Ken Ryals z"l: Oseh Shalom CBB remembers our beloved choir member, Ken Ryals, with this video that he recorded just days before he passed. He brought this setting of “Oseh Shalom” by Michael Ochs to life with his beautiful voice, energy, and special “Ken” flavor. His smile at the end reveals his joy in making [...]
Felicia Palmer & Rabbi Daniel Brenner: Yom Kippur Sermon 2020 - Miscarriage Rabbi Daniel: Gut Yuntif. I’ve asked my wife Felicia to join me on the bimah this morning for this sermon because, frankly, it felt wrong not to. Our topic this morning is a deeply personal story shared by us, and I felt it [...]
Rabbi Steve Cohen: Yom Kippur Sermon 2020 - Helplessly Hoping Six long months ago, in late March, my sister sent me a link to a video of an Italian teen choir from Rome, singing a song from our youth, “Helplessly Hoping.” [See bottom of this post to view the video -- Ed]. I had never seen anything like it. First one young woman, Irene, singing on her own, in her apartment. She was then joined [...]
Amy Katz: High Holy Day Slide Show -- A Look at Ourselves Before Covid Amy Katz is a photojournalist and member of CBB. She has been travelling and covering the protests across the country. In this post, she shares her High Holy Day slideshow with our community, which she created [...]
Rabbi Steve Cohen: Rosh HaShanah Sermon 5781/2020 - Environment And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “my father.” Abraham replied “here I am my son.” And Isaac said “here is the fire, and here is the wood, but where is the lamb for the offering?” Here in California, and throughout the entire western United States, [...]
Rabbi Daniel Brenner: Rosh HaShanah Sermon 2020 -- Race & Jews of Color Before I begin my prepared sermon, I want to pause and reflect that my heart breaks tonight over the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsberg. She served this country in the Supreme Court valiantly for 27 years, and dedicated her life to the [...]
Joel Block: The Honest Struggle All of us, throughout our lives, often have to make choices between what we think we ought to do and what we think is good for us. This pandemic has only exacerbated that dilemma. I am a committed Reform Jew, and that means that I believe that it is incumbent upon me, and all [...]
Rabbi Malka Drucker: A Different Four Questions My father wasn’t a religious man. I don’t know what he believed, only what he behaved. Along with suggesting that I not take everything so seriously, he advised, “What happens, honey, isn’t important; it’s how you deal with it. When I had a heart attack at 54, it [...]
Susan Rakov: Getting Ready for the High Holy Days at Home One year, I was sick in bed during Yom Kippur. I didn’t try to watch a whole day of services on my computer, but I did tune in for the livestream of Kol Nidre. I could see the bimah, the rabbis and the cantor, [...]
Rabbi Daniel Brenner: Maybe and Definitely Maybe you will read this one day, Or Maybe someone will tell you All of the definitely we want for you Maybe you will be a boy Maybe a girl Maybe binary definitions won’t confine you And you will teach us something new Maybe you will follow traditions [...]