Rabbi Eli Cohen of Chadeish Yameinu in Santa Cruz and opera singer Akindele ‘Akiva’ Bankole join Cantor Alisa Fineman and Kimball Hurd in concert, offering a program of love songs in celebration of Shavuot. Our Sages liken Shavuot to a wedding anniversary, when we stand together again at the mountain as one people, one heart, to receive the gift of Torah— our k’tubah (wedding contract)—between the Divine and the Jewish people, alluding to the quality of relationship we can experience with our Creator, the Source of Life. Open to all CBI Members! Rabbi Eli Cohen, spiritual leader of Chadeish Yameinu Jewish Renewal of Santa Cruz, grew up in a Conservative Jewish home infused with Yiddish language and culture.  After practicing law as a public defender, he received smicha (ordination) from Rabbi Zalman Schachter- Shalomi and the Aleph Rabbinic Program in 2005.  In the lineage of his teachers, Rabbi Eli brings a strong commitment to bridge religious and progressive values, and to carry the depth and joy of Judaism into the emerging paradigm.  Akindele ‘Akiva’ Olanrewaju Bankole, a German-born Nigerian- American, began his formal singing with the Sacramento State University Opera Workshop where he had his Opera debut in the lead role of ‘Smiley’ in the Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, a story by Mark Twain. Bankole later joined Sacramento City Opera and thereafter, Opera San Jose. As a composer, Bankole writes his vocal lyrics in several languages, including Yoruba (his native language). He has written several arts songs; piano, vocal, choral, and orchestral works and is currently working on an Opera Lola’s Wedding. As part of his compositional repertoire, Bankole combines his traditional Yoruba tribe tonal and rhythmic melodies with western classical genre, which he calls “Classical Fusion”. FREE EVENT - Please register below or by calling the office.