Independent Jewish Synagogue in Asheville, NC

CBI Committee Updates January 2025

CBI COMMITTEE UPDATES

We are so grateful for the social, ritual, and educational contributions from CBI’s Committees.

Social Action Summary Report for 2024

Our focus is on Social Justice issues in the Asheville community at large. CBI Social Action has
an email list of over 40 people. However, active members are far fewer and some of them have
had serious health challenges. We are always looking for new active members.
In 2024, we suggested a program to commemorate the yahrzeit of the Three Civil Rights workers
(Goodman, Schwerner, Cheney). We collaborated with the MLK Association and Asheville
Parks & Recreation Juneteenth celebration week. Together, we organized and hosted a panel of
three speakers, educational film and luncheon with roughly 80 participants, at Shiloh Community
Center.
The committee continues to organize and implement the following activities
1. Serve dinner at the Western Carolina Rescue Ministries (WCRM) the third Tuesday of
the month
2. Donate funds/gift cards to WCRM for holidays
3. Staff 5 days with other congregations building the Faith House sponsored by Habitat for
Humanity
4. Donate food/Harris Teeter gift cards to Homeward Bound
5. Donate funds to BeLoved
6. Support Beloved annual gala and auction
7. Sponsor annual HIAS Refugee Shabbat at CBI
8. Attend community meetings in support of immigration rights
9. Attend community meetings in support of reproductive rights
10. Attend community meetings on voting rights
11. Support the publication of Anti-Racist newsletter quarterly
12. Represented on the Racial Justice Coalition
13. Meetings every other month with intervening email communication

2024 Security Committee Report

The CBI Security Committee serves the synagogue to ensure the safety, security and
resiliency of its congregation and its facility. This includes developing best practice
policies, emergency plans and procedures, undertaking threat and vulnerability
assessments of its facility, identifying security strategies and measures, and providing
training exercises for its congregants.
The Security Committee maintains a close relationship with the heads of local law
enforcement that include APD Chief Mike Lamb, APD Community Resource Officer, and
the FBI Senior Supervisory Resident FBI Agent for WNC, Bianca Pearson. Through
ongoing communication and, if and when an incident occurs, CBI is assured an
immediate response.
Alan Escovitz serves as the “convener” of the WNC Jewish Security Task Force which is
comprised of the seven synagogues in WNC, the JCC and Jewish Family Services.
The Task Force meets monthly on Zoom sharing information and updates on potential
threats to ensure the safety and security of our Jewish communities. The Task Force
provides timely, credible threat and incident information to both local law enforcement
and its community partners. It serves as a liaison with Secure Community Network
(SCN), The Community Security Service (CSS), and federal law enforcement agencies.

The Task Force provides a framework that enhances the safety and security of our
Jewish communities through cross-training among its members and working as a
combined security team for special Jewish community events.

In 2024, the CBI Security Committee has participated in the following safety and
security activities recently:
 Troysgate training at The Chabad House of Asheville with drills covering
clearing rooms, child abduction, conflict management and removing unwelcomed
visitors (June 2)
 Participating in eight instructional zoom videos on “Introduction to Terrorist
Attacks” sponsored by FEMA’s Office of Bomb Prevention (June-Aungust)
 Sponsoring an annual training and certification on “Stop the Bleed, CPR and
AED” (August 25 th )
 Programing an “Elements of Criminal Trespass and Conducting Bag
Checks” training with APD instructor, Capt. Joe Silberman (Sept. 19)
 Scheduling a “CBI Board Member and High Holiday Greeter Training” with
presentations by Alan Escovitz, Frank Goldsmith and Marc Rudow (Sept 21 st )
 Providing a “Situational Awareness Training” with CBHT Ret. Army Capt.
David Seligman (Nov.14 th )
 Training on “Complexities of Deadly Conflict, Deadly Force and Deadly
Situations”, provided by Troysgate Inc.in Lenoir, NC, a six-hour mental
preparedness and conditioning for deadly conflict situations and engagements
(Dec 8 , 2024 and Jan 23, 2025)

Club Havurah and Women’s Group

Both Club Havurah and Women’s Group are led by Helene Nathanson.  The groups offer CBI
members an opportunity to socialize with
others in a relaxed, friendly environment.  Typically Club Havurah meets at a local restaurant once a
month for lunch or dinner.  Additionally, we may
attend a Jewish-themed film together or participate in other local events.
Women’s Group meets one Sunday a month.  We discuss topics of interest to women in our
congregation.
Both groups are open to all CBI members, and we invite you to join us!  For more information,
contact Helene:
Welcome@bethisraelnc.org.

Chesed

Chesed is a team of CBI members who respond to various situations in which other CBI
members might need assistance
Our largest response during 2024 has been sending cards to express sympathy, offer get well
wishes, and extend congratulations for varying occasions. We’ve sent out about 50 cards. We’ve
also been busy making telephone calls. Seventeen people were called throughout the year for
various reasons, mostly to check in with people who were dealing with medical situations. But in
the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, a team of four CBI members contacted either directly or
indirectly (by speaking to someone who had spoken to someone else) every single CBI member
to check in and see how they were doing.
We’ve also continued to provide meals for people after an illness, the birth of a baby, or for
families during shivah. Each request involved multiple people providing food for several days.
We’re very good at accommodating dietary preferences.
In four instances, we helped arrange for people to attend shivah minyans. And we visited several
people who were homebound. We were able to respond to six requests for rides to medical
appointments, but we had several requests to which we could not respond.
In case you’re interested in helping, here’s how the system works. You would let us know which
requests you are interested in responding to. They are making meals, delivering meals, making
calls, visiting, helping to ensure a minyan, and providing rides to CBI programs and/or medical
appointments. When a request comes in, I will send that request to the group of people who have
asked to be alerted for that assistance. If it’s a convenient time for you to respond, you would let
me know. No one is expected to be available to help with every response.
Of course, this whole approach doesn’t work if we don’t know who needs some assistance. It’s
much easier for most people to offer help than to ask for it. But we will all find ourselves in
situations when a ride, a meal, a visit, or a call would be welcome. You can contact Lee, the
Rabbi, Rochelle, or Caren Kessler to alert us about what you need. Your CBI community is here to help
you. All you have to do is let us know what you need.

Congregation Beth Israel Adult Education

Project List

Ongoing Programs:
1. Hebrew Ulpan
2. Talmud Study
3. Learner’s Minyan, Unlocking the Power of Prayer
Rescheduled Programs:
1. Ethical Will Writing, Session #1 April 27, 2025 Session #2 TBD
2. Hebrew Yoga, December 8, 2025, 2-3:15 PM
3. Klezmer Concert, April 22, 2025, 7-9 PM
4. Tea and Torah: March 4, 11, 18, 25, 2025 3-4:30 PM
5. CBI Authors: Jay Jacoby and Roni Robbins

Planned/Unscheduled:
1. Art Project centered on Jewish Holiday
2. Mezzuzot History and Writing
3. Book Reading: This is Real and You are Completely Unprepared
4. Rabbi on the Block, Selichot 2025
5. Jewish Art Museum of North Carolina
Under Consideration:
1. Scholar In Residence
2. Textiles in the Bible
Deferred/Suggested:
1. Jewish Foundations of the Righteous
2. Maimonides Society
3. Intersection of Religion and Science
4. Writings of Heschel
5. Changes in Jewish Life Following World War II
6. Tour of Yesod Farm
7. Women and Judaism
8. The Historical Jesus
9. Comparative Interpretations of the Torah
10. Yiddish
11. Asheville Jewish History
12. Aging Alone, Together
13. Israeli Dance
14. Israeli Cooking
15. Moog Foundation
16. Weekly Parsha Discussion
17. My Jewish Journey – An Evening of Story Telling
18. Gather the Olives, On Food and Hope in the Holy Land
19. Documentary, God in a Box. Community exploration on the nature of God

LOU POLLOCK CEMETERY COMMITTEE 2025 REPORT

The repair of the stone pillars and re-installation of the metal sign was finally
completed. Sharon Sumrall Landscaping is overseeing maintenance of the
grounds and installation of new plantings which should start up this spring.
The water to the cemetery was restored to facilitate this. Parking pads have
been included in the plans. There are challenges in keeping the fences intact
and people from passing through. Damage to the cemetery from Hurricane
Helene was relatively minor. There were some tree limbs down and one grave
marker was toppled.

Josh Tager
828 2850-9995
joshtager@gmail.com

Ritual Committee

Kabbalat Shabbat services led by Josefa Briant the 2nd Friday night of the month and Traditional
Friday night services led by Marc Penansky followed by potluck  going very well
Attendance at Shabbat morning services continues to have good attendance with new members and
guests joining.
Rabbi’s learning session at Kiddush for Breakfast prior to a shortened service, continues to be quite
popular.
Learning Talmud with Rabbi Levine on several  Shabbatot after services and after Kiddush lunch is
going well.
The Learner’s Minyan led by Alan Silverman on the first Shabbat of the month is going well.
Thank you to Marina Yazell for the delicious Challah and desserts on Shabbat.
Thank you to Swann Lander for our delicious Kiddush luncheons in Tikvah Silvester’s maternity
absence.
Thank you to all those volunteers leading services, Haftarah and Torah readers and to Eva for
organizing the Torah readers and so much more.
Last but not least, thank you to our Ritual Committee members for all their help and suggestions in
making our services for Shabbat and holidays run smoothly.