Havurah and Cedar Sinai Park elders celebrate Yiddish!:L’Chaim! To Life! November 13, 1:30-3:30 pm
November 2, 2011
Havurah Celebrates Gay Pride
June 28, 2011
Take a look at this photo of Havurah members, including Deborah Eisenbach-Budner and Rabbi Joey, at the 2011 Portland Pride Parade!
Weatherize for Good: Comfort, the Environment, Jobs, and Fundraising
April 22, 2011
A four-in-one opportunity! What if you could make your home more comfortable, take action to mitigate climate change, support living wage jobs AND fundraise for Havurah?? Come to a house meeting on May 1st to find out about this wonderful opportunity, called the “Weatherize for Good” campaign.
From presenters Bob Brown and Michael Heumann, you will learn how the program works, what kinds of improvements and finance options are available (including tax credits and incentives), and about the High Road Contractor and Community Alliance, a contractor collaborative working with MACG. Getting started in this process is easy and an initial energy audit is free.
Households that complete their agreed-upon contract will earn a credit (up to $300), that goes to Havurah. While the program benefits Havurah (and the environment, and the community, and you), this gathering is NOT limited to Havurah households so please invite your friends. May 1st, 7-9 pm, RSVP to Gretta Siegel, for address and directions. This event is brought to you by your Social Action Committee.
Havurah Tikkun Olam: Build a House and a Community Center
March 22, 2011
Do you want to:
Work with your body AND mind?
Contribute something tangible to low-income housing and economic justice?
Here are two great opportunities!
April 24, 9:30 am – 3:00 pm, Habitat for Humanity
NE Portland; work on a single family home; minimum age 16;
sign up by April 8 (6-10 participants)
May 15, 9:30 am – 3:00 pm, Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (Oregon’s largest Latino organization, representing 4500. farmworkers, nursery and reforestation workers)
Woodburn; help build a leadership development center; lunch provided, minimum age 14; sign up by April 25 (6-22 participants) Woodburn is only 35 minutes from Portland; we’ll organize car-pooling.
SIGN UP NOW!
Contact us if you would like to participate.
Havurah’s Membership Committee Celebrates “Community” with Two Great Events!
March 8, 2011
Havurah’s “New Member Orientation” – A Tremendous Success!
On the evening of Sunday, February 13, the Membership Committee hosted a “New/’Newish’/Prospective Member Orientation” which, by all accounts, proved to be a tremendous success in terms of attendance and outcome. About 40 people attended and were greeted by a very warm reception with wine and appetizers in our social hall .
Rebecca Darling-Budner emceed the program, and began the evening with pairs sharing the reason they joined or were interested in joining Havurah Shalom. Rabbi Joey then led a lively niggun and predictably set a warm tone for the evening with his story of why he loves being the rabbi at Havurah, and what his role is in the congregation.
Joan Weil provided a fascinating history of the origins of Havurah, followed by a tour of the synagogue led by Miryam Brewer. Presentations continued with Karen Abrams sharing her administrative leadership role and some of the highlights since her recent tenure began, followed by David Ellenberg describing many of the adult and family education programs offered at Havurah.
Last, but not least, co-Presidents Rachel Shimshak and Herman Asarnow introduced the many committee opportunities at Havurah, including the Steering Committee, and invited folks to take the initiative and get involved. Fran Berg, co-Chair for the Auction Committee, suggested that the upcoming Auction in April provided an excellent and timely opportunity for new-ish members to
immediately engage and to meet other members already involved with this major fundraiser for Havurah.
Program attendees commented on how helpful and informative the program was for them, and genuinely enjoyed the opportunity to schmooze with each other and to meet staff, Steering and committee members. Several attendees indicated that this event only sparked their interest in learning more about Havurah, and some prospective members said they were now ready to join.
A special thanks to Miryam Brewer, Rebecca Darling-Budner, Janice Kettler, Diane Lowensohn, and Joan Weil for creating and fulfilling an essential need for new and prospective members. Our plan moving forward is to host an orientation at least once, but perhaps twice a year. If you missed this event and would like to learn more about membership or joining a committee, please contact Mario Castellar, our Administrative Coordinator, in the Havurah office.
Rebecca Darling-Budner,
New Co-Chair, Membership Committee
Parents of Adult Children Cohort Brunch – informally known as the “Alata Macher/Rockers”
Forty Five Havurahniks gathered for a lively brunch and discussion about issues we are facing related to having grown children – and maybe about aging itself regardless of children in our lives.
Whether retired, or in transition, with children on their way out, or jobs disappearing; lonliness was not a primary issue for any of us. Havurahniks are pretty good at knowing how to fill our time with meaningful, creative, and fun activities. But as discussion unfolded, commom threads were expressed related to our questions about how to best parent adult children who return to our homes, or never leave, or are in and out, or who are struggling to find their place in today’s difficult world. When to step back, when/how to throw out a safty net, how to model, how to express and get our own needs met. Everyone seemed to want more time to talk and share, and to bask in the warmth of community.
Following are the summary suggestions made. The Membership Committee has agreed to coordinate a followup pot luck in mid May, and also to start researching setting up a surrogate grand parenting matching program. There are at present only two of us on this ‘in-reach’ subcommittee- so if anyone out there would like to pitch in we’d love to have you. It is not a lot of work, and so far it has been very enjoyable. Let us know if you may be interested. The committee meets once a month.
1. Set up a Face Book page to promote informal socializing opportunities. ie ‘I’m going to —-tonite, anyone want to join me…’, ‘I’m going to host a Shabbat next week for the first 8 to respond to this posting’ ‘let’s get a volunteer party together for the next Transition Project event’,…a hike, a book reading, a grand parent activity….
2 Organize monthly (or quarterly) alta macher/rocker pot lucks at Havurah to include a structured discussion around a pre-determined topic – possibly with a speaker or film?
3. Develop a list of people willing to be surrogate grandparents and find matches with young families in our congregation who do not have parents in town.
4. Help to facilitate special needs support groups – ie parenting children with chronic health needs, or A&D issues, or divorce and blended family concerns, setting up a resource bank for our children…Could be issue focused ongoing groups, or regularly scheduled topic ‘talk about it’ opportunities.
5. Get some good music – have a dance !
Please contact the Membership Committee with any other ideas, thoughts and concerns. We look forward to building this connection.
Marcia Suttenberg and Diane Lowensohn
Membership Committee
