4435 Oakton Street
Skokie, IL 60076-3222
(847) 677-3330
Questions? Email:
congbeneshalom@gmail.com
Rabbi
Charlene Brooks
Rabbi Charlene Brooks, a Chicago native, accepted the position of rabbi of Congregation Bene Shalom in April 2022. She served as the Cantorial Soloist and Music Director of Congregation Bene Shalom for over 25 years. Through these years, she has worked and studied alongside Rabbi Douglas Goldhamer, and other notable rabbis. Rabbi Brooks has created many original songs for High Holidays, and chants for many Kabbalistic meditations, and led the Children’s Signing Choir for ten years.
Rabbi Brooks was ordained June 2022, after completing studies at the Hebrew Seminary, Rabbinical School for the Deaf and Hearing.
Leading services and holiday programs at CJE, the Council for the Jewish Elderly, and many Jewish community centers have been ongoing for over twenty years. In addition, Rabbi Charlene Brooks has created many fundraising performances and events for Nationwide Holocaust Memorial Museums, and Yom HaShoah services honoring her Survivor parents.
What began as a career as a singer, Rabbi Brooks is also a performer, writer, lyricist, and actress, performing her one-woman shows combining her love of all types of music, around the country, including her original music in Hebrew and Yiddish.
Watch the ordination of Rabbi Charlene Brooks that took place on June 26, 2022 at Congregation Bene Shalom.
Click the link below to watch this joyous event.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wde_QslHq0
Enjoy this wonderful profile of our Rabbi Charlene Brooks created by Nicole Herzog, a Northwestern University student!
From our Rabbi ~
​
Congregation Bene Shalom has lived for almost 54 years. For 50 of them, we were led by Rabbi Dr. Douglas Goldhamer. He was a Tzadik, a brilliant Rabbi, a healer, an author, a mensch, and my mentor.
It has been my honor to lead Shabbat, Kabbalah, and High Holiday services for almost four years now. I also officiate at weddings, and at funerals where I speak of the continuing soul of the loved ones being honored. I have been thinking about these final moments of Congregation Bene Shalom in terms of honoring our loss. I’ve been led to the obvious awareness that this congregation is not just a building, but a collection of the thousands of people who have prayed here that have become the soul of Congregation Bene Shalom.
Souls do not die; souls are forever. Souls are protected by angels and by God. The mission of this synagogue has always been inclusion, joy, and healing. The soul of this mission cannot die; the history, the memories and the love will never die. As we go forward, we must never lose sight that Congregation Bene Shalom will not only live on in our faith, but also our memories of the thousands of services, the countless simchas, joys, healing, the love and even the mourning.
This is our legacy. The memories I will carry with me making me smile, shed tears, and feel gratitude for the amazing experiences I have enjoyed on and off our bimah.
I want to share my email and website information so that you may contact me at any time. As I’ve said before,there are those who want to continue meeting as a Chavurah in our homes, and who knows what may happen!
While I am feeling the loss now, this is something I learned from Rabbi Goldhamer and want to share with you:
“Always remember, through your loss, your grief, there is always room for joy”.
We have entered a new year. May it be a wonderfully happy, prosperous, and healthy era filled with hope and peace.
Thank you all so very much!
Love,
Rabbi Char
Rabbi Charlene Brooks