Nissan/Iyar 5781

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April

• 3 Shabbat Morning Meditation
• 5 Kugelettes
• 11 Barbara Lawrence Presentation
• 16 Shabbat
• 18 Coordinating Committee Meeting
• 19 Kugelettes
• 30 Lag B’Omer

May

• 1 Shabbat Morning Meditation
• 3 Kugelettes
• Shabbat
• Coordinating Committee Meeting
• 17 Kugelettes

COMMUNITY

We wish speedy healing to Bill Rappaport’s new hip and Nina Rogozen’s new knee. May they be up and running around in no time.

SHABBAT MORNING MEDITATION 

Dick Golden will lead us in meditation Saturday, April 3rd 9-9:30 am. It is a wonderful, intimate gathering and a lovely way to start your morning & your month. In the Shir Hayam Zoom Room.

WE WELCOME SUQUAMISH ELDER BARBARA LAWRENCE

At a time when white nationalism is on the rise, Shir Hayam is ramping up engagement with issues of social justice and diversity at the ground level. One effort underway is outreach to strengthen ties with the Suquamish Tribe, our Indigenous neighbors.

On Sunday April 11 at 11 AM Shir Hayam welcomes Suquamish Tribal elder Barbara Lawrence. Barbara was for years the Suquamish Museum’s official story-teller and is currently the Tribe’s Outreach Coordinator. Her talk will feature Suquamish history, geography, art and herbal lore. She will share Suquamish stories, and speak to her Tribe’s deep and abiding connection to their ancestral land. 

The Shir Hayam community has offered support to the bereaved family of Stonechild Chiefstick in the form of a donation to help underwrite a memorial the family plans to build. Chiefstick, an enrolled Chippewa Cree and cherished member of the extended Suquamish Tribal community, was killed by a Poulsbo police officer on July 3, 2019.  Chiefstick is buried in Seabold Cemetery, and so his gravesite is adjacent to Shir Hayam’s plots there. 

SHABBAT

Shabbat Evening March 16th at 5:30  Dee Axelrod will lead us in this month’s evening Shabbat in the Zoom Room. April is Poetry Month, and April is a time when we find days lengthening.  So for this Shabbat, we’ll explore “light” in poetry and any other forms of writing. (or music. whatever people want to bring to the table).  Whether it’s the spotlight of social justice shining on this particular moment, or the feeling of literally emerging from our houses back into the light, Wherever the notion of “light” takes you. Each year the month of April is set aside as National Poetry Month, a time to celebrate poets and their craft. 

LAG B’OMER

Save the Date – April 30th. Lag B’Omer, traditionally a picnic to commemorate the passing of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, Lag B’Omer is also a celebration of the end of the plague in the time of Rabbi Akiva. We are planning to meet masked and in person in Caroline and Eric Steven’s garden. More details to follow.

COORDINATING COMMITTEE

Upcoming CC meeting April 18 at 10 am – SH members are most welcome to attend. Join us in the SH Zoom Room.

Agenda:

• Action Item Review  
• Jewish Community Watch Report (if needed)
• Governance Document Update Plan
• Financial Guidelines Scope 
• Member Categories/Definition Input results
• Annual Mtg Prep (5 comms total over next few meetings)
• Ruach Committee and Cemetery Committee present 

NEWS FROM USCIS

Hello Shir Hayam Friends,
On Feb 22, 2021, US Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS) reversed its decision to significantly increase the difficulty of the Citizenship Exam for new US naturalization candidates….. thanks to many of you.
As you may know, Shir Hayam has put many volunteer hours and much heart in supporting the Kitsap Immigrant Assistance Center (KIAC).  Through our association with KIAC we became aware of USCIS’s intention to change the 2008 Citizenship Exam in ways that would not be reasonable, even for a native-born US citizen!  ….ways that would obstruct a legitimate path for immigrants to become citizens of our USA and make good contributions to the quality of all our lives. We held an on-line Zoom event for Shir Hayam members to try taking the new 2020 test. Then we put out a call for Shir Hayam members to comment on the proposed change via Federal regulation change input processes.   Many of you did….  and you had effect. We can take pride in helping this just cause.

If you would like to read the USCIS Policy Alert – send an email to newsletter@shirhayam.org and we will send it out to you.

Thank you.
Dee, Mike and Cay – KIAC Volunteers

From the RECIPE file

Jibn – Syrian Frittata (aka crustless quiche!) submitted by Cay Vandervelde

This EASY recipe comes from My Jewish Learning and is now on an almost weekly rotation in the Vandervelde-Stern household, especially since Molly has become a Keto person.  The recipe is plain but perfect for setting proportions of the main ingredients – while still wide open for inspiration with flavors (dill? oregano? cumin? your favorite) and whatever’s still in the fridge (onions? fennel? kale? leftovers from the Indian restaurant?).   I usually put some pumpkin seeds on the top, and/or parmesan or feta, for crunch.  You could also put toasted Psyliium Husks for a Keto-friendly bread-crumb kind of topping (or crumble some non-Keto leftover Matzah!).  What’s not to like?

Ingredients

• 1 lb frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 3 eggs
• 1 8 oz container cottage cheese
• 1 cup shredded Muenster or mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350º and grease a 9” pie pan, or similar.
• Squeeze as much water as possible out of the spinach.
• In a large bowl, mix spinach, eggs, cheese, and salt.
• Transfer the mixture into the prepared baking dish(es) and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the top is golden brown and the inside is cooked through.

HAPPENING ONLINE

Town Hall on Ending Homelessness

Break the Cycle: Preventing is Ending Homelessness – Monday, April 5 – 6:00 to 7:30pm PT

Sponsored by: REACH (Renton Ecumenical Association of Churches), WA Poor People’s Campaign, Local WFSE 843, Legacy of Equality & Leadership Organizing (LELO), Seattle Indivisible, and more. Join us in a panel discussion moderated by Rev. Bianca Davis-Lovelace (WaPPC Chair & ED of REACH) around ending and preventing homelessness. Topics will include:

• Rent relief
• $15 minimum wage
• Governmental response to houselessness
• Housing insecurity during a pandemic
• and  more!

YOU MUST REGISTER HERE TO GET THE ZOOM LINK (limited to 500 registrants): https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUkf-6srD8jHd3AlrpcA4UAPccnYHZC0ioF

Panelists Include: Shukri Olow is a mother, a community organizer, a doctoral candidate, King County employee, and a candidate for King County District 5 (covering the cities of Kent, SeaTac, Tukwila, Burien, Normandy Park, Des Moines and Renton). Chris Franco is the Director of Military & Veterans Affairs for Truman National Security Project, Army Military Veteran, & candidate for King County Council District 9. Sharon Lee is Executive Director of the Low Income Housing Institute. Iris Guzman is a Highline Public School Social Worker & candidate for SeaTac City Council. Dawn Bennett is the Co-Founder & Executive Director of Multicultural Education Rights Alliance & Candidate for Mayor of Kent. Violet Lavatai is the Executive Director of Tenants Union of Washington. Joseph Todd is the Deputy Chief Technology Officer at King County, WA & Candidate for Renton City Council.

Rabbi Shefa Gold, April 18 – May 14, 2021

By cultivating a personal practice of chant, we are receiving the holy texts that we have inherited by making them wholly our own. Through daily practice supported by teachings, processing and reflection we will learn and explore the power of the sacred phrase as a tool of healing and transformation. Through experiential classes we’ll discover what makes a chant different from a song, by exploring the power of intention, repetition, focus, awareness of states, and the silence that follows a chant. We’ll learn to use chant to build the mishkan (sanctuary) of heart, body, relationship, community, and world, so that God’s Presence can be invited into our lives. We’ll study the process of cultivating a middah (internal quality or characteristic) through the embodiment of a sacred phrase while meeting our obstacles and resistances with compassion and wisdom. Together we will work at becoming whole-hearted before God through deep devotional practice, so that when it is time to serve, our service will be the overflow of our own evolving and vital chant practice.

Course Overview

This 30-day prayer intensive is designed to help you focus on cultivating a specific modality of prayer practice. Each Sunday, you will receive an email with a half-hour video teaching, recorded by Rabbi Shefa Gold. These video teachings accompany a written lesson, which may include links to Jewish texts, secular writings, poems, music, videos, and other references to supplement your learning. You can choose the best time in your schedule to watch the half-hour video teaching and read the written lesson, as well as to log onto the community forums to post your questions and reflections. Throughout the week, you will receive daily emails, which will encourage you to keep up with your own internal work with twenty to thirty minutes of daily practice.

As an optional supplement to the course, you may also choose to participate in a weekly practice group with Shefa Gold on Fridays, from 12-1pm ET. This group is available on a first-come, first-serve basis for an additional fee of $75. It offers the opportunity to engage with your teacher and other participants in a “live” environment, using Zoom video conferencing technology. Pricing Month-Long Prayer Intensive: $100 Month-Long Prayer Intensive PLUS Weekly Live Practice Group: $175 The live practice group is limited to 35 participants.

What if there was a simple solution that could help balance our climate, replenish our freshwater supplies, and feed the world? That solution is right under our feet.           

Registration is now open to view this year’s featured film, Kiss the Ground,as part of your events for Faith Climate Action Week’s theme of “Sacred Ground: Cultivating Connections Between our Faith, our Food, and the Climate” (April 16 – 25).

Register to view the film here.

Kiss the Ground is a new film how about how regenerating the world’s soils has the potential to rapidly stabilize Earth’s climate, restore lost ecosystems, and create abundant food supplies. This film explains why transitioning to regenerative agriculture could be key in rehabilitating the planet, while simultaneously invigorating a new sense of hope and inspiration in viewers.

Thanks to a special arrangement with Kiss the Ground and Ro*co films, IPL will offer a free online viewing period for home viewing from April 10 through April 26. All viewers must register with IPL. Once you register you will receive a link-to-view for three different versions—the full-length film (84 minutes), a grower version (45 minutes), and an educational version for schools (45 minutes.)