Welcome/Shalom
Mark your CalendarAll of our services and events at CBA are open to the community. While we do not have regular weekly or daily services, we hold a musical Friday service once a month, High Holiday services in the Fall and host events throughout the course of the year. For details on upcoming events and services, please scroll down.
Highlights: Kabbalat Shabbat (note change in date) and Bat Mitzvah at CBA: Friday, September 6th at 6:30pm. Please see below for details. CBA Book Club Meeting: Thursday, September 19th at 5:30 pm. We will be discussing Fatelessness (in some editions called Fateless) by Imre Kertesz. Please see below for details. High Holiday Services at CBA: See below for High Holiday schedule. Refer to our High Holiday page for other important details/developments : Click Here CBA to Host Israeli Filmmaker, for Special Screening, Discussion and Bagel Breakfast: Sunday, September 15th, 9:30-11:00am. See below for more details. New! Coming in October! CBA Saturday Morning Shabbat Services: Please see below for details. Future Dates for Kabbalat Shabbat Services: November 15th, December 20th, January 24, 2020.
Important: High Holiday considerations this year: In the event Cantor Irwin Gelman (and Mara) are called to NYC during the High Holidays, as they await the birth of their first grandchild, we have made a contingency plan. Dr Yonina Andrea Foster, who has emerged as a spiritual leader in the Buffalo Jewish Community, has graciously offered to lead services consistent with our tradition. We have also made contingency arrangements with three other area synagogues. Please Click Here for details and updates.
Call for High Holiday Volunteers: We are seeking volunteers (like you) to lend your support and participate. Please consider joining either Yonina or Irwin in leading any portion of the service including Pesukei d'Zimrah, Shacharit, Torah Service, Aliyot, Torah Parshot, Haftarot, Musaf and Shofar blowing. PLEASE RSVP as soon as possible to reserve your Mitzvah. High Holiday Machzor Fund: We need help raising funds to purchase 100 new Eit Ratzon Machzors that will greatly enhance our Rosh Hoshanah and Yom Kippur services. All who donate will have their name printed on a bookplate in recognition. Consider donating one or more Machzors ($30 per machzor) in honor/memory of loved ones. For more details, please CLICK HERE, or simply click on the Donate button on the top of this page and follow the prompts to pay with credit/debit card. You may also send a check by mail. *To find out more details about these announcements and for updates, please visit our High Holiday Services Page.
Please join us for a special Kabbalat Shabbat as we join the Braverman family in celebrating the Bat Mitzvah of Ariel Braverman, Friday, September 6th at 6:30pm. After services we will gather for Kiddush and an oneg in the CBA social hall. Food and beverages will be provided by the family, but additional vegetarian-only (non meat/non fish) potluck dishes or desserts will be graciously accepted and shared in the spirit of community. Please kindly label your dish it if it contains nuts or other potential allergens.
We hope you can join us as we celebrate this Shabbat and simcha in our historic synagogue. Directions and parking information can be found on our website. All are welcome, this service is open to the congregation, no invitation is needed.
On Sunday, September 15th at 9:30 am, CBA will be hosting award winning Israeli filmmaker, Einat Kapach, who is part of the Amiel BaKehila Israeli Delegation to Buffalo.
There will be a special screening of two highly acclaimed short films, Barriers and The Little Dictator, will follow with a lively discussion led by Einat on the topic: "Real Zionism: Groups and Opinions in Israeli Society." Click here to view full program details. A complementary bagel breakfast will be provided. All are welcome. Reservations are not required but helpful. Please RSVP to Marty Kerker.
Please join us at the shul on Thursday, September 19th at 5:30 pm when the book club will be meeting to discuss our next book, Fatelessness (in some editions called Fateless) by Imre Kertesz. Copies can be purchased through book sellers on the internet.
Here is a summary of the book excerpted from Prakn Tragr: The Holocaust autobiography of this Hungarian novelist is an attempt to describe the delivery of an adolescent boy from Budapest to Auschwitz and from Auschwitz to Buchenwald in the last years of the German “occupation” of Hungary. Please RSVP to Shelly at if you plan to join us so that we can notify you of any time or location changes. ***If you would like to read ahead, our next book will be The Second Scroll by A.M. Klein and The Golem by H. Leivick.
Erev Rosh Hashanah: Sunday Sept. 29, 6:30PM
Rosh Hashanah-Day 1: Monday Sept. 30, 9:30AM Tashlich (weather-permitting): Monday Sept. 30, 5PM (Hoyt Lake) Rosh Hashanah-Day 2: Tues. Oct. 1, 9:30AM Kol Nidre: Tues. Oct. 8, 6:30PM Yom Kippur morning: Wed. Oct. 9, 9:30AM Yom Kippur, Mincha/Neilah: Wed. Oct. 9, 5:15PM
We are pleased to announce the return of Shabbat morning services to Congregation Beth Abraham, Services will be held once a month, beginning October 26 at 10:00 AM. Several members of our congregational family are volunteering to help lead services, read Torah, chant Haftarot, deliver Divrai Torah, and sponsor what promises to be Buffalo's best oneg! If you would like to learn more about our Shabbat morning service and how it correlates to the new siddurim, please visit the "Shabbat Learning" page on our website, There you can find audio and visual reference material that will help you learn and/or master the prayers and components of the service; Preliminary, Shachrit, Torah and Musaf.
Additionally, if you are observing Yahrzeit, we urge you to contact the Synagogue for an honor (doing an English reading, receiving an aliyah, opening the ark or lifting, dressing, carrying the Torah). And If you have a simcha or other occasion to celebrate, what better way than by hosting or contributing to the oneg? All in all, we are excited to open this new chapter in the life of the Synagogue and hope you will be be able to join us in the renaissance of Congregation Beth Abraham as it continues to move forward. |
Donate to CBA securely online using your credit card or by check in the mail!
CBA appreciates your financial support of our temple and we are happy to offer the convenience of online donations. In addition to our annual appeal to cover our operating costs, the "Little Shul on Elmwood" needs your financial help with our continuing renovations and accessibility improvements. Please note that if you make a donation of $18 or more, you will automatically be considered a member unless you choose to opt out and inform us accordingly. Membership requires no further financial or time commitment, although both are much appreciated.
If you prefer to donate by sending a check in the mail, our address is 1073 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo NY 14222. Please download/print our donor form and include it with your payment to let us know how to acknowledge your donation. Thank You!!!! For more information about our Annual Appeal and our accomplishments over the past year, Please Click Here TO RECEIVE OUR MONTHLY NEWSLETTER AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:
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Questions about Parking and Building Access ?
For All Events:
Please let us know if you would like assistance with helping you from your car into the building and/or up and down the stairs. Email us at info@congregationbethabraham.net or call 716 435-0658 ***Note for all those who bike or take the bus: Bike racks are located on Elmwood across the street from the shul and the 20A bus going inbound and outbound has stops near the corner of Elmwood and Byrd Avenues. Click here for a map with parking information. Please do not park in the Mr. Pizza or Panos lot - we want to be a good neighbor! We Get By With A Little Help From Our Friends
In the past year, CBA has benefited greatly from your time and talents - from the DIY'ers who have taken on the building repairs, to our daveners and musicians. At this year's Congregation Meeting, many new ideas for CBA activities and improvements were suggested. If you would like to help with Ritual, Programming, or Building DIY, please contact our volunteer coordinators:
Thanks to all who participated in our inaugural and most recent Sephard-ish Musical Shabbat service. It has been a joy to get together and sing these new songs. We plan on doing it again in a few months.
To listen to the NEW Sephard-ish service songs, click HERE
Cantor Gelman and the CBA Band have recorded our regular Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat tunes for your listening and learning pleasure!
You can listen to our Shabbat songs on YouTube or CD and follow along with the transliterations using the links below: Click CBA on YouTube to listen to/learn our Shabbat songs online.
Thanks to all members and supporters who brought in non-perishable food items to help fill the need in our immediate community. CBA has donated these items to The Friends of Night People food pantry on Wadsworth and Allen.
We will continue to collect non-perishable food items on an on-going basis to distribute to those less fortunate in our immediate surrounding community. Please bring a non-perishable food item to show your support!
Do you have old photographs of our shul? An article clipped from a newspaper? Memories from a rite of passage that your family celebrated at CBA? A special story to share about CBA's past?
We are in the process of creating a CBA archive that will hold our legal and historical documents in one place, including our Articles of Incorporation and property documents, as well as your photographs, articles, and written memories. If you are interested in helping out with this project, please let us know by email. Click cba_timeline.pdf to download a timeline of the shul's history, starting from its origins in 1919. 
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