Click below to watch Rabbi Joshua Samuels deliver the opening prayer at the House of Representatives in Olympia March 28, 2019
Our Rabbi
Message to our community
October 27, 2018
Dear Friends,
We are overcome with grief and heartbreak.
This morning as many of us were beginning our day, an antisemitic gunman entered the Tree of Life – Or L’Simcha Congregation in Pittsburgh and murdered 11 congregants. Once again, a fellow citizen armed with hatred and an arsenal has sown destruction in a house of worship. Once again, antisemitism has reared its ugly head, this time in a community very much like our own.
Our Jewish tradition teaches us to keep quiet in a house of mourning as rarely can words ever express a way to comfort those grieving. Our presence is sometimes the most effective way to communicate to mourners that we are holding them in our hearts. Words cannot express how sad, angry, frustrated, and bereaved we are in this moment. We will take the time we need to mourn and then we will rise up. We will reach out to our fellow congregation and offer to help in any way possible. We will continue to gather for Shabbat services and Torah Study and all the other ways each of us participate in the Jewish life of Congregation Beth Israel.
We are, and will remain, vigilant in protecting our community’s freedom to worship, study and celebrate Judaism. We work constantly to align our security measures with best practices, and we are routinely in touch with law enforcement.
RAC Blog by Rabbi Samuels
Read Rabbi Joshua Samuels’s blog entry, “Understanding and Protecting the Sacred Spaces of American Indians,” on the Religious Action Center’s website.
Rabbi In the News
Read Rabbi Samuels’ prescription for a “spiritual checkup” in the Aug. 26, 2013 edition of the JT News.
Divrei Torah/Sermons
Sermons by Rabbi Joshua Samuels (unless otherwise noted):
2024:
Erev Rosh Hashanah: If I am not for me
Rosh Hashanah Morning: Chaos on Campus
Kol Nidre: Pidyon Shvuyim
Yom Kippur: Lessons About Death
2023:
Erev Rosh Hashanah: God Re-visited
Rosh Hashanah Morning: Judaism and Gender
Kol Nidre: Life After Death
Yom Kippur: Holiness
2022:
Erev Rosh Hashanah (Awe Wonder and the Cosmos)
Rosh Hashanah Morning (Reproductive Justice)
Rosh Hashanah Day 2, The Akedah (by David Schlitt)
Kol Nidre (Regret)
Yom Kippur Morning (Loving-Kindness)
2021:
Erev Rosh Hashanah (What Brings Us Here Tonight)
Rosh Hashanah Morning (The Z Word)
Kol Nidre (We Are All Flawed)
Yom Kippur Morning (My Ethical Will)
2020:
Erev Rosh Hashanah (Silver Linings)
2019:
Yom Kippur: Jewish Elderhood
Kol Nidre: Judaism and Guns
Rosh Hashana Day 2: What do Jews Believe? by Stuart Berman
Rosh Hashana morning: Judge Not — The Jewish Perspective on Casting Judgment
Erev Rosh Hashana: Why I am Proud to be a member of CBI
2018:
YK morning Tochecha- Rebuke Lovingly
YK Kol Nidre Love your neighbor as yourself
Shabbat Shuvah, Guest Sermon by Roby Blecker
Rosh Hashana morning: To Be a Super Hero
Erev Rosh Hashana: Why I am Proud to be a Reform Jew
2017:
2017 Yom Kippur Morning: Finding Resilience
2017 Kol Nidre: Scapegoating
2017 Rosh Hashana morning: Mahloket L’shem Shamayim
2017 Erev Rosh Hashana: Why I am Proud to be a Jew
2016:
Yom Kippur Morning 2016: Jewish Response to Black Lives Matter
Kol Nidre 2016: Forgiveness
Erev Rosh Hashana 2016: Happiness, Happiness You Shall Pursue
Rosh Hashana 2016 Day 1 — Carving a New Future
Rosh Hashana 2016 Day 2 — Guest Sermon by Roby Blecker
2015:
Kol Nidre 2015, Holding a Grudge
Yom Kippur Morning 2015, How Do We Want to Be Remembered?
Erev Rosh Hashana 2015, Storytelling
Rosh Hashana 2015 Day 1, Empowered Judaism
Rosh Hashana 2015 Day 2 — Guest Sermon by Roby Blecker
2014:
Chol Chamoed Pesach 2014 — Guest Sermon by Roby Blecker
Va’yetzei Nov. 28, 2014 — Guest Sermon by Roby Blecker
Kol Nidre 2014, Let’s Talk About Israel
Yom Kippur morning 2014, Jewish Bucket List
Rosh Hashana morning, 2014 – Let’s Talk About God
Erev Rosh Hashana 2014 – Be a Blesser
B’har Leaving One’s Home May 2014
2013:
Parashat Vayeshev Nov. 22, 2013
Yom Kippur morning 2013 – Israel
Kol Nidre 2013 – Computer crash
Rosh Hashana morning: Relational Judaism
Rosh Hashana evening: Inspiration from Two Women
Elul Reflections: Preparing for the Yamim Nora’im 2013
Shofetim Aug. 9, 2013
Va’etchanan Honoring our Parents 2013
B’haalot’cha May 24, 2013 (PDF 95.73 KB)
Teacher Appreciation May 31 2013 (PDF 61.12 KB)
Getting Dirty for Pesach March 22, 2013 (PDF 21.14 KB)
MLK 2013 (PDF 64.33 KB)
2012:
Vayigash 2012 (PDF 87.50 KB)
Lech Lecha (PDF 87.61 KB)
Women of the Wall October 2012 (PDF 75.73 KB)
Rosh Hashanah – Abayudaya (PDF 92.65 KB)
Rosh Hashanah – Family Issues (PDF 107.73 KB)
Rosh Hashanah Day 2 – Financial Meltdown (PDF 100.89 KB)
Yom Kippur – Apologizing (PDF 156.70 KB)
Yom Kippur – Rachel Corrie (PDF 125.15 KB)
Ki Teitzay – Aug. 31, 2012 (PDF 83.35 KB)
Elul – Aug. 24, 2012 (PDF 62.91 KB)
Our Rabbi
Rabbi Joshua Samuels
Congregation Beth Israel welcomed Rabbi Joshua Samuels as its spiritual leader in July 2012. He received his ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem and Los Angeles. Originally from San Francisco, he attended University of Wisconsin-Madison, receiving a B.S. in Marketing. For six years, prior to entering rabbinical school, Samuels worked in institutional equity sales and brokerage operations in San Francisco and Los Angeles.Rabbi Samuels previously served Temple Beth Hillel in the Los Angeles area. During his tenure there, Samuels enjoyed teaching adult education courses, organizing annual community-wide days of social action, providing spiritual care to home-bound congregants, interacting with the early education students and leading Jews and non-Jews in prayer and Jewish ritual life.
Prior to Temple Beth Hillel, Rabbi Samuels received his ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem and Los Angeles. It was during these 5 years that he served Jewish communities in Santa Barbara and Temecula, CA. Samuels also honed his skills in providing pastoral care to hospice and hospital patients working at UCLA Medical Center and Kaiser Home Hospice. In addition, he was the recipient of The Samson H. Levey Memorial Prize for showing greatest promise in the study of Rabbinic literature and Talmud.
Rabbi Samuels attended University of Wisconsin-Madison, receiving a B.S. in Marketing. For six years, prior to entering rabbinical school, Samuels worked in institutional equity sales and brokerage operations in San Francisco and Los Angeles at Sutro & Co., Sanders Morris Harris and Stone & Youngberg, LLC.
Rabbi Samuels is originally from San Francisco. He comes to Bellingham with his wife Nicole, a registered nurse, and their two children, Eytan and Shoshana.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Rabbi In the Community
Hospital Advisory Board
Rabbi Samuels recently accepted an invitation to sit on the Professional Advisory Board at Saint Joseph’s Hospital. This committee oversees the hospital’s Clinical Pastoral Program which trains people to become spiritual care providers.
Celebration of Hope
Rabbi Samuels recently gave the closing benediction at Interfaith Coalition’s Celebration of Hope Event event. Read his remarks here.
WWU STUDENTS VISIT BI
Steve Hoffman’s “American Jewish Experience” students from Western Washington University visited Congregation Beth Israel in April 2013.
Interfaith marriage at CBI
June 14, 2018
To the Congregation Beth Israel Community,
We write to share a significant outcome from our latest Board of Directors meeting. Two nights ago the members of our Board approved a new policy regarding interfaith weddings at our Beth Israel campus.
The policy reads as follows:
In regards to officiating at interfaith weddings in the Beth Israel synagogue and throughout its grounds, the Rabbi shall use his/her discretion in performing marriages between Jews and non-Jews. This is the sole decision of the Rabbi who has freedom of the pulpit.
With great respect to the customs and traditions of Congregation Beth Israel, the following are guidelines that CBI requires its clergy to follow when considering the officiation of a wedding between a Jew and a non-Jew at Congregation Beth Israel: