Tishrei / Cheshvan 5782

October

4: Learning Zohar with Reb Lavey

7: Interfaith Zoom Event

10: Coordinating Committee Meeting

18: Learning Zohar with Reb Lavey

22: Zoom Shabbat

HIGH HOLIDAYS

The Ruach Committee would like to thank all the wonderful folks who worked to help make High Holidays so special. There were so many people who helped schlep, set-up, break down, and took care of an amazing amount of small details in this very different and ever-changing gathering. So appreciated. We were so blessed with the lovely space of the Labyrinth, and the help that Rolling Bay Church provided us. FYI, they wouldn’t take any money, but we donated the amount we would have spent on rent to their Helpline fund as well as the food donations that members brought to services. Thank you all for your food donations. 

We were so amazingly blessed to have Reb Lavey and his partner Ellen Tobe join us, gifting us with wisdom, meditations, movement and some incredible stories.  I hope you found the sevices a meaningful way to start the New Year. And a special shout-out to Ha-Shem for holding back the rains for a couple of days. Wow! We so appreciated that! 

RUACH

Join us for an online Shabbat on October 22 at 6PM in the Shir Hayam zoom room https://www.is.gd/cshzoomp/

We’ll light candles, break some bread and have a topic which at this time is TBA. Hope to see you there!

TIKKUN OLAM

Crop Walk:

To date, the Bainbridge Island / North Kitsap (BI/NK) CROP Hunger Walk Fund has brought in $11,525 along with a matching anonymous pledge to triple that amount to $34,575. In prior years, the BI/NK Team reached $40,000+ with a double match in previous years with Helpline House receiving $10,000+ and Fishline $2,000+. Some of the congregations opted out of CROP Hunger Walk this year as they focused on other charities. Chavurat Shir Hayam brought in $1,271 thus far. If you haven’t given, there’s still time. Go to https://events.crophungerwalk.org/2021/denise-brown-3 to make a donation.

Afghan Refugees:

We may be a small-ish group of Jews, but, when there is need we are generous!  Our Chavurah collected over $1,100 to give to Jewish Family Services (JFS) to support their fundraising campaign to support Afghani refugees in the US.  WOW!  Coming with nothing, you can imagine all that they will need!  

In addition to making dollar donations, many of you have offered to help in more personal ways (another WOW!).  The Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (ILRS) seems especially ready to accept this kind of hands-on assistance in what they call ‘the Long Welcome’.  We are in touch with LIRS, in addition to JFS, to find out how we can participate in person-to-person outreach to Afghani refugees resettled in our region over the next weeks, months and years.  There is a lot of opportunity in the personal aspects of welcoming and supporting these families.

Our Chavurah has consistently acted quickly and earnestly on the mitzvah to ‘welcome the stranger’ – now coming to the aid of our Afghan neighbors.  The Tikkun Olam committee will keep you posted as we learn about specific ways we can help through partnership with like-minded refugee assistance organizations.

Blood Donations:

As many of you know, with Covid 19, local blood drives have been halted. But the need for blood donations But its’ still possible to donate blood by making an appointment at a Blood Center. There is one in Silverdale and one in Seattle. If you go online, you can make an appointment:

In Seattle- 921 Terry Ave. , just 2 blocks from Virginia Mason https://www.bloodworksnw.org/donate/locations/central-seattle. In Silverdale, sign up at Silverdale Donor Center | Bloodworks NW

Chavurah Donations:

​The Chavurah recently received three donations in honor of various causes. One donation was for our High Holydays services, one was for our Tikkun Olam fund, and lastly the Kugelettes received a donation in honor of Sharon Rutzick and the Kugelettes: “To hear them sing was a joyous experience for me”. The ZOOM services paid off!

Coordinating Committee

Next CC Meeting:  10 Oct 2021  – Agenda:  Select officers, Prioritize open action items, Plan completion of Governance Doc revision. All Chavurah members are invited and encouraged to attend. For meeting details, please contact a CC member:  Cay Vandervelde, Paul Travis, Sharon Rutzick, Jon Garfunkel, Jessica Lang, or Jane Greenberg.

Education and Culture Committee

Sousa Mendes Foundation:

In October we invite you to view one of the interesting Sunday programs from the SOUSA MENDES FOUNDATION:

http://www.sousamendesfoundation.org/

Aristides Sousa Mendes rescued thousands of Jews during the Holocaust by issuing visas to Portugal, at great personal cost. Open the website and scroll down to the events section to view programs and register. If you attend or plan to attend and would like to discuss the program with fellow Shir Hayam members on zoom, email Carol at: jjr10rsvp@gmail.com to coordinate times or with questions.

Learning Zohar with Reb Lavey:

Learning Zohar

Mondays, Oct. 4, 18, Nov. 1, 15, 29, Dec. 13, 27, Jan. 10, 24
7:00 – 8:30 pm Pacific Time
Tuition for the class is on a sliding scale of $260 – $180

The joy of learning Zohar lies in following the stream of its mystical interpretations of Torah, and encountering the various elements of this mystical understanding, most especially the idea that the Infinite Unbounded Oneness manifests in ten sefirot – dynamic elements of Divine energy that constantly move between differentiation and union. In the Zohar, Torah is transformed into an ongoing narrative of the inner life of the Divine, inviting us to cultivate a clarity of consciousness in which we experience wholeness and recognize our human purpose to effect balance and union within ourselves and in the world around us.

In this nine-session series, we will be using Volume 9 of the Pritzker edition translation, focusing on the Zohar’s interpretation of Parshat Pinchas from the Book of Numbers. Our learning will be in English and, for those who would like it, I will make available the original Aramaic text. If you intend to participate, please purchase the volume, which is available on Amazon and elsewhere (please don’t purchase the volume for Kindle as the page numbers don’t line up).

No prior Jewish knowledge is necessary. All you need to bring is your curiosity.

If you would like to register, please email me at beitlavey@gmail.com.

Learn more at https://reblavey.com

Interfaith Council

In lieu of IFC’s regular monthly meeting on Thursday, Oct 7, Congregation Kol Shalom (CKS) has graciously invited IFC to attend (via Zoom) a presentation about how our communities can respond to anti-semitism specifically, and hate broadly defined. Note that the presentation is from 7-8:30pm.

Please see below for more information about the presentation and how to access the Zoom meeting. With thanks to Ed Arndt and CKS for this important opportunity. 

Anti-Defamation League of Pacific Northwest- Anti Semitism and how communities can respond to hate: A presentation sponsored by the CKS Social Action/Social Justice Committee.

Via Zoom, October 7, 2021, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.

Hate crimes against Jewish people have spiked sharply in Washington over the last few years. An annual audit by the Anti-Defamation League in 2019 tracked 32 incidents of anti-Semitic harassment and vandalism in Washington. Washington’s reported incidents are the highest among States in the Pacific Northwest. Extremists have spread anti-Semitic messages through printed materials and social media at growing rates. 

For over 75 years, the Anti-Defamation League’s Pacific Northwest Regional Office has provided services and resources to five states in the Pacific Northwest. The ADL is dedicated to combating hate, promoting civil rights and securing fair and just treatment for everyone in our communities. The ADL provides programs that promote diversity and respect in schools, train law enforcement on hate crimes and bias, advocate for civil rights legislation, and help members of the community handle incidents of discrimination and bias.

The speaker will be discussing anti-Semitism and hate and how communities can take action.

Join Zoom

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84129372278

Meeting ID: 8412 9372 278