October 2007

A JOYOUS CELEBRATION FOR THE WHOLE SHIR HAYAM COMMUNITY

Please join us for bagels, lox and cream cheese as we celebrate
Sukkot and Simchat Torah and kick off the Adult Ed Jewish Book Group and JLC.

No need to bring anything except your cheery self:-)

Sunday October 7 10:00 am member’s calendar

10:00 – 10:45 Sukkot Celebration. Come shake-shake-shake your lulav and help us create our sukkah of peace. Lulav materials will be provided.

10:45 – 11:45 Schmoozing over lox and bagels while discussing what our first Jewish book group book will be. Jewish book group meets every Sunday that JLC meets.

10:45 – 11:45 First Day of JLC Classes for the KiDS

11:45 – 12:30 Simchat Torah Celebration (next door at Robin Simons’ house). Sing and dance as we read the last words of the Torah, roll it back to the beginning and read the first words of Genesis.

Questions? Call Lisa at 206-780-0268 or Nancy at 206-780-5088

ADOPT-A-ROAD Chavurat Shir Hayam is about to discontinue our current participation with the Kitsap County Adopt-A-Road program. We committed to two more pickups, so now may be your opportunity to participate.

We will meet at the Rotary Welcome Park at Seabold Road and Komedal (the north end of Komedal) at 10:00 am on October 21. Please put it on your calendars now. We can park there, don our vests, grab some bags and split up into teams. DON’T FORGET YOUR GLOVES. If you have any questions, Questions? See member’s calendar for details or call 206-855-7924

THE EIGHT BRUCHAS

Our son Daniel married Shulamit Barazan from Israel this summer and we have been celebrating almost nonstop since then – we surpassed the traditional Sheva Bruchas (seven blessings) parties that follow a wedding, and hope you will enjoy reading about the sixth, seventh, and eighth blessings we recently finished.

In early September, Dan and Shuli left Portland and Bill and I flew to Israel where we all settled in on a Tuesday at Shuli’s parents’ apartment in Yehud, about 20 minutes east of Tel Aviv. Shimon and Rachel Barazan were raised in Yehud, a community founded largely by Iraqi immigrants and now more recent immigrants from many other places. On Friday afternoon, Shimon and Rachel will be hosting a large wedding reception and we are anxious to meet Shuli’s extended family and friends, all the people who have been so important in her life. But on Thursday night, the festivities begin with a Cheena (Henna) party!

Shoshi and Cobi (Shoshanna and Jacob) arrive with platters of baklava pastries and over Shoshi’s arm are a pile of long, brilliant dresses. Shoshi is Rachel’s lifelong friend – a beautiful Moroccan woman who in her daily life is a policewoman. Cobi just retired as a chief investigator with the Tel Aviv police force, and he rather fiercely mans the kitchen. Shuli’s aunts Noga and Zmira arrive with their families and more platters of pastries, candies, and nuts. Shoshi passes out the dresses to all the women – mine is canary yellow with gold embroidery, Shuli’s is white with silver embroidery, and Dan is given a long white linen caftan.

All the women begin wrapping the platters in clear plastic tied with long ribbons while the men push the furniture aside. Then the women each take turns kneading, sending our blessings through our hands into the Cheena. This forms a large reddish-brown mound that we cover with tropical flowers. And then the dancing begins. Belly dancing, and I’m beginning to learn as I watch. All the women who came in tight jeans or everyday clothes are transformed. Surprising to me, the men join in too. After much merriment, Dan and Shuli are seated together at the end of the room, flanked by vases of flowers, and the platter of Cheena is placed on a low table before them. They sit with their arms extended, palms up.

First the parents and then the friends and relatives each take a hunk of the Cheena, place it Dan and Shuli’s palms, press a candy or nut into the Cheena, and then fold their hands closed over the Cheena while offering them their wishes and blessings. More dancing! More sweets and juice! This is an excellent beginning.

The wedding reception in Tel Aviv is in a beautiful modern place with a large tropical garden outside. People begin arriving from as far away as a kibbutz on the Lebanese border and Eilat in the far south. Some are in jeans, others in full party attire. We finally do meet the whole mishpacha and the many family friends we’ve heard so much about. Kabobs, tacos and salsa, and pita and hummous tables lines the outside patio, and inside, there are elegant tables, each with about twelve salads before the fish, and then the grilled meats arrive. Shuli and Dan lead off the dancing with “Tupelo Honey,” the dj moves into a combo of Israeli, American, techno and world music, while videos of Dan and Shuli’s childhoods and their actual wedding play on the wall. Everyone is dancing but the highest point is when three Brazilian drummers arrive and begin!

It is hard to end, but everything has to stop to give some folks time to get home before Shabbat. Everyone still there holds hands and sings an Israeli love song over and over to Dan and Shuli.

Saturday morning, we get up early. Rachel, Shuli, Shoshi, the aunts, and I climb the stairs to the women’s section of the synagogue down the street, where we peer down through a lattice at the Shabbat service. Bill, Dan, Shimon and his brothers sit below. The synagogue was founded by Indian Jews, and they as well as Iraqis, Ashkenazim with long sidelock curls and Ethiopians now attend. I follow the Torah readings and see that they follow a Torah trope with a Mizrahi (middle eastern and Asian Jews) melody.

Apparently, there was a lot of exchanges and traveling between Iraq and Indian Jews, so the service and chanting is comfortable for both communities. At one point, the man in charge down below gestured up at us, the woman next to me opened the lattice, and chanted as special prayer by herself. After Dan, Bill, and Shimon are called to the Torah and as the Torah is carried around, the Barazan women and I push the lattice open and throw down candies as they do that high-pitched kind of yodeling. That I have not mastered.

After their aliyahs, Dan and Bill go around shaking the hands of every man and boy. There is a brief Kiddush, and then we rush home for the eighth brucha.

Again, we push the furniture to the sides. Folks begin arriving until there are about forty relatives seated around two long tables that fill the apartment’s livingroom. The aunts sure have been working hard, because this time they have brought dishes of salads that are placed all along the tables along with wine, juices, and water. Then we eat Iraqi pita filled with hard boiled eggs, sliced potatoes, salads and tahini. Did I say delicious?

One cousin hauls out his accordion, and we sing. clap and dance for the next three hours. After the tables have been carried back to the neighbors, after Cobi has made sure that every dish is washed, and put away, we collapse on the couch, direct the fan that way, and Shimon breaks out his ice cold homemade pomegranate juice. We are filled with joy and exhaustion, and such pleasure at knowing that we now part of such a warm and wonderful new family.

Community Messages
We wish Jesse Mittleton a full and speedy recovery back to writing and swing dancing in the near future.

A huge thank all those who worked arranging the High Holidays, sang,participated, provided hospitality.

From the IFC:
10/13/07 (Saturday):
Sustainable Garden Workshop: Ann Lovejoy shares her ideas at the Sustainable Garden Workshop from 10:00AM to noon at EHCC

10/17/07 (Wednesday):
Blood Drive: Blood Drive at St Cecilia’s from noon to 6:00PM

11/17/07 (Saturday):
Just Know Forum: 17th Annual Fall Forum of the Just Know Coalition featuring Madeline Levine, author of The Price of Privilege at 8:30AM at Woodward Middle School.

11/20/07 (Tuesday):
“Be The Change You Wish to See in the World” The Interfaith Council’s Thanksgiving service will be held on Tuesday evening, November 20th at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

12/1/07 (Saturday):
CARE GIVERS ALERT: Save all day Saturday, Dec. 1 if you provide care and spiritual support to members of your faith community or perhaps to a member of your own family. That’s the day Cedars UU Church, Eagle Harbor Congregational
Church, Bethany Lutheran Church, and the Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers of Bainbridge Island will present a day-long workshop entitled The Art and Practice of Being a Healing Presence. $50 covers the workshop including lunch and a book
by the workshop leader Rev. Susan C. Cutshall. A special price of $125 is offered for 3 members of the same Pastoral Care Team. More information will be forthcoming in November. Contact Donna Moore (206) 842-2170 or Rev. Emily Tanis-Likkel (206) 842-4657. Reserve your space now by calling Eagle Harbor Congregational Church (206) 842-4657. (See attached flyer).

Oct 4, 09:12 PM