FOR INFORMATION ABOUT ANY OF THE TOPICS LISTED BELOW
Please contact Cathy at 360-754-8519 or tbh@bethhatfiloh.org.
Temple Beth Hatfiloh, 201-8th Ave SE, Olympia, WA 98501
UPDATED Thursday, July 2
THIS WEEK @ TBH
July 3, 2009 - 12 Tamuz 5769
SHABBAT SERVICES
Candlelighting 8:52
p.m.
This week's Torah portion:
CHUKAT-BALAK
Torah reading: Numbers 19:1 - 25:9
Haftarah reading: Micah 5:6 - 6:8
Friday, July 3
7:30 p.m. Erev Shabbat Service
Saturday, July 4
10:00 a.m. Shabbat Service
Eli Paros Bar Mitzvah
A COMMUNITY CONVERSATION
Sharing
Stories to Gain Insight, Connection and Direction
Congratulations to us! We have just completed our new building and
dedicated the new bimah. Over the recent past, we have affiliated with
the Reconstructionist Movement, brought on Rabbi Seth Goldstein, and grown our
membership. We've connected and reconnected with friends and families in
the South Sound Jewish Community. We've worked hard and accomplished
much.
Now is the time to take a deep breath -- to take measure of who we are at this
point in time and in this place as TBH members and unaffiliated Jews here in
Olympia and the South Sound region; as individuals, partners, friends and
families looking for social, cultural and/or spiritual connection. What
brings us to this place? What are our stories? What do we seek from
TBH, from each other, from our Jewish identity? What are our strengths,
our weaknesses, our commonalities, our challenges? What do we have to
offer to each other, to our Jewish community, to the community at large?
Beginning at the High Holy Days with a series of informal, small, hosted
gatherings, we will share our stories, talk about what brought us here and
spend time learning about one another - our origins, histories, aspirations and
challenges. We seek to foster deeper understandings of ourselves and the
larger South Sound Jewish community along with a better sense of the desires of
our members and the broader Jewish community with respect to the role of TBH in
areas such as Jewish spiritual presence and practice, social and cultural
connection, community involvement and the like. Finally, we hope that
these conversations will enable members and non-members to expand their
knowledge and understanding of their own personal motivations and interests,
and find ways to act on the same. Throughout the year, we will gain a sense
of our common threads, our diverse origins, voices, challenges and dreams.
WHAT: A series of facilitated conversations
involving personal and family storytelling and sharing
WHO: TBH members, families and other South
Sound Jewish community members
WHEN: Beginning with the High Holy Days and running
through the Fall and Winter
WHERE: Principally in the homes of Jewish community members,
over good food and drink; other venues as circumstances suggest
WHY: To gain a better sense of who we
are, from whence we come, our commonalities and our diversity, what we seek
from and what we have to offer to TBH, our Jewish community and the community
at large and, most importantly, to get to know one another better.
We
are actively recruiting for people to host one or more story-sharing
get-togethers during the period from September through December. These
will be in-home get-togethers with you, a facilitator and around six other
participants. We anticipate that most will be pot-luck affairs, but
specifics will be left to each host. Scheduling will be at the host's
convenience. If you are interested in hosting, or just want to learn more
about the project, please call Nancy Snyder at 236-9350, or e-mail Nancy at
snyderoly@aol.com.
We are also looking for volunteer facilitators. We will provide necessary
training. If you are interested in facilitating or who want to know more
about the project, please call Joel Sacks at 236-9350 or e-mail Joel at
jsacks7862@comcast.net.
Members of the ad-hoc group working on the Community Conversations project
include: Sam Schrager, Joel Sacks, Toby Shulruff, Jim Bamberger, Anaya
Balter, Danny Kadden, Stacey Hirsch, Nancy Snyder and Rabbi Goldstein.
Feel free to contact any of us (we're all in the directory) with questions or
offers of assistance.
MEET THE
BAR MITZVAH: Elijah Paros
Elijah
Yaichi Paros will be called to the Torah as a Bar Mitzvah on Shabbat
Hukkat-Balak, Saturday, July 4 at 10:00 a.m. Eli is the son of Mike and Keiko
Paros and the brother to Sam, Hana and Brynna Paros. Eli will be entering the
8th grade at Rochester
Middle School in the
fall. In school his favorite subjects are history, math, band and science. When
he is not in school he enjoys soccer, wrestling and playing the drums. His
favorite books are the Percy Jackson series and his favorite movie is "Hot
Rod." His favorite TV show is "The Office," and his favorite
music is Jason Mraz and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Friends and family are
coming from Massachusetts, Wisconsin,
California, Oregon
and Seattle to
celebrate with Eli. Join Eli and his family as he celebrates his Bar Mitzvah on
July 4.
SENIOR
SCHMOOZE
All
seniors (you define senior) are invited to share in lunch and conversation with
each other on Tuesday, July 7 at 12 noon. Please bring a brown bag lunch,
dessert will be provided. Beth Halpern will make a presentation, ably
assisted by a graduate student, and the topic will be "Two months on the
Thailand-Burma border". Senior Schmooze meets on the first Tuesday
of every month.
SPECIAL
SHABBAT SPEAKER IN TWO WEEKS: "THE CONTEMPORARY JEWISH NOVEL"
Please
join us as TBH welcomes author Joanna
Smith Rakoff who will be a featured speaker at Shabbat services
on Friday, July 10. Services
begin at 7:30 p.m. She will speak on "The
Contemporary Jewish Novel." Joanna Smith Rakoff's novel, A Fortunate Age, was recently published
by Scribner. She is the former editor-in-chief of Nextbook.org, an online journal of
Jewish arts, culture and literature. She has written for The New York Times,
Time Out New York,
the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Vogue, and other publications. She holds a B.A.
from Oberlin College,
an M.A. from University College, London, and
an M.F.A. from Columbia
University. She lives in New York with her
husband, son and daughter.
BEIT
SEFER FUNDRAISER
Beit
Sefer has a fund raising game going on to help minimize tuition increases for
next year. Our game is a coin challenge where every time we have an event, such
as the Family Game Day, Beit Sefer or Ivreet classes and Ruach Shoveva, we put
out tubs for each class. Participants are asked to drop coins in the tubs which
will be tallied periodically and the winning group will earn an ice cream party
in October.
Here are the rules of the game:
Pennies are worth 1 point
Nickels are worth 5
negative points
Dimes are worth
10 points
Quarters are worth 25 negative points
Dollars are worth 100 points
Here are the current standings in the Beit Sefer Class Coin Challenge:
Vav (6th
grade)
510 pts
Dalet Hey (4th
and 5th grade) 200 pts
Gimmel (3rd
grade)
216 pts
Alef/ Bet (1st and 2nd
grade) 99 pts
Gan
(Kindergarten) Negative
1764
Pregan
(preschool)
5 pts
Zayin/
Hebrew
High 0
pts
Bring your change on Family Game Day and help your favorite Beit Sefer class
win an ice cream party!
THE
STARS AT 0-5 LOOK TO TURN IT AROUND!!!
Come
out and cheer on the Stars of David, TBH's own softball team! All games are at
6:10 p.m. at LBA Park off Morse Merryman Road. Next two games:
Thursday, July 2 vs. Slammin' Salmon on field #5 and Tuesday, July 7
vs. Pints & Quarts on field #2.
TBH DAY
CAMP
Ruach
Shoveva (Rowdy Spirit), TBH's summer day camp for kids entering 1-5 grade, is
registering now. Please contact the TBH office for more information.
KID KEF
Kid
Kef--a playgroup for children from birth to 5--meets every Tuesday at TBH from
10:00 a.m. to noon in rooms 101-102. Kid Kef is made possible by a grant from
the Special Initiatives Fund of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.
INTERFAITH YOUTH CAMP
Puget
Sound Interfaith Youth Camp is a five-day camp for kids of middle school age.
It will take place at YMCA Camp Seymour August 23-28. www.soundinterfaithcamp.org or
call Interfaith Works
360-357-7224.
ADULT
LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Jewish Meditation: 2nd and 3rd Saturdays 9- 10 a.m.; Sundays 5:30- 6:30 p.m. Judaism
offers many pathways to experience the Divine in everyday life. How do we do
this? We do this by connecting to that spark of Divinity that dwells within,
and by cultivating a state of being that identifies and promotes Unity. Maggid
Jim Chaim Shulruff teaches methods of Judaic meditation which encourage the
practitioners to attach to the Joy and Kindness found in every moment and in
all of Creation. Open to all ages, levels of experience, and knowledge.
CHECK
OUT THE BULLETIN BOARDS
We
have decorated and organized the bulletin boards at TBH so as to provide you
with updated program and community information. Check them out!
Lifecycle notices, the healing list,
yartzeits are listed next to the office door and are updated
weekly.
Beit Sefer/Youth activities
are on the bulletin boards between 101 and 102 and 201 and 202.
TBH events are on the
bulletin boards above the water fountains on the upper and lower levels. Copies
of the weekly email and the newsletter will be found there as well.
TBH in the News, Community Events and
Marketplace (items for sale, services offered, etc.) are
located on the bulletin board on the first floor across from the bathrooms and
Room 101.
If you have something you wish to post to these bulletin boards,
please submit them to the TBH office.
TBH GIFT SHOP NEWS
With
the close of Beit Sefer for the year, the Gift Shop will continue to offer
Self-Serve purchasing of candles and cards. Contact the TBH Office
or giftshop@bethhatfiloh.org
to set a time when we can meet you at TBH. We will be glad to assist you
in choosing a gift or judaica item.
Todah to all who have helped to re-create and sustain the shop this past
year! Do let us know also if you are looking for an item currently not in
the shop. Happy Summer!
TBH
OFFICE CLOSED
The
TBH Business Offices will be closed on Friday, July 3rd, in observance of
Indepedence Day.
UPCOMING
EVENTS
7/4
Bar Mitzvah of Eli Paros
7/7
Senior Lunch
7/20
Building Rental
7/21
Building Rental
UPCOMING MEETINGS
7/8
Executive
7/12
Gift Shop Inventory
7/12
Choir Rehearsal
7/16
Ritual
7/16
Executive
7/22
Board
7/26
Choir