July 2009
Tammuz/Av 5769
Event Quick Reference: (see details below)
July 21 or 28 – Compass Center
August 3 – 8 Tribal Journey Suquamish
August 9 – Dance with Kol Shalom
October – 4 CROP Walk
SHIR HAYAM EVENTS
See member’s calendar
or call 206-855-7924 for event details.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IN OUR COMMUNITY
Paul and Gabriel Travis would like to thank Dashiell Mortell for loaning them his 2 new (used) skateboards (from the Rotary Auction) to haul their 2 new (used) file cabinets. Moreover, he helped get them home to the growing Travis home office! No photographs, but it sure was innovative — and quite fun :)
TIKKUN OLAM CORNER
The Tikkun Olam committee recently voted on where to send our Tikkun Olam funds from the last fiscal year. The money comes from 5% of the general budget and various donations thoughout the year. At the end of the year we nominate several organizations and then vote. This year the nominated organizations were:
Compass Center
Helpline Food Bank
Neve Shalom
Free the Slaves
Vitamin Angel
Partners in Health
National Council for the Child in Israel
Aleph
The top 3 vote getters were Neve Shalom, Vitamin Angel and the Compass Center. Please take some time to explore the websites of these worthy organizations (just click on the name above) and perhaps make a donation or volunteer on your own. By the way, the Tikkun Olam committee is open to all members who check the Tikkun Olam Committee box on the membership form – you can send me an email if you want to be added to it. Thanks, Rachel
From Janet Hanrahan:
About a year ago I started The Dry Tuchus Society after discussing with Helpline staff about the total lack of diapers for Moms coming to the H.H. for help. There is a HUGE need that is not being met. I purchase one big box everytime I go to COSTCO, they have reasonable ones at Target, and even at Safeway. After being around my grandson, I became sensitive to the many diapers a kiddo can go through in one day, and just thinking about a Mom not having the money to purchase any diapers for their child boggles my mind. I always used cloth for my kids, mostly because the disposables were just started to be marketed, and ecologically they are easier on the planet but so many of these Moms have limited access to a washing machine with really hot water, plus the detergent so guess disposal is the way to go for those in a pinch. The large boxes are in the $25-$35 range and I just consider it my donation to Tikkun Olam for that week.
From Zann:
The two garden beds that JLC and friends planted at the Rosenkotz’s farm in May are looking good. We plan to harvest the organic home-grown lettuce and bring it to the Compass Center in downtown Seattle when we cook a hot meal there for over a hundred homeless folks in mid-July. We’ll do the same for the potatoes in the fall.
Want to take part? Choose a week and spend 20 min. weeding and watering. You can sign-up on this easy to use doodle https://doodle.com/k3t5q4vkwi7d88ae or email me. When you get ready for your weeding, give Julie and David a call at 842-5013 and they can show you what to do.
Tikkun Olam Cooking for our Homeless Neighbors
A group of Shir Hayamers are planning a trip to the the Compass Center to cook for homeless folks with the lettuce we planted at the JLC graduation in tow. We could use a few more folks if you’d like to join us. We are currently wobbling between two dates, July 21 and 28th, but will fix on one soon.
We’ll gather at the Compass Center, just one block south of the Coleman Ferry Dock in Seattle. Our shift will be from 9-2, though you can come for part of that if it’s too much. Last year Mitchell organized a day of cooking and serving as part of his Mitzvah Project and we all it agreed that it was fun, hands-on and worthwhile. We cooked huge quantities of fresh hot food in a big commercial kitchen working with a great group of cooks, and packed sack lunches in the morning. We served lunch in the Compass Center around noon to folks who are living there, and then some of us went to a place under an overpass and served over one hundred people living on the street until 2-ish.
If you can’t make it this summer, the Stahl family is leading the trip in September.
Please let me know if you’d like to come on either or both of these Tikkun Olam adventures.
kol tuv, It’s all good!
Zann (z-c@themaskery.com)
Shir Hayam Group to Volunteer for Tribal Journeys- Aug 3-8
Here’s info (below) about the Tribal Journeys, the upcoming gathering of the NW Tribes at Suquamish with over a hundred canoes and thousands of First Nations people from Canada and the Northwest. It will be an amazing event and a great time to make connections with the Suquamish Tribe. The journey has been such a powerful part of Natives re-connecting with each other, with their culture, and with physical and mental health (it is a “clean and sober” event.) We are very fortunate that the Suquamish Tribe has welcomed non-Natives to be part of the process, something I hear to be very rare.
Anyone want to join Robin H, Craig and I in signing up as a team?
-Zann (z-c@themaskery.com)
Tribal Journeys 2009 – Paddle to Suquamish
The canoe journey is only six weeks away, and the Suquamish Tribe is eager to fill the hundreds of volunteer slots. You can sign up for anything from recycling, to food service, to information booth, to first aid. This is the perfect way to be part of this historic event, a great way to show support for the Tribe, and a great opportunity to introduce your friends, family, and coworkers to the cultural renaissance happening in native communities throughout the region.
So what can you do? Sign up on line at http://www.tribaljourneys2009.com/Volunteers/tabid/57/Default.aspx to participate.
Or better yet, form a group of friends, members of your faith community, co-workers, club members, civic organizations, and sign up as a team. Make a note in the comments section that you would like to work with others (who should also sign up) as a team. The form also allows you to choose the job you’d like to do, and the time slot that works best for you or your group. Remember, some of the positions require training, so the organizers of the event needs to know who is on board.
This is the first time Suquamish Tribe has been the destination for canoe families and tribes from all over the Pacific Northwest, and it’s the 20th anniversary of the Paddle to Seattle. Also, the Tribe has set the goal of making this a waste-free occasion — an exciting new development which, if successful, could set a precedent for other hostings. There are lots of good reasons to be part of this historic event.
Please join us in helping to assure the success of this hosting, August 3-8, by signing up today and by getting others on board.
Hope we’ll see you there!
THANKS FROM THE IFC AND HELPLINE
In one of our last meetings of the year, The Interfaith Council, through its membership, was very happy to be able to donate a large new refrigerator to Helpline’s pantry, apparently an item that Helpline greatly needed. Thanks to the chavurah for its continued support and membership in the IFC, and also for all your continued food and diaper donations to the Helpline food bank. Should you find yourself able to volunteer at Helpline this summer, it would be greatly appreciated as many of its volunteers often are gone for chunks of time during the summer months – Sharon Rutzick
SHIR HAYAM FORUMS
The Shir Hayam Forums make it extremely easy to subscribe to different topics of discussion by community members. For example, the Jewish Humor forum is updated on a very occasional basis, to the delight of its subscribers. Everyone is welcome to contribute!
“Rabbinical Supervision”
A Rabbi was walking home from the Temple and saw one of his good friends, a pious and learned man who could usually beat the rabbi in religious arguments.
The rabbi started walking faster so that he could catch up to his friend, when he was horrified to see his friend go into a Chinese restaurant (not a kosher one).
Standing at the door, he observed his friend talking to a waiter and gesturing at a menu. A short time later, the waiter reappeared carrying a platter full of spare ribs, shrimp in lobster sauce, crab rangoon and other treif that the Rabbi could not bear to think about.
As his friend picked up the chopsticks and began to eat this food, the Rabbi burst into the restaurant and reproached his friend, for he could take it no longer.
“Morris, what is this you are doing? I saw you come into this restaurant, order this filth and now you are eating it in violation of everything we are taught about the dietary laws and with an apparent enjoyment that does not befit your pious reputation!”
Morris replied, “Rabbi, did you see me enter this restaurant?” (Rabbi nods yes)
“Did you see me order this meal?” (again he nods yes)
“Did you see the waiter bring me this food?” (again he nods yes)
“And did you see me eat it?” (nods yes)
“Then, Rabbi, I don’t see the problem here. The entire meal was done under Rabbinical supervision!”
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.
SHIR HAYAM 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.
INVITATION TO DANCE FROM KOL SHALOM
I’d like to invite you all to a special Israeli dance event at Congregation Kol Shalom on August 9. We are hosting a young certified Israeli dance choreographer from right here in Puyallup who’ll be our guest teacher that night.
It’s at 6:30 pm, $8 a head, $5 under 12. If you get together a group of 10 or more from Shir Hayam, you can get a group rate and all be $5 a head.
This is going to be an amazing night of ruach — if you have anyone who enjoys dance of any kind they will want to be there!
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