Marcus James: My People, Place, & Purpose (Part 2) [CLICK HERE to read Part 1 of this series, Ed.] “Daddy, I have found my people, my place, and my purpose!” These were the words that drew me to Israel, which eventually led me on my own journey with Judaism. Upon returning from my third trip there, I set about locating the local Jewish community -the people. While [...]
Rabbi Daniel Brenner: Refugee Shabbat 2021 Erev Shabbat Sermon, March 5, 2021 Tonight across the country, reform and conservative synagogues are commemorating Refugee Shabbat, a Project of the Hebrew immigrant aid society. And this weekend in Santa Barbara, many faith communities are participating in Love your neighbor weekend, a celebration of our immigrant populations. How [...]
Janet Malki: CBB Leadership Institute When I first was contacted by Jill Feldman and Ashley Goldstein to participate in the CBB Irving and Marlyn Berstein Leadership Institute (LI) via Zoom, I was hesitant for a variety of reasons. You know the excuses: time commitment, not being able to meet in person, concerns about future requests to [...]
Rabbi Daniel Brenner: Reproduction Shabbat Some of you may have seen that I was asked by the Santa Barbara News Press to comment on the Supreme Court decision to allow CA houses of worship to hold indoor services. I told the author of the article that we would not be coming back to in-person services [...]
CBB Voices blog highlighted at Shabbat services! We celebrated a special "blog post Shabbat" this past Friday, January 22. During the sermon portion of the service, Allan Morton, Judy Karin, and Phoebe Light (pictured here) read posts they've published on the CBB Voices blog. Editor Monica Steiner introduced the panel by describing this blog project [...]
Phoebe Light: Shabbat in the Time of Corona My relationship with Jewish life had always been, up until a couple of years ago, off-and-on. Jewish summer camp a couple of times. A Birthright trip. A year playing guitar at Hillel in college. Even a three-year stint living in Israel, not that I ever really explored [...]
Rabbi Steve Cohen: Reflections After the Capitol Hill Riot As we await the Inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on January 20, I think that many of us…both Republicans and Democrats…. are asking the same basic question. Can we hope to create a civilized society here in the United States, with healthy, functioning institutions of local, [...]
Barbara Greenleaf: The Sunday School of Grandma and Grandpa When our younger daughter saw that Sunday school was not going to reopen due to the Coronavirus, she asked her father and me if we would take over her boys’ religious education. We just looked at each other blankly and, frankly, a little panic-stricken. Neither of [...]
Rabbi Steve Cohen: Two Abrahams Shabbat Shalom! This evening I am thinking of our two great Abrahams. First, Abraham the father of the Jewish people, who lived about 4,000 years ago and whom we meet once again in this week’s Torah portion. And also Abraham Lincoln, who 150 years ago led the United States through [...]
Rabbi Ira Youdovin: Now It's Our Turn On the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av in the year 586 BCE, the prophet Jeremiah sat somewhere in Jerusalem watching his beloved city go up in flames. Overcome with grief, he wrote words preserved in the biblical Book of Lamentations: “Lonely sits the city Once great [...]