Dec. 7 Community Email
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Feedback On Rabbi Barnett Due Tomorrow, Adding Light In These Dark Times
UPCOMING SHABBAT Community Minyan Leaders and leyners at this week's Community Minyan include Sacha Reich, Ravit Pearlman, Susan Brenner, Sam Sirkin, Roger Brewer, and Marty Brown. We will read and discuss Parsha Vayeitzei, in which Jacob travels to his Uncle Laban's home, where he works many years before he marries Leah and additional years so he can marry Rachel. On his way to Laban, he dreams of a ladder to heaven on which angels ascend and descend. God tells him that he and his descendants will inherit the promised land, and that he will protect Jacob until he returns. Join us for davening, Torah reading, and engaging discussion. Painting below by Marc Chagall
FOLLOWING UP ON RABBI BARNETT'S VISIT Important Message From Our Co-Presidents Dear Havurahniks, We hope you had the opportunity to meet Rabbi Benjamin Barnett over the weekend and see him in action at services or one of the other events. If you missed him, you can find the links to videos from the weekend in an email sent on Sunday. Mark your calendar for the weekend of January 6-7 to meet our second candidate, Rabbi Micah Becker-Klein, and please RSVP here on our website. Many of you may have questions about how the selection process will work, and we hope to answer them here. If you have other questions that need answering, please send them to info@havurahshalom.org and we will respond on the website and include them in a future email. Read questions and answers here. Also, please be sure to complete this feedback survey about Rabbi Barnett by tomorrow, Dec. 8. Important Message From Our Shabbat School Leaders Dear Parents, Please read this very important message about how Havurah's new rabbi will be engaging with Shabbat School! For those that were able to attend events over the weekend, including the conversation during Shabbat School, with the first rabbinical candidate, Rabbi Benjamin Barnett, thank you. For all of you, please read this important message from our Shabbat School leaders.
CHANUKAH: ADDING LIGHT IN THESE DARK TIMES - DEC. 10, 29 & 30 Hope, Action & Chanukah We were originally scheduled, December 10, 3:15 - 4:40 pm, to do a parenting session called "Will the Real Chanukah Please Stand Up" to look at the roots, evolution, and current identities of Chanukah - especially as they intersect with Christmas, commercialism, American life, religious tolerance and intolerance. At this point, we will follow up on the conversation from the last Shabbat School session (about "Parenting In These Times – Post Election") and see how it relates to Chanukah and the meanings that we can bring to the holiday this year. Please come, whether you were part of the discussion last time, or not, and whether you are a parent or not. Here are a few things to think about, if you get a chance to read them. Chanukah Celebration for All Ages This year's Chanukah celebration will offer fun for all ages. It begins with a potluck oneg of plate-free desserts, followed by candle lighting, storytelling, and singing led by Beth Hamon, Aaron Pearlman, Barbara Gundle and other Havurah musicians. If you have a dreidel or chanukiot and candles, please bring them with you. The more light and laughter the better! We also plan to have tables of dreidel playing for both the younger crowd and the older crowd, with a monitored table for adult drinks too. RSVP here if you can come. We need a few more volunteers for the celebration. If you can help set up the chanukiot before the celebration, oversee the dessert table, greet guests at the door, or help straighten the kitchen after the party, please email Gaby Saunders, Patricia Schwartz or Seth Kaplan. Thank you for making this celebration possible! Coming Together in Dark Times We invite you to join us on Friday, Dec. 30 to welcome Shabbat, spread the light of the Chanukah candles, and share our feelings, fears, and hopes for the difficult times we are facing as a country. For those of us who came together on the Sunday after the election, it was a powerful expression of community, and there have been requests to identify some next steps. It continues to feel premature to launch a specific action plan. Instead, it seems more appropriate to gather in community, listen to how we are doing, and continue conversations about our hopes and fears about areas such as immigrants and refugees, poverty and homelessness, climate change, equity, and gun control. Please RSVP here so we will know if this date will work for people who are interested. Email chriscoughlin60@gmail.com if you are interested in helping with planning, or if you want to help but can’t attend on Dec. 30.
WHO'S WHO IN HAVURAH'S OFFICE We already miss Rachel Palmer in the Havurah office, of course, but thankfully Debbi Nadell is filling in until we hire a new Office & Facilities Manager. Other Havurah members are also helping. Depending on when you call or come in to Havurah, you might reach Fran Berg, Susan Lazareck, Joni Kutner, Margaret Nathe, or Debbi Nadell. For now, the best way to reach someone about office and facilities issues is to use this email address: debbihavurah@gmail.com. If you are interested in the position of Office & Facilities Manager at Havurah, read the job description here. To apply, please send cover letter and resume to info@havurahshalom.org. Pictured above are Rachel and Debbi on Rachel’s last day at Havurah, Friday, Dec. 2.
Glazing Workshop for Courtyard Art Project RSVP here if you can join this final glazing workshop to leave a legacy of art in Havurah's courtyard. Jewish Mindfulness & Meditation We gather on Tuesdays, from 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm, to find some moments of quiet and shalom. We start with a brief teaching and gentle song, then have a sitting or walking meditation that is guided, in silence. This is for folks either with experience in meditation or for those with curiosity but no experience. Please contact Deborah Eisenbach-Budner for more information. Wednesday Morning Minyan This weekday service is for people who want to integrate prayer in their daily lives and for those saying Kaddish, or not. Please join us!
Assembly & Commemoration of the International Migrant Day The Portland Immigrants Rights Coalition (PIRC) is hosting a Popular Assembly (Asamblea Popular). Trump has promised to: Inform yourself; hear from the affected communities. We will have experts that will speak about these issues with a goal of defining an action plan based on the needs of the community. You will be able to hook up with others to develop actions that will be needed in the near future.
Refugee Resettlement Program Posadas Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice (IMIrJ) and Vecinos en Alerta are organizing the celebration of the annual Las Posadas tradition in the Cully neighborhood. This event is a beautiful celebration of community, with its special focus on honoring and lifting up the immigrant experience in Portland, in the U.S., and across the world. This is also a great opportunity for Havurah to connect our faith tradition with others in celebration of dignity and human rights. Las Posadas fiesta is also a good event to include children since there will be lots of children attending from Vecinos en Alberta families. As part of the Christmas celebration, these traditional Mexican fiestas (posadas - inns) are held for family, friends, and neighbors. Please let Bob Brown know if you are interested: rebrown47@gmail.com Lift Urban Portland Christmas Dinner for Our NW Neighbors Every year for the past 30 years, Congregation Beth Israel has hosted Lift Urban Portland’s community holiday dinner, and Havurah Shalom has supported Lift Urban Portland and the holiday dinner for more than a decade. Currently, Havurahnik Mike Feldman is a member of Lift’s board of directors. Volunteers are needed before, during and after the dinner to prepare and decorate, fill gift bags, greet guests, serve meals, and clean up. You can sign up here. Portland Homeless Family Solutions Tikkun Olam Volunteer Project Next new volunteer orientation is Dec. 28, 5:00 - 6:00 pm, at the Goose Hollow Shelter, 1838 SW Jefferson. Please RSVP to Bethany (contact info below). Join us! Questions regarding volunteering at Goose Hollow? To help with meal preparation: Len Shapiro at lenshap@gmail.com. Any other PHFS questions, Gloria Halper, Tikkun Olam Committee member, losninos6@gmail.com. Volunteer at Goose Hollow Holiday Village on Dec. 16 Want to celebrate with our homeless families this holiday season? Join us at our Holiday Village event on Dec. 16 at the Goose Hollow shelter. Every year, Portland Homeless Family Solutions hosts a holiday party for the families in shelter and any families who accessed services earlier in the year. They'll have dinner, music, crafts and games for kids, the opportunity for parents to shop for presents, and lots of holiday cheer! Volunteers are needed for the following roles:
Shift times are approximate and may change as the event date gets closer. Can't volunteer but want to donate items towards our other donation needs? Ready to volunteer at Holiday Village? Contact Bethany. Interfaith Advocacy Day, Tuesday, Feb. 7 With the theme, "Raising Diverse Voices of Faith to Strengthen Oregon Communities," Interfaith Advocacy Day 2017 will bring together people of many religious traditions from throughout Oregon for a day of prayer, dialogue and advocacy with state legislators. Join us in addressing housing, hunger, health care, gun safety, and climate justice. Sponsored by Havurah Shalom, Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon, Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, First AME Zion Church, Portland Interfaith Council of Greater Portland, Islamic Society of Greater Portland, Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, Muslim Educational Trust, Oregon Center for Christian Voices, United Methodist Women of the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference. Register here.
Wednesdays, Jan. 11, 18 & 25, and Feb. 1 Do you have a vague sense that a lot happened to the Jews between the exodus from Egypt and our modern era, but you aren’t sure what actually happened, where, or why? Have you ever wondered how and why Jewish people dispersed from one small land in the Middle East to live in every part of the globe? Have you ever wondered what brought your ancestors to live in the United States? Using illustrations and maps, we will enjoyably learn the themes, geography, and journey of the Jewish people. Please obtain Barnavi's A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People from the Time of the Patriarchs to the Present in advance. Havurahnik Roger Brewer, a lifelong student of Judaism and Jewish History, will teach this course. Register here by Jan. 4.
Education Opportunities at PSU Click here to learn about upcoming educational opportunities at PSU's Institute for Judaic Studies. Reconstructionism Today Click here to read the latest issue of Reconstructionism Today. Weekend In Quest The 11th annual Weekend in Quest, a Shabbaton (study weekend), will be held March 3-5, 2017 in Astoria, Oregon. It is sponsored by The Institute for Judaic Studies of the Pacific Northwest in Portland and co-sponsored by Havurah Shalom. The scholar-in-residence is Professor Roger Porter, Emeritus Professor of English and Humanities at Reed College. Professor Porter’s program is entitled “Who is the Jew?” Anti-Semitism in Shakespeare and Philip Roth. Shabbat services will be led by Rabbi Yitzhak Husbands-Hankin, Emeritus Rabbi at Temple Beth Israel, Eugene. Catered kosher-style meals include a festive Erev Shabbat dinner, Kiddush lunch and Saturday evening dinner, with round-table discussions, social time and entertainment woven throughout the weekend. For more information, to download a brochure and to register, go to http://weekendinquest.org and/or contact Havurah member Mimi Epstein at mimiepstein42@comcast.net. Pacific NW Reconstructionist Shabbaton
Online registration is open now for the Pacific NW Reconstructionist Shabbaton Weekend, May 5-7, 2017. Celebrate Shabbat at Camp Solomon Schechter with members of the five Pacific Northwest Reconstructionist congregations!
See the attached flier for more details and register here.
As most of you know, the Rabbi Search Committee selected two candidates for the position of rabbi at Havurah Shalom. Last weekend one of the candidates, Rabbi Benjamin Barnett, visited Havurah and met with Havurah members at numerous events. We hope you were able to participate in some of the events and/or to watch the videos of each event, which were sent to all Havurah members on Sunday. Please remember to complete this feedback survey about Rabbi Barnett by tomorrow, Dec. 8! You can read the lastest update on the rabbi search process here. Rabbi Becker-Klein will visit Havurah the weekend of January 6-7. You can RSVP for weekend events with Rabbi Becker-Klein here. Click here for more information about both Rabbi Benjamin Barnett and Rabbi Becker-Klein. The process to determine which candidates to invite started with the focus groups and your participation. Click here to see the focus group report. A job description was then developed based on the feedback we received from the focus group and your input. Click here to see the job description.
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