From the place where we are right flowers won't grow. –Amichai Levy
Debate for the Sake of Heaven: A Community Talk with Rabbi Kleinbaum last Tuesday opened with a series of questions. One of them was: how have we come to a place where we can debate the existence of G-d in shuls of every denomination and political affiliation; yet, there are lines in the sand drawn around debate and discussion having anything to do with Israel, Palestine, and the conflict?
CBST, once again, is a leader, an exception, and a model for what is possible within a synagogue of ...
This past Tuesday CBST joined LGBT advocates from across the state calling on the Senate to pass GENDA at Empire State Pride Agenda’s annual Equality and Justice Lobby day. It was an energizing and momentum building day in Albany, spent between legislator’s offices, rallying, and movement building with friends, allies and partners. We spoke to our legislators about the crucial need for legal protections for transgender New Yorkers, increased funding for queer homeless youth and health and human services for the LGBT community. We celebrated last year’s huge win of marriage in NY state, and committed to each other to ...
Adapted from a d'var Torah delivered at CBST on Friday, March 9, 2012, by Cooperberg-Rittmaster Rabbinical Intern Guy Austrian, for Parashat Ki Tissa 5772.
There was a time in my life when I used to be around a lot of “spiritual” people who would say things like, “I can’t get involved with politics right now; I’m working on myself.” This annoyed me because I was doing a lot of street demonstrations and other activism, and I heard the comment as overprivileged navel-gazing, and as an excuse for not getting out there and doing something to repair the world.
But maybe ...
The New York State budget passed today demonstrates a callous indifference to the homeless youth population of the State of New York. We as Shelter of Peace (representing over 90 clergy and their congregations) and a member of the Campaign for Youth Shelter spent the past 5 months making the Governor’s office and the Legislature fully aware of the enormity of the problems facing homeless youth. We met with the Governor’s office many times to discuss the numbers. We also met with all the Senators and Assembly members on committees that are supposed to provide the funding for services to ...
Register now for the LGBT Topics in Pastoral Care Series
Join us for our first session this Tuesday! Topics in LGBTQ Pastoral Care Series is being presented by Congregation Beit Simchat Torah. Sessions are free and open to clergy, students, and faculty from all seminaries and movements of Judaism who are interested in learning more about LGBTQ pastoral care.
Conversion to ...
We are all horrified to hear the news of the shooting at the French Jewish School. CBST joins with all those around the world to express our outrage at this heinous act and to extend our comfort to the family and friends of the victims.
We will remember the victims when we say Kaddish at services Friday night. May there be a day when no family should suffer so and hatred be a thing of the past.
--Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum
Here are a couple of recent articles to learn more about the shooting:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/21/world/europe/jewish-school-shooting-in-france.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/20/world/europe/toulouse-fear-sadness-and-incomprehension/?hpt=hp_c1
...
The state government is finalizing it’s budget this week and has currently not restored the $2.3 million previously cut from funding for runaway and homeless youth.
Don’t leave our children out in the cold.
Please contact the following representatives to demand that funding!
Talking Points:
**I am calling as a concerned citizen and member/leader of my congregation and the Shelter of Peace network.
**Every night in ...
Over the past months, the Muslim-American community and allies have rallied against NYPD's surveillance
of Muslim communities, student groups, and mosques in New York and throughout the northeast. In response, Rabbi Kleinbaum, alongside community leaders, signed on to a letter calling for the Attorney General to investigate NYPD monitoring and surveillancing of the Muslim-American students and communities. CBST has joined community leaders in calling for the NYPD to ...
Last Wednesday morning, I was honored to represent CBST and join faith leaders from across the city to testify to the urgent need for a moral budget that takes care of our most vulnerable. A budget which addresses the crisis of youth homelessness and restores the cuts which threaten the young people in our community with isolation and death. Alongside ministers, reverends, a rabbi and an imam, I shared the work and conviction of CBST as a community yearning ...
Starting tonight, In Israel, and then around the world, Jews in synagogues, community centers and other venues will be celebrating Purim – in many cases with emphasis on the celebration – with wine, hamentaschen, parades and much merriment. Some of what happens during this feast, which comes just a month before Pesach, mimics what happens during Mardi Gras and Lent a month before Easter in the Christian world.
Each year, as Purim approaches, I try to get in the festive mood – or at least out of the anti-Purim mood. Each year I come no closer or even get further away. ...