Our Staff
Rabbi Benjamin Barnett
Prior to joining Havurah Shalom in August 2017, Benjamin Barnett served as the Rabbi of Beit Am, a pluralistic Jewish Community in Corvallis. Originally from the Chicago area, he received his BA in English from the University of Michigan and his rabbinic ordination from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia.
In leading a diverse congregation, Rabbi Barnett draws from years of living and learning in Jewish communities across the religious spectrum. Prior to entering rabbinical school, he worked with mentally ill adults, led wilderness expeditions for teenagers, and lived, worked and studied in Israel. He is a devoted practitioner and teacher of Jewish contemplative prayer and meditation, practices through which he strives to cultivate wisdom and compassion, and to respond maturely to the challenges of life and community. He works to build relationships across religious and cultural lines in the name of creating a less violent world. He and his wife Rachel moved to Portland this summer with their children: Lev, Arava, and Judah.
Read some of his drashot, speeches, and written work here: Erev Rosh Hashanah 5780 // Kol Nidre 5780
benjamin.barnett@havurahshalom.org
Adela Basayne
Adela Basayne, Program Director, joined the Havurah staff in 2018, bringing with her experience as an educator, trainer, mediator, organizational development consultant, and body-centered therapist. Adela earned a BA in Theater Arts, minor in Religious Studies, from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and an MA in Whole Systems Design/Organizational Systems Renewal from Antioch University, Seattle. In all her different arenas of work, the through line has been commitment to nurturing the human capacity to make and sustain desired changes, supporting growth, and diminishing suffering; Adela is passionate about group process and systems analysis.
Adela moved from New York to Portland in 1987 and has been a participatory member of Havurah Shalom ever since, celebrating life cycle events, teaching in Shabbat School, serving on countless committees, including a stint as co-president. Adela brings excitement and joy to her new role with Havurah. She and her husband, Nick Iliinsky, have three adult children, Noah, Alexis and Megan.
adela@havurahshalom.org
Deborah Eisenbach-Budner
Deborah Eisenbach-Budner became Havurah Shalom’s first Education Director in 2001. Since then, she has worked with hundreds of Havurahniks of all ages, enabling them to connect more deeply with Judaism. She has created and nurtured a wide variety of educational programs, generated innovative holiday and Shabbat experiences, and contributed to the vibrant growth of the community.
Deborah is passionate about making Judaism and Jewish life accessible and enriching. She has experienced and witnessed the transformative power of Jewish narratives, practices, values, and community. But, more importantly, she employs Judaism as a tool to cultivate our humanity and to provoke us to become the most whole people we can be. Read more here.
deborah@havurahshalom.org
Rachel Pollak
Rachel Pollak, Havurah Shalom’s Office and Facilities Manager, moved to Portland in 2007 from Los Angeles and got to know the Portland Jewish community through the Melton School, where she was operations manager and then director. She earned her BA in English and political science at American Jewish University in Los Angeles (back when it was the University of Judaism), and her MA in English in 2012, right here at Portland State. She started at Havurah in January 2017.
rachel@havurahshalom.org
Brad Pector
Brad Pector, the Communications and Membership Coordinator, joined Havurah Shalom in 2019. He 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.
brad@havurahshalom.org
Leah Shoshanah
Leah Shoshanah (aka Leah Cowen) is a cantorial soloist, singer, songwriter, guitarist and educator who hails originally from Chicago. She has been working with communities around the country to lead prayer through music and facilitate community singing since she started playing guitar in 2011.
As a songwriter, Leah writes both secular and Jewish songs in a myriad of genres. Her original compositions of prayers (re)set traditional liturgy with Hebrew and English lyrics to reflect an evolving understanding of G!d and justice in our world today.
When she isn't singing on the stage, bima or, these days, the Zoom room, Leah enjoys painting, biking, swimming, gardening, hiking, playing tennis and practicing yoga.
Leah has a degree in Journalism from UW Madison and she is a certified Yoga teacher. Her skills in research, asking questions and writing help her to write nuanced Jewish music with very carefully chosen verbs.
leah@havurahshalom.org
Joey Wolf, Rabbi Emeritus
Rabbi Joey built a career based on mediating Torah – imaginative teaching, cogent ideas, responsibility for the earth and its people – over 30 years at Havurah Shalom. Involvements and leadership roles in T’ruah - The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, American Jewish World Service, Institute for Jewish Spirituality, Jewish Voice for Peace, Americans for Peace Now, Black Parent Initiative, and as a co-founder of the local Muslim-Jewish Dialogue attest to his priorities towards building bridges.
His relationships within the community have encouraged honest reflection and a commitment to justice and are reflected in the kindness, truthfulness and good humor of the people around him. He stands at a crossroads where traditional elements of prayer and study stimulate a new celebration of human spirituality. Mining Jewish ideas and minding Jewish practice are for him ongoing sources of enthusiasm, and he honors this wonderful community for its pursuit of what it means to be Jewish in the world. Taking care of that world and the people who remain on the fringes are an abiding concern for him, as are the ancestral queries and adventures that have led him on the path of learning over a lifetime. You can read more about Rabbi Joey, who retired in April 2017, here in The Oregonian.
Wed, January 27 2021
14 Shevat 5781
Upcoming Events
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Wednesday ,
JanJanuary 27 , 2021
Wednesday, Jan 27th 6:30p to 8:00p
Join Reconstructionist Communities of the PNW for an evening of learning, eating and meditations as we celebrate the New Year of Trees through an in-depth exploration of the seven species of the land of Israel: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olive (oil) and dates. We invite you to bring your own samples of each of these items (or their respective derivatives), and journey through the mystical and the mundane as each rabbi explores the significance of one of these items in Jewish tradition, and leads us in mindful tasting. Pre-registration at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0ldOqsqjwiHt3Twts4_enWSOCxtrs3qcR7. -
Wednesday ,
JanJanuary 27 , 2021
Wednesday, Jan 27th 6:30p to 8:30p
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Wednesday ,
JanJanuary 27 , 2021
Wednesday, Jan 27th 6:30p to 8:30p
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Thursday ,
JanJanuary 28 , 2021
Thursday, Jan 28th 7:00p to 8:00p
Would you like to improve your ability to speak conversational Hebrew? Can you already read Hebrew but don't always know what you're reading? Did you take Hebrew lessons ages ago or did you participate in an Ulpan experience in Israel but have forgotten all you learned? Would you like to laugh and learn with fellow Havurahniks? Come join Racheli Ross as she continues a beginning Hebrew class in which the focus is on functional Hebrew conversations and vocabulary development. Thursdays, 7-8:00 pm, with an optional 8-8:30 practice session, starting on January 14, and continuing until March 18. This will be in Zoom Room Heh. -
Thursday ,
JanJanuary 28 , 2021
Thursday, Jan 28th 7:00p to 9:00p
Have you thought about trying to write prose? Do you want to try with others? This year’s Havurah Adult Writers Workshop (for Non-Writers!) begins January 14 and continues for the next 7 Thursdays, through March 4. The workshop is for anyone who wants to explore prose writing – and is NOT a published writer or working on a big writing project. The focus is memoir writing generated through reflection, engaging prompts, discussion and feedback. While the Jewish experience often comes up in memoir writing in a Jewish community, our focus is the writer’s personal exploration from any perspective. Participants develop one piece from the workshop and may choose to read at a culminating Friday Oneg Reading for the Havurah community. Led by David Kertzner. Group size limited to 8. -
Friday ,
JanJanuary 29 , 2021
Friday, Jan 29th 7:30p to 8:30p
Please join us for our spirited and joy-filled Kabbalat Shabbat Service, led by Elizabeth Schwartz. Music will be provided by our talented Havurah musicians. This service will take place in Zoom Room Aleph. Please email info@havurahshalom.org if you need Zoom join info. -
Saturday ,
JanJanuary 30 , 2021
Shabbat, Jan 30th 10:00a to 12:00p
Please join us in welcoming Logan Mafchir-Werth as a Bar Mitzvah and member of our community. -
Saturday ,
JanJanuary 30 , 2021
Shabbat, Jan 30th 3:00p to 5:00p
Between Climate Change, Covid, great economic and social injustice, and a reckoning after centuries of oppression for Black and Ingdigenous peoples, we are living in a powerfully transformative Earthquake trembling time. Rabbi Arthur Ocean Waskow has recently completed his latest book for just such a time, Dancing In God’s Earthquake, and he will be joining Havurah & P’nai Or, Jan. 30th, 3-5 p.m. for a book talk and discussion, followed by Havdalah led by Rabbi Benjamin. At 87, having been arrested more than 60 times, Rabbi Arthur has lived a deeply spiritual life devoted to teaching and activism. His latest book succinctly distills his lifelong Torah wisdom into pearls for these times. He invites us to take a hard look at ourselves, Judaism, and the way humanity is living with each other and our world. With great love and wisdom, he takes us on a journey to help transform it all. From chapter 1, Healing the Perennial Sin of Eden, through the final chapter 11, Two Biblical Genocides: Were Both Sins? Rabbi Waskow guides us through Renaming God as an Ecological Worldview. Purchase the book through Havurah for $15 using the form below. -
Sunday ,
JanJanuary 31 , 2021
Sunday, Jan 31st 10:00a to 5:00p
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Monday ,
FebFebruary 1 , 2021
Monday, Feb 1st 7:00p to 8:30p
This class will focus on the modern history of the Jewish communities of the Middle East and North Africa, roughly from 1860 to the present. To orient ourselves, we will begin with a brief discussion of Spanish Jewry (Sephardim) and the Jewish communities of Iraq, Iran, Yemen and Ethiopia. We will devote particular attention to the communities of Morocco, Algeria, Iraq and Egypt. We will examine the complex relationship between these Jewish communities, the local cultures and European colonialism. We will also discuss the sociology, politics and culture of these communities in Israel today. Taught by Joel Beinin. This class takes place in Zoom Room Bet. Please see the weekly Hineinu newsletter for the link.