CBI Blogs

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 Rabbi Menachem Creditor. You can become familiar with this beautiful melody by clicking here.

Olam Chesed yibaneh, yai la lai lai lai yai lai lai lai lai…x4

I will build this world from love…yai la lai lai lai yai lai lai lai lai.

And you must build this world from love…yai la lai lai lai yai lai lai lai lai.

And if we build this world from love…yai la lai lai lai yai lai lai lai lai.

Then God will build this world from love…yai la lai lai lai yai lai lai lai lai.

Last week, Rabbi Levy’s blog was all about Cheshbon HaNefesh, the accounting of our souls that this season requires of us. I especially appreciated these words of advice in relation to why we need to practice this sacred work during the month of Elul, leading up to Rosh Hashanah: “The art of beautifying your soul won’t happen overnight, let alone in one day of attending services. We have to work on it, to think about it, to lean into it, to determine the best course of action.”

This week, I am going to encourage all of us to draw on the words written by Rabbi Creditor as we prepare to be ready for the New Year. If the world is based on kindness, and if we are building the world to be one filled with love, then we can look inward to see what changes we need to make for this to be true for all of us, especially those with whom we interact in our home, work, and synagogue spaces.

I know that I speak on behalf of all my colleagues here at CBI when I say we are so excited to be returning to weekly worship at our home address. We suspect many of you will join us tomorrow evening for our celebration and know that you will meet many new people. As you do so I encourage you to say hello and wish one another Shabbat Shalom. When you prepare your name tag, please share your pronouns as we work as a community to create a welcoming space for all our members.

Finally, we cannot live up to our values of being a joyful, diverse, and inclusive congregation if our comments or questions make anyone feel like they somehow don’t belong. As I think back to my first trip to Israel, I remember standing at a busy intersection in Yaffo, taking in all the people around me. With my eyes and ears, I experienced the diversity of our people. Different shades of skin color, different languages (Hebrew, French, Russian, Spanish, etc.), and the different ways in which heads could be covered and bodies could be clothed. This was the moment when Israel felt like home for me.

I look forward to you joining me in making Congregation Beth Israel feel like home to anyone who would like to make it so. As Rabbi Creditor wrote, “if I can build this world from love, then YOU must build this world from love, and WE can build this world from love.”

Shabbat Shalom