Independent Jewish Synagogue in Asheville, NC

Membership application

It only takes a few minutes – the results can last for generations

This isn’t your grandparents’ synagogue – not even your parents’. The world has changed a lot in just the last 20 years. Folks have limited time and energy (especially if you’re a young family) and more choices in where to invest themselves. You decide based on what is most meaningful and important to you and your famly. We get it.

At CBI, we don’t measure our success by BIS (butts in seats) or how many zeros are the end of a check. Success for us is defined by meaningful individual experiences: an encounter that sticks with you, an insight from a class that helps you see the world or yourself differently, a sincere “thank you” from someone on the receiving  end of a selfless act of compassion. That’s what keeps us coming back, week after week and season upon season.

If that sounds meaningful and valuable for you, you’re in the right place.  Join Our Family HERE 

 

We meet you where you are

CBI is blessed with a very diverse membership. We pride ourselves on being a caring and inclusive community; a place where non-Jewish spouses and partners are accorded full membership; where young and old, married and single, observant and secular find common ground in Judaism’s expanding tent. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call Lee or Rochelle in the office (828-252-8660)

 

Our take on belonging: Owners not Customers

CBI  is a “covenental community.” (Read A Prayer for Belonging below.) Being a part of the CBI community means having the community’s support, in good times and bad. It means sharing an unspoken commitment between all members of our CBI family. It means being accepted and valued for who you are and being met where you are in your life. It means having a voice and a place here from day one.

This “brit kehilah” (community covenant) also runs both ways. Those who choose to belong do so with the understanding that everyone here is an owner. We participate, we volunteer, we sacrifice and, most of all, we come together for the sacred purpose of building and strengthening our community.

Admittedly, our brand of  “do-it-yourself” Judaism isn’t for everyone. But if you are looking for a spritual home where you can love, question, learn and grow – while helping others do the same – you’ll fit in just fine at CBI.

 

The following poem was written by members of CBI and is read as a responsive reading during each New Member Welcome Shabbat when we officially welcome a new family into the community.

A Prayer for Belonging

This is our prayer for belonging –

Our silent commitment. We walked as one
limping from Egypt, longing for rest;

Through fragility and hope and generations
We have been here for each other, saying:

This is our promise of belonging.

When I am blessed with joy;
When I wonder or ask or despair-

We will be there.
And when the gifts you offer are needed most- 

I will give whatever I am able
With willing hands and a full heart.

Each of us has a part that no one else can play,
a singular sweet voice with a unique story to tell. 

And when we open ourselves to one another,
The moment grows pregnant with possibilities.

This is what it means to belong.

This is our promise.

This is our prayer for belonging.