Synogogue Vegan Challenge
CBI is excited to announce that we have been accepted into this year's Synagogue Vegan Challenge. We believe food can be a powerful way to live our Jewish values and look forward to incorporating vegan meals into events throughout the year. Learn more.
A Letter From Rabbi Jacob Fine: Linking Ancient Grief and Today's Urgency on Tisha B'Av
Tisha B’Av comes at a moment of so much acute suffering in our Jewish community and in our world.... Among Eicha’s many anguished cries, one theme echoes with particular pain this year: hunger. “The young children ask for bread,” we read, “but no one gives it to them.” (Eicha 4:4)
Eicha’s descriptions of hunger reverberate painfully as we witness an ever deepening, devastating and dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where far too many—especially children—face widespread starvation and despair. Regardless of politics, borders, or blame, we can never turn away from human suffering. Our tradition commands us: “If there is a hungry person, one must feed them.” (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 250:1) At this moment we call on Israel’s leaders, our fellow Jews, to take responsibility in bringing about a solution. Read more.
An Inclusive Community
We Are Grateful to Our Major Funders
Congregation B’nai Israel recognizes and honors the original inhabitants who first settled in the valley of the Kwinitekw River. CBI acknowledges that we are on Nonotuck land. We also acknowledge our neighboring Indigenous nations: the Nipmuc and the Wampanoag to the East, the Mohegan and Pequot to the South, the Mohican to the West, and the Sokoi Abenaki to the North.