Learn about best practices in communicating with people from cultural backgrounds different from our own. Lynn Reer will lead this training. She has a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics and has been working as a teacher trainer for many years. She will give us some tips on ways to challenge our cultural perspectives so we can honor individuals as they truly are and as members of a culture with customs and practices we may not be familiar with. We will bring in two "cultural informants," one whose native culture is Mexican, the other, Somali, to look at examples of communication misunderstandings. Please RSVP to Deb Kallen at debkall2010@gmail.com.

Contact: Steve Birkel

We gather to find some moments of quiet and shalom. Led by Rabbi Benjamin, Adela Basayne, Deborah Eisenbach-Budner, Nancy Becker, or Ria de Neeve. We will meet both in-person (Havurah Sanctuary or Library) and in Zoom Room Bet. Log in to the website and then visit havurahshalom.org/zoom or call the office for join info (503-248-4662). All are welcome.

For all who want a regular prayer practice and for people saying Kaddish. We meet both in person and streaming online in Zoom Room Aleph. All are welcome. Please email info@havurahshalom.org for join info.

The words of the Shema, and the prayers surrounding it in every service, are about love—how to give love, how to receive love, how to live with love at the center of our personal and cosmic universes. There is no Hallmark fluff, here, though! These prayers are pragmatic and visionary, affirming and aggravating. Word-by-word, we will study these few prayers to understand their complex meanings as well as our own sensibilities. Participants need to be able to sound out Hebrew words. (See our Hebrew class taught in January-February.) Taught by Deborah Eisenbach-Budner.

An in-depth look at the weekly Torah reading, led by congregants. No prior knowledge or study is necessary. At Havurah Shalom and in Zoom Room Bet. Email info@havurahshalom.org for Zoom link. **Note that Multi-Synagogue Torah Study, led by Emily Simon, will be on February 22 and March 22 this year. In April 2025, Multi-Synagogue Torah Study will again be held on the third Shabbat morning (third Saturday) of the month**

Our Community Minyan is a welcoming and spirited service that includes davening, Torah reading and discussion. Led by Rabbi Benjamin and community members. Childcare is available.

Young children and their parents celebrate Shabbat with singing, movement, blessings, and storytelling. We touch on the main highlights of the Shabbat morning service: wonder, fun, song, listening to the world, dancing, and Torah. Tot Shabbat is fashioned for the under-6 crowd, but older kids are welcome (and can help tell a story, etc.). Afterwards, we enjoy an informal potluck oneg nosh and the chance to play and schmooze. Led by Deborah Eisenbach-Budner. Please RSVP below.

Many of us are trying hard to balance parenting, working, other relationships, other responsibilities and commitments. Amidst all of that, how do we create the intention and the structure to touch base with why we chose to have kids, create families, in the first place? How can that be translated into enjoyable family time together? How do we set that up without it being a ‘set-up?’ We will take some wisdom from Jewish life and hear what other parents have figured out (or not). Led By Deborah Eisenbach-Budner.