FROM OUR CALENDAR 1 Upcoming Shabbat 2 High Holidays Packet 3 Privilege Equity Meeting 4 Music Sharing 5 Jewish Mindfulness Meditation 6 Wednesday Morning Minyan 7 Kabbalat Shabbat Service with Rabbi Benjamin 8 Portland Homeless
Weekly Community Email, August 2
FROM OUR CALENDAR (1) Upcoming Shabbat (2) High Holidays Packet (3) Privilege & Equity Meeting (4) Music Sharing (5) Jewish Mindfulness & Meditation (6) Wednesday Morning Minyan (7) Kabbalat Shabbat Service with Rabbi Benjamin (8) Portland Homeless Family Solutions Updates (9) Havdalah & Potluck Picnic(10) Book Discussion of The Plot Against America
ANNOUNCEMENTS (1) Toda Raba to All Who Helped at Havurah (2) Healing & Transformation for the Days of Awe (3) Summer Concerts at MJCC (4) Jewish Pride PDX Happy Hour (5) If I Had a Hammer(er) (6) Shabbat Shira
Welcome, Rabbi Benjamin Barnett! Yesterday Rabbi Benjamin joined us as our new rabbi, and already he has met some of you who came for Tuesday meditation or Wednesday Morning Minyan. Please join us for our first Kabbalat Shabbat Service with him on Friday, Aug. 11!
FROM OUR CALENDAR
(1) Upcoming Shabbat, Saturday, Aug. 5, 10:00 am - This Saturday Jacob Hersh Wice-Budner, son of Leila Wice and Miriam Budner, will be called to the Torah as a Bar Mitzvah. Please join us in celebrating with Jacob and his family, and welcome Jacob as a member of our community. Jacob's mitzvah project focuses on every kid's need to be listened to and heard. He is gathering donations for the financial aid fund at the Tucker-Maxon School, where hearing-impaired kids and hearing kids learn together.
(2) High Holidays Packet - Your High Holidays packet should arrive in your mailbox soon. Just as we have been for more than 30 years, we are opening our services to the greater community at the Tiffany Center. We look forward to seeing you there in September. As always, it takes a village to make our services happen. Please look through the many types of volunteer positions openat our SignUp website and see what fits you best. Thank you to all our volunteers!
Click here to find RSVP forms for Erev Rosh Hashanah Dinner, High Holidays childcare, and our Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur family services.
Photo below is from My Jewish Learning.
(3) Privilege & Equity Meetings - Those of us who were part of the six-week class last winter on Privilege & Equity invite you to join us at 7:00 pm on Thurs., Aug. 3, and 7:00 pm on Wed., Sept. 13, to form small groups to discuss options for our next steps. Learn more here about the meetings and the options that have come from our classes and meetings so far.
(4) Havdalah & Music Sharing Evening on Saturday, Aug. 5, 7:30 - 9:00 pm - Havurah Music Coordinator Ilene Safyan invites Havurah's Music Group to a Havdalah & Music Sharing Evening. Weather (and crowd) permitting, she hopes to host it at her home, so please let her know if you would like to come so she can plan accordingly.
Along with your voices and instruments, please consider bringing a song to share, and if you could print up words, chords, etc, to share with everyone, that would be wonderful. More details will be coming, once Ilene has a sense of who all might be able to join in. Please respond to Ilene privately by email here and she'll be back in touch with information about where and when, and any other details.
The photo below is of Havurah musicians in the Havurah Hakafot Orchestra at last year's Simchat Torah celebration. We hope the Hakafot Orchestra will help us celebrate Simchat Torah again this year!
(5) Jewish Mindfulness & Meditation - Our Jewish Mindfulness & Meditation group will continue to meet at noon on Tuesdays during the summer whenever at least two people can attend. Deborah will be at Havurah most Tuesdays. Please add your name to this doodle poll to indicate when you can come.
(6) Wednesday Morning Minyan - Our weekly Wednesday morning service from 8:30 to 9:00 am is for those who wish to incorporate daily practice in their lives and those saying Kaddish, or both. All are welcome.
(7) Kabbalat Shabbat Service, Friday, Aug. 11, 7:00 - 8:30 pm, Havurah- We look forward to our first Shabbat service with Rabbi Benjamin as our new rabbi on Friday, Aug. 11. The service will start earlier than our traditional Kabbalat Shabbat services, at 7:00 pm, and will not include a dinner in advance. We will have a dessert oneg following the service. Please join us!
(8) Portland Homeless Family Solutions (PHFS) Goose Hollow Direct Service Voluntary Project News - Havurah began the PHFS Adopt-A-Night volunteering direct service project a few years ago as a way to do this kind of work locally. We fill all of the needed volunteer positions once month. Our list of volunteers continues to grow, as well as the need for shelter. Come be a part of this experience. The only requirement other than your willingness to put yourself in what may be a new, sometimes uncomfortable situation, is a one-hour orientation.
Next orientations: Aug. 14 at 5:00 pm, Aug. 24 at 4:00 pm. All orientations are at the shelter, 1838 SW Jefferson. Please let Gloria Halper know if you are planning on attending on one of these two dates: losninos6@gmail.com.
(9) Havdalah Picnic to Welcome Rabbi Benjamin & His Family, Saturday, Aug. 19, 5:30 - 8:00 pm at Laurelhurst Park in SE Portland - At this potluck picnic and Havdalah celebration, we will welcome Rabbi Benjamin and his family. We will have games for children, potluck dinner, music and Havdalah. Come at 5:30 pm to start the games, and dinner will begin around 6'ish. Please RSVP here if you can come!
(10) Book Group Discussion on Tuesday, Aug. 22, 7:00 - 8:30 pm - Join us as Arleen Slive leads a discussion of The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. This book presents the 1930s and 1940s in the U.S. The twist occurs when Roosevelt is not re-elected in 1940 but rather the election is won by Charles Lindbergh, who makes a better hero and lightning rod than a leader. It goes downhill from there. Charles Lindbergh negotiates a cordial "understanding" with Adolf Hitler, and the new government embarks on a program of folksy anti-Semitism. It is horrifying to realize that this book, published in 2004, so perfectly describes our current political climate. Some commentators describe Roth's book as "eerily prescient." RSVP here if you can come.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
(1) Toda Raba to All Who Kept Havurah Going (& Growing) This Summer - At last Saturday's Community Minyan, Emily Simon spoke about the amazing way our community comes together whenever our spiritual leader is on sabbatical or we are without a spiritual leader for other reasons, as we were in May, June and July this year. During those three months we had many B'nai Mitzvah, our Wednesday Morning Minyan continued to meet and daven each week, and our Community Minyan and other Shabbat gatherings were not just steadily attended but also led by a growing group of capable leaders, leyners and drash givers. In addition, our Tikkun Olam work, book discussions, and other activities drew increasing numbers of leaders and participants. We are grateful to all of you who made this possible.
Speaking of growing, Barbara Gundle has spent hours (literally) watering our new trees and caring for the plants that our gardening team planted in our courtyard earlier this year. During this heat wave, watering is especially critical. Our Havurah gardeners have made our community home beautiful and welcoming. Toda raba!
(2) Healing & Transformation for the Days of Awe - Havurah member Harriet Cooke is leading a ten-week process of healing and transformation, "T'shuvah 5777-5778." Through study meditation, writing, and energetic therapies, the class will climb to new, passionate, and inspired ways of living. Read more about Harriet and her class on this flier.
(3) Mittleman Jewish Community Center Summer Concert Series - Havurah supports the MJCC's Summer Concert Series. The next concert features Nefesh Mountain on Thursday, Aug. 10, at 6:30 pm, on the grounds of the MJCC. The group Nefesh Mountain pioneers a new sound in which Jewish Spirit and Soul meet with Bluegrass and Old-time musical traditions. Founders, husband and wife team Eric Lindberg and Doni Zasloff, blend their love for both of these rich traditions and have created a new genre that marries these two seemingly disparate worlds. They are winning the hearts of audiences nationwide. Learn more and buy tickets here.
(4) Jewish Pride PDX Happy Hour at Hobo's on Aug. 24 at 6:30 pm - The first round of drinks will be on Jewish Pride PDX!
(5) If I Had a Hammer(er)- Are you good with tools, small repairs, and solving problems? Havurah is seeking a handy-person who can be on call for odd jobs related to the building and grounds. This can be either a paid or volunteer position, depending on your preference. For more information, please email Rachel.
(6) Shabbat Shira, Nov. 2-5 - OSRUI (URJ Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute) announces that registration will open soon for Shabbat Shira, OSRUI's music experience for adults - a great opportunity for spiritual renewal and making community through music. This flier provides more information.
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Havurah Shalom is a vibrant, egalitarian, and diverse Jewish Reconstructionist community. Steeped in Jewish values, Havurah promotes spirituality, learning, and acts of social responsibility.
[B'nei Mitzvah Run Through] Friday, Aug 15th 12:00p to 2:00p (This is a closed event and is included in our calendar for space reservation reasons and attendee reference.)
Shabbat Morning with Bat Mitzvah of Natasha Raish Shabbat, Aug 16th 10:00a to 12:00p Please join us for Shabbat morning services, including welcoming Natasha Raish as a Bat Mitzvah and member of our community.
(IP) Elul Gallery Art Drop-Off Sunday, Aug 17th 12:00p to 3:00p As part of our annual holiday cycle, Havurah members are invited to share our own reflections on the themes and stories of the High Holiday season. In addition to prose or poetry that may be shared on the bima at High Holiday services, we are putting out a call for artistic expressions in any visual medium, including paintings, drawings and photography. We welcome your reflections on any aspect of the High Holidays experience, whether they arise from our tradition’s core concepts of teshuvah (return) or seliḥah (forgiveness), or from any other aspect of your own process of looking inward during the time leading into the holiday season. The Elul and High Holiday Gallery is a project of the High Holidays Committee and the Design Committee, led by Joan Peck and Marcia Suttenberg.
(ZM) Climate Change Book Group Slow Reading of "Not Too Late" Monday, Aug 18th 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) Healing the Heart, Soothing the Soul: A Grief Process Support Group Tuesday, Aug 19th 5:30p to 7:00p During the month of Elul, we are guided to examine our souls, explore our relationships, reflect on our actions with God and others, and prepare ourselves spiritually to begin a new year. With the Spirit of Elul, we will journey into exploring the aspects of grief. For Havurah members only. Limited to 8 people. Participants are strongly encouraged to attend all sessions.
(IP) Israeli Dancing Wednesday, Aug 20th 7:30p to 8:30p Join us to learn Israeli dancing! We’ll teach the steps and tell the stories behind Israeli dances while you enjoy the catchy rhythms, creative body movements, and spending time with friends.
Led by Havurah members Cindy Merrill and Gail Schwartz with dance instructor Rhona Feldman.
Hakol Deadline is Thursday, August 21 Thursday, Aug 21st (All day) Havurah members, click to learn how to submit your contributions to our monthly newsletter, Hakol.
(HYB) Solidarity Kabbalat Shabbat Friday, Aug 22nd 5:45p to 8:00p Join Havurah members and friends for a Solidarity Shabbat service and potluck nosh. This is a spiritual space for community members working in solidarity with Palestinians - and for the liberation of all peoples - to come together to pray, build connections, and renew ourselves on Shabbat to continue our justice work. Please review Havurah's Brit Kavod for our community guidelines. Masks strongly encouraged and provided.
