Havurah Shalom is celebrating the Hebrew month of Elul! It is a time for study and reflection as we seek to prepare ourselves mentally and spiritually for the High Holidays, which begin in October. By learning together in our vibrant, diverse, participatory Jewish community, we find meaning and inspiration to make our world a better place.

All are invited to participate in Havurah’s Elul gatherings, which engage us on topics related to Jewish texts, social action, spirituality, ecology and more. We hope you will find them enriching, fun, moving, and worthwhile.

To learn more about a listing or to RSVP, please click the event title to go to our website. When you RSVP, a Zoom link will be emailed for any classes taking place online. Where the location is listed as Havurah Shalom, the event will take place at our building at 825 NW 18th Ave. If you have any questions, please email the event leader or info@havurahshalom.org.

Please note: Changes to activities may not be reflected here. For the most current information on an activity, check the Havurah calendar. Email updates will be sent to those who have RSVPed to an event.
 

Calendar of Elul Activities

Daily Shofar
Every day of Elul (except Shabbat) from Wednesday, Sept. 4 to Tuesday, Oct. 1 — on YouTube & Facebook
Hear the Sound of the Shofar each day of Elul (except Shabbat): Andrine, Diane & Howard (& sometimes Dominic) help prepare us for Rosh Hashanah with shofar, deep thoughts, and a touch of kavannah. Videos will be posted daily on Havurah's YouTube and Facebook pages to watch as you are able.

Connecting Past with Present: May Their Memories Be For a Blessing

Session I: 1-2:30 pm, Sunday, Sept. 8 — Havurah Shalom
Session II: 1-2:30 pm, Sunday, Sept. 22 — Havurah Shalom
Session III: 7-8:30 pm, Tuesday, Sept. 24 — Zoom Room
Session IV: 7-8:30 pm, Monday, Sept. 30 — Zoom Room

Make your memory of a deceased family member or friend into a blessing by attending one of four gatherings during the month of Elul to share a story and hear a story.  These September gatherings are part of Havurah Shalom’s “Arc of Remembrance” programming in preparation for Yizkor (Service of Remembrance) on Yim Kippur afternoon. 

Each 90-minute session is devoted to creating sacred space and spacious time for us to individually recount a story, say aloud the names of our departed ones, and together support each other in acknowledging and honoring communal losses.  Alison Gilbert, author of the book Passed and Present, says “When we feel an intense bond with loved ones from our past, we're more likely to feel similar bonds with those around us in the present.”

Two in-person gatherings and two Zoom gatherings are scheduled. Please register for the gathering you wish to attend. All four gatherings will be facilitated by Havurah member Tivona Reith, a retired hospice chaplain. Once registered, you will receive more detailed information. Contact Tivona Reith with questions.

The Torah in the High Holydays
7 pm, Thursdays, Sept. 5, 12 ,19, 26 — Havurah Shalom

There are four Torah readings during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  We will take four 90-minute sessions and look at each of the Torah readings.  We will look at the readings through the four ways of studying Torah. 

P'shat – Literal, simple, plain, intended meaning
Remez – Alluded meaning, “reading between the lines”
D’rash – drawn-out meaning (Midrash – “concept”)
Sod – Hidden meaning

This will be a participatory class where we use the combined knowledge of the group to increase the knowledge of each of us.  Please come prepared to delve into the text and share your thoughts. Fluency in Hebrew is not required. Led by David Dropkin.

Drash as Prayer and Teaching
7 pm, Sundays, Sept. 8, 15, 22 — Zoom Room Dalet Update: This class is now on Zoom only.

What moves you? Want to learn how to tie that into Torah to help inspire and move others?
 

Havurah community minyan is often looking for members to write and give a drash. Drashot can be made to honor a birthday or yahrzeit, or you may speak on a topic that calls for understanding and prayer. Join Harriet Cooke to learn and practice how to write a drash. Bring a notebook and pen.

Fleece Blanket Making for Community Warehouse

1-3 pm, Tuesday, Sept. 10 — Havurah
NEW TIME 6-8 pm, Wednesday, Sept. 25 — Havurah

Join the Poverty and Homelessness Committee and Teen Engagement Committee as we assemble ten no-sew fleece blanket kits to be donated to Community Warehouse. The evening session on Sept. 25 will be led by the teens. No experience necessary. Bring a sharp pair of sewing scissors if you have one. Contact Julie Hastings with questions.
 

Hebrew for Prayer: A Close Look at Key Prayers for the High Holidays
6:30 pm, Tuesdays, Sept. 17 — Havurah Shalom UPDATE: Now meeting on Sept 17 only.

Come explore key prayers of the High Holiday liturgy. We will be looking through the lens of Hebrew grammar and vocabulary in order to gain some translation skills and find essential meanings of the prayer(s). It is helpful to be able to decode the aleph-bet, although not necessary if you are comfortable with transliteration. Led by Patty Magid-Volk.

Make a Jewish Calendar 
6:30-8:30 pm, Wednesdays, Sept. 11, 18 — Zoom Room Bet

We will make a paper Jewish wall calendar and datebook (paper or virtual) for the coming Jewish year together in two two-hour sessions. Led by Carolina Martinez, the class is geared toward school-age children, teens and adults.  Please RSVP so Carolina can plan ahead and send materials in advance for printing and for class use.  

Session 1: Assembling the wall calendar and making the art for the months
Session 2: Making a Jewish paper or virtual datebook/planner for the year 

You choose the themes and formatting for your calendar and planner and Carolina Martinez helps you find a starting point and resources and guides you in the assembly.

Materials provided: calendar and paper/virtual planner pages, clip art, forms for planners.

Art supplies you will need: ball point pen, markers, colored pencils, collage papers (e.g. origami foil metallic papers, gift wrap, scrapbook paper, origami paper sheets, plant or mulberry paper, tissue paper, paper scraps, construction paper), glue stick or archival glue or white glue, scissors, a blank calendar from a craft store or wire bound spiral 11x14 Windsor and Newton  (12 sheets) or  wire bound spiral Dick Blick 11x15 (has 15 sheets) watercolor pad or wire bound spiral Strathmore (has 12 sheets) 11x15 watercolor pad  or card stock letter-size or 9x12 that can be bound with spiral binding, binder and printer paper with access to 3-hole punch or sheet protectors or blank sketch book for planner, computer or tablet that has Internet and Word or Google Docs.

Greeter Safety Trainings
Session I: Date TBA — Havurah Shalom
Session II: 7 pm, Tuesday, Sept. 24 — Zoom Room Dalet

Sessions are identical; please come to one!

High Holidays greeters and ushers do way more than it looks! In addition to welcoming people to services and handing out machzors with a friendly smile, they are always keeping out a watchful eye for people who may need help, and doing their best to keep us undisturbed. In this hour-long session, we will learn how to help people having medical or psychological emergencies, how to be aware of our surroundings, and what the best practices are for emergencies specifically at the Tiffany Center and Havurah Shalom, where our High Holidays services will be taking place. These skills can be used year-round at Havurah and in your everyday life too. Have fun in the session, come out more knowledgeable than before, and then sign up to greet and usher when volunteer sign-ups open! (This class is for members only.)

Exploring the Torah: Authors, Eras, and Agendas
7-8:30 pm, Mondays, Sept. 16, 23, 30 — Zoom Room Bet

Torah was a massive, multi-century writing and editing project. We’ll dip into by whom and for whom, when, where—and why. Inspired by the work of Gil Kidron. Led by Howard Patterson.

High Holidays in Places You Might Not Expect
7 pm, Thursday, Sept. 19 — Havurah Shalom

Soon we will be celebrating the High Holidays as we do every year, and maybe similarly to how we marked these holidays when we were growing up. Yet, did you know that there are many extraordinary Jewish communities around the world celebrating our new year with so much exuberance? While there are similarities between how the holidays are observed here and elsewhere, there are many differences as well. Come learn about how Jews in parts of India, Southern Italy, various countries of Africa, and several other global communities celebrate Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur! Led by Judi Kloper, a Havurah member who serves on the board of Kulanu, an international nonprofit that supports isolated, emerging, and returning Jews and Jewish communities worldwide.

New! Siddur Repair Workshop
1-5 pm, Saturday, Sept 21 — Havurah Shalom

Would you like to learn some basic book mending skills and help mend our many siddurim? Joe Clement, a Havurah member who works for Multnomah County Library, is offering a tutorial and tikkun workshop. Tools will be provided, but please RSVP so we know how many we need.

Teen Honey Cake Baking
10 am, Sunday, Sept. 22 — Havurah Shalom

The Teen Engagement Committee invites all Havurah teens to learn how to bake honey cake to share with family and friends as we start the New Year with a sweet treat.

Birding Together
10-12 pm, Sunday, Sept. 22 — Oaks Bottom

Updated information!

Meet at the Sellwood Park parking lot at SE 7th Ave and Sellwood Blvd for a leisurely walk to look for birds. Join experienced birders Cindy and Andrew Merrill to see how many different species we can find and identify together. Birding expertise is not required, but interest in nature is helpful. We’ll walk from the parking lot down a gradual slope to a dirt and gravel path to the wetland. The path is not suitable for wheelchairs or strollers, and bikes and dogs are not permitted.

• Here’s the location in google maps
• Carpooling is encouraged because parking is limited. Cindy and Andy can take two people in their car from Cedar Hills near Beaverton.
• Please bring binoculars if you have them, and water/snacks if you want them during the ~2-hour walk. 
• Restrooms are available only in the parking lot.
• If you have any questions, feel free to email, call, or text Cindy Merrill via the member directory.

Songs of Turning Sing-Along for Elul
7-8:30 pm, Monday, Sept. 23 — Havurah Shalom
Everyone circle around and join your voices together—it’s a sing-along! No expertise is needed, just the desire to sing. We’ll kick off the new season with Songs of Turning, for the season of Elul and the High Holidays. If you’re not already on the Havurah singers email list, contact Sacha Reich.

The Cost of Free Land: Discussion with Author Rebecca Clarren
7 pm, Wednesday, Sept. 25 — Havurah Shalom and Zoom Room Aleph

Please join the Havurah Racial Justice Committee and award-winning journalist and Havurah Shalom member Rebecca Clarren to discuss her book The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota and an American Inheritance. There will be an opportunity to have your copy of the book signed afterward by Rebecca. (Books will also be for sale.)

Her book shares the entangled history of her Jewish homestead ancestors on the South Dakota prairie and their Lakota neighbors. It melds investigative reporting with personal family history to reveal the intertwined stories of her family and the Lakota, and the devastating cycle of loss of Indigenous land, culture, and resources that continues today. 

Growing up, Rebecca Clarren only knew the major plot points of her tenacious immigrant family’s origins. Her great-great-grandparents, the Sinykins, and their six children fled antisemitism in Russia and settled on a 160-acre homestead in South Dakota. Over the next few decades, the Sinykins became an American immigrant success story. What none of Clarren’s ancestors ever mentioned was that their land, the foundation for much of their wealth, had been cruelly taken from the Lakota by the United States government.

The book, a blend of history, journalism, and memoir, not only retells the ways US policy helped her immigrant family at great cost to Native Americans but grapples with the legacy of those harms today and whether repair is possible.

Both Kirkus Reviews and The Forward named The Cost of Free Land a Best Book of 2023; it's been shortlisted for both the Great Plains Book Award and Stanford's Saroyan Prize.

Clarren's presentation will include a slide show and an audience Q&A followed by book signing.

Questions: Please contact Kathy Gordon or Julia Lager Mesulam.