Safety and Situational Awareness: Useful Skills For Greeters, Ushers, and All Members
Session 1: 1 pm, Sunday, Aug. 13 — Zoom Room Heh RSVP or
Session 2: 6:30 pm, Wednesday, Sept. 6 — Zoom Room Heh RSVP or
Session 3: 1 pm, Sunday, Sept. 10 — Havurah Shalom RSVP
During Elul, all Havurah members are warmly encouraged to sign up for our safety and awareness training, listed in the Elul offerings as Greeter and Usher Training. While anyone who is interested in ushering at High Holidays or in being a greeter at High Holidays and at Havurah throughout the year is encouraged to take this training, it’s not just for greeters and ushers! This training gives you valuable skills around situational awareness, welcoming, and de-escalation (among others) that can benefit everyone. You will learn how to respond appropriately to challenging situations that can come up in anyone’s life — at home, at work, at school, or out in the community. There will be three identical offerings of this one-hour class, two on Zoom and one in person at Havurah. Questions? Contact Joel Bettridge or Rachel Pollak (rachel@havurahshalom.org).
Make Your Own Tallit
4 pm to 5:15 pm, Sunday, August 13 – Havurah Shalom
This is a tallit making class for anyone who has ever wanted to create their own, taught in person at Havurah by Laine Barbanell Schipper and Carolina Martinez. (Members and non-members welcome.) RSVP
Life Story Midrash
7 pm to 8:15 pm, Tuesdays, August 15, 22, and 29 – Zoom Room Dalet
The ancient rabbis used midrash—meaning inquiry—to create new stories that explained contradictions, filled in gaps, or explored deeper meaning in Biblical stories. Using Life Story Midrash developed by Rabbi Dayle Friedman, we will inquire into our own life stories through individual writing and chevruta (paired) discussion. We will study traditional midrash, and then creatively reimagine and rewrite personal stories that—as we approach the High Holy Days—beckon our attention, with an eye toward embracing our fragmented stories as a coherent, meaningful narrative. Each class builds on the next, so participants are strongly encouraged to attend all three sessions. Led by Tivona Reith. (Members and non-members welcome.) RSVP
Hebrew for Prayer: A Close Look at Avinu Malkeynu and Other Prayers
6:30 pm to 7:45 pm, Wednesday, August 16 – Havurah Shalom
Led by Patty Magid-Volk. Come explore Avinu Malkeynu and other key prayers of the High Holiday liturgy. We will be looking through the lens of Hebrew grammar and vocabulary in order to gain some translation skills and find essential meanings of the prayer(s). It is helpful to be able to decode the aleph-bet, although not necessary if you are comfortable with transliteration. (Members and non-members welcome.) RSVP
Family Storytelling for Rosh Hashanah
6:30 pm to 7:30 pm, Thursday, August 17 – Zoom Room Bet
Eric Kimmel will be telling three stories from his Rosh Hashanah book Days of Awe. Join us on Zoom with your elementary-aged kids for a fun way to welcome in the High Holiday season. (Members and non-members welcome.) RSVP
Daily Shofar Blast - Beginning on Rosh Chodesh Elul
Friday, August 18 to Friday, September 15 (except on Shabbat) – Havurah Facebook Page
Daily Elul Kavannah and Shofar blasts will be posted on the Havurah Shalom Facebook page by Diane Chaplin, Howard Patterson & Andrine de la Rocha. Elul Tov! The daily shofar blasts are being offered as part of Havurah Shalom’s celebration of the Hebrew month of Elul. Visit (and sign up for) the Havurah Facebook page here to access the daily shofar post.
Exploring Jewish Humor
2 pm to 3:15 pm, Sunday, August 20 – Havurah Shalom and Zoom Room Dalet
Author and playwright David Fuks will share his perspective on Jewish humor as a source of resilience and as a response to struggle and anger. David will share a few stories and ten-minute one act plays as well as a few favorite jokes. Please join us for an afternoon of affectionately shared insight. (Members and non-members welcome.) RSVP
Creative Ways to Express Your Grief
Sunday, August 20 from 12 pm to 2 pm and Sunday, September 3 from 2 pm to 4 pm – Zoom Room Bet
Led by Ericka Kimball and Carolina Martinez. In these sessions, which build off of one another, we will develop creative ways to honor and memorialize loved ones we have lost. We welcome you to come into the space at any place emotionally you are at with grief you hold in your heart. We will share ideas for coping that first year and beyond, from a mental/emotional level to a creative level (however that looks for you—all ways are important and valued), and we will hold a safe space for any feelings that come up during our time together to share stories and memories. (Members and non-members welcome.) RSVP
HCAT Book Group to Begin Reading Under the Sky We Make
5 pm to 6:30 pm, Monday, August 21 (subsequent HCAT Book Group Meetings for Under the Sky We Make will typically take place on the first and third Monday of the month) – Zoom Room Gimel
All Havurah members are welcome to become part of the Havurah Climate Action Team (HCAT) Book Group as we embark on our next book addressing the climate crisis, Under the Sky We Make, by climate scientist Kimberly Nicholas, PhD. In her best-selling book, Dr. Nicholas offers a hopeful, clear-eyed, and sometimes hilarious guide to affecting real change. For the August 21 meeting, please aim to read the book's introduction and first chapter. Details on the reading schedule and subsequent HCAT Book Group meetings, including an online meet-the-author event in September, will be posted in the calendar and Hineinu. Reach out to Harriet Cooke if you have questions. RSVP
Songs of Teshuvah/Turning Sing-Along
7 pm to 8:30 pm, Monday, August 21 – Havurah Shalom
Usher in Elul, the month leading up to High Holidays, with song! Join us at Havurah as we get into the spirit of the season with a full-throated group sing-along. We will till the soil of our souls through songs, both familiar and new, in English and in Hebrew, on teshuvah, transformation, and welcoming the new year. No experience necessary. Just bring your enthusiasm for singing in community! (Members and non-members welcome.) RSVP
Kabbalah for T'shuvah
7 pm to 8:15 pm, Thursdays, August 24 and 31; September 7 and 14 – Havurah Shalom
This is a four-week class for exploring our understanding of and relationship with God for T’shuvah. Through meditation, journaling, reading and discussing excerpts from Rabbi Alan Lew’s book, This is Real and You are Completely Unprepared, and Rabbi Abner Weiss’s book, Connecting to God, Ancient Kabbalah and Modern Psychology, we’ll turn the ideas of Elul into the practice of Elul. Limit 10 participants. Led by Harriet Cooke. (Members and non-members welcome.) RSVP
Return of the Beavers: A Walk Along Fanno Creek
8:30 am to 11 am, Sunday, August 27 – Hideaway Park, Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District
This walk/hike will focus on the environmental transformation of an urban/suburban watershed by beavers. We'll observe and discuss the rise in the water table and resulting growth in vegetation, underground storage of water, flood control and learn about the positive effects of the return of beaver to the Fanno Creek watershed. Please note this program will require walking about 1.5 miles on uneven and at times muddy ground. Led by Jeffry Gottfried. (Members and non-members welcome.) RSVP
Temperature Tapestry Climate Project
Choose a session: 10 am to 11 am at Havurah Shalom or 11:15 am to 12:15 pm in Zoom Room Heh on Sunday, August 27
Want to be part of another meaningful art installation at Havurah? Let's gather and get Creative for the Climate! We will be knitting, crocheting, weaving, etc. a tapestry that tracks the temperature during different times in history up to the present for Portland, Oregon. Coordinating colors, we will make stripes representing the temperature. For example, red for the hottest and purple or blue for the coldest, with other colors representing in-between temps. Using weather data, we will make rows that designate the high temperature for that day in Portland. Yarn will be provided; sliding scale payment. Led by Judi Soloway. (Members and non-members welcome.)
RSVP for the in-person session. / RSVP for the Zoom session.
Conversation About Our Pilgrimage to the Deep South: Reckoning with Our Shameful History of Racism
3 pm to 4:30 pm, Sunday, August 27 – Havurah Shalom
An informal discussion about the pilgrimage taken by four Havurah members in March to Alabama and Georgia with 200 other Reconstructionist Jews from around the US, including twenty Jews of color, some of whom were rabbis of color. Highlights were Bryan Stevenson’s Legacy Museum and Memorial to lynching victims, the Rosa Parks Museum, hearing from survivors of Bloody Sunday in Selma, and attending Sunday church service at the Ebenezer Baptist church, founded by Martin Luther King, Jr. (Members and non-members welcome.) RSVP
Teen Room Mural Painting & Posters
3 pm to 5 pm, Sunday, August 27 – The Havurah Annex
Calling all Havurah teens (7th-12th grade) for mural painting and poster making! We had a fantastic first day painting a mural on one of the walls in the new Teen Room and the entryway at the Havurah Annex. Join us as we continue painting the murals and begin making posters for the Rose Haven Book Drive. Come reconnect with Havurah friends and meet new teens too! Cupcakes, cookies and drinks provided. RSVP
Ice Cream Social with Our Houseless Neighbors
7 pm to 8:30 pm, Sunday, August 27 – Havurah Shalom Courtyard
The Havurah Poverty and Homelessness Committee will be holding a face-to-face social gathering in the Havurah courtyard for Elul as a way of saying thank you to all who appreciate and respect our courtyard space, and to remind us to recognize each other’s basic humanity. We will sit together and enjoy a treat. Not to discuss social problems, not to offer service, just share with folks who so often can feel invisible—a small way of gaining understanding for all who attend. Check out the event flyer. We believe this event is in the spirit of Tikkum Olam and Teshsuvah. Questions? Contact Marcia Suttenberg or Steve Rudman. (Members and non-members welcome.) RSVP
Peter Beinart: Reparations and the Palestinian Right of Return as a Form of Teshuvah for the Nakba
5 pm to 6:30 pm, Tuesday, August 29 – Offsite Zoom Room
In an event co-sponsored by the Havurah Israel/Palestine Committee, Peter Beinart will take part in a nationally organized conversation with Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman of Reconstructionist Congregation Shaarei Shamayim focused on reparations and the Palestinian Right of Return as a form of teshuvah for the Nakba, a subject which Beinart has also written about here. Questions? Contact Joel Beinin. (Members and non-members welcome.) RSVP here if you'd like to be emailed the sign-up link when it becomes available.
