July 29, 2010 - 18 Av 5770 through August 5, 2010 - 25 Av 5570

SENIOR SCHMOOZE

The next senior schmooze will be this coming Tuesday, August 3. 

Bring a sack lunch and dessert will be provided.

GIFT SHOP SUMMER NEWS

TBH gift shop has CAMP T-SHIRTS.

They are blue, have TBH on the front, reasonably priced, and stocked in a variety of sizes.  Camp days are coming in August, so drop by the gift shop during office hours: 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., Monday through Friday and find a Camp T-Shirt for child!

SPREADING THE WORD ON THE BEAUTY OF SHABBAT

Shabbat at Home: Welcome to TBH's new Shabbat initiative.

Would you enjoy a comfortable Shabbat experience in a "hamish" intimate setting where the beauty of Shabbat is celebrated with good food and companionship?

The success of  Community Conversations has been notable, with many participants expressing a wish to join together in the beauty and peace of Shabbat.

So...TBH is launching Shabbat at Home, where gracious members of our community volunteer to provide a place for Jews young and older to welcome Shabbat in a family atmosphere (you  define "family"). The idea is simply to match Shabbat dinner hosts and guests, and help to plan Shabbat meals in individual homes. Details are under construction, and will be based on member needs and suggestions. Most of all, it should be  simple and relaxed. Pot luck is fine-up to hosts and guests.

We are looking for Shabbat dinner hosts, homes & guests!  The success of the Shabbat at Home dinner program depends upon having someone like you to lend your home and hospitality to the community, no matter the home/ apartment size or the dining capacity. Or, if you can't host, please be a guest. We need you!

Hosts may be asked to:

• Volunteer by contacting TBH
• Ask questions and get details.
• Let us know how many people you think that you can comfortably accommodate. Formal dining table/chairs are NOT required. Food can be set buffet style and guests can eat on a combination of chairs and sofas, etc.
• Welcome  guests into your home.
• Meet, Greet, Eat and Enjoy Shabbat!

Guests may be asked to:

• Contact TBH to express interest
• Ask questions and get details
• Let us know the number in your family
• Note any dietary restrictions
• Arrive, Be Welcomed, Eat and Enjoy Shabbat! 

We will assist in matching hosts and guests, and provide "how-to's" if needed.    

 To express interest, please contact our Administrator China Star at tbh@bethhatfiloh.org, or phone: 360-754-8519 to express your interest and offer suggestions.

This is a great  opportunity to get involved with your community, enable a program cherished by all who take part, and have an enriching Shabbat experience of your own!

JEWISH WITH MEANING

We are also starting to have a brief Shabbat morning service before our group, starting at 10:00. Everyone is welcome at either or both.

Our next meeting is August 7.  We will have an additional meeting on August 28, as we are preparing for the High Holidays. We will explore ways to find deeper meaning in the Holidays, and so enrich our experience in the fall. Each month there will be a reading from the book, This is Real and You are Completely Unprepared; The Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation, by Alan Lew.  Those who want to read the entire book are welcome to do so. Copies of the month's reading will also be available before or during our meeting. On August 7 we will be discussing chapter 4. We will also look at the "Unetanah Tokef" prayer ("On Rosh Hashanah, all is written and revealed, and on Yom Kippur, the course of every life is sealed! ...who shall live and who shall die..."), which can be challenging for many. Join us as we share and learn together.

Contact Nancy Snyder at 456-5055 or snyderoly@aol.com for more information, or to be put on the email contact list for the group.

COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS CONTINUE

Because the response to the Community Conversations has been so positive, we begin the next phase this summer.  Anyone who has not attended a Community Conversation, which is an informal gathering of about eight people in someone’s home to discuss their Jewish experience, is invited.  Anyone who has attended is also encouraged to meet with different people for a new conversation.  The intention is simple: to give us all the chance to know each other better and create a greater sense of community in a comfortable way.

Anyone interested in participating as well as those available to host, please contact us at: tbh@bethhatfiloh.org

FROM THE DESK OF CATHERINE CARMEL : YOUTH EDUCATION

Do you enjoy working with young kids? Are you interested in teaching religious school? You don't need to be a Judaic scholar, but you do need to be Jewish! What is most important is that you be dynamic and enjoy working with our youngest students. TBH is looking for a very part time preschool teacher for the upcoming school year. The ideal candidate is enthusiastic, caring and creative. We are now hiring for September 2010! Teachers enjoy a supportive, professional teaching environment with paid professional development sessions and competitive salaries. This is a great experience for college students anticipating future careers in Judaism or education. The positions fit easily around a school or work schedule. Work hours would be Sundays 9 AM to noon and possibly some morning hours during the week.  Interested candidates should call or send a resume to Catherine Carmel at (360) 754 - 8296 or beitsefer@bethhatfiloh.org.

Do you play guitar? Are you interested in leading music sessions with kids and families? We'd love to hear from you! TBH is looking for a music leader for our youth programming. The ideal candidate is outgoing and enthusiastic about music. The job would include leading some music for youth services as well as teaching holiday music during community education days and teaching music classes for elementary age students. This paid position fits easily around a typical school or work schedule. During the school year the work averages 90 minutes a week, usually on Sundays between 9:30 and 11:00.  Interested candidates should call or send a resume to Catherine Carmel at (360) 754 - 8296 or beitsefer@bethhatfiloh.org.

KID KEF

KidKef is closing temporarily! We are taking a short break so we don't conflict with camp and other scheduled activities. July 27th is the last day of KidKef until fall.

RUACH SHOVEVA 

Camp Starts soon!  Registration and payments are due no later than July 31st.

August 9-20 will beFun, Fun, Fun! Summer just won't be the same without it.  For more information, contact Catherine Carmel at 360-754-8519 or beitsefer@bethhatfiloh.org

HOW DO I HOST AN ONEG?
  It's easy! Hosting a TBH Oneg means picking up the Challah
(graciously donated by Bagel
Brothers), grabbing a few snacks and sweets, and heading on down to TBH before services.   All TBH members are asked to host Onegs and can use the opportunity to honor life cycle events ( birthday, anniversary, new baby, B'nai Mitzvah, Yahrzeit, etc.) or even to share our community with visiting family or friends. Name(s) of those being honored can be added to announcements on the TBH website as well as Short Shrift, the TBH newspaper. You can also co-host an
Oneg with another family.
 According to the prophet Isaiah, the Sabbath shall be a delight. And here
at TBH, Oneg Shabbat is one way to enhance a spirit of  community. Sharing
food, including something sweet, adds a special touch to the delight of Shabbat.  Lingering, learning about and visiting with the TBH community after services adds to the feeling that this day really is different from the other days of the week. 
 
Onegs generally take place in the TBH Social Hall immediately following the 7:30 p.m. Erev Shabbat service, except for the fourth Friday, Khappy hour at 5:30 p.m. before services,   You will receive detailed information on how to host an Oneg at TBH well in advance of the date you choose.
 
In the spirit of sharing,  please indicate your choice of Friday evening service for which you will host an Oneg Shabbat from the following available dates. 

August 7,14,28, 2010
 
Call or email Lynn Urstadt at: lynnurstadt@gmail.com or 206/601-2035.

Thank you to all of our Oneg volunteers.

This Month's Host's:

July 2 - Lynn Urdstadt and her daughter Johanna Lynn
July 9 - Potluck
July 16 - Available for Hosting
July 23 - Khappy Hour - Potluck
July 30 - Beverly J. Court

Thank you to all of our Oneg volunteers.

We need volunteers for a variety of projects! 
If you are interested in getting more
involved with TBH, Please contact the
office at tbh@bethhatfiloh.org
Please include any skills and interests
that are appropriate for you.

OUR COMMUNITY IN THE JTNEWS

Rabbi Seth Goldstein from10 under 40

Seth Goldstein hadn’t planned on becoming a rabbi. Even after he had completed a couple of years of study at Jewish Theological Seminary, the Conservative movement’s flagship rabbinical school, actually entering the rabbinate wasn’t in the cards, he had thought.
He had planned to get a Master’s degree, and figured “I’d probably end up teaching, or [as] an academic,”Goldstein, 36, says. Then, as he thought more deeply about what he wanted to do with his life, partly because his wife, Yohanna Kinberg, currently associate rabbi at Temple B’nai Torah in Bellevue, was also undergoing her training, “I ultimately decided what I wanted to do was to build Jewish community, to work within Jewish community.”
He still thought of that involvement as doing something at a Hillel, perhaps, in that college type of atmosphere.
“I had a really positive period on campus when I was at Wesleyan,” he says. “I felt I had this really strong Jewish identity, and connection to Judaism and tradition, and I really wanted to bring that to others.”
But the idea of having his own pulpit? “I was never — even through rabbinical school — I was never leaning toward the congregational rabbinate.”
Goldstein grew up in the suburbs of New York City, and aside from visits to Kinberg’s family in Oregon and a few jaunts north, he was an East Coast boy, where everything’s Jewish, even if it’s not.
“You don’t even have to be affiliated with organized Judaism to have a fulfilling Jewish life,” he says.
Why would he want to give up that instant Jewish connection? Then he visited Temple Beth Hatfiloh, Olympia’s Reconstructionist synagogue, as a student rabbi for the High Holidays.
“I came out and had an incredible experience,” Goldstein says. “There was a real vibrancy that I hadn’t experienced before.”
What struck him most was that everyone filling those seats wanted to be there. If many people consider Seattle the hinterlands of the Diaspora, what does that make Olympia, with just three synagogues, a Jewish students’ group at The Evergreen College, and no other real Jewish infrastructure?
“The community was very diverse. We don’t have a large swath of Jewish organizations where people can sort of choose and find their niche,” he says. “We have to do it all here.”
So when Beth Hatfiloh decided to hire a rabbi, Goldstein applied for the job. And got it. That was seven years ago.
Camille Kettel, who calls herself a somewhat active congregant, is glad he did.
“He was just a welcoming, wonderful soul,” she says, remembering when she walked through the temple’s doors for the first time upon landing in Olympia from Michigan five years ago.
Rabbi Goldstein calls Beth Hatfiloh, the capital city’s largest congregation, more of a community center.
“What I’d like to say I bring is — besides a specific program — is just an openness,” he says. “An openness to people to come, and to experience, and to explore Judaism, to make Judaism something that’s joyful and engaging, and to really try to meet people where they are — and at the same time pushing them to explore aspects of Judaism and Jewish tradition.”
His tenure has seen a lot of change at the synagogue: A new building, new members, new outreach to interfaith communities.
His biggest point of pride right now? A project, still ongoing, called the Community Conversations Project, where members — and even some nonmembers — gather in small groups in people’s homes and share their Jewish journeys.
“We came to a point to think about where are we going as a community, how can we really grow not just outward, but inward,” Goldstein says. “We weren’t sure where it was going to lead. We didn’t have a specific goal at the end of it.”
At this point, they’ve gotten feedback about how the temple’s work can be improved, but more important to Goldstein, “people have made connections with one another,” he says. “People engaged with it, even people who were somewhat skeptical…really came out of it with positive thoughts.”
— Joel Magalnick

to view the whole article: http://www.jtnews.net/index.php?/news/item/7356/C22/

Here are more JTNews articles of interest:

http://www.jtnews.net/index.php?/viewpoints/item/unnatural_disasters/

http://www.jtnews.net/index.php?/columnists/item/7487/C7/