CBI Blogs

Friends, the weeks that have followed since October 7th have been best described as beyond challenging and on an emotional level the words “it’s just so much” have left my lips more than once. Over 240 Israeli’s are being held by their terrorist captors, specialists continue the heartbreaking work of trying to identify the remains of over 300 of those murdered, and antisemitic, anti-Islamic, and anti-Israel...Read more...

Dear Friends,

The name of the Torah portion this week is Vayera, “God appeared [to Abraham].” This “appearance” refers to the famous story in which three wayfarers, who later turn out to be angels, visit Abraham to announce that he and his elderly wife, Sarah, are destined, at last, to have their long promised child. Sarah will name the child “Isaac,” Yitzhak, from the word meaning “laughter.” Sarah...Read more...

In my time at CBI, I don’t think I’ve ever completely articulated my feelings about Israel. I’ve skirted around the topic and offered somewhat parve statements regarding the history and challenges of Israel. I’ve attempted to meet our community where it is with this particular subject, all while keeping my opinions and beliefs somewhat on the sideline. But today, I...Read more...

Moadim l’simchah!

Since Yom Kippur I have been approached by many people who have said “aren’t you happy the holidays are over?” or “I bet you have a lot more time to do other things now that the holidays are behind you.”

The truth is, we are still “in” the holidays! They just keep coming!

Two...Read more...

Dear Ones,

As you can imagine, rabbis all over the world do a lot of stressing out over their Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur sermons, for at least two obvious reasons.

First, because the themes of the Days of Awe are so big and important.

Second, because the sanctuary is full! It’s the only time of the year you get to connect in this way with so many members of the community. So, sermon wise, the heat is...Read more...

While I am afraid to admit it, the High Holy Days are truly right around the corner. That means we will celebrate Selichot this Saturday, the beginning of this sacred time. The word Selichot translates to “forgiveness,” which is certainly the theme of the High Holy Days. The Selichot service offers penitential prayers, or prayers that ask for forgiveness, as we begin the process of atoning for those moments in...Read more...

Shalom Chaverim,

This afternoon, I picked up a copy of our siddur: Mishkan Halev: Prayer for S’lichot and the Month of Elul and the book naturally fell open to the words of Olam Chesed. Words from Psalm 98:3 “the world is based on kindness.” For those of you who join us at Erev Shabbat services on a regular basis, you are familiar with the beautiful melody gifted to us by...Read more...

Dear Friends,

As I mentioned last year in my Rosh Hashanah Eve sermon, sometimes an upcoming bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah student will express trepidation regarding their impending big day by saying, "What if I mess up?" And then I will tell them that I've been a Rabbi 38 years, and I still get the jitters before every High Holy Day sermon, and that sometimes I make big, obvious mistakes on the bimah, but that's because I'm human, so I...Read more...

Shalom Chaverim,

Last week, in synagogues around the world, we finished the book of Numbers by reading the verses of the double portion Matot-Masei. In preparation for Shabbat I was reading through these two parshiot and found myself struck by these words: “The Eternal One spoke to Moses, saying: Instruct the Israelite people and say to them: When you enter the land of Canaan,...Read more...

Whether it is day camp, overnight sleepaway camp, or being flooded with memories of camp, we are right in the middle of summer camp season here in Central Texas.

On Saturday, June 24th I drove through the gates of URJ Greene Family Camp, in Bruceville, Texas, for the first time since leaving in summer 2019. I was fortunate to be the summer Education Director for three summers:...Read more...

Dear Ones,

Roughly 15 years ago, I enrolled in a seminar for clergy taught by Reverend Doug Hester, a Lutheran pastor from San Antonio. Doug had been a student of Rabbi Edwin Friedman (1932 – 1996), and the months long seminar focused on teaching Friedman's work to the assembled clergy.

Rabbi Friedman's renown among not only rabbis, but clergy of other faiths as well, grew out of his pioneering application of...Read more...

Shalom Chaveirim!

For those of you who follow me on Facebook (Sarah Avner Beth Israel) – or read my blog post from a couple of weeks ago - you know that my husband Jonathan and I have just returned from a busy 12-day trip to Israel. The main purpose of our travels was to celebrate our youngest child’s graduation from High School.

This was our...Read more...

I know that many of you took the opportunity to participate in the various festivities in honor of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, held at the JCC on April 30. CBI as an organization was well represented at the Shalom Austin celebration, and by all accounts it was a smashing success.

At the same time, I've been involved in conversations stretching back to well before the...Read more...

If you’re anything like me, you probably didn’t quite realize that this Sunday is Mother’s Day. It always has a tendency to sneak up on me with the end of year chaos and other things happening at this time of year. And, because we do not have any events, programs, classes, or services on that Sunday, it often flies under my personal radar.

I have always watched in awe as my...Read more...

An old journalistic aphorism holds that "Jews are news." Whether that is still broadly true today might be open to debate, but it is undeniably true that "Israel is (constantly in the) news." Whether the frame of reference is the Israel-Palestine conflict in its military, diplomatic and philosophical/moral dimensions, or the status of non-Orthodox converts to Judaism in...Read more...