Tune in: Our High Holyday services were a joy. If you missed Kol Nidre, please consider watching the youtube of what was live-streamed. We have had over 850 views. And to hear Rabbi Spitz’s sermons, click the links below: Erev Rosh Hoshana: The Importance of “Why:” Why Judaism Matters (Video or Audio) Rosh Hoshana Day 1: A Tribute to Shimon Peres,…
B’reishit The Bible’s creation story conveys vital lessons: the world is good; there is a unifying intentionality in creation; and humans are fashioned in the image of God, with the culminating charge to make time holy. These descriptions of creation are not scientific, but a foundational worldview. Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson writes in Renewing the Process of Creation (Jewish Lights, 2016) that…
Please visit this link to register. $1,150.00 per person (if register prior to December 15, 2016) Discounted price of $975 per person for CBI Benefactors and CSP Patrons Join Rabbi Spitz and travel to NYC: CBI and CSP are partnering for an encore trip to New York (May 2-7, 2017). Some highlights of our trip: Opening night…
Sukkoth The prophet Amos declared (3:8),“Shall a lion roar and who would not fear?” My Talmud teacher, Dr. Elieser Slomovic, said that in the mountains of Eastern Europe where he grew up they did not have lions. But, pious Jews lived with fear of God and read the word lion in Hebrew- ERYeH- as an acronym for the milestones of this penitential…
Ha’Azinu: Our Torah reading begins, “Give ear, O heavens, let me speak; Let the earth hear the words that I utter!” The reference to the heavens and earth listening are only metaphors. Paganism believed that nature in all its parts was alive. Spirits possessed trees and lakes and the sky. Those spirits were fickle and demanded bribes. Priests offered incantations to those unpredictable…
Dear Friends, Tonight is the launch of CBI’s small groups 5777: “Living a Life of Significance: Why Judaism Matters.” We ordered more copies of the booklet after running out of the 350 original. Please pick up a copy tonight if you have not yet done so. You may also access the material geared to group…
Va’Yeilekh: God’s final command to Moses, as conveyed in this week’s parashah, is “Write a [farewell] song to the people” (Deuteronomy 31:19). Songs are poems put to music. They have added power because music evokes and amplifies emotion. It also allows us to memorize. Hence, we learn the a,b,c’s and the aleph bet with a melody. Likewise, the power of Kol Nidre, which we…