Featured Events
Tonight at 6:30pm

Be with us for a very special MLK Shabbat as Rep. Jamaal Bowman (NY-16) speaks at services and joins us for a zoneg afterward.

CBST Kabbalat Shabbat services stream live right here on CBST’s Facebook page (facebook.com/BeitSimchatTorah). All are welcome 🌈✨

Families with Children and Teens: Martin Luther King Jr. Day Programs
Saturday, January 16-Monday, January 18

Working with our partner, Repair the World NYC, CBST children, teens, and parents can participate in meaningful action and joyful singing to honor the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. All programs require registration. We have highlighted some remote-learning options below; we ask that you please click here to view a complete list of activities >>
COVID-19 Vaccine Available for Groups 1a and 1b
The NYC Vaccine Finder is now live. New Yorkers who are eligible can view and make appointments at all sites, including city-run sites, like the NYC Vaccine Hubs that have been opening and are continuing to open, as well as private locations accessible to eligible individuals for appointments. 


NYC Vaccine Info >> Phone 1-877-829-4692 
NYS Vaccine Info >> Phone 1-833-697-4829
USA Vaccine Info >> Phone 1-800-232-4636   
Events This Week
Please arrive 10 minutes early. All programs will be locked at their start time.
Friday, January 15
Mussar Meditations Series
8:30-8:45am

Connecting in Community
with Cooperberg-Rittmaster Rabbinical Fellow Deborah Megdal
3:00-4:00pm
Join us for text study and discussion in small groups, as we transition into Shabbat.
Dial in by phone: 646-876-9923
Meeting ID: 256 347 787
Need tech help during a service? 
Text 646-450-3556
Kabbalat Shabbat Services
MLK Jr. Shabbat
6:30pm

Zoneg with Congressman Jamaal Bowman
Immediately following services
Saturday, January 16
Traditional Egalitarian Minyan Shabbat Morning Service
9:30am

Dial-in by phone: 646-876-9923
Meeting ID: 863 3629 8621
Multi-Racial Panel of Parents on Talking to Kids about Race
Grown-ups Only 
Saturday 1/16 8:15 pm: Sign up here >>

This panel will be a be discussion of personal experiences and will set parents up to continue conversations about race beyond service and MLK Weekend. Moderated by Rachel Figurasmith, Repair the World NYC Executive Director; and featuring Yolanda Savage-Navaro, Repair’s Racial Justice consultant; Yoshi Silverstein, founder of Mitsui Collective; and Sachi Feris, founder of Raising Race Conscious Kids.
Havdalah
Service begins at 7:00pm
Post-service program begins at 7:30pm
Dial-in by phone: 646-876-9923
Meeting ID: 654 880 356
Sunday, January 17
Mussar Meditations Series
8:30-8:45am

Children's Programming: Social Justice Learning & Sing-a-long
K-8th Graders
10:00-10:30am Sign up here

Toddlers & Preschoolers
11:30am-12:00pm Sign up here

Stephen Figurasmith, CBST's Alef-Bet songleader through Tkiya! with Repair the World, will lead singing and meaningful learning grounded in Jewish values and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's vision.

Card Making for Seniors with DOROT
K-5th Graders
11:00am-12:00pm Sign up here
Decorate cards and write letters for seniors experiencing social isolation.
Monday, January 18
CBST offices closed today in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Regular programs will resume next Monday.

Children's Programming: Social Justice Learning & Sing-a-long
Toddlers & Preschoolers
10:00-10:30am Sign up here

Stephen Figurasmith, CBST's Alef-Bet songleader through Tkiya! with Repair the World, will lead singing and meaningful learning grounded in Jewish values and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's vision.
Tuesday, January 19
Mussar Meditations Series
8:30-8:45am

Psalm Study with Rabbi Kleinbaum
10:00-10:45am
Dial in by phone: 646-876-9923
Meeting ID: 513 468 144
Talmud Study 
3:30-4:15pm 
Living Successfully with HIV & AIDS
5:00-7:00pm 
Wednesday, January 20
Mussar Meditations Series
8:30-8:45am

Psalm Study with Rabbi Kleinbaum
10:00-10:45am
Dial in by phone: 646-876-9923
Meeting ID: 513 468 144

Talmud Study 
3:30-4:15pm 
Tyranny and Freedom
Offered by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
4:00-5:15pm on January 13 and 20
Sanctuary at CBST: Pro Se Immigration Legal Clinic
6:00-8:30pm
Thursday, January 21
Mussar Meditations Series 
8:30-8:45am

Psalm Study with Rabbi Kleinbaum
10:00-10:45am
Dial in by phone: 646-876-9923
Meeting ID: 513 468 144

RESISTANCE: Calls & Cards meets Democracy Action Team
12:30-1:15pm
Dial in by phone: 646-876-9923 
Meeting ID: 874 4181 8544

Talmud Study 
3:30-4:15pm 

Sanctuary at CBST: Pro Se Immigration Legal Clinic
6:00-8:30pm
GIVE
In these challenging days, our community remains strong.  
 
Your membership is the foundation of CBST’s financial health. As 2021 begins, consider making your membership in monthly payments. Easy for you, and you automatically renew. CLICK HERE to learn more. 
 
CBST provides spiritual space, deep learning, social justice, and a vibrant, connected LGBTQ Jewish community. Your donation empowers our work. Your generosity keeps us Joyful, Spiritual, Proud. Thank you! 




Community Announcements
Memorial Plaques Ready for Pick Up

If you have indicated that you would like to pick up your loved ones’ memorial plaque(s) in person, they will be available for pick-up at CBST at 130 W. 30th Street on Tuesday, January 19 and Thursday, January 21, between the hours of 2:00 – 4:30pm.

For everyone’s health and safety, you must wear a face covering; no one will be allowed to enter the building, even for use of restroom. 

For those of you who have indicated you would like to have yours mailed, we will be sending them out in the coming weeks and appreciate your patience. Please contact Ruth Kleinman at rkleinman@cbst.org if you want to change how you receive your plaque.
CBST Pandemic Post Secret

Deadline is close of business today—share now >>

We are collecting short, written bits of anonymous truth-telling about our lives in the time of Covid, so that together we can witness and try to understand each other more deeply, so that we feel less alone and more connected.

In the tradition of our community practice of anonymously sharing chata’im (ways that we’ve fallen short) in preparation for S'lichot before the High Holy Days, we propose to do something simple and vulnerable: We invite 1-2 sentence anonymous submissions of your lived experience during these unprecedented times. We will share selected submissions. Everything is optional. Everything is anonymous.

Share your experience here: http://bit.ly/cbstpostsecret
CBST Members Town Hall
Topic: Life After the Inauguration
Monday, January 25, 6:00-7:15pm
Post January 20, what's next for New York, the country, and our world? How do we bring our Jewish LGBTQ values to this moment? Senior Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum moderates a panel with CBST members New York State Senator Brad Hoylman, AFT President Randi Weingarten, and human rights scholar and activist Professor Tanya Domi. Members will be emailed a link prior to the meeting. Members will receive a link to RSVP on Friday, January 22 at 3:00pm.

Dr. Joy Ladin will be in conversation with Trans Jews are Here Convening Director Ariel Zitny on poetry and more! Program is free of charge, register here >>

Joy Ladin, Ph.D. is a teacher, widely published essayist and poet, literary scholar, and nationally known speaker on transgender issues.
In Case You Missed It
Shabbat Sh'mot
Rabbi Kleinbaum shared these words from Rabbi Sharon Brous: "The only way we will be able to recover from this moment in our history, to truly heal as a nation, Rabbi Sharon Brous says, we must have a deep national reckoning. We can't just move on from where we are this week. We can't just move on from these four years. There needs to be a profound and deep national reckoning. 

We need to be able to look at the conditions that created the monsters that acted in the ways they did on Wednesday. Silence and complicity are also sins. Either we work to dismantle oppressive systems, or our inaction becomes the mortar that sustains them."