Erev Shabbat Friday, May 16 Growing Shabbat!, 6:00 pm Hybrid Services @ 7:00 pm Everyone is welcome to join us for family friendly dinner catered by Nineveh at 6pm , young kids story time, and a hybrid service at 7pm. Join us for just dinner, just the service, or both! Please register for the dinner. Registration is free, but required for catering numbers.
Shabbat Morning Saturday, May 17 There is no Saturday morning programming this week. Mussar met earlier in the month due to scheduling constraints.
THIS WEEK AT TBH
Active Shooter Attack Prevention and Preparedness (ASAPP) Sunday, May 18, 1:00 pm In Person
Active Shooter Attack Prevention and Preparedness (ASAPP) is an FBI taught course that provides techniques, tools, and tactics an individual may choose to use if they ever find themselves in an active shooter situation. It will help both institutions and individuals prepare for, and respond to, an active shooter event in their immediate vicinity. The course is produced by the FBI’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU).
Queer Bowling Sunday, May 18, 2:00 pm In Person @ Westside Lanes (2200 Garfield Ave NW)
The TBH Queer Jews group is hosting a queer bowling get together this coming Sunday from 2p-4p! Open to any and all queer and questioning Jews and Jew-curious folx! $5-$15/person, pay what you can. We're here! We're queer! We're bowling! Questions? Contact Andy Levitt at alevitt2021@gmail.com or Avi Bernard-Donals at abernarddonals@gmail.com
Lag B'Omer Sunday, May 18, 3:00 pm In Person @ Camp Solomon Schechter
Registration has closed for Lag B'Omer.
Stars of David Softball Starts! Sunday, May 18, 5:30 pm In Person @ Yauger Park
We are getting together for our first practice this Sunday--come by even if you haven't signed up yet to join the TBH team for softball! We play weekly (Wednesdays) at Yauger Park. We play in a non-competitive co-ed league, sponsored by Olympia Parks and Rec. The team is open to players of all levels and to non-members, so sign up with friends. Ages 18 and over, 16-17 with parental consent. Contact Jocelyn Brown at jocbrown3@gmail.com with questions.
Book Group Tuesday, May 20, 6:30 pm In Person
Before all the World by Moriel Rothman-Zecher. A mesmerizing, inventive story of three souls in 1930s Philadelphia seizing new life while haunted by the old. It is presented as a book written by Gittl, a Jewish poet and refugee, and translated by Charles, a Black writer fluent in Yiddish. Before All the World considers one essential question: what does it mean to remember the past while still imagining the future?
Join us for any book(s) that you're interested in talking about. Contact Linda Rubin at linda.rubin23@gmail.com with questions. Please don't be shy, come join us.
COMING UP AT TBH
Board Meeting Wednesday, May 21, 6:00 pm Online
All TBH members are invited to attend monthly board meetings as guests. Agenda are located here. If you would like to request to be put on a board meeting agenda, please be in touch with your board representative or the board president in advance of the meeting.
PrayerFormance: Performance and Book Reading with Gabriel Meyer Halevy Thursday, May 22, 7:00 p.m. In Person
Free admission! Join us for a unique and special event of song, story and readings with Gabriel Meyer Halevy, who is in the Pacific Northwest with his new book, "On the Verge of the Verb: An autobiographical fiction of Prophetic Sorts.” He will share his gifts of heart music, sacred activism, storytelling, prayer, and balm for the soul, rooted in the Hebrew Prophetic tradition, and embodied in his first English prose book.
Gabriel bridges hearts and cultures even beyond enemy lines through the medicine of music, story, and humor celebrating Spirit. In these perilous and turbulent times, he brings groups of people from diverse backgrounds together as a microcosm of peace to sing, play, pray, and create "spontaneous" sacred community.
Born in Cordoba, Argentina. Gabriel brings beauty, humor, vitality, and pathways of understanding and healing through the universal language of music, movement, and prayer. Gabriel sings in over 6 languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, Sanskrit, and Urdu. Trained as a spiritual leader and ambassador of peace, Gabriel was given an honorary title of "true representative of the Jewish people" by Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shalomi z'l and was initiated into the "order of disorder" by Zen Roshi Bernie Glassman z'l. For more information about Gabriel: www.gabrielmeyerhalevy.com, and find some music here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZw4YDmKxU
Thomas Taylor Mitzvah Project
For Thomas (Tommy) Taylor’s B'nai Mitzvah project, he is working on building a little library for the front of his house. He recently moved to a new house on an active walking route and noticed there were not very many little libraries in the neighborhood. He thought it would help build and strengthen community and promote reading if he added one to the neighborhood.
Please join him in spreading community to Olympia by donating one book for the grand opening of the little library or to South Sound Reading Foundation. The South Sound Reading Foundation provides free books to children in low-income housing units, schools, after-school programs, and community events to promote reading throughout the South Sound area. If you plan to donate one book, a box will be found in the TBH lobby.
Shavuot is the springtime festival that celebrates Torah and Jewish learning in all its forms. A commemoration of the biblical story of the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, Shavuot is marked by the traditional practice of learning late into the night and eating dairy foods. Typically at TBH we hold a short service followed by a series of learning sessions led by our members, this year we will kick off the evening with an all-ages ice cream party!
We need teachers! Do you have something to teach or share? Do you want lead a conversation on a topic of interest? It can be a text, a song, a craft, meditation, etc. Contact Rabbi Seth with your idea! rabbi@bethhatfiloh.org
6:30 p.m. Ice Cream Party & Kids Activities 8:00 p.m. Erev Shavuot Service 8:30 p.m. 1st Learning Block 9:30 p.m. 2nd Learning Block 10:30 p.m. Cheesecake and Noshing 11:00 p.m. 3rd Learning Block 12 midnight End
Shavuot Library Book Drive
“The pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, an almost fanatical love of justice and the desire for personal independence, these are the features of the Jewish tradition which make me thank my stars that I belong to it.” Albert Einstein
Have you been upstairs yet to the youth and adult libraries? Thank you to those members of all ages who have been borrowing books! There's a need to add new/current books authored by diverse voices. While by no means comprehensive, the Library Committee has created an Amazon.com wish lists as the most convenient way to share some suggestions, but if you’d like to support Browser’s or Orca Books you can order the title there or, use https://bookshop.org/shop/browsers (where you can search for other cities, if you’d like to support a local bookstore elsewhere). Note: We can no longer accept book donations due to space limitations. Alternatives are Tommy Taylor's collection (see above), the Friends of Olympia Library (for their ongoing book sale, Wednesdays and Saturdays from 12-2) or Bookmongers, a woman-owned company that will pick up your books (and even box them for you).
Come build homes with TBH and Habitat for Humanity! Friday, June 13th, 8:00 a.m.-2:30 p.m. In Person
TBH Homeless Task Force invites you to join our second annual Habitat for Humanity work party. We are assembling a team to contribute to the Habitat project in Tumwater (Tâlíčn) site at 73rd & Henderson. Our TBH work day is Friday, June 13th from 8:00 a.m.-2:30 p.m. No construction experience needed! Habitat can accommodate a group of up to 15 volunteers, so if you are interested please create an account with Habitat to register. https://www.spshabitat.org/ Also, please email Kayla to let us know that you have signed up (kiverson@bethhatfiloh.org).
COMMITTEE UPDATES
Immigrant and Refugee Task Force Updates
This week we are highlighting the Jewish Coalition for Immigrant Justice. Founded in 2017, JCIJ organizes with Jewish.communities, immigrant leaders and multifaith groups to build collective power and create structural and systematic change. The work involves:
Accompaniment - walking alongside immigrants to appointments, bonding people out of detention and staffing legal clinics. Advocacy - mobilizing in the Pacific NW to create change Community Engagement - educating around immigrant justice
Each week we have the opportunity to share thoughts and teachings about the weekly Torah portion as part of our services. And we want to hear your wisdom! Rabbi Seth invites you to deliver a d’var Torah at an upcoming service, no experience necessary—and he can help you craft your message. (Also look for a d’var Torah workshop over the summer). If you are interested, sign up here.
THANK YOU!
Contributions
Unity Commons Sponsorship Russell Lidman
Sustaining Fund Jacqueline and Lisa David in memory of Leonora Leizerman Anonymous
Volunteers
FORKids Bernie Friedman Emily Chadwick Tessa Taft Sue Goldstein Frances Caplan Paige Brown Ricki Koppel Michael Koppel
David Goldstein Elsie Cohen Pearle Jerry Grotsky Chana Sokoloff David Levy Asher June Bean Lee Hollander Lawrence Scheier Rose Mogal Hyman Posner Alan (Allie) E. Goldberg Esther Pollock Batia Levy Max Blustein Jacqueline Rosenkrantz John William Fay David Levy Asher Perle Schrager Kate Franklin Jackman Esther Ravitz David Wedogsky Eugene Balter Pauline Snyder Susan Strange Estelle Grant Constance Shapiro Sunny Grotsky
Happy Birthday!
14 Robert Carmel 14 Susan Iverson 14 Heather Cole 15 Avi Bernard-Donals 15 Cynthia Kaiser 15 Andrew Gaines 16 Melissa DiFilippi 16 Dikla Moulton 16 Kay McKenzie 17 Hazel Rosen 18 Vincent Schwent 19 Jack Kowitt 19 Kim Adelson
Yahrtzeit Updates & Additions
Members are able to view, edit, and add Yahrtzeits on the member portal of the TBH website here (requires log in). If you need assistance, please feel free to send any updates to kiverson@bethhatfiloh.org.
Mi Sheberach Updates
During Shabbat services, we always include a prayer for healing and maintain a list on behalf of members who want to include names in the healing prayers (as well as offering them verbally during services). Fill out this form to add a name to the list. May all be blessed with a refua shleyma, a complete healing of body, mind, and spirit.
COMMUNITY EVENTS/RESOURCES: Note: These are not necessarily officially sponsored or endorsed by TBH, but they are listed as they have Jewish content and/or may be of interest to our community.
Seattle Yiddish Fest returns May 16-18, 2025!
Join Seattle's grassroots festival of Yiddish music and culture for an unforgettable weekend up close and personal with two leaders of the legendary klezmer band The Klezmatics! The festival features workshops, jamming, a concert, Shabes 'tish' and even a theatrical performance. Tickets and more info at: www.seattleyiddishfest.com or email seattleyiddishfest@gmail.com For concert tickets visit: SYF Concert Tickets for May 17
Temple Beth Hatfiloh, 201 8th Ave SE, Olympia, WA 98501
Habitat for Humanity Volunteering Friday, Jun 13th 8:00a to 2:30p TBH Homeless Task Force invites you to join our second annual Habitat for Humanity work party. We are assembling a team to contribute to the Habitat project in Tumwater (Tâlíčn) site at 73rd & Henderson. Our TBH work day is Friday, June 13th from 8:00 a.m.-2:30 p.m. No construction experience needed! Habitat can accommodate a group of up to 15 volunteers, so if you are interested please create an account with Habitat to register. https://www.spshabitat.org/ Also, please email Kayla to let us know that you have signed up (kiverson@bethhatfiloh.org).
