ELUL 5783 / TISHREI 5784

CHECK OUT ALL OUR SCHEDULED EVENTS ON THE S-H July Calendar:

https://shirhayam.org/calendar/

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HIGH HOLIDAYS 5784

Shir Hayam is excited to welcome Rabbi Lavey Derby back for the third year to lead us on our High Holiday 5784 journey.

From Reb Lavey: My desire is to be in community with others who seek a profound spirituality, who wish to explore the mysteries and secrets found in the books of mystics, who would like to celebrate Jewish holy time with utmost joy, who will engage in spiritual practice with courage, curiosity, and compassion, and who seek to know something of the Mystery.

You can read more about him here: https://reblavey.com/about-us/

Tashlich 2021

High Holiday Schedule

• September 15 Erev Rosh Hashanah
• September 16 Rosh Hashanah, Tashlich
• September 24 Kol Nidre
• September 25 Yom Kippur Service, Yizkor, N’eilah

Message from Reb Lavey about the theme for this year’s High Holidays:

Ellen and I are to join you once again for the High Holidays. It’s my hope that with prayer and singing, story-telling and learning, we will together enter the New Year with open hearts and a renewed spirit.

Of course, we know that Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur are days of celebration and joy, as well as invitations for personal and communal inner work. We come to the Days of Awe in contemplation of the past year, attuned to seeing our faults and misdeeds. If we look more deeply, we might remember that we, like all human beings, are imperfect and incomplete. For me, the spiritual essence of these days is seeking not just forgiveness, but shalom – wholeness.

We call this process teshuvah, commonly translated as repentance, or returning. Interestingly, the root of teshuvah – the letters shin and bet – are also the root consonants of the word shabbat. As shabbat is a day on which we return to our natural state of rest, so teshuvah refers to returning to our true nature of wholeness and healing.

It takes courage and effort to do this work. To engage in teshuvah we must face our faults, our brokenness, and all that we have broken by our actions. As we do this work, perhaps we find our hearts breaking as well, with regret and remorse. How will we be able to repair what we have broken? How will we find wholeness again?

The Hasidic master Reb Menachem Mendel of Kotzk (1787-1859), was fond of saying “There is nothing as whole as a broken heart.” What could this mean? Perhaps that the wholeness is already present in the brokenness. Our task is not to erase the misdeeds that lead to brokenness, but to know it, to see deeply into it, and let it guide us on the path to wholeness.

The spiritual path of the Days of Awe invites us to actively explore what we know to be broken within in order to come to a greater inner integration and harmony. Remarkably, we do this work not alone, but in community. The spiritual teachers of the past already understood that we heal ourselves by connecting with and caring for others, and making an impact on our world.

In Jewish wisdom, the emphasis is not on the individual alone. The mitzvah to perform acts of Tikkun Olam — repairing and healing the world – is central to the Jewish world view. We are obligated to see what is broken in our world: the baseless hatred, the extreme divisions, and most certainly, the climate chaos that threatens the living Being we call Earth. These holy Days of Awe are an invitation to contemplate what is broken within and without, and to heal it.

The Hasidic sage Reb Nachman of Breslov taught, “if you believe that it is possible to break, believe that it is possible to repair.” What qualities, what tools, what strengths will we need to discover and to cultivate in order to engage in this process of tikkun – of repair? It is my hope that our prayerful celebration and sharing together will guide us not only to find healing, but to be healers.

For more information, sign up for our mailing list. Click here to get started!

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RUACH

SUKKOT & SIMCHAT TORAH—combined! Stay tuned: Tentative date: Sunday 10/7; location and time: TBD. Bring your bowls of harvest fruits and vegetables and your wishes to share for the new year.

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MEMBERSHIP TIME

The Shir Hayam fiscal year starts on July 1^st so it is time once again to fill out and send in your membership form. You can download it here:

https://shirhayam.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/SH-Membership-Form-23-24.pdf

 Shir Hayam dues are always voluntary and confidential.  All that is required for membership is a signed membership form. No stigma attaches to any household making the decision to contribute less than the suggested dues amount in any given year. Voluntary dues paid by members are important: they enable our events, support our presence, outreach, and practice of Tikkun Olam in the greater community and maintain our financial health as an organization. You can mail your form to Chavurat Shir Hayam, P.O. Box 11142, Bainbridge Island, WA  98110 or fill it in, scan it and email it to us at membership@shirhayam.org. Payment can be made via check or by Paypal using the payments@shirhayam.org address.

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The Online Library is Live!

The Online Library, as previewed at our 2023 Annual Meeting, is now live! Please note that this is a resource for Shir Hayam members only: to access it, you’ll need to log in with a recognized username and password. If you’re a member and don’t have or don’t remember your login credentials, please contact the Community Presence Committee, cpc@shirhayam.org. We’ll get you set up right away!

You can reach the Online Library from the MEMBERS ONLY tab of Shir Hayam’s public website, or access it directly using this url: https://wiki.shirhayam.org/.

The Library is already host to a lot of great content of interest to Shir Hayam members; please take a look! Adding material of your own is easy too, and CPC will soon be meeting with committees and individuals to go over how to do it. Please stay tuned!

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COMMUNITY NEWS

There were two wonderful end-of-summer weddings recently:

Our joyous Mazal Tovs to Jon Garfunkel who just arrived home from Chicago after attending his daughter Emily’s wedding.  She and her new husband Jack Sims will make their home there near family while he completes his studies and Emily continues her environmental work.

And another joyous Mazel Tov to Janet and Jerry Hanrahan whose daughter Janelle married Micah Strom, also raised on the Island, where they will continue building their lives with daughter Opal Israel.

Congratulations also to Carol Shakow as her first grandchild, Theo Don, began college at Swarthmore in August.

Our thank yous to the community folks who planned, hosted, and led our summer get-togethers and services on some glorious summer days and evenings – the wonderful Chavurah bagel brunch arranged by Jill Onewein and the Coordinating Committee on a spectacular day on the Goldens deck and in their garden, accompanied by eagle, ospreys and cannon, the Shabbat morning service and discussion led by Jeff and Sharon at Robin and Mike’s beautiful home where we began outside in mists and ended in bright sun, finishing with lunch, and a very interesting book discussion led by Carol Shakow on her deck that moved into a Shabbat welcome followed by delicious potluck and singing into the night.  All of these during such lovely days brought so many of us together with much joy – thank you to all who made these possible.  Now, on to the harvest, ciders, and High Holidays with community, Lavey and Ellen!

FInally, a heartfelt Mishebeirach to Linda Golden with all wishes for a full and speedy recovery from recent hip surgery.

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MEMORIAL SCROLLS TRUST

The Memorial Scrolls Trust, the source of our Chavurah’s own Torah, has just announced the publication of a new book:

Philippa Bernard’s book about the Czech scrolls, Out of the Midst of Fire was written in 2005. Since then not only have many years passed, but a lot more is known about how the scrolls survived the Holocaust and subsequent neglect under the Soviet rule. Rather than publish a second edition, it was decided to write a new book that would also include a history of Jews in the Czech lands as well information about where the scrolls are now and how they are being used.

The MST is proud to be publishing 1564 Scrolls – A Legacy of Jewish Life in Bohemia and Moravia, written by Miles Laddie and printing it in the Czech Republic.

We shall be receiving delivery of the book next week and are taking forward order on our eshop https://mstshop.org/

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TIKKUN OLAM

CropWalk 2023

Shir Hayam will again be participating in Crop Walk, and we’re celebrating Bainbridge Island / North Kitsap’s  29^th year for CropWalk on Sunday, October 1, 2023. It’s been quite a successful endeavor with many years accomplishing Top 20 milestones.

Church World Service (CWS) has been coordinating support with Hurricane Idalia and the Maui Recovery. They’ve sent $40,000 worth of Emergency Buckets to Florida, and although they don’t have a presence on Maui, they offer technical expertise and material aid. This is what they do nationally; an $18 donation can provide a garden starter kit in Central America. But don’t limit your donation to such a small amount. Make it $54, or $108 just for starters!

Thank you!

Donate here https://events.crophungerwalk.org/2023/denise-brown-3

2023 CROP Hunger Walk – Denise Brown Connect with others in your area and raise funds to fight hunger in the United States and around the world. events.crophungerwalk.org

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CULTURAL EVENTS:

Robin Simons will be sponsoring a Zoom presentation on October 15, hosting Martin Bodek, whose new book is Zaidy’s War.

Bodek’s book recounts his grandfather’s story serving four armies under wildly unique circumstances, being present for both the largest land invasion in human history and the final battle of WWII, avoiding cannibalism under pain of death, eluding poisoning, surviving to walk 1,600 miles to his home country of Romania, emigrating to Israel, enduring the pummeling of his new community of Haifa during the Six Day War, finally settling in peace in the U.S. where he served as a chef for 40 years, and finished Shas (Talmud) 14 times while he was doing all that. He passed away 8 years ago at the age of 95.

Save the date – details to follow.