Mission Statement: Congregation Beth Israel seeks to be a welcoming, diverse Jewish community, that promotes spiritual growth, lifelong learning, charity, and social justice.
Congregation Beth Israel provides Charlottesville, Albemarle and surrounding counties with a welcoming Jewish environment in which people can study, worship, socialize and take part in helping others. CBI offers both Reform and Conservative worship services.
Rabbi Dan 25th Year
CBI Celebrates 25 Years of Rabbi Dan Alexander
CBI recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of Rabbi Dan Alexander joining the synagogue with a special shabbat service and kiddush luncheon.
Camp CBI is a place for campers to create positive Jewish experiences which will last a lifetime. Our camp offers an enriched atmosphere in which Jewish themes and activities are interwoven through music, crafts, sports, field trips, swimming and more! Camp CBI offers something for everyone; from preschoolers to high schoolers. Camp CBI is a fun, interactive and exciting way for your child to spend their summer. Register today and take advantage of our early bird savings! Questions? Please contact Shelby Apple at shelbyapple@yahoo.com for campers entering grades 1-9, or Jill Clark jillc@cbicville.org for preschool campers ages 2 to Kindergarten.
Work for CBI Preschool Summer Camp!
Calling all rising 10th and 11th graders! Are you interested in gaining work experience and having lots of fun? Join the CBI Preschool Summer Camp and work as a Counselor in Training (CIT). Applicants must be willing to work at least 3 out of the 6 weeks of camp from Monday, June 10 to Saturday, July 20. Please email Jill Clark at jillc@cbicville.org with your interest, including two paragraphs explaining why you'd like to work at the CBI Preschool Summer Camp, and what you hope to learn from the experience. Deadline for application is Monday, April 15. Participants will be notified by Wednesday, May 1.
The CBI Preschool & Kindergarten, and the CBI Administrative Office will be closed on Monday, May 27, for Memorial Day. Additionally, the CBI Administrative Office will be closed on Tuesday, May 28, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for a staff retreat.
CBI has created a new online calendar that anyone can use to sign up to host an Oneg or Kiddush! Just click on the link to open the calendar, add your name on the date you wish to host, be sure to save the document, and that's it! Hosting an Oneg or Kiddush is a generous and thoughtful way to contribute to the CBI community. Celebrate a birthday, wedding, or birth of a child; congratulate a fellow member on an achievement; commemorate a loved one, or just use it as a chance to meet your fellow members.
News & Information From the Union for Reform Judaism
The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) has realeased a new video as in introduction to Reform Judaism, you can see it below, or by clicking here.
The URJ has also launched the new website, www.reformjudaism.org, which showcases Jewish life, practice, learning, and social justice from a modern Jewish perspective. Geared toward anyone who is interested in Judaism, the site invites visitors to find recipes, holiday information, read personal stories about Jewish journeys, study Torah, participate in lively discussions, advocate for a favorite cause, find a congregation, and much more.
To celebrate Shavuot last week I joined with friends at a nearby community-wide tikkun leil Shavuot (an all night Torah study) hosted by our congregation, Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn. As in so many communities, it was a lively scene as people gathered together, listened, learned, questioned and challenged each other. This inclusive form of community gathering is a foundation of Reform Judaism and has served as a core element for the Campaign for Youth Engagement. Following the launch of the campaign at the Biennial in 2011, the URJ began reflecting on NFTY, URJ camps, Mitzvah Corps, Israel programs, and [...]
All eyes are on Grapevine, Texas today as the Boy Scouts of America begins the annual meeting of its National Council. Earlier this year the Boy Scouts of America announced that it would postpone a reconsideration of its policy prohibiting gay scouts and scout leaders until the meeting this week (see the letter that Rabbi Saperstein sent to the BSA in response to that decision). Today the 1,400 person National Council, including representatives from across the country, will vote on whether or not to lift this ban and make the organization a more inclusive one. In 2000 the Supreme Court [...]
By Rabbi Leon A. Morris There was a time, more than century and a half ago, when piyutim were seen largely as a kind of cultural burden to be cast aside in order to make the service shorter and more meaningful. Early liturgical reformers argued that the siddur and machzor had grown too lengthy and no longer inspired modern Jews. Piyutim – medieval poetic extensions of the traditional prayers, with allusions incomprehensible to the average congregant – were first on the chopping block. The irony, however, lies in the fact that the piyut was itself a sort of liturgical reform. While [...]
On May 2, Rhode Island’s governor signed a marriage equality bill, making it the tenth state to take this important step. Shortly afterwards, Delaware and Minnesota also passed marriage bills, making this a remarkable spring of advancement towards equality. I composed the following reflection after the last critical step in the long process of advocacy and legislative debate, the hearing held by the Rhode Island Senate Judiciary Committee in March. The prescribed biblical reading for the beginning of Passover includes Exodus 12:42…in describing the end of the 430 years of oppression, the text describes that final night as a “leil [...]
