August 2009
Av/Elul 5769
Event Quick Reference:
August 15 – Savannah Travis’ Bat Mitzvah
September 18 & 19 – Rosh Hashanah
September 27 & 28 – Yom Kippur
SHIR HAYAM EVENTS
See member’s calendar
or call 206-855-7924 for event details.
SAVANNAH TRAVIS’ BAT MITZVAH
We want to make sure everyone in Shir Hayam knows they are invited to Savannah’s Bat Mitzvah at Island Center Hall on Aug 15 4:30 pm. Please email mailto:RSVPtravistribe.com asap so we can make sure to feed you :)
Savannah has set up an online donation page with detailed information about her social action project, which is helping an orphanage in Ethiopia: Click here to access the donation page
MAZEL TOV
Oy – such happy parents!
To the Rutzick family on the engagement of Rebecca Rutzick & Jason Selwitz. The wedding is planned for next summer.
To the Kerbrat family on the engagement of Gabriel Kerbrat & Amanda Morgan. They will be married in their backyard in early September.
Congratulatory wishes full of love and happiness to both couples.
HIGH HOLIDAYS
We will be welcoming Rabbi Hanna Tiferet Siegel back to help lead the chavurah’s High Holiday services this fall. Come late August, please be on the lookout for our annual thick envelope announcing all the details for High Holiday services, Sukkot, Simchat Torah, JLC calendar and curriculum, and membership info. Hope you are enjoying your summer and looking forward to renewing our spirits together come this fall – the Ruach Committee
Message from Rabbi Hanna:
Shalom Friends at Shir Hayam,
I am delighted to be invited to celebrate the Yamim Nora’im/The Days of Awe with you again. Each year, I have a deeper understanding of who you are as a community and the unique gifts of each of your members. I want to encourage you to participate in the design of the prayer services. I welcome the contributions of story, song, dance, Torah reading, prayer, and insight from all who
are called to step forward, including children, teens, young adults, adults, and elders.
The theme that has come to me for this year is “The Prayers of Our Heart.” During this season, we recite many prayers that are dear to our hearts and many that are puzzling and inaccessible. How can we take these prayers and turn them into a true reflection of where we are at this moment in our lives? Prayers can take many forms and the courage to share them with others strengthens their power and transmission to the One who Receives the Truth of Our Being. There are prayers of healing, hope, despair, confusion, desire, dreams, and vision. There are prayers for family, home, community,
country, world and universe. There are prayers that make us laugh and prayers that make us cry. What makes a prayer work? It touches our Heart, our collective heart.
The Prayers are many. The Heart is One.
During the High Holy Day season we say Shema Koleynu, “Hear Our Voice.” Our individual voices merge together. Our differences dissolve. We experience our human similarities and our divine connections.
Please join in this creative process by offering the prayers of your heart as you reinterpret the traditional prayers or add a new prayer to our liturgy.
Email me at HannaT@telus.net with your ideas and questions. I am
happy to give you an assignment based on your interests or to receive your ideas and integrate them into the services.
As you enjoy this glorious summer, open your heart to receive the
message of your true prayer.
Many Blessings,
Rabbi Hanna
TIKKUN OLAM CORNER
Tribal Canoe Journey:
Pot Luck Dishes Welcome for Tribal Canoe Journeys!
August 1, 2009
Please contact Vicky Doyle 394-8479, to participate in a Pot luck
that will feed the Canoe Journey arrivals at Jeff Head on August 1st
2009.There will be food set up and camp fires for about 250 pullers.
The canoes will arrive from Port Gamble S’Klallam Reservation.
This landing isn’t the official welcoming landing, that will
occur Aug.3rd. As Suquamish people we need to give a meal. This
is traditional and honors our Ancestors. Thank you
Vicky is asking people to bring their dishes to Jefferson Head at 5pm this Saturday.
She said what they need most are deserts
The Suquamish Tribe will continue to accept volunteers even after the volunteer website comes down.
They can contact Natalia Tvedt in the grant section of the tribe. Volunteer contact:
Natalia Tvedt
Executive Administrative Assistant
Suquamish Tribe
PO Box 498
Suquamish, WA 98392
ntvedt@suquamish.nsn.us
From Seeds to Sandwiches:
A Tikkun Olam adventure in growing, preparing and serving food to our neighbors without homes On Wednesday evening, July 27th, the Rosenkotzes and Travises harvested and washed a lovely full bed of fresh organic lettuce which we had planted in May at the JLC Graduation.
And then on Tuesday, a full crew of willing cooks and servers, including Rachel B and her friend Clarrisa, Sawyer, Cheryl, Dashiell, Dinah, Elly, David C, Gabe, Mira, Savannah, Bayla, Julie, Lisa, Zann and almost Linda, braved the searing heat of Seattle carrying bags of our precious lettuce to the Compass Center.
We arrived to find another group of volunteers already there, some sporting kippahs- a group of United Synagogue Youth (USY) teens from up and down the West Coast. It was a most Jewish affair! Somehow the great cooks at Operation Sack Lunch had all ages busily and productively working almost the whole time. And the crowning touch was that we were beautifully bedecked in hair nets! We made over a hundred sack lunches which included sandwiches with our lettuce as well as bags of organic cherries no less. These we put in the van to be dropped at several locations for homeless folks throughout Seattle. In addition our crews prepared sandwiches, green and fruit salads, and some truly sugary desserts for over a hundred homeless people that lined up under a downtown overpass for some good food. We stood behind tables offering kind words and organic food to a group of folks who for the most part, seemed to be truly struggling in life, and in need of a bit of kindness from the corners of our fields. One of my favorite names of God is “the Nourisher,” “the One who makes sure we are well-fed.” For just a few hours, we had the opportunity to very directly be the hands of God.
Almost everyone who went said they want to do it again, and several suggested we plan for four times a year. The Stahls have volunteered to organize the next crew in the fall when the potatoes we planted in May will be ready. Please let them know if you want to take part. This was truly an effort of many willing hands, including David and Julie who hosted and oversaw our growing garden beds, Debra who helped me organize the Seattle trip, Paul who set up our weeding schedule and nudged and reminded, all of you who took a shift weeding our lettuce, and those who donated food to bring with us. Yasher Koach- may this strength continue! -Zann
IN THE NEWS
Jesse Mittleman, known in the Seattle dance scene for his true, 1940’s version of the Lindy Hop,will be doing his thing with a very skilled partner in a show at the Century Ballroom, Seattle, Thursday night, August 13.
From Toby Jacobrown:
I filed a suit today at the DC federal court house, declaring that I should be allowed to register for the draft only if I can do so as a recognized conscientious objector to all war. And I can prove it, here’s my article in the post along with a short but fascinating video of yours truly and my lawyer, Art. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/29/AR2009072902625.html If you have the time, please forward this link on to anyone who you think would be interested. I’ve only sent it out to a handful of my friends, but it’s really an important part of this whole legal venture that word get spread— and especially to young people who’ll be facing draft registration in the near future. Also perhaps relevant, my website, www.registerforpeace.org Thank you so much for your time!
SHIR HAYAM SPEAKER’S BUREAU
We would like to set up a Speakers Bureau. Would you be interested in being on a list to be called upon when a community event requests a speaker from Shir Hayam? Examples could be a community forum or vigil, Crop Walk blessing, IFC event, etc. Keep an eye on your email – I will post an item on the Community Forum and people can sign up there.
MITZVAH CORP
The Chavurat Shir Hayam Mitzvah Corp wishes to offer assistance of any kind to anyone in our community. If anyone is in need of help please contact one of the following members Denise Brown, Zann Jacobrown, Sharon Rutzick, Robyn Stahl or Sue Steindorf.
HAPPENING IN SEATTLE
The PJ Library program funded by the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle (and a few partners) is a great program that sends out an age-appropriate book each month to Jewish children between 6 mos & 5 1/2 yrs old for free…The books are wonderful, and come with a page that explains the relevance of the story to Judaism, any related mitvzah, how to enhance/explore the ideas on your own, etc. Here’s a link: PJ LIBRAR
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