We look forward to a Sweet New Year with Rabbi Benjamin
and our fellow community members, families & friends, both old and new. Thank you to all who are making our High Holidays services meaningful. Here is our schedule of those services.

L'Shana Tova!

At Rosh Hashanah, as we turn to new beginnings, we seek to repent—to do teshuvah—for what we have done wrong. And we can also affirmatively foster ourselves toward resilience—toward a thriving, loving outlook in spite of whatever challenges we encounter in life. In this video, Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D., President of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College & Jewish Reconstructionist Communities, explores themes of resilience embedded into Jewish practice.

Shana tova umetukah. A sweet and a happy and a healthy new year.

High Holiday Tikkun Olam Tzedakah Project Donations - High Holiday Tikkun Tzedakah Project Donations can be dropped off in containers on the fourth floor of the Tiffany Center during High Holidays. Over this past year, Havurahniks have volunteered countless hours of direct service with two local organizations helping families get settled in new homes. Portland Homeless Family Solutions (PHFS) supports homeless families at the Goose Hollow Family Shelter transition to new homes, and Catholic Charities supports new refugees arriving in Portland. To further support this work, this year's Havurah High Holiday Tikkun Olam Tzedakah Project will be, as it was last year, to collect household items that will be used by PHFS and Catholic Charities in creating Welcome Baskets for the families each organization helps. Read more here about donation needs.

Shabbat Service on Saturday, Sept. 23 - On this Shabbat morning following the two days of Rosh Hashanah, Rabbi Benjamin will guide us in contemplative practice. We will cover less of the liturgy than we normally do, instead taking our time to chant particular sections as well as leaving plenty of room for silent prayer and meditation. We will then take time for some reflective Torah discussion in connection to this season of renewal.

A Celebratory Sukkot is Being Planned at Havurah - Havurah's sukkah building has already begun. In addition to the photo above, check outthese photos of Tivnu gap year participants who have been busy constructing the components of our new big sukkah during the past two weeks. Many thanks to Tivnu executive director Steven Eisenbach-Budner, for setting up this partnership and donating countless hours of Tivnu time to Havurah's new sukkah project, to Erik Brakstad, Tivnu Construction Trainer, who designed the new sukkah to fill and complement our courtyard, despite it's irregular slopes, and to all of the Tivnu gap year participants who have worked so hard at Havurah for many days now.

Please join Havurah member Michael Alter, Tivnu's Erik Brakstad, and Tivnu gap year participants in constructing our new sukkah on Sunday, Oct. 1, at 11:00 am. Learn about all of our Sukkot opportunities and activities here.

Simchat Torah, Thursday, Oct. 12, 6:30-8:30 pm - Join us for a family-friendly, joyous celebration! We'll have a dessert buffet from 6:00 - 6:50 pm, followed by music, dancing and celebrating Torah. Please RSVP here.

Ambiguity & the Multiple Narratives of Torah, Taught by Rabbi Benjamin, Wednesdays, 7:00-8:30 pm, Oct. 18, 25; Nov. 1, 8, 15, 29 - The Hebrew Bible is rich with ambiguity. While we carry many assumptions about its points of view, the Torah is in fact multilayered and nuanced. Through close readings of particular Biblical narratives, including those of Abraham, Hagar, Jacob, and David, and with the aid of ancient and contemporary responses, we will re-read the literature that is Torah, exploring its artistry and reflecting on the ways in which it expresses and comments upon the nature of humanity. Please RSVP here.

Passport to Empowerment, Green Empowerment 20-year Anniversary Celebration, Saturday, Oct. 14, 5:00-midnight, North Warehouse, 723 N Tillamook St, Portland - Havurah Shalom's Tikkun Olam Committee is a sponsor for Green Empowerment's "Passport to Empowerment," its celebration of 20 years of social justice through partnering with local NGOs to bring clean water and sustainable electricity to remote villages in Latin American and Asia. Over the past 10 years Havurah members raised funds for a solar water system, latrines, and clean cookstoves in El Jocote, Nicaragua, and during service trips assisted villagers in setting up patio gardens and grey water systems. Join the celebration at the VIP event from 5:00-8:00 pm (tickets are $100; the first ten requesters will be given a free ticket) and/or the party from 7:30 pm-midnight ($40). Christine Ervin, the first President and CEO of U.S. Green Building Council and Assistant Secretary of Energy under President Clinton, will speak at 7:30 pm. Go to www.greenempowerment.org/passport for details on the event. Questions? Contact Linda Boise at boiselinda48@gmail.com.

Accessing Havurah's Membership Directory - Members of Havurah can access our membership directory by logging in as a member on our home page using the “login” link in the upper right corner and entering their email address as their ID and the password they created for themselves in the password field. Once logged in, members will find a link to the directory at the bottom of the drop-down menu under “Community.” The most effective way to search for another member’s listing is to enter the person’s name in the search box at the top of the page. Using the alphabetical listings can be problematic since many Havurah spouses have different last names from each other. If you are already logged in, you should be able to access the directory by clicking here.

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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.

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

825 NW 18th Ave, Portland, OR 97209
503-248-4662