On 58th Street North in St. Petersburg, Florida, Congregation B'nai Israel (CBI) has gathered Conservative Jews for daily prayer, Shabbat worship, lifecycle milestones, and Jewish learning since 1923. The congregation describes itself as vibrant, inclusive, and growing, and is best known for being the home of the only twice-daily egalitarian minyan on the West Coast of Florida. Worshipers join in person in the Benstock Family Sanctuary and online via a livestream that mirrors Kabbalat Shabbat on Friday evenings and Shabbat services on Saturday mornings.
A Century on 58th Street North
Twelve Jewish families met for prayer in 1923 in Charlie Davis's store on Central Avenue, and Congregation B'nai Israel was born. Its first home was a rented store at 13th Street North and 2nd Avenue North, with Hyman Jacobs as the founding president. The congregation moved to a former church on 9th Street North and 9th Avenue North in 1926, where traveling rabbis served it and a religious school was founded.
A new building opened at 1039 Arlington Avenue in 1935, the year Rabbi A.S. Kleinfeld was hired as spiritual leader. Samuel Gilbert served as lay cantor before assuming the board presidency. By 1949, the congregation had affiliated with the United Synagogue of America and chartered a chapter of United Synagogue Youth (USY). The building was doubled in 1950 to add a social hall, classroom, and library, and Rabbi Morris B. Chapman launched the Institute of Adult Studies.
A 1957 rally chaired by board president Dr. Harold Rivkind raised $250,000 for a new home, and the congregation moved into a building at 301 59th Street North in 1958. The sanctuary received permanent seats and interior decoration in the 1960s, and in 1969 the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism awarded CBI its first national Solomon Schechter Award for its adult education program. The congregation also built subsidized senior housing (now Philip Benjamin Tower) and Menorah Gardens Jewish cemetery during this period.
Rabbi Louis Lederman succeeded Rabbi Chapman in 1973, and Rabbi Jacob Luski took the pulpit in 1977. Adele Morris became the first woman elected president of the congregation in 1981. The Pinellas County Jewish Day School opened on the CBI campus in 1980 and remained there for eleven years. The stained glass "Windows of Wonder," by Victor Berthelsdorf of Kalaidescope Glass Works in Lutz, was installed in the main sanctuary in 1985.
Between 1992 and 2006, CBI received the Synagogue of Excellence Award from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism at seven consecutive biennial meetings, along with additional Solomon Schechter Awards for its Advocacy for Israel Committee (the "A-Team") in 2005 and for the B'nai Israel Review monthly publication in 2007. Cantor Shimon Gewirtz joined the staff in 1993, and Hazzan David Sislen succeeded him in 2002. The congregation dedicated Holocaust Torah Scroll #1128 in memory of Maurice Goldblatt that same year.
Groundbreaking for the present building took place in October 1998, and the new home at 300 58th Street North was officially dedicated on December 17, 2000. Rabbi Luski received an honorary Doctorate of Divinity from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2003 and served until 2018, when Rabbi Philip Weintraub became the fifth senior rabbi. Rabbi Luski was named Rabbi Emeritus.
Shabbat in the Benstock Family Sanctuary
Friday night services begin at 6:30 pm in the Benstock Family Sanctuary, and Shabbat morning services begin at 9:00 am. Both services are egalitarian, with full participation for all members. The congregation uses the Lev Shalem siddur and provides prayer transliteration booklets in the seat boxes for anyone following along at home or in person, with large print prayer books available on request.
Each Saturday morning the service includes a Misheberach, a prayer for healing at which worshipers are invited to stand and share the names of those who are ill. Names submitted in advance to the synagogue office are read from the bimah in both English and Hebrew, together with the parents' names. After Musaf, worshipers gather for a community Kiddush.
Services are livestreamed through Streamspot and simulcast on Facebook Live and YouTube Live. Closed captioning is available on Facebook Live and can be toggled on or off by viewers.
The Twice-Daily Egalitarian Minyan
CBI's community minyan is the only egalitarian twice-daily minyan on the West Coast of Florida. Morning services are held Sunday and on federal holidays at 9:00 am and on Monday through Friday at 8:00 am, with an L'Chaim following each in-person morning service. Evening services run Sunday through Thursday at 6:30 pm, with in-person attendance especially encouraged on Tuesdays.
Members and visitors can join the minyan online through Zoom or by audio only, allowing worshipers who are traveling, ill, or mourning a loved one to keep the daily obligation of saying Kaddish. A dedicated Minyanaire program recognizes anyone who attends and signs in to thirty-six daily services over the course of the year. More than 150 people have become Minyanaires since the program began.
A Welcoming, Egalitarian, Inclusive Community
CBI's mission is to provide opportunities to experience Jewish life to the fullest through meaningful worship, study, lifecycle events, acts of caring, and connections to the wider Jewish community and Israel. The congregation is committed to passing on the ideals of Conservative Judaism to future generations. Its slogan, "Side by Side at CBI," describes a way of life in which all people can fully participate in worship, education, and social events.
Members include all ages, Jews by Choice, Jews of Color, LGBT+ members, interfaith families, and Jews from across the world. The congregation marked that commitment by hosting the Southeast's first synagogue-affiliated LGBTQ event, PRIDE Shabbat, and joining the St. Pete PRIDE Street Festival. Children are welcomed into worship, with the teaching that they learn about belonging to a spiritual community by participating in services alongside the rest of the congregation.
Rabbi Philip Weintraub, the fifth pulpit rabbi, was ordained from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2011 and is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of Brandeis University with a concentration in pastoral care. He is a board certified chaplain with Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains and the National Association of Veterans Affairs Chaplains, serves as a St. Petersburg Police Department volunteer chaplain, and supports veterans at Bay Pines VA. He has offered blessings at city council and county commission meetings, at local hospital and school board events, and at police functions. He is a past president of the Pinellas County Board of Rabbis.
Rabbi Emeritus Jacob Luski, who led CBI for forty-one years from 1977 to 2018, is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Jewish Theological Seminary. He established the JTS Tampa Bay Outreach Lecture Series, organized the first Mitzvah Day in Pinellas County, founded the Hevra Kadisha Burial Society, and helped found the Pinellas County Jewish Day School on the synagogue campus. He served for many years as Jewish Chaplain at Bay Pines VA Medical Center and is the 17th chairperson of the International Rabbinic Advisory Council of the State of Israel Bonds.
From Brit Milah to Yahrzeit: Marking a Jewish Life
CBI walks with members through every sacred moment. Rabbi Weintraub welcomes newborns into the covenant with traditional ceremonies: Brit Milah on the eighth day for sons and a Simchat Bat or Shabbat morning naming for daughters, with Hebrew names shared with the entire congregation. Children preparing for Bar, Bat, or B'nai Mitzvah study Hebrew, Torah, and Jewish living with the rabbi, Director of Lifelong Learning Maureen Sechan, and a team of tutors. An informational guide for families is available through the office.
The congregation hosts weddings in the Benstock Family Sanctuary. Rabbi Weintraub is excited to officiate at a Jewish wedding between any two Jewish individuals. As a member of the Rabbinical Assembly and United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, he cannot officiate during Shabbat or at interfaith ceremonies, but he welcomes the opportunity to walk non-Jewish partners through the conversion process and then celebrate a wedding between two Jewish individuals. Members who marry at CBI receive a complimentary year of membership.
In times of illness, transition, and loss, Rabbi Weintraub offers short-term counseling, spiritual support, and pastoral visits. The Chesed Committee provides phone calls, transportation, and visits for members who need a helping hand, and Sisterhood volunteers deliver "Hug in a Bowl" soup to those who are under the weather. The Hevra Kadisha Burial Society, founded by Rabbi Luski, ensures respectful and spiritual care for Jewish people after death, and the congregation can assist with burial plans at Chapel Hill Memorial Park. Daily minyan attendance, whether in person or on Zoom, allows mourners to say Kaddish and receive community comfort throughout shiva, shloshim, and beyond. Yahrzeit names are announced at all minyanim on the evening before and the day of the yahrzeit, and memorial plaques hung in the sanctuary are recited in perpetuity.
Yizkor services are held on Yom Kippur, Shemini Atzeret, the eighth day of Pesach, and the second day of Shavuot. The rabbi regularly teaches Introduction to Judaism courses and guides those considering joining the Jewish people through a year of study, regular participation, meeting with a Bet Din, and immersion in a mikvah.
Pauline Rivkind Talmud Torah and the Buns Family Library
The Pauline Rivkind Talmud Torah Religious School serves learners from preschool through twelfth grade. The Sunday program for Pre-K through Grade 7 meets from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm, with a weekly weekday session for Grades 3 to 7 on Tuesday or Wednesday afternoons from 4:30 to 6:30 pm, offered in person and online. A monthly Sunday Gesher program for Grade 8 and a Wednesday evening Hebrew High on Zoom for Grades 9 through 12 round out the year. The school uses the Shalom Learning Jewish Values and Hebrew curriculum and the Matan Katan curriculum for preschoolers, with classroom experiences built around art, movement, journaling, and multimedia. Religious school tuition for member families is supported by a generous congregational subsidy through the Annual Financial Commitment model, and families can register their children as non-members for an additional fee.
The Buns Family Library runs on the OPALS (OPen-source Automated Library System) and links members to the Jewish Virtual Library, the Jewish Theological Seminary Library, the Jewish Learning Network, and other online resources. Books are checked out in person on a three-week loan; the collection includes one copy of each title, with donations of books in good condition welcome.
Adult Learning: Talmud, Tanakh, and a Congregational Podcast
Adults gather on Thursday mornings for "Talmud Unveiled with Steve Wein" from 11:00 am to noon in person, and on Friday mornings at 10:00 am for "Tanakh at 10." Programming rotates through the year, with descriptions of each week's offerings posted on the congregation's calendar. The rabbi and members of the congregation also produce CBI's Living Jewish Today podcast, which explores questions at the intersection of Jewish tradition and contemporary life.
Sisterhood, Mitzvah Men's Club, and Youth Groups
CBI Sisterhood is a community of women committed to compassion, connection, community, Conservative Judaism, and CBI itself. Sisterhood operates the Judaica Shop, which stocks tallitot, tefillin, kippot, havdalah sets, yahrtzeit candles, Shabbat candlesticks, challah covers, mezuzot, shofarot, baby and B'nai Mitzvah gifts, jewelry, books, and games. Sisterhood volunteers staff the kitchen committee that prepares and serves nearly every Shabbat Kiddush lunch, runs the "Hug in a Bowl" soup delivery program, and provides catering for Kiddush luncheons and Friday night Oneg Shabbat.
The Mitzvah Men's Club is the congregation's chapter of the Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs. Members build and take down the sukkah, serve latkes at Hanukkah, host Brisket and Bourbon, lead the annual Passover BBQ, run the signature World Wide Wrap tefillin event, and gather for Reverse Tashlich, Men's Club Shabbat, and a regular calendar of social and educational programs.
Youth programming includes Shalom Club for grades 2 through 5, Gesher (Hebrew for "bridge") for middle schoolers, and USY for high schoolers, each connecting young people to Jewish living, Zionism, and community responsibility through the lens of Conservative Judaism. The director of lifelong learning, Maureen Sechan, oversees religious education and youth programming.
Standing with Israel: Mercaz and the A-Team
CBI has been a national leader in the Jewish National Fund Affiliate Program and has worked toward multiple JNF Parklands. The A-Team, CBI's Advocacy for Israel committee, brings in knowledgeable speakers on Israel, circulates time-sensitive information, and shares regular presentations on Israeli innovation in medicine, agriculture, environment, consumer technology, and Ukraine. The committee maintains a public archive of educational webinars and presentations and supports community petitions on behalf of hostages and victims of terror.
Through MERCAZ USA, the Zionist organization of the Conservative movement, CBI members can opt in to support religious pluralism in Israel, equitable funding for the Conservative/Masorti movement, full equality for women on religious councils, Aliyah, Hebrew language studies, and the existing "Who is a Jew" standard. Rabbi Luski serves on the boards of MERCAZ and the Jewish Federation of Pinellas County.
Membership at CBI
CBI uses an Annual Financial Commitment model rather than fixed dues, and welcomes members of all ages and backgrounds. Member benefits include clergy officiation for lifecycle events, complimentary religious school for children of members, B'nai Mitzvah training, High Holiday tickets, a complimentary year of membership when a wedding is officiated at CBI, member pricing on programs, access to the membership directory, and subscriptions to the monthly B'nai Israel Review and the weekly email blast. New members receive a Shabbat welcome basket, a fifteen percent coupon to the Sisterhood Judaica Shop, a complimentary congregational Shabbat dinner, and a complimentary one-year membership in Sisterhood and/or the Mitzvah Men's Club.
Visitors are welcome to attend a service or schedule a tour of the building at 300 58th Street North in St. Petersburg.