Dear member of our CBB family,

For me personally, the High Holy Days this year will be especially poignant; this will be my last Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur as CBB’s Senior Rabbi!

Naturally, I have mixed emotions. On the one hand, I look forward to years in the future when I can enter the Days of Awe as just an ordinary Jew, coming to pray, to sing and to greet friends, without the responsibility of creating a sacred space for an entire community. But on the other hand, I know that I will miss the intensity of standing on the bimah, exchanging smiles, ideas and energy with a vast community of worshippers. I’m sure that my heart and mind will be flooded this year with memories of forty plus years of sermons, of shofar blasts, of Avinu Malkenu, of fasting and falling prostrate before the Ark. I welcome that flood!

Because our Building Dreams construction project will not yet be complete, we will be gathering offsite once again, this year at First Presbyterian Church of Santa Barbara. Of course, I am sad that my last High Holy Days as Senior Rabbi will be at a temporary location. But I’m comforted knowing that we can come together anywhere. We have gathered at Trinity Lutheran Church, the Arlington Theater, Stearns Wharf, Hillel, Draughtsman Aleworks…and when Covid kept us all locked down in our homes, we managed to gather on Zoom. CBB happens in any place that we gather as a community.

Before signing off, I want to acknowledge that this has been a difficult year. The trauma of October 7, the continuing nightmare (at the time of this writing) of the plight of the hostages and the horror in Gaza. Campus protests, rising antisemitism and political polarization. In these turbulent times, we need to reconnect, as we always have done. Throughout our long history, we Jews have returned at this time of year to community, to tradition, and to God. I hope to see you there. Marian joins me in wishing you and your loved ones a sweet, happy and healthy New Year!