Congregation B’nai Israel in Tustin
Background
Congregation B’nai Israel (CBI) is a welcoming and inclusive egalitarian Jewish community affiliated with the Conservative Movement, serving greater Orange County. Its purpose is to cultivate a “connected community”—deeply connected to one another and to our rich, multi-faceted Jewish tradition.
Founded in 1980, CBI is located at 2111 Bryan Ave., Tustin. In September 1989, the congregation closed escrow on the 3-acre lot that was to become its home at Bryan and Browning. Groundbreaking took place in early 1992. After Phase I was completed, and in August 1999, Phase II, the Sharon Sanctuary, was dedicated.
Spiritual leadership includes Rabbi Adam Greenwald and Cantor Amy Robinson Katz. Rabbi Elie Spitz, who joined CBI in 1988, became Rabbi Emeritus in 2021. Jacob Green is president. The number of family units is 400+. For more information, please visit www.cbi18.org or call (714) 730-9693.
What are the most popular of your synagogue’s programs or services?
Shabbat is the central hub of our communal experience, with well-attended Shabbat morning services each week. Hazzan Amy Robinson Katz leads participatory services full of musical creativity and reverence for tradition, including our special HAL’LU, Yism’chu and PrayerSong services. Our impressive cohort of Torah readers includes over 100 members a year of all ages. On First Fridays, we have a special service for our “bite sized” (preschool) members, followed by Shabbat Club led by our USY teens. Third Friday nights include communal dinner and lots of singing.
CBI isn’t just packed on Shabbat; we have activities for all ages seven days a week. We have lots for children and families, starting with our littlest CBI’ers who participate in our Child Development Center, to our twice-a-week Religious School that kids actually want to attend, to a very active youth department with our “Chapter of Excellent” winning USY cohort. Over the summer, we host over 120 kids in our Camp B’nai Ruach day camp. In addition, we have ChaiLife for our young professionals, ongoing adult education classes taught by both clergy and members, Men’s and Women’s clubs, and much more.
We also love to host guests. Just this year, we were joined by Rabbi Ed Feinstein for a weekend of learning, Rabbi Josh Warshawsky and Moshav Band’s Duvid Swirsky for Shabbats full of music, and activist Naomi Ackerman, founder of The Advot Project.” On Simchat Torah, we packed our courtyard and danced with the Torahs as the klezmer-bluegrass band Mostly Kosher played. We even had a guest yoga teacher join us on Yom Kippur to help us stretch our bodies as we stretched our souls.
What programs or services do you think capture the synagogue’s underlying philosophy?
Two programs particularly come to mind: The first is our active Social Action team, which is engaged in living our Jewish values in the broader community. One of their activities is our monthly Sunday Supper program, in coordination with several area churches, in which our members cook and serve a delicious meal to our homeless neighbors. In addition, this year, CBI took on the challenge of forming a HIAS Welcome Circle to resettle a refugee family. Our community continues to come together to provide wrap-around support to a single mother and her teenage daughter with special needs who were forced to flee Ukraine.
The second program is ShabbatShaHome, which provides home hospitality for a Shabbat meal or Havdalah celebration for every single CBI congregant each year. This program had gone dormant because of COVID, but this year is back stronger than ever, with dozens of CBI members opening their homes and forging the personal connections that are the backbone of our community.
What are some of the unique aspects of the congregation?
CBI is a welcoming and warm congregation. We pause during every service to greet each other and welcome newcomers to our village. Newcomers are routinely invited to sit with members at our weekly Kiddush lunch and leave with new friends. This spirit was best embodied in the dancing that broke out during High Holy Day services, when hundreds of CBI members, new and old, joined hands and danced in circles that extended through the whole Sanctuary.
We take care of each other in hard times, showing up for each other in shiva, delivering meals made by our “Cooking for Comfort” committee, and providing elderly congregants with buddies to check in on them. Teens and kids are warmly encouraged to participate, and the congregation loves nothing more than when our preschoolers gather on the bima with stuffed Torahs or our teens all come up to lead Ashrei or Adon Olam. The only problem is that CBI events never seem to end— people keep schmoozing long after the official program is over!
What would you say to encourage someone to join your congregation?
The experience of living through a pandemic taught us not to take the presence of community for granted. We all flourish when we are part of a connected village.
We need people to celebrate and mourn with, who will look out for the vulnerable among us, and with whom we can make a safe and loving place for our kids and grandkids to grow up. We celebrate Shabbat and holidays together with vibrant, musical, and meaningful services that weave reverence for tradition with a spirit of innovation.
As a fully egalitarian and participatory community, we believe in an empowered Judaism that invites everyone, regardless of background, to keep learning and growing. We welcome and embrace our diverse community, including interfaith and LGBTQ+ families. Rooted in our Jewish traditions and values and animated by open and welcoming hearts, we are building a Jewish home for us all. And that home is stronger and better with YOU in it!
ILENE SCHNEIDER has been chronicling Jewish life in Orange County for five publications since 1978. She has served as a communications consultant for a number of Jewish organizations. She is a contributing writer to Jlife magazine.