay connected with CBI friends and neighbors, or meet new ones, as we gather together around the Zoom table to celebrate the Jewish traditions of Shabbat and light the candles and bless the wine and challah. Please RSVP via our website if you plan to attend.

Saturday, March 4, 9:30am: Multi-Access Shabbat Morning Service
Multi-access Shabbat morning service will be held at 9:30am. All are welcome to join us onsite, but you must RSVP via our website if you plan on attending; masks are required. (Please note that we will not be holding a kiddush / oneg at this time.) Service will still be available online for those who wish to participate on Zoom.

Sunday, March 5, 1pm: Cooking with Caleb: Let’s Make Hamentaschen for Purim!
Hamentaschen for Purim taste better when you make them yourself! Join professional baker Caleb Wolfson-Seeley as we roll, fold, and stuff dough with treats. While they bake in our ovens, we’ll read Purim stories together. Please RSVP online by Friday, March 3 if your family plans to attend; masks are required. This event is free for all to attend!

Rabbi Rachel would like to share with you that she will be taking her son on a trip to Israel in late May / early June, and I'd be delighted if any of the CBI community wanted to join.

The trip will be co-led by Rabbi Heidi Hoover of B'Shert in Brooklyn and Rabbi David Markus of Temple Beth El of City Island, whom many of you know. Both are dynamic spiritual leaders and will be fun travel companions. As another rabbi on board, Rabbi Rachel will also help out as needed.

Together we'll explore the multicultural multi-faith Israel that is Judaism's touchstone. We'll journey into the heart of all four major Israeli religions, visit key spiritual centers on and off the beaten path, and delve into the living waters that nourish the history, spirituality, and ecology of ancient and modern Israel.

There is also an optional Negev and Petra extension. Please click here for itinerary and cost information. The $500 deposit is fully refundable until the end of February; the travel agency is asking that we register ASAP.

In addition, Rabbi Heidi and Rabbi David will jointly offer a Thursday night mini-course, The Spiritual History of Eretz Yisrael, beginning in late February for trip participants (via Zoom). The spiritual history of Israelites and the modern State of Israel is bound up with the physical and emotional geography of place. Together we'll explore that history through the lens of actual places in Tanakh, keyed to the upcoming Israel trip's itinerary. This mini-course is open to all, but it is recommended for Israel travelers. Tuition is $72 for members of CBI & TBE and $108 for non-members. Please email Rabbi Rachel if you're interested in registering — the more we know about where we're going, the more meaningful our journey will be.

If you've been considering a trip to Israel, we hope you'll join us on this one!

Shabbat & Havdalah Times

If you want to light Shabbat candles and make havdalah at the halakhically-accepted times, the times for the upcoming month can be found below:

February 3 light at 4:50pm (18 minutes before sundown)
February 4 havdalah at 5:51pm (42 minutes after sundown)

February 10 light at 4:59pm
February 11 havdalah at 6:01pm

February 17 light at 5:08pm
February 18 havdalah at 6:10pm

February 24 light at 5:17pm
February 25 havdalah at 6:19pm

March 3 light at 5:26pm
March 4 havdalah at 6:27pm

If it is your practice to light candles at a different hour of the day (perhaps not quite so early as halakha indicates during the winter, and not quite so late as halakha indicates during the summer), that's also a legitimate Reform Jewish choice. What's most important is that you're finding a way to incorporate Shabbat into your life!