Aug. 14 - Welcome to Brad Pector, Tikkun Olam Trainings, Add Your Voice
(1) Upcoming Shabbat: Bat Mitzvah of Frances Springgate (2) Parking on Shabbat (3) Welcome to Brad Pector, Communications & Membership Coordinator (4) Photos from Shabbat in the Pool, Tisha B'Av, Turnout Time (5) Invitation to Add Your Voice to High Holidays (6) PHFS Orientation (7) MACG Leadership Trainings (8) Book Discussion Group (9) Two Spots Open for Trope Class (10) Hashiveinu: Musical & Spiritual Preparation for the Days of Returning (11) Have a Question About Havurah?
Barbara Gundle took this photo at the IMIrJ Tisha B'Av Candlelight Vigil at the Portland ICE Facility Saturday night.
(1) Upcoming Shabbat: Bat Mitzvah of Frances Springgate, Saturday, Aug. 17, 10:00 am – This Saturday Frances Springgate, daughter of Liza and Mark Springgate, will be called to the Torah as a bat mitzvah. Please join us in celebrating with Frances and her family, and welcome Frances as a member of our community.
(2) Parking on Shabbat – Do you sometimes wonder where to park so you can attend a Friday night or Saturday morning service at Havurah? For several years now, Legacy Health Systems' corporate office at 1919 NW Lovejoy has generously offered free parking spaces to Havurah members and guests on weekends. Learn more about where to park here on our website. Please note that parking at the Legacy Health Systems corporate office is available only on Friday nights, Saturdays, and Sundays, when Legacy employees aren't using the lot. So for the second day of Rosh Hashanah, which is on a weekday, Havurah members and guests need to park elsewhere or take public transportation to the services. (For the second year in a row, second day services will be held at Havurah instead of the Tiffany Center.)
(3) Welcome to Brad Pector, Communications & Membership Coordinator – Welcome to Havurah's new Communications & Membership Coordinator, Brad Pector, who joined Havurah's staff on Monday. Brad recently moved to Portland from Iowa City, Iowa, and is originally from the greater Chicago area. During his time in Iowa City, he earned a BA in Art and a Certificate in Writing from the University of Iowa, in addition to spending a lot of his time in local activist groups. Brad is passionate about community organizing and seeks to fuse the powerful moral and ethical teachings of Judaism and Jewish history with a renewed spirit in the realm of ongoing social justice movements. You can reach Brad at brad@havurahshalom.org.
(4) Photos from Shabbat in the Pool, Tisha B'Av, Turnout Time – Thank you to Adela Basayne, Monica Moriarty, and Barbara Gundle forthese photos taken at last weekend's events.
(5) Invitation to Add Your Voice to High Holidays – Havurahniks, we invite you to add your voice to our prayer and celebration at High Holidays this year by submitting a “mini-drash” or kavanah to be included in our services. These short reflections or sharing of life experience, two to three minutes long, can be either in response to this year’s theme “Hineinu” or connected to the annual themes of teshuvah (returning/renewal/repentance) or forgiveness. The writing can be your own, or it can be a reading that expresses something true for you. Depending on participation, we may not be able to include all of them in High Holiday services, but we hope to share each of them in one form or another. Through your contributions we will include more voices and reflect more diversity of experience. -Rabbi Benjamin Barnett ... The deadline for contributions is Labor Day. Send to Rachel (rachel.pollak@havurahshalom.org) with the subject line Mini-drash 2019.
(6) Portland Homeless Family Solutions (PHFS) Orientation, Thursday, Aug. 15, 5:00-6:00 pm – Havurah has been supporting PHFS on a monthly basis, filling all of the needed volunteer positions, since July 2015. Our PHFS Havurah volunteer list currently has over 70 families. Homelessness is something we all see daily in our city. An hour orientation is the first step to get involved. Orientations are at PHFS' new Lent location (address given when you RSVP). PHFS is just a few months away from opening its doors to approximately 26 homeless families; currently eight families are being housed there. These families have to move between two buildings for day and night shelter as in the past. Join our very dedicated, active group of Havurah volunteers at the Lents shelter by attending a PHFS orientation. RSVP at TC@pdxhfs.org. Questions? Email John Devlin (Havurah member and PHFS board member) or Gloria Halper (Havurah member and PHFS coordinator). Their email addresses are listed in Havurah's online directory, which members who are logged in can access. Click here to learn how to access the directory.
(7) MACG Leadership Training Opportunities
Friday, Aug. 16, 7:00-9:00 pm & Saturday, Aug. 17, 8:00 am-2:00 pm, Columbia River Correctional Institution* in NE Portland, *Requires advance security clearance. Registration ends August 8.
Friday, Oct. 18, 7:00-9:00 pm & Saturday, Oct. 19, 9:30 am-4:30 pm, Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in NE Portland
Friday, Nov. 22, 7:00-9:00 pm & Saturday, Nov. 23, 9:30 am-4:30 pm, St. Andrew Lutheran in Beaverton
Havurah is a member of MACG, Metropolitan Alliance for the Common Good. MACG regularly provides leadership training based on the MACG organizing model. The training is focused on developing leaders to organize campaigns and actions that benefit the common good. There are three training opportunities coming up this year. The training sessions are free to all Havurah members.
You can see MACG's calendar on the MACG website: http://www.macg.org.
(8) Book Discussion Group: The Way to Spring, Tuesday, Aug. 27, 7:00-8:30 pm – The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine: Ben Ehrenreich, a novelist and writer for publications such as the New York Times Magazine and Harpers, lived in a particular West Bank village and documented its struggle against the Occupation. For this remarkable work of journalism, he received the National Magazine Award. The book has been praised as “a heartbreaking account of the brutal and often surreal realities of life under the Israeli occupation. After reading it, you don’t know whether to despair at the callousness and self-righteousness of human beings, or to wonder at their resilience and creativity.” (Yuval Noah Harari, The Guardian, Best Books of 2016) Discussion led by David Newman.
(9) Two Spots Open in Adult B'nei Mitzvah Fall Trope Class, Wednesdays, Sept. 4, 11, 18, 25 and Oct. 2, 7:00-8:15 pm – If you are able to read Hebrew, if you can attend all classes and agree to complete homework in between classes, this may be your opportunity to learn the fundamentals of leyning (chanting) Torah. Contact Deborah Eisenbach-Budner at deborah@havurahshalom.org for questions or for information about fees paid to teachers.
(10) Hashiveinu: Musical and Spiritual Preparation for the Days of Returning, Thursdays, Sept. 12, 19, 26, 7:00-8:30 pm – We will interweave singing High Holiday melodies with reflecting upon and discussing the themes and meaning of this sacred time. Everyone is welcome, whether or not you consider yourself a singer. Facilitated by Rabbi Benjamin and others. RSVP here.
(11) Have a Question About Havurah? – The Transparency/Inclusivity Committee welcomes your questions! We will find the answer and publish the question (but not the questioner) and answer in an upcoming Hakol. It is our intention at Havurah that what you know and understand about our congregation should not be a function of who you know. So if you find yourself wondering about something related to Havurah, or if someone shares their question with you, we hope you will send your question to transparency@havurahshalom.org. In June's Hakol, the question dealt with the issue of Havurah's growth. Our current co-presidents were interviewed to provide an answer. Questions? Contact Judy Steinburger or Fran Weick. Their email addresses are in our online membership directory, which you can learn how to access 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.
Daily Shofar Blast Sunday, Sep 14th (All day) Hear the Sound of the Shofar each day of Elul (except Shabbat): Andrine, Diane & Howard (& sometimes Dominic & Wesley) help prepare us for Rosh Hashanah with shofar, deep thoughts, and a touch of kavanah (intention). Videos will be posted daily on Havurah's YouTube and Facebook pages.
(ZM) Climate Change Book Group Slow Reading of "Not Too Late" Tuesday, Sep 16th 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) Story Turning: Harvesting Joy in the Past Tuesday, Sep 16th 7:00p to 8:15p Teshuvah is the ongoing process of Turning and Returning. Using brief, simple, playful forms: sound, movement, story, stillness—which EVERYONE can do—we'll discover and shape our own tales of transformation and renewal.
Together we’ll play with a few classic Jewish tales and find our own voices, visions, ancestors, light, and revelations. This is not a performance class. No experience is required, just a willingness to be curious and a little silly.
Led by Cassandra Sagan, a twice-ordained Maggid (Jewish storyteller/teacher), and a lifetime creative process/poetry/arts educator.
(IP) My Soul Thirsts for You: Elul Watercolor Workshop Wednesday, Sep 17th 7:00p to 8:15p Elul opens the gates of return. It’s a time when we are invited to soften, reflect, and seek out closeness with the Divine. In this workshop we'll explore watercolor, which is an especially effective medium for holding and expressing emotion. Our learning will center on the 13 Attributes, a sacred text recited throughout the High Holiday season, as we invite in qualities of compassion, honesty, and patience. No art experience needed, just a willingness to experiment and be present. All materials provided. Led by Noah Lind, Rabbinic Intern.
Hakol Deadline is Thursday, September 18 Thursday, Sep 18th (All day) Havurah members, click to learn how to submit your contributions to our monthly newsletter, Hakol.
(HYB) Torah Study for the High Holy Days Thursday, Sep 18th 7:00p to 8:30p During the High Holy Days we read four sections of the Torah. This series of study sessions will give us an opportunity to read the texts and explore their meanings. We will look at what our teachers before us thought of the readings, as well as investigate modern commentators. We also will come up with our own thoughts and see how we can understand the texts for our lives today.
Led by David Dropkin. No experience necessary. Please join us.
