HAVURAH HAPPENINGS: (1) Upcoming Shabbat: Community Minyan, Tot Shabbat, Parent Workshops (2) PHFS Volunteer Orientation (3) Havurah Maintenance Work Party (4) Live the Chai Life! Purim Celebration (5) Havurah Sanctuary Committee Meeting (6) Tivnu & Havurah Teens Kabbalat Shabbat (7) Tikkun Olam Global Meeting Time Change(description of meeting added)(8) Book Discussion of Quiet Americans (9) Drawdown Book Discussion (10) Havurah Evening at PHFS Family Winter Shelter (11) IMIrJ Advocacy Day (12) Looking for B'nai Mitzvah Photos for Michele Goldschmidt's Celebration (13) Shabbat School Enrollment (14) Indecent Shabbaton (15) Early Deadline for Next Week's Community Email
COMMUNITY EVENTS: (1) Rescheduled JWRT Havdalah Service and Social (2) Stories of Resistance (3) Stand with Immigrants & Refugees (4) Little Shtetl on the Prairie (time has been changed)
(1) UPCOMING SHABBAT AT HAVURAH
Community Minyan, Saturday, March 16, 10:00 am – Maria Lisa Johnson, Ken Lerner, Tivona Reith, Susan Brenner, Andy Waxman, and Sam Waxman will lead, read Torah, and drash this Saturday. In this week's parsha, Vayikra, we learn about offerings for different kinds of sins. It's also the Shabbat before Purim, when we're supposed to be happy. Come join the conversation!
Tot Shabbat, Saturday, March 16, 10:30-11:30 am– Young children (0-5) and their parents celebrate Shabbat with singing, movement, blessings, and storytelling. We will touch on the main highlights of the Shabbat service: wonder, fun, song, listening to the world, dancing, and Torah. Afterward we will enjoy an informal oneg nosh and the chance to play and schmooze. Please come and bring something to share at the oneg. RSVP here.
Workshops for Parents, Saturday, March 16, 3:10-4:30 pm– Havurah 101: Wondering what goes on at Havurah outside of Saturday afternoons? Find out what's happening outside of the Shabbat School community, learn more about Havurah's history, and hear about what's ahead to help families mix with the rest of the congregation. Join us during Shabbat School for a discussion and snacks with folks working on intergenerational issues and leadership development. RSVP here. Whose Bar or Bat Mitzvah Is It Anyway? Parents will explore the hopes and fears that inspire, inform and complicate the planning process. Led by Deborah Eisenbach-Budner and Laura Orgel. RSVP here.
(2) Portland Homeless Family Solutions Volunteer Orientation, Saturday, March 16, 10:00 am, 6220 SE 92nd – Children can attend if they will be volunteering too, but their attendance at the orientation is not required. The Family Winter Shelter closes at the end of April, so there's still time to volunteer! RSVP with your name and which orientation date you're interested in to Bethany Rocci at bethany@pdxhfs.org. For other PHFS issues, email Gloria Halper at losninos6@gmail.com.
(3) Havurah Maintenance Work Party, Sunday, March 17, 2:00-4:00 pm– Spread the word! We're going to make our building shine on Sunday, March 17. Bruce Barbarasch will organize the missions for the day and round up snacks. You bring the work clothes and RSVP so he knows what to line up. We'll have a variety of things, high (changing light bulbs) and low (sealing cracks). It will probably be a little heavier on the work end of things, but if you work hard maybe it will feel like a party! Contact Bruce Barbarasch to join in on light building improvement projects at Havurah.
(4) Live the Chai Life! Purim Celebration, Wednesday, March 20, 6:00-8:30 pm – Come one, come all, for a night of joy, masquerade, and retelling the story of the courageous individuals from long ago whose valor saved the Jewish People. We will have pizza and vegetarian potluck, Megillah chanting, spieling, a costume parade, Hamantaschen contest, and dancing.
6:15 pm - Pizza will be provided by Havurah. Please bring a salad or vegetarian side dish if your last name begins with A - L. Please bring a dessert if your last name begins with M - Z.
(5) Havurah Sanctuary Committee Meeting, Thursday, March 21, 7:00-9:00 pm –Come learn with us as we prepare for the IMIrJ Advocacy Day in Salem. We will discuss the different House bills for which we will be advocating, Bob Brown will lead a workshop on the history and importance of Drivers Licenses for All, and Hank Kaplan will share with us tools on how to effectively lobby in Salem. In case you are wondering, it IS legal for faith communities to do lobbying. Participation in civic and public life is an integral part of many faith traditions. Advocating for legislative changes that align with our values is an important and legal part of that. Questions? Contact Bob Brown at rebrown47@gmail.com.
(6) Tivnu & Havurah Teens Kabbalat Shabbat Dinner & Service, Friday, March 22, 6:00-7:00 pm Service, 7:00-8:30 pm Dinner – Parents will have their own table(s) for dinner. $15.00/person. For more information about activities and dinner, be in touch with davidfeder@sbcglobal.net. All Havurahniks grades 8-12 are invited to meet and hang out with a group of teens from New York and New Jersey Reconstructionist synagogues, who will be in Portland on a Tivnu Building Justice program March 22-23. You'll have a chance to see construction of tiny homes for and with formerly houseless people, hike on Shabbat, and show the visitors the best ice cream in town.
(7) Tikkun Olam Global Meeting Time Has Changed!, Sunday, March 24, 10:00 am – The Tikkun Olam Global Meeting date and time has changed from the date posted in Hakol. It will be on Sunday, March 24, at 10:00 am.Tikkun Olam Global is a new Havurah work group focused on international social justice and issues related to global poverty and inequality. We take a holistic view of world as we endeavor to do our part to make it a better place for all. The planet is a village and everybody in it is a neighbor. Please join us as we discuss our international service project for the coming year. There are several exciting proposals are under consideration. We need your ideas, enthusiasm and skills.
(8) Book Group Discussion of Quiet Americans by Erica Dreyfus, Tuesday, March 26, 7:00 pm – Dreyfus’s short stories tell of lives enmeshed in the Holocaust, scenarios that highlight the existential anxieties of Jewish Americans in the age of Hitler and afterwards. The characters include: a high-ranking Nazi wife and a Jewish doctor in prewar Berlin; a Jewish immigrant soldier and the German POW he is assigned to supervise; a refugee returning to Europe for the first time only to encounter the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics; a son of survivors who discovers long-held family secrets. These Americans are “quiet”—most don't talk about what they've been through, and some continue to be afraid. Deceptively simple, Dreyfus's tales reframe familiar questions about what is right and wrong, remembered and repressed, resolved and unending. Discussion will be led by Stacey Hankin.
(9) Drawdown Book Discussion, March 28, April 25, May 23, 7:30-9:00 pm – There is way out of the climate change disaster. And there are many things we can do to have an impact. These solutions are addressed in depth in the New York Times best seller, Drawdown. We will meet to discuss the solutions and actions in Drawdown that can reverse climate change. Each meeting will have a reading assignment from the book. Please check the online event calendar for more information. Questions? Email Andy Beers at andy@andybeers.com.
(10) Havurah's Evening at the Family Winter Shelter, Sunday, March 31, Cooking at 4:15 pm, Havurah Kitchen; Kid Host or Helping Hand at 6:30 pm, Family Winter Shelter for Portland Homeless Family Solutions – We have now had two successful collaborative cooking sessions using the Havurah kitchen preparing dinner for the families in the Family Winter Shelter. Some of us bring the meal over to serve. Others join as "kid hosts" playing with the kids in the shelter, and others work as "helping hands," helping out with whatever needs to be done. The next date Havurah has signed up for is March 31. If you want to be part of this event, please sign up at this link or contact Deborah Mandell at deborah.mandell@gmail.com.
(11) IMIrJ (Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice) Advocacy Day, Monday April 8, 8:00 am-4:00 pm, Salem – Join Rabbi Benjamin and members of the Sanctuary Committee as we participate in the IMIrJ Advocacy Day in Salem. We will come together with people of faith and conscience from across the state to meet and build relationships with our Oregon state senators and representatives to amplify the demands and priorities of Oregon’s immigrant and refugee communities. A key issue we will highlight is the Equal Access to Roads Act, which would ensure standard licenses are available to all qualified drivers regardless of their ability to prove their status. Register to attend here. Carpooling is available. Questions? Contact Kathy Gordon (farvergordon@gmail.com) or Shari Raider (shari.raider@gmail.com).
(12) Looking for B'nai Mitzvah photos for Michele Goldschmidt's Celebration – Did your child have the pleasure of having Michele Goldschmidt be their b'nai mitzvah tutor? We are collecting photos for her celebration on April 6. No commitment is required beyond emailing a few pictures from your child's bar/bat mitzvah to racheli.karlinskyross@gmail.com in the next couple of weeks. Thank you in advance!
(13) Enrollment in Havurah's Shabbat School for 2019-20 – We are currently planning for next year’s Shabbat School, our cooperative Jewish education program for children and families. If you have a child who is entering grades K-6 in the autumn of 2019-20 and are considering having them participate, please note that May 1 is the enrollment deadline to become Havurah members and enroll in Shabbat School. Learn more here.
(14) Indecent Shabbaton in Ashland, Friday, Aug. 30 – This season Oregon Shakespeare Festival is presenting the Tony Award winning play Indecent, written by Paula Vogel. A spirited and revolutionary love story (with fabulous music and dancing) that celebrates Yiddish language and literature, Indecent charts the real-life controversy surrounding Sholem Asch’s play God of Vengeance and the Jewish artists who faced persecution when bringing it to Broadway in 1932. It features a Jewish cast and production team and was developed and commissioned by OSF as part of their American Revolutions series. Learn more and sign up here.
(15) Early Deadline for Next Week's Community Email – Due to a staff absence next week, please submit your post for next week's community email by this Friday at 3:00 pm. Thank you!
COMMUNITY EVENTS
(1) Rescheduled Havdalah Service & Social, Saturday, March 16, 7:30 pm, Cedar Sinai Park, Rose Schnitzer Manor, Zidell Hall, 6140 SW Boundary Street – Refreshments and conversation will follow the annual Havdalah service sponsored by the Jewish Women's Round Table. Enjoy an Israeli dance exhibition, which includes Havurah member Cindy Merrill. The service will be led by Rabbi Elizabeth Dunsker of Congregation Kol Ami. The service and social is free and open to the community. Questions? Contact Adele Thompson at adele@live.com.
(2) Stories of Resistance, Tuesday March 19, 7:00-8:30 pm, Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education – Please join the third Story Swap at the Museum: Stories of Resistance. Featured tellers are Judy Margles, Director of OJMCHE, Mike Murawski of the Portland Art Museum, and Bobbin Singh of the Oregon Justice Resource Center. After the featured tellers, they'll have an open mic for people to tell their own five-minute Story of Resistance. This is the last show of the season! $8 members/$10 non-members. Hosted by Cassandra Sagan, Maggid-Educator and Havurah member.
(3) Stand with Immigrants and Refugees, Sunday, March 31, 6:30-8:00 pm, Milagro Theater, 525 SE Stark – Join artists and activists for an evening of music, prose, and poetry dedicated to protecting the human rights of immigrants and refugees and stopping the detention and deportation of our brothers and sisters. The event will raise funds for the Rapid Response and Deportation Defense Project, organized by the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition, which serves the emergency needs of the Oregon immigrant community. Hosted by Los Porteños, Portland Latino Writers, and the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition. Contributions: $20 per person (cash or checks). No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Wine, coffee, tea, and snacks will be served. Questions? Contact Bob Brown at rebrown47@gmail.com.
(4) Little Shtetl on the Prairie: Reckoning with the Past Through Teshuvah, Wednesday, April 10, 12 noon-1:00 pm,Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education – Havurah member Rebecca Clarren, an award-winning journalist, will present a free hour-long slide show and talk. Clarren's relatives escaped pograms in Russia and became Jewish ranchers and homesteaders in South Dakota. Throughout her childhood, Clarren heard stories of her uncle "Bronco Lou" and the mikvahs her great-great-grandmother took in the ice-choked creek behind their shack on the prairie. Yet the narratives didn't include stories of the Lakota, their neighbors. In an effort to better understand the past and possibly find some healing, Clarren, who has written about Indigenous Americans for national magazines such as The Nation, Indian Country Today and High Country News, set out to find the descendants of the Lakota families who were displaced and harmed by the amoral land allotment policies which provided her family with free land. Learn more here.
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Havurah Shalom is a vibrant, diverse, participatory Jewish community steeped in Jewish values promoting spirituality, learning, and acts of social responsibility.
(HYB) Shabbat Morning Shabbat, May 3rd 10:00a to 12:00p Led by community members and Rabbi Benjamin (who is on sabbatical until July 1, 2025), this service includes davening, Torah reading, and discussion. Join us afterward for a light community brunch provided by the Lunches and Noshes Committee! Free childcare is provided. For Zoom information, please email info@havurahshalom.org.
(IP) Shabbat School Shabbat, May 3rd 3:00p to 5:15p This program gives children a foundation for lifelong Jewish learning and engagement while integrating parents and children in a caring Jewish community.
(ZM) Progressive Israel Network Sessions Sunday, May 4th 11:00a to 12:00p Havurah Shalom is hosting a four-session series from the Progressive Israel Network. Come learn in collaboration with representatives from five to six of the participating Progressive Israel Network organizations, including T’ruah, New Jewish Narrative, Partners for Progressive Israel, New Israel Fund, J Street, and Reconstructing Judaism.
All perspectives on Israel-Palestine, as well as all curious people, are welcomed and encouraged. Our guests will give presentations and take questions. You can register for all sessions, below, but it's okay if you can't attend all three sessions.
(Reconstructing Judaism, the central organization of the Reconstructionist movement, of which Havurah Shalom is a part, is a member of the Progressive Israel Network.)
(IP) Writing for Peace and Reconciliation, Within and Between Us Sunday, May 4th 6:30p to 8:30p Commemorate the last day of Pesach and Yitzkor in community Passover not only invites us to retell our ancient story but to look at our current reality and ask: what is our mitzrayim today? The obstacle in our personal and communal life? Where can we break through in an act of courage and compassion? April 20th & May 4th, 6:30 PM at Havurah, join Harriet Cooke for a writing/drawing group to explore this theme along with Yitzkor, the Sephirot and Counting the Omer. (It is recommended to attend either just the first session or both sessions.)
(IP) Jewish Ethical Responses to the Problem of Racism Monday, May 5th 6:30p to 7:45p We will address topics such as countering white nationalism and antisemitism, Jewish perspectives on reparations, repairing Jewish pioneer memory, and responding to racial microaggressions. Facilitated by Karen Sherman and Adela Basayne.
(CANCELED) Collage Art with Jewish Symbols Wednesday, May 7th 6:30p to 7:45p This class has been canceled by the instructor. If you are interested in doing art at Havurah, please reach out to Adela Basayne (info@havurahshalom.org). Bring your crafts and creativity out for making collage art with Jewish symbols. We will create hamzas, stars of David, trees of life, and images for blessing the home. All ages are invited! Led by Carolina Martinez.
(IP) Hebrew as a Tool: Prayer and Torah (registration closed) Wednesday, May 7th 7:00p to 8:15p (This class will now be starting on January 8.) Using an in-depth, word-by-word approach, we discover literal meaning(s), ancient layers of understanding, and our own personal interpretations that stem from the nuances of the Hebrew text. Basic Hebrew decoding skills necessary.
