CBI Blogs

Shalom Chaverim,

In June of 1998 a very green, sure she knew everything, pre-frontal lobe still forming, just one year married, 25-year-old Sarah Avner and her husband Jonathan moved to Austin, Texas. As high school sweethearts whose story was ready for an adventure the opportunity for Jonathan to take a job far from home and in a new country was just what this couple thought they...Read more...

So, what does a Director of Community Engagement do? It's no joke when I say "a little bit of everything." The most recent version of my job description includes duties revolving around member onboarding and engagement, communications through our calendar, email lists, website, and social media, program development, and logistical support for events. I truly love what I do and feel so lucky I get to give back to the community I grew up in by...Read more...

Shalom Chaveirim,

Today my husband and I are just three weeks returned from our most recent trip to Israel. I find myself reflecting more on our time there than any of our previous visits. This makes sense, given the current state of both the country post-October 7th and our own hearts. In the following paragraphs I hope to share a few of my reflections.

This was the first...Read more...

Dear Ones,

Two weekends ago, I received an email from a member of our community who attends the Weekday Meditation Service each Wednesday afternoon. “Can you stop by the Temple sometime on Sunday? Some of us have something for you.”

When I arrived at the Temple, I was greeted by a group of 15 or so members of our community. It was a warm afternoon, and some of them were...Read more...

In a Jewish community, we constantly read the Torah to remember the history of our ancestors so that it may never be forgotten. This is very important because if one were to forget the struggles and strife that their ancestors went through, then they will not know who they are or where they are going in the future. Additionally, those that oppress the minority population are working twice as hard to make sure that the minorities forget their...Read more...

Last year, Cathy Campbell wrote a guest blog in this bulletin about the growth of Austin Jews and Partners for Refugees from a grassroot effort originating in the Jewish Community into a thriving non-profit with hundreds of volunteers of all faiths and dozens of faith-based community organizations that assisted almost a thousand Afghan refugees to begin their new lives in...Read more...

Since fall of 2017, when we dropped Jacob off at O’Hare airport in Chicago and handed his immediate care over to the State of Israel, many people have asked me “how do you do it?” “Don’t you miss him?” “Will he go to college here, in America, when he comes home?”

And then, after a family visit to Israel in December of 2018, Rebekah, our youngest, made the same choice - attend high school in Israel through Naale at the...Read more...

Dear Ones,

There is a lovely, old Yiddish expression that translates into English as, "You cannot dance at two weddings at the same time." This is a colorful way of saying, "You can't be in two places at once.”

But Dr. Leonard Kravitz, a seminary professor of mine, used the expression in a more metaphorical vein. "All of Jewish life in the diaspora," he would...Read more...

Friends, just a few weeks ago I wrote a blog about my upcoming trip to Israel. Since then, I went on a powerful and epic journey, returning in time for Thanksgiving with my family. While it will certainly take some time to process the entirety of the trip (and I may never fully process everything I experienced), I am looking at different ways to bring what I learned to our...Read more...

This past summer, I received an email from a rabbinic colleague and friend of mine encouraging me to apply to a brand-new rabbinic fellowship. I took a few minutes to check out the website and decided this could be a great opportunity. I applied, had some intense interviews, and after a few weeks, I found out I was accepted into the pilot cohort of the Amplify Israel...Read more...

Shalom Chaverim,

This week we read Parashat Lech Lecha – go forth. The opening three verses read:

וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהֹוָה֙ אֶל־אַבְרָ֔ם לֶךְ־לְךָ֛ מֵאַרְצְךָ֥ וּמִמּֽוֹלַדְתְּךָ֖ וּמִבֵּ֣ית אָבִ֑יךָ אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר...Read more...

For almost a week, my eyes have been glued to the news, waiting with bated breath to know what is going on in my beloved Israel. I have sat in fear, worried about my dear friends across the world. I have wrung my hands, hoping and praying, knowing that there was little else I could do from Austin. Like many of you, I have had conversation after conversation about what is...Read more...

It was wonderful to see so many of you these past couple of weeks as we celebrated Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in our own beautiful space. The days were truly filled with awe, not just because of the individual introspection and reflection we took upon ourselves, but because of the joy we felt in coming together as a community. During Yom Kippur, I was particularly awed by...Read more...

L’Shanah Tova!

This past Tuesday, the remarkable craftsman from Stanton Studios in Waco began and completed the installation of our new ner tamid (eternal flame). In the days immediately following the fire, as we processed what had been done to us, an idea was born: “how do we turn this tragedy into a sign of strength, defiance, that we will NOT be snuffed...Read more...

Dear Friends,

For my blog post this week, I want to build upon the thoughtful entries that Rabbi Levy and Sarah Avner posted two weeks ago and last week, respectively. Rabbi Levy spoke of Cheshbon Hanefesh, the ethical and spiritual self inventory that is the focus of this month of Elul, leading up to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Building on this theme of spiritual inventory, Sarah Avner urged us to acknowledge the ethnic,...Read more...