The Core Crisis Team is moving forward with a careful, phased approach to opening our sanctuary under current Oregon Health Authority rules and limitations. We are now moving forward with guidelines for allowing limited indoor gatherings in our building for Wednesday Morning Minyans and upcoming B’nei Mitzvah. For more information about these guidelines, read the full article here. The Core Crisis Team is also exploring opportunities for greater community input on re-opening issues and will be sharing more about that in the near future.
Havurah Census
Your Response is Needed!
The Long Range Plan team is counting on your participation in the Havurah Census. If your household hasn't completed the Havurah Census yet, you will receive an email with the link in the next few days. Please click on the link to provide your household's input for our demographic census.
We need this information to accurately reflect our community, to enable us to be inclusive, responsive and self-aware as we plan for Havurah's future. Your responses are confidential. They are being received and processed by the Oregon Beliefs and Values Center, a market research non-profit organization.
Upcoming Events
Kabbalat ShabbatCANCELED
Friday, June 11
Bar Mitzvah of Judah Barnett Saturday, June 12, 10 am – Room Aleph
Please join us in welcoming Judah Barnett as a Bar Mitzvah and member of our community!
Jewish Mindfulness & Meditation Tuesday, June 15, 12 pm – Room Bet
We gather to find some moments of quiet and shalom. Led by Rabbi Benjamin, Adela Basayne, or Nancy Becker.
Morning Minyan Wednesday, June 16, 8:30 am – Room Aleph
For all who want a regular prayer practice and for people saying Kaddish. Led by J.D. Kleinke.
Community Minyan Saturday, June 19, 10 am– Room Aleph
Please join us for Shabbat morning! Led by community members and Rabbi Benjamin, this service includes davening, Torah reading, and discussion.
Book Group Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots Tuesday, June 22, 7-8:30 pm – Room Bet
As a member of the strictly religious Satmar sect of Hasidic Judaism, Deborah Feldman grew up under a code of relentlessly enforced customs governing everything from what she could wear and to whom she could speak to what she was allowed to read. Yet in spite of her repressive upbringing, Deborah grew into an independent-minded young woman whose stolen moments reading about the empowered literary characters of Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott helped her to imagine an alternative way of life among the skyscrapers of Manhattan. Discussion led by David Newman.
LGBTQIA+ Advance Care Planning Tuesday, June 29, 7-8:30 pm– Room Bet DATE CHANGE The Ma'avar Committee is hosting an Advance Care Planning workshop on creating an Advance Directive with a special focus for the LGBTQI+ community. Advance care planning is a process of considering the types of healthcare decisions that may need to be made in a medical crisis or at the end-of-life then writing those decisions and preferences into an Advance Directive. Space is limited and RSVP is required. Please contact Ericka Kimball via the Havurah Member Directory with questions. RSVP here.
Maria & Carlos's Move
Help needed by “young athletic types” as someone called them, to move the many items donated to furnish their apartment. The move will take place on July 1, with some loading the night before. Please sign up on the spreadsheet. Feel free to call or write me, Barbara Hershey, via the Havurah Member Directory, as I am coordinating this move. Let me know your time availability.
It is now time for all you generous donors to Maria and Carlos to deliver your items for their apartment to either my house (inner NE) or to Nancy Chesser (NW). Contact us to arrange a mutually acceptable date/time.
Thank you to many generous menschen, we have most of what is needed to settle Maria and Carlos in their new apartment at the end of the month. There are just a few critical items outstanding (see a list here):
One twin mattress and box spring
Sharp kitchen knives for slicing and dicing (not eating utensils)
Iron and ironing board
First Aid kit
Monetary contributions are also accepted and you can give here.Thank you all!
Tikkun Olam
Nicholas Kristoff's Discussion on Poverty: Recording
Nicholas Kristoff's discussion around poverty issues on June 7 was well attended by Havurahniks. The event was sponsored by the Interfaith Alliance on Poverty with whom Havurah's Poverty & Homelessness Committee works as a member congregation. If you missed Nicholas's discussion and would like a recording, please contact Havurah member Gloria Halper via the Havurah Member Directory.
Congregation Neveh Shalom COVID-19 Outreach and Services (CNSCOS)
CNSCOS can help you make sense of all there is to know about the pandemic, testing, and vaccines. CNSCOS can help with finding and applying for financial resources, running errands, accessing food assistance, finding other helpful services, or just calling to chat with folks who are feeling isolated or lonely. The CNSCOS team also provides timely information online here and via a weekly email here. Contact covid19@nevehshalom.org or call 971-990-5652 if you need COVID-19 assistance.
Do You Need Help?
If you are facing emotional or 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 or emotional 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 Rabbi Benjamin.
Havurah Zoom Rooms
To see our full Zoom room instructions, click here. Member sign-in required.
Questions About Havurah?
The Transparency & Inclusivity Committee is an avenue within Havurah Shalom to help members find the answers to question they have wondered about. Please send your questions to transparency@havurahshalom.org. We will anonymously publish your question in Hakol and then answer that question. Everyone in our community benefits from this clarity!
Daily Shofar Blast Sunday, Sep 14th (All day) Hear the Sound of the Shofar each day of Elul (except Shabbat): Andrine, Diane & Howard (& sometimes Dominic & Wesley) help prepare us for Rosh Hashanah with shofar, deep thoughts, and a touch of kavanah (intention). Videos will be posted daily on Havurah's YouTube and Facebook pages.
(ZM) Climate Change Book Group Slow Reading of "Not Too Late" Tuesday, Sep 16th 5:30p to 6:30p All are welcome! Havurah members and non-members alike are invited to join us in this slow, section-by-section reading of "Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility." Click and RSVP. Attend any or all of these HCAT (Havurah's Climate Action Team) Book Group discussions about "Not Too Late."
(ZM) Story Turning: Harvesting Joy in the Past Tuesday, Sep 16th 7:00p to 8:15p Teshuvah is the ongoing process of Turning and Returning. Using brief, simple, playful forms: sound, movement, story, stillness—which EVERYONE can do—we'll discover and shape our own tales of transformation and renewal.
Together we’ll play with a few classic Jewish tales and find our own voices, visions, ancestors, light, and revelations. This is not a performance class. No experience is required, just a willingness to be curious and a little silly.
Led by Cassandra Sagan, a twice-ordained Maggid (Jewish storyteller/teacher), and a lifetime creative process/poetry/arts educator.
(IP) My Soul Thirsts for You: Elul Watercolor Workshop Wednesday, Sep 17th 7:00p to 8:15p Elul opens the gates of return. It’s a time when we are invited to soften, reflect, and seek out closeness with the Divine. In this workshop we'll explore watercolor, which is an especially effective medium for holding and expressing emotion. Our learning will center on the 13 Attributes, a sacred text recited throughout the High Holiday season, as we invite in qualities of compassion, honesty, and patience. No art experience needed, just a willingness to experiment and be present. All materials provided. Led by Noah Lind, Rabbinic Intern.
Hakol Deadline is Thursday, September 18 Thursday, Sep 18th (All day) Havurah members, click to learn how to submit your contributions to our monthly newsletter, Hakol.
(HYB) Torah Study for the High Holy Days Thursday, Sep 18th 7:00p to 8:30p During the High Holy Days we read four sections of the Torah. This series of study sessions will give us an opportunity to read the texts and explore their meanings. We will look at what our teachers before us thought of the readings, as well as investigate modern commentators. We also will come up with our own thoughts and see how we can understand the texts for our lives today.
Led by David Dropkin. No experience necessary. Please join us.
