Feb. 1 Community Email
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ADVOCATING FOR JUSTICE IN PDX & SALEM, TOT & KABBALAT SHABBAT
UPCOMING SHABBAT Jewish Traditions of Mourning & the Afterlife This Saturday Diane Chaplin will lead a study and discussion of "Jewish Traditions of Mourning and the Afterlife." The study session will be followed by a shortened Saturday morning service. We will serve coffee, bagels and lox, with gluten-free options. Please arrive early to eat before the study begins at 10:00 am.
Ninety Havurah members have signed up to attend a solidarity and kinship gathering with our Muslim neighbors this Saturday at 5:30 pm. RSVP here if you can come. Also, we just learned that we will have a potluck meal that night, so please bring a vegetarian dish to share. We’ll have ample time for socializing and light food, and we’ll watch the hour-long PBS film “Enemy of the Reich” together. The film is about Noor Inayat Khan, a courageous Muslim woman in Nazi-occupied Paris, who was recruited as a covert operative into Winston Churchill’s Special Operations Executive. The Muslim Educational Trust is at 10330 Scholls Ferry Rd., in Tigard, about a half a mile beyond the 217 beltway. You'll see the center on your left, surrounded by a low, white picket fence. Turn left off Scholls Ferry at a traffic light specifically for the center's large parking lot. Above photo is from the Muslim Educational Trust website. ADVOCATING FOR JUSTICE, HOPE FOR ISRAEL DURING TIME OF TRUMP Justice & Equality for All Portland City Council Hearing Tomorrow at 2:00 pm, the Portland City Council will consider an extraordinary ordinance which requires landlords to pay moving costs of any tenant they evict for “no cause.” The draft emergency ordinance also requires landlords to pay moving costs if they raise the rent by 10% or more within a 12-month period and renters choose to move out. Landlords would have to pay renters between $2,900 and $4,500, depending on the number of bedrooms. Read more here. It’s critical that the Council chambers be filled to overflowing. If you have questions, contact Steve Goldberg at stevengoldberg@comcast.net.
Hope for Israel During the Time of Trump Author Alan Elsner has had a long career at the top ranks of American and international journalism prior to joining J Street. As White House correspondent for Reuters News Agency, Elsner traveled the world with Secretaries of State. His sharp questioning during the Rwanda genocide forced the United States to change its policy and was later highlighted in the Hollywood movie “Hotel Rwanda.” As Reuters National Correspondent, Elsner was the agency’s chief writer on 9/11/2001. RSVP here.
Interfaith Advocacy Day - Tuesday, Feb. 7 Carpools of Havurahniks are headed to Salem next Tuesday, Feb. 7, to join other members of the Portland interfaith community in advocating with legislators and their staff for compassionate legislation regarding areas of our common concern. The keynote speaker will be Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum. Read more here about the issues to be addressed, the schedule for the day, and event sponsors and endorsers.
Register and buy $20 tickets at emoregon.org. Havurah's Tikkun Olam Committee will reimburse registration costs. Contact Chris Coughlin at chriscoughlin60@gmail.com regarding reimbursement. To learn where carpools will meet, contact Marjorie Walters at marjoriewalters@gmail.com. KABBALAT SHABBAT - RSVP BY MONDAY, FEB. 6! First Kabbalat Shabbat Since November Don't miss our first Kabbalat Shabbat since November - next Friday, Feb. 10 - with Ilene Safyan, Scott Snyder, John Duke, Steven Sandberg-Lewis, and Rabbi Joey.
MEET OUR NEW OFFICE & FACILITIES MANAGER Rachel Pollak, our new Office & Facilities Manager, moved to Portland in 2007 from Los Angeles and got to know the Portland Jewish community through the Melton School, where she was operations manager for four years before becoming director in its final year of operation. She earned her BA in English and political science at American Jewish University in Los Angeles (back when it was the University of Judaism), and her MA in English in 2012, right here at Portland State. She started at Havurah last Thursday. Please join us in welcoming her to Havurah! TOT SHABBAT Saturday, Feb. 11 Young children (0-5) 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. Afterward we enjoy an informal oneg nosh and the chance to play and schmooze. Led by Deborah Eisenbach-Budner. Please RSVP here. TIKKUN OLAM Please join fellow Havurah members at 3:00 pm on Saturday, Feb. 11, in writing postcards to US Representatives. All you need to bring is a pen! Choose your issue, write your message of protest or support. We will provide addresses for several key members of Congress. We have around 70 blank postcards, complete with postage, that need to be filled out and mailed. Let's give wings to our voices and pray with our pens. – Heidi Grant Waxman Havurah Diaper Drive for Refugees at Shabbat School, Feb. 11 As many of you know, Havurah members have been working with recently arrived families as part of our effort to provide direct services to Portland's refugee community. Two of the families recently had babies. Diapers are prohibitively expensive for some families. Please help contribute to our efforts to support these families with donations of diapers and baby wipes. Gift cards are also welcome. Thanks so much! Portland Homeless Family Solutions Goose Hollow Shelter Direct Service Project News Since July 2015 Havurah has participated in PHFS' Adopt-A-Night program at their Goose Hollow nighttime shelter. On our monthly volunteer evening 10-12 Havurah volunteers fill all of the needed volunteer positions. Some of our volunteers also give their time at Goose Hollow on other nights, as well as at PHFS' daytime shelter, called 13 Salmon. Information about these two shelters, their next orientation at each shelter, and so much more that PHfS does, can be found on their website: PDXfhs.org. Gloria Halper coordinates this Tikkun Olam project: losninos6@gmail.com. Screening of "The Lost Boys of Portlandia" Join us for a screening of Outside the Frame's documentary "The Lost Boys of Portlandia" and a panel discussion with youth who have experienced homelessness. Homeless youth in Portland debate if and how to return to mainstream society while creating their own film version of the iconic story of Peter Pan.
The nonprofit Outside the Frame was founded and is directed by Havurah High teacher Nili Yossi. The evening is sponsored by the Tikkun Olam Committee of Havurah Shalom, Oregon Film, and KBOO Community Radio. Watch the trailer here. For more information visit Outside the Frame's website or the Facebook event page. CONGREGATIONAL MEETING Sunday, Feb. 12 At our congregational meeting on Feb. 12, members will vote on the Steering Committee's recommendation regarding the candidate for our next rabbi. CAMP HAVURAH Saturday, Feb. 18 Sport your summer camp T shirt and let’s see how many camps are represented. Have a rockin’ good time at "Camp Havurah," a musical, fun, upbeat Shabbat service great for all generations of Havuraniks. This service features sing-a-long style prayers in a mixture of Hebrew and English. Easy to follow, with lots of kavanot (intentional statements), you will enjoy lifting your voices, clapping hands and stomping your feet at this warm Shabbat morning service. It’s an ideal service for families, minyan “regulars," singles and empty nesters alike. We’ll cap the morning’s prayer with a shortened Torah service featuring fun group aliyot. The morning will be led by Havurah musicians and prayer leaders Susan Brenner, Jacob Mandelsberg, Tanja Lux and Sarah Shine along with other Havurah participants. A coordinated kiddush lunch will follow with the Spiritual Life Committee providing main dishes and cookies. Members, please bring sides and salads for lunch. Shabbat Shalom! REVENGE, JUSTICE, SURVIVAL & CELEBRATION Wednesdays, March 8, 15, 22 Our joyous and beloved Purim and Pesach traditions are mixed with strains of revenge. Complicated questions echo throughout our texts and celebrations: what are the lines between revenge and justice, survival and subjugating others, self-love and selfishness? The Mekhilta, an ancient midrash collection, which tends to be more universalist and human-centered than most, will be our starting place. Taught by Deborah Eisenbach-Budner. Register here by Feb. 22. HAVURAH HOLY PANDEMONIUM PURIM PARTY A Joyous, Capricious, Justice Celebration - For All Ages Join us for a Holy Pandemonium Purim Celebration on March 11, from 4:30 to 7:30 pm. We'll have Havdallah followed by a song or two, then a spiel filled with dancing, juggling, Hamantaschen prizes, a raffle for justice, and more. After, we'll eat cheese pizza (including gluten-free options) and potluck side salads. Please list the ingredients in your salads. We'll wrap up with games for the kids and dancing for all, with Saul Korin as DJ. Please send your dancing song requests to info@havurahshalom.org. Please RSVP here if you can join us! IN THE COMMUNITY Reconstructionist Journeys Click here to read the current issue of Reconstructionist Journeys. Dare I Call You Cousin The “Dare I Call You Cousin” exhibition opening is 6:00 to 8:30 pm on Friday, Feb. 3, at West Hills Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 8470 SW Oleson Rd. At 7:30 pm, Havurah member Frances Payne Adler will give a brief poetry reading, followed by an artist talk. The exhibition includes poems, photographs and videos compassionate to the struggle of Israelis and Palestinians on both sides of the Green Line.
The exhibition can be viewed before and after services, from 9:30 to 10:30 am, and noon to 1:00 pm, on Sundays throughout February. "Dare I Call You Cousin" is a collaboration by three artists: Portland poet Frances Payne Adler, Jerusalem photographer Michal Fattal, and Tel Aviv videographer Yossi Yacov. LGBTQ Birthright Israel Trip Shorashim is promoting a Birthright Israel LGBTQ Israeli Pride trip again this year - from June 4-14. Sign up for priority registration here before registration officially opens on Monday, Feb. 6. Through Pay it Forward, you can receive an entry to win a five-day getaway for three to Tel Aviv on Shorashim for each person you refer. Calling Young Jewish Artists ORA Northwest Jewish Artists is proud to sponsor the first Young Artists Show, Sunday, Feb. 26 – Friday, March 3. The show will be held in the Mittleman Jewish Community Center’s lobby. It will be the first event to kick off the monthlong Jewish Arts Month which runs through the end of March and features art by ORA members. Children in grades 5-8 are invited to submit up to five pieces of art, of any medium, for jury review and consideration for the show. Prizes will be awarded in each grade level. Young artists must submit their artwork for jury consideration on Sunday, Feb. 12, between 10:30 am and 12:00 pm at Neveh Shalom, Room 105. Application and details can be found here. For more information, email youngartistsshow@gmail.com. How to Be a Friend to a Friend Who's Sick Join Portland Hadassah for an evening with the author Letty Cottin Pogrebin. A founding editor and writer for Ms. Magazine, Ms. Pogrebin is also the author of eleven books, including How To Be A Friend to a Friends Who's Sick. Pogrebin's advice about friendship and illness - infused with sensitivity, warmth, and (believe it or not) humor - is interwoven with boldly candid stories from her own journey through the land of the sick and her sometimes imperfect interactions with friends who are sick or suffering. Register here. Weekend In Quest The 11th annual Weekend in Quest, a Shabbaton (study weekend), will be held March 3-5 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. 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. Remembering Nehama Leibowitz (z"l): An Evening of Text & Conversation on March 15 On the 20th yahrzeit of renowned Torah commentator Nehama Leibowitz: “Remembering Nehama Leibowitz (z”l): An Evening of Text and Conversation” with guest speaker Nehama Stampfer Glogower. Nehama Stampfer Glogower was a student of Nehama Leibowitz and will introduce the Portland community to her teacher's unique methodology and approach to Torah study. The event, which is open to women and men, is on Wednesday, March 15, 7:00-9:00 PM at the MJCC. Pacific NW Reconstructionist Shabbaton Register online here for the Pacific NW Reconstructionist Shabbaton Weekend, May 5-7. Celebrate Shabbat at Camp Solomon Schechter with members of the five Pacific Northwest Reconstructionist congregations!
See the attached flier for more details. |
