WEEKLY EMAIL, MAY 31 - SHAVUOT, SONG OF MIRIAM, LAST KABBALAT SHABBAT OF THE YEAR

From Our Calendar:
1) Thursday Morning Minyan for Shavuot
2) Community Minyan this Saturday
3) Office Closures This Week
4) Pastoral Care Team Planning Meeting on June 1
5) Office Hours June 2-7
6) Song of Miriam Awards Brunch on June 4
7) Red Cross Blood Drive on June 4
8) Deadline to RSVP for Kabbalat Shabbat is Monday, June 5
9) Jewish Mindfulness & Meditation on June 6
10) Gardening Parties
11) Portland Pride Parade
12) Book Discussion Group

Announcements:
1) Supporting the Families of the MAX Defenders
2) Renewable Energy Rally on June 1
3) Inspiring Story About Refugee Families by Kate Haas
4) Portland Homeless Family Solutions Direct Service Project
5) Help Us Connect With Each Other
6) Planning Ahead for the High Holy Days
7) Book Drive for Boise-Eliot
8) Rachel's Well - A New Mikvah for Portland
9) Just in Time for Summer Camping
10) Reconstructionism Today

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1) Morning Minyan for Shavuot, Thursday, June 1, 8:00 - 9:30 am
Instead of our usual morning minyan on Wednesday, this week our morning minyan will be on Thursday, June 1, with an early start (8:00 am) for the second day of Shavuot.

Priestly Blessing art from the Synagoge Enschede, photo by Kleuske

2) Community Minyan, Saturday, June 3, 10:00 am - 12:00 noon
Join us this Saturday as Susan Brenner, Roger Brewer and other Havurahniks lead and read Torah. We will discuss Parsha Naso, in which Moses completes the census, the people learn about the holiness of the nazir, and Aaron and his sons receive a special blessing to give to the people, the Birkhat Kohanim. Add your voice to the discussion this Saturday. Join us!

3) Office Closures for Shavuot: Wednesday, May 31, and Thursday, June 1

4) Pastoral Care Team Meeting, Thursday, June 1, 7:00 - 9:00 pm
Please join in this planning meeting to discuss the development of our Havurah Pastoral Care Team (PCT). The PCT is a congregant-led group whose purpose is to provide both spiritual and hands-on support to Havurah members facing such things as illness, medical challenges, and family emergencies. The PCT was initially developed to cover pastoral needs during Rabbi Joey's 2015 sabbatical but it has become clear that our members have a variety of needs and concerns for which community support may be needed. The PCT is intended to supplement and complement the HavHelp/Lotsa Helping Hands process which has been in existence for many years. The PCT will become active during the time leading up to Rabbi Benjamin's arrival at Havurah, and we envision it continuing after he joins our community as well. On June 1, we will meet to discuss short-term plans/needs in addition to longer-range goals.

5) Office Hours June 2-7 - Many thanks to three amazing Havurahniks who have offered to keep Havurah's office open during four days in June while Rachel Pollak and Teri Ruch attend a conference to learn new developments for managing Havurah's website and membership database. Susan Lazareck will be in the office Friday, June 2, from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, Adele Thompson on Monday, June 5, 9:30 am to 3:30 pm, Fran Berg on Tuesday, June 6, 9:30 am to 2:30 pm, and Susan Lazareck (again) on Wednesday, June 7, 9:15 am to 1:00 pm. Please note that because of staff absences, we will not have a weekly community email next week.

6) Song of Miriam Awards Brunch, Sunday, June 4, 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Mazel tov to Eve Berry! Eve is the 2017 Song of Miriam Honoree from Havurah Shalom. Her many contributions to our congregation stem from her lifelong focus on childhood education and learning. In her civilian life, Eve is an elementary teacher for ESL students. She has generously shared her time, talent and expertise with us at Havurah. Read more about Eve here. Photo of Eve below.

7) Red Cross Blood Drive, Sunday, June 4, 9:00 am - 2:00 pm - On June 4, Havurah is cosponsoring a blood drive with Shaarie Torah and the Red Cross. It will take place between 9:00 am and 2:00 pm at Shaarie Torah in the Social Hall (920 NW 25th). This is a life-saving mitzvah and will only require about one hour of your time. Please sign up at redcrossblood.org. Type in the code shaarietorah to find the blood drive, or call 1-800-733-2767 to schedule an appointment. Contact Chris Coughlin if you have questions.

8) Deadline to RSVP for Kabbalat Shabbat Dinner on June 9 is Monday, June 5 - Join us for a tasty, catered vegetarian dinner before our musical Kabbalat Shabbat service on June 9. Gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut-free options will be provided. RSVP here by Monday, June 5! All are invited to join us for the short, celebratory musical service to welcome Shabbat, which will be led by Aaron Pearlman and Havurah musicians Ilene Safyan, Liz Schwartz, Chaim Wolin, Scott Snyder, Steven Sandberg-Lewis, John Duke, Sarah Shine, Jacob Mandelsberg, and Tanja Lux.

9) Jewish Mindfulness & Meditation, Tuesday, June 6, 12 noon - 1:00 pm - We gather on Tuesdays to find some moments of quiet and shalom. All are welcome.

10) Garden Parties - June 8, 9:00 am - noon & June 11, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm - Hello, gardeners! It is that time of year: to clean up, prune, weed and beautify our Havurah garden. We will have two work parties, on June 8 and June 11. Please RSVP to Barbara Gundle and let her know which one you can attend. You are welcome to come to both, of course! Please bring a friend or family member who wants to help, gardening gloves or work gloves (very important), pruning shears labeled with your name, some snacks to share and a water bottle, a broom and dustpan if you can, a rake if you can, and watering can if you have one. Barbara Gundle will provide everything else that is needed. These work parties will occur rain or shine, Portland-style. 

11) Portland Pride Parade, Sunday, June 18, 11:00 am - 1:00 pm

As we have for more than a decade, Havurah Shalom will march in the Portland Pride Parade on Sunday, June 18, with the “Community of Welcoming Congregations.” The parade is from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm, beginning on the North Park Blocks, between NW 8th Ave and NW Davis St. Watch Havurah’s website for details about where and when to meet so we can march together. As always, we will hang our Pride banner on our building during the month of June.

12) Book Discussion Group, June 27, 7:00 - 8:30 pm
Please join us as Phil Walters leads a discussion of The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman. This is a riveting and tragic non-fiction work written by an accomplished author. The book draws upon the unpublished diary of Antonia Zabinska and her accounting of her life during World War II with her husband Jan Zabinski, the director of the Warsaw Zoo. Prior to the Nazi invasion on September 1, 1939, Antonia and Jan ran a successful zoo and animal sanctuary, living on the property with their young son. After the invasion most all of the animals and structures were destroyed. The couple became active in the Polish underground resistance and risked their own lives to shelter in the zoo more than 300 Jews, ultimately saving them from deportation from the Warsaw ghetto to the camps. For their incredible dedication and bravery, they were recognized and honored on September 21, 1965 as “Righteous Among The Nations” at Yad Vashem in Israel. This is a well researched and beautifully written book. Please RSVP here.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

1) Supporting the Families of the Brave Men on the MAX - Click here to support the families of the brave men who were attacked on the MAX on Friday for defending two women who were subjected to hateful harassment.

2) Help Portland Pass Renewable Energy Goal on June 1, 2:00 pm - The City of Portland is poised to pass a new policy setting a goal to meet 100% of our community-wide energy needs with renewable energy by 2050 and 100% of our electricity needs with renewable energy by 2035. The Mayor and Commissioner Chloe Eudaly champion the policy, but we need a huge turnout to ensure that our Mayor and Commissioners pass the policy in its strongest form. Please let the City Council know that you support a goal of 100% community wide renewable electricity by 2030, a goal for 100% community wide renewable energy by 2050, and renewable energy solutions rooted in equity and social justice.

3) You'll want to read this inspiring story by Kate Haas about hosting refugee families, which was published by Slate yesterday. 

4) PHFS Portland Homeless Family Solutions Goose Hollow Shelter Direct Service Project - Since July, 2015 Havurah has had a team of volunteers at Goose Hollow evening shelter once a month. I have had the pleasure of coordinating Havurah volunteers for this hands-on project. The families are uniquely different. Some adults over these past two years stand out as they are the ones who challenged my prior assumptions of homeless adults. Several children I will continue to carry in my heart. Each one clearly demonstrated with actions and words their understanding of how to make the best of their situation, not just for themselves, yet also for the other children there. And then there are the Havurah volunteers who I have the humble honor to get to work with. Join this incredible group of Havurahniks. It only takes an hour of your time to complete the sole requirement of an on-site orientation. Contact Gloria Halper.

5) Help Us Connect With Each Other - Many thanks to all who have responded to this survey already. If you haven't completed it yet, please take this short survey to tell us how you prefer Havurah to communicate with you and how you would like to connect with others at Havurah.

6) Planning Ahead for High Holy Days - If you are like my family, you are beginning to think about school getting out, warm and sunny days becoming the norm, summer vacations, hanging out and eating dinner with friends on the patio or in the park. We are excited, knowing that the daylight will be lasting longer. But before we all head off into the sunshine, may I suggest you take some time to organize your calendar? I am talking about the High Holy Days that come at the end of September. Soon calls and requests will be made for members to take on the many parts that make the Days of Awe amazing and beautiful. Havurah Shalom is fortunate to have such a large and creative collective of families. And to our collective of families, I say, come and join the work of preparing and creating our High Holy Days. Go ahead: put the dates in the sidebar in your calendar for services at the Tiffany Center. Read more.

7) Book Drive for Boise-Eliot, May 16 - June 4 - I am organizing a book drive for the kids at Boise-Eliot/Humboldt PK-8 School in North Portland. Boise-Eliot serves the largest population of Black children in Oregon, and the school community is a supportive and nurturing environment in a neighborhood that has lost almost all of its Black population. Here's a 2016 Slate article about the school and the changing realities in the surrounding community. Please consider donating new or gently used books, Tuesday, May 16- Sunday, June 4. The goal is to collect 700 books, so each child has at least one book to read over the summer. Here's how to donate: Send books directly to Boise-Eliot/Humboldt via their Amazon wish list at http://a.co/4Tak0s6 or buy books and drop them off at Boise-Eliot/Humboldt PK-8 School, 620 N Fremont, 9:00 am - 2:00 pm, or Children's Institute, 1411 SW Morrison Street, Suite 205, 9:00 am - 4:00 pm. - Danielle Cogan, Havurah member

8) Rachel’s Well—Portland’s New Community Mikvah for all—will open this summer for traditional contemporary ritual immersion. This is a Mikvah created by the community for the community, and with everyone’s support we will together make it a beautiful (and functional) space. If you would like to serve as Havurah Shalom's representative on the advisory committee for the new community mikvah, email Havurah's office.

9) Just in Time for Your Summer Camping! A Havurah Shalom member is selling 30 Super Nova LED camping lights used for Joey's retirement party. All the batteries have been used for 5+ hours on medium setting - lights have five settings and have a great handle at the top which makes them a perfect tent light for camping. They were purchased for $9.98 and are selling for $8, with $1 of that donated to Havurah. Email Monica if you are interested in purchasing one. Happy Summer!

10) Reconstructionism Today - Read the latest issue here.
 

To ensure that our news is as accurate as possible, please use this form to submit stories for Havurah's online calendar & weekly email updates. News for weekly emails is due Tuesday at noon prior to the email. Due to staff attending a conference, we won't have a weekly email on Wednesday, June 7.

Havurah Shalom is a vibrant, egalitarian, and diverse Jewish Reconstructionist community. Steeped in Jewish values, Havurah promotes spirituality, learning, and acts of social responsibility.

Find our calendar and learn more at www.havurahshalom.org.

825 NW 18th Ave, Portland, OR 97209

503-248-4662