CBI Blogs

Last week, Sarah Avner shared about her time at Greene Family Camp as a member of the faculty. This week (plus a few more days next week), I too have the privilege of serving on the GFC faculty. I grew up coming to Greene each summer, first as a camper, then a counselor, followed by admin (unit head), and now as faculty. In fact, this is my 18th summer at Greene Family Camp....Read more...

Some of you may recall that I spent 4 years in Rochester, New York before moving to Austin. I loved my time there, especially during the summer months. While the weather during the winter can make it somewhat unbearable to live there, the summer is incredible.

During my years as the assistant and later associate rabbi at Temple B’rith Kodesh, I had the privilege of leading Torah...Read more...

Dear Ones,

This coming Monday we celebrate Juneteenth, a holiday that did not really begin to penetrate my awareness until moving to Texas in 1991. I’m embarrassed to admit that prior to that time, I knew that Juneteenth had a connection to the civil rights movement, but not much more than that.

The full name of this federal holiday is Juneteenth National Independence Day. It is a date that became associated with President...Read more...

It’s official: School’s out for the summer! The weather is heating up, the pools are open, and the thrill of camp, cook-outs, and casual attire can officially commence. I personally love summer, even though I no longer get to enjoy all the fun offered by my favorite season. As an adult, summer means shuffling children to various camps, trying to find some time to take off of work, relishing the air conditioning,...Read more...

These past few weeks have been full of transitions. In nature, we have experienced our last cold front as spring quickly flows into summer. In Torah we have completed the book of Leviticus by reading the last three verses and exclaiming “חֲזַק חֲזַק וְנִתְּחַזֵּק chazak chazak v’nitchazeik” – be strong and let us strengthen one another. Schools across our area are entering their last days as students look ahead...Read more...

Shalom Chaverim,

Outwardly, it might appear that we have entered a quiet season post-Passover. I mean, other than the addition of the counting of the Omer being added to our Erev Shabbat liturgy, there just doesn’t seem to be a lot going on. However, we have just finished a very exciting and meaningful 10 days. Not in our Religious Holiday Calendar but in our Israeli Holiday...Read more...

As a mom of two small children, you can imagine (and perhaps relate) to the repetition that occurs when kids are learning to count. They love saying the numbers over and over, sometimes correctly, most of the time, not. They enjoy practicing by counting their toys, food, people, while walking up steps, or counting anything! Even though this immerging skill can be frustrating and hilarious to observe, it’s an...Read more...

We’ve reaching the time of year I typically dread; we just started reading from Vayikra, the Book of Leviticus. Why the dread? Well, if you’ve ever read through this book, you know it’s full of bloody and gory details about sacrifice, graphic images associated with skin afflictions, commandments regarding the purity and impurity of people (specifically women), and more. It’s a complex, multi-layered,...Read more...

Like many of you, I grew up singing the songs and musical settings Debbie Friedman wrote throughout much of the second half of the 20th century. Her music has an ability to speak to almost every moment in life, whether joyful, full of sorrow, or even the most mundane. As a rabbinical student, I was fortunate to learn melodies Debbie wrote that I never knew as a young kid. When I was in my second year of school,...Read more...

Marrying later in life, Scot and I talked a lot about how we wanted to fill our home with love, charity and faith. We knew forming an interfaith family would bring challenges.  When Daisy became a part of our family, we started thinking of the challenges of finding the right faith community for her. We wanted a community to love and accept people of color, but so much more than just acceptance.  

We...Read more...

I’ll begin this week’s blog with a joke: “Hey Siri, do you have free will?” Siri responds, “I have been programmed to say yes.”

While this may not be the joke of the century, I do hope it made you smile a little bit. And, perhaps, maybe it made you think more deeply about the concept of free will?

So, why bring up this big and...Read more...

For the past several weeks we have been reading the story of Joseph as the book of Genesis finally comes to its end. The story of Jacob, his favorite son Joseph, and the band of brothers is so exciting that Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber crafted a musical based on the tale in 1968: “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”.

Fast-forward to 1985, three years after the...Read more...

Even though we are halfway through Chanukah, the smell of latkes still lingers in the air (and most likely will continue to for weeks at this rate). My fingers are sore from spinning dreidels, the wax continues to collect in layer upon layer on our Chanukiah, but the joy and excitement for this holiday remains.

Personally, I felt extremely uplifted seeing so many smiling and...Read more...

“Oh, the weather outside is muggy,

And sadly, it’s still buggy.

But as long as you re-member

It’s December, it’s December, it’s December.”

Well, I may not be a great song writer, but I do know that it’s the time of year...Read more...

One of my favorite wise sayings is this: "The finest achievement to which one can aspire is that of being a good ancestor." That's not an exact quotation, and it grieves me that I can no longer remember where I first heard it, but it reflects a deep and uplifting truth, whatever the original source might be.

At the beginning of this week's Torah portion, Hayei Sarah (the Hebrew means, The Life of Sarah), the...Read more...