TORAH PORTION

Return us to You, O Lord, and we shall return; renew our days like days of old!

Lamentations 5:21 

The above verse, though from the Book of Lamentations that we read on Tisha Bav, contains a lovely message for the New Year. It is also poignantly applicable to CBOI.

There is so much new here at CBOI. A new Cantor, a new Rabbi, a redone Bimah and Ark. A renovated Religious School, a newly paved entryway—so much new! 

That newness even extends to the interior life of our community. Our Shabbat services feel very new, we have new programming, and we had over 20 teenagers in our synagogue this past Sunday to help start a BBYO chapter here in Bucks County. We have a singles event with record attendance, and we had over 115 people at our Shabbat Under the Stars! We also have a new Torah on the way.

Despite these changes, the core of what I have found to make CBOI so unique—our special sauce—is the heimish (family-like) atmosphere here. No congregant can walk out of CBOI without seeing old friends, and no newcomer ever leaves without making new ones! In that regard, we achieve what so many communities aspire to.

It was this special sauce that drew Sonia and me here, all the way from Taiwan. 

Although there is so much new, the core beauty continues to shine through. It as though God is truly answering our prayer to “renew our days, like our days of old!” A renewal built upon continuity, tradition, and innovation.

As we enter the New Year, let us carry forward what we have always done best, while embracing the future together.

Sonia and I wish you a shanah tovah umetukah, a sweet and wonderful new year!

Rabbi Cody R. Bahir, Ph.D.