Hineinu

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

This Friday Night: Welcoming Leah
On this Shabbat, we will formally welcome our new Music Coordinator, Leah Shoshanah, to Havurah Shalom. Some of you got to experience Leah’s beautiful music and leadership last Friday night as she led a few prayers. It is clear what a blessing it will be for us to have her sharing her gifts in our community.
 
So join us, this Friday evening at 7pm in Zoom Room Aleph, for a song-filled, blessing-filled ritual, followed by Kabbalat Shabbat led by Leah and others. Details can be found below and here. We look forward to gathering as we welcome Leah and celebrate this powerful and uplifting moment for musical and spiritual life at Havurah.

B'Yachad: Havurah's Participation Pledge
Havurah's mission is to provide a vibrant, diverse, participatory Jewish community steeped in spirituality, learning, and acts of social responsibility. To fulfill this mission, we rely on our congregants to come together — b'yachad — and actively participate in areas of synagogue life that speak to them.

Our emphasis on active involvement allows members to become truly engaged in Jewish community. It enriches individual experiences, deepens friendships and family relationships, and creates a strong, intertwined home for all of us, even in the current time of distancing and uncertainty.

As this year's theme states, our Neshamah, our "breath and soul, is our essence, through which we are connected to one another..." Your participation is the breath that gives life to the Havurah community. Thank you for filling out B'Yachad and allowing Havurah to remain a vital life force for all of us!

If you would like a mail-in version, you can find a PDF of the survey here.

Upcoming Events & Classes

Welcome Ritual for Leah and Kabbalat Shabbat
Friday, Oct. 30, 7 pm Welcome Ritual; 7:30 pm Kabbalat Shabbat – Room Aleph
Please join us as we welcome Leah Shoshanah, our new Music Coordinator, to Havurah. Beginning at 7, we will have a song-filled, ritual passing of the torch, from Havurah's earliest music leaders to Leah, hosted by J.D. Kleinke and Sarah Shine, co-chairs of our soon-to-be-formed Music Committee. Following the ritual, Leah, along with others, will lead a soulful and uplifting Kabbalat Shabbat.

Community Minyan, Bar Mitzvah of Ella Korin
Saturday, Oct. 31, 10 am – Room Aleph
Please join us for Shabbat morning! Led by community members or Rabbi Benjamin, this service includes davening, Torah reading, and discussion.

Transfers of Power in Tanach
Mondays, Nov. 2, 16, 30, and Dec. 14, 3-4 pm – Room Bet
How do they happen, who wins or loses, and why? What can our sources and sages teach us to help us navigate these times? Our class will begin with some of the transfers of power in Genesis, move on to Exodus, make a brief stop in Numbers, and finally end with Hanukkah. RSVP to receive precise references. Taught by Emily Simon. RSVP here.

Erev Election Day: Gathering for Reflection and Mutual Support
Monday, Nov. 2, 7-8:30 pm – Room Aleph
Rabbi Benjamin will hold space for us to come together and connect with one another in this uncertain time. There will be opportunity to share thoughts and emotions, interspersed with music and quiet, as we mutually support and strengthen one another.

Jewish Meditation: Election Day
Tuesday, Nov. 3, 12 pm – Room Bet
This week we will meditate together and also have time to reflect and derive support from each other’s presence, nourishing resilience as we move across the threshold of Election Day. Rabbi Benjamin will facilitate.

Morning Minyan
Wednesday, Nov. 4, 8:30 am – Room Aleph
For all who want a regular prayer practice and for people saying Kaddish.

Drop-In Grief Support Groups
Thursdays, Nov. 5, Nov. 19, Dec. 3, Dec. 24, 7-8:30 pm – Room Heh
As we approach the winter holidays, especially in this time of COVID, Havurah Shalom supports members grieving a death.  Drop-in grief group sessions are facilitated by Havurah Shalom members experienced in grief support and confidential group facilitation. Pre-registration is required by Thursday noon the day of each session. Each session is limited to 10 people.  Additional details will be sent to those registered. For more information, contact Tivona Reith at bikkurholim@havurahshalom.org. RSVP via the links on the dates above.

Step Into the Living Torah
Sunday, Nov. 8, 2 pm – Room Bet
Beginning in text, we’ll play with voice, movement, story, stillness and a bissel silliness to encourage and cultivate personal midrash (Torah-based narrative). RSVP here.

Human Power and Human Dignity: A Conversation with PNW Reconstructionist Rabbis
Sunday, Nov. 8, 2 pm – Join Info to Be Emailed to RSVPs
On the Sunday after election day, join a Pacific Northwest Reconstructionist conversation on human power through Jewish frames of human dignity. Rabbis (including Rabbi Benjamin) from Reconstructionist communities throughout the Northwest will speak to this topic in conversation with one another and each of us in this moment of precariousness and potential. RSVP here.

Tikkun Olam Events

Interfaith Alliance on Poverty: The Budget as a Moral Document
Thursday, Nov. 5, 12 pm
The conclusion to our three-part series! Please contact Gloria Halper for the Zoom link.

Post-Election Community Gathering
Thursday, Nov. 5, 7 - 8:30 pm – Room Aleph
There are so many unknowns about what will happen on our next election day, November 3. You are invited to a facilitated community gathering so that we can be together for mutual support at a time when there may be some answers about the election outcome. Please email Bob Brown if you have any questions. RSVP here.

Tikkun Olam Updates

What's Up with Lift UP?
Partner with Lift UP for the Fall Food and Fund Drive! Help us provide healthy, nutritious foods to our neighbors in need. To learn more, visit www.lifturbanportland.org or contact brett@lifturbanportland.org

URGENT NEEDS FOR PANTRY
o   Proteins (Peanut Butters/Tuna/Canned chicken/etc)
o   Breakfast Items (Cereal, Oats, Granola)
o   Canned vegetables
o   Low sodium items (tunas/pastas/ canned beans or veggies)
o   Ensure/Protein Bars
o   Dairy/Non-dairy shelf stable milk
o   Whole grain pasta/Brown Rice
o   Gluten Free Pastas/Gluten Free breakfast items
o   Kosher items of all the items listed above (if applicable) 
o   Paper bags, egg cartons, rubber bands, sharpies

You can also drink wine and help Lift UP! Erath Vineyard’s new tasting room in the Pearl District will be donating $1 from each bottle sale to Lift UP, now through November. Visit the new location at 1439 NW Marshall Street, Portland.

Virtual Tutors Needed for All Grades!
The Ortiz Community Center has received many requests for tutors from students in grades K-12. In response, we are organizing a "virtual" tutoring program. We are interviewing parents and students to verify their computer and Internet access, establish scheduling needs/preferences, and learn about specific homework needs, such as subject area. We will then match each student to a tutor. We plan to start with a commitment of one session per week per student. Initially, we will be utilizing free Zoom accounts, which means a limit of 40 minutes per session. (Help for people new to Zoom will be available.) We have a growing number of student requests, so taking on more than one student (in separate sessions) would be great. These students are almost all children of immigrants, very motivated to succeed in school just like all of our own families and ancestors. Any questions? Contact Jay Moskovitz.

Havurah's BLM Resource Page
Check out our Black Lives Matter resource page !

Update on Children's Book Donation Through Lift UP
There was a traffic issue/construction detour last week and some folks had issues donating children's books. If you are still able to donate books, please contact Leah Cooper via email (lcooper@innovativehousinginc.com) for more information.

Lost & Found

This very pretty platter, made in Italy, has wheat trapped in glass! It was probably left here after an event before lockdown. If it belongs to you, please email Rachel Pollak to arrange pick-up.


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We do have a number of other items in lost and found, including a number of warm winter coats! Feel free to come to the building and take a look if you're missing anything!

Do You Need Help?

If you are facing financial hardship from a loss of employment, decrease in income, or any other impact of our recent crises; or, if you would benefit from the support of community members for grocery shopping, errands, or any other concrete needs, for any reason, please contact Rabbi Benjamin at benjamin.barnett@havurahshalom.org or 503-248-4662 ext. 3.

If you would like to be on a list of people to support others in concrete ways, such as grocery shopping or running other errands, please contact Susan Lazareck and Rabbi Benjamin.

Havurah Zoom Rooms

For info on Zoom, click here. You must sign-in after you visit the link.