הקשר HaKesher
TBT's Newsletter: The Connection
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Come be a part of our growing Reform synagogue.
All are welcome!
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December Calendar of Events |
Events and Activities
(all events via Zoom unless otherwise listed)
December 5 - 7:00 pm - Havdallah and a Movie
December 6 - 2:00-3:00 pm - Happy Chanukah
Roll-By
December 9 - 4:00pm - Board Meeting
December 10 - 4:30 pm - Menorah Lighting at the
Old Mill-stay in your car
December 11 - 4:30 pm- Chanukah Party
December 18 - Shabbat:
5:45 pm - Tot Shabbat
6:00 pm - Proneg (Oneg before the service)
6:20 pm - Erev Shabbat Service
6:45 pm - Meaningful Conversations
December 20 - Tikun Olam Group
CHEVRUTA: Mishnas and Gemaras
Weekly on Sundays 9:00 - 10:30 am - 12/6, 12/13, 12/20, 12/27
HAMSA: "FIVE CONGREGATIONS" COURSE
Mussar for Trying Times, Tuesdays 7:00-8:00 pm - 12/1, 12/8, 12/15
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President's Message
Sheila Luber
Writing this article just days before we celebrate Thanksgiving compels me to profess my love and gratitude for my dear husband, our children, family and friends. For our home and our new treadmill. For the cold, crisp air. For the food we make, the takeout we bring in and the sweet treats we receive at our door. (Hence my need for the treadmill!) I hope your day was full of joy.
We are all managing our physical interactions beyond our households and doing our best to remain socially and emotionally connected. I know I sound like a broken record (what a quaint expression!) but I write this saddened by the passing of a dear temple member and another’s beloved father and my friend’s mother who days ago slipped away alone. It reminds us how fragile we are and how important it is to express our love and caring. Though our lives may be more contained on behalf of our personal and collective safety, we can create rich experiences using common sense and technology to stay active, attached and involved, curious and able to “make hay while the sun shines.”
A friend recently sent me a message that she was surprised and impressed with how much TBT is doing during this pandemic. We are exploring every possible avenue to engage you. We are eager to connect safely at our Chanukah Roll-By on December 6 with Mitzvah Madness Gift Bags of goodies waiting for those who have signed up, and excited about our Zoom Chanukah party on December 11 for fun and games, candle lighting and latke-making. (See the Chanukah article to learn more.)
Rabbi Johanna and Mel Siegel have arranged stimulating adult education discussions for members of TBT and we welcome the participation of our sister organizations, Congregation Shalom Bayit (CSB) and Chabad of Central Oregon. Congregation Shalom Bayit invited TBT and Chabad to attend a Zoom presentation on Situational Awareness, the first in a series of virtual and in-person meetings (when the time is right) focused on safety and security. And the doors of Chabad of Central Oregon are always open to the Jewish community regardless of affiliation.
This level of inter-congregational sharing has unfolded organically based on the relationships we are forging across our leadership teams. We are building bridges, not walls, and getting to know each other to foster understanding, trust and cooperation. Since December 2018 when TBT's co-presidents reached out to CSB’s president to say hello, the group has expanded to include the leadership teams from each community, including our three rabbis. We now meet monthly to create opportunities, solve problems, and exchange ideas and resources. Our goal is to find ways to best serve the Jewish community as a whole while continuing to focus on meeting the needs of our respective members.
Continuing in this spirit, it is with great pleasure that your TBT Board voted to give the Community Religious School nearly $400 from a $1000 grant we requested and received from the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland. We are thankful for this second grant from JFGP and thrilled to share this gift with the school to help benefit the teachers and the children from all three Jewish organizations.
B'virkat Shalom,
Sheila
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Divrei Tikvah
From Rabbi Johanna Hershenson
As December days continue to shorten, winter solstice approaching, we all find our way of adjusting to less sunlight. We sleep longer nights. We lift our eyes to the mountains and their snowy blankets. Driving and enjoying the view. Sledding. Snowshoeing. Cross country skiing. Soon, downhill skiing and boarding.
We, Pacific Northwesterners, know winter play helps us enjoy (rather than resist) the winter day. Jews light the Chanukah menorah adding a smidge more light each night to remember that though the solstice day is the darkest day, each day thereafter gifts us another minute, or two, or six depending on latitudinal locale.
Hanerot hallelu...the rabbis of the Talmud suggest:
We light these lights to draw attention to the miracles and wonders witnessed by our ancestors, in those days at this time. Throughout the eight nights of Chanukah, these lights are holy, and we do not use them in any sort of utilitarian manner. We only look at them and give thanks and praise for the miracles and wonders that unfold before our eyes.
Chanukah, Christmas, and the Gregorian New Year all invite us to draw our attention to what is most fundamentally important...noticing what is most profoundly good and nourishing.
We’ve all experienced miraculous outcomes and encounters when we thought we were in the lonely depths described by the psalmists. The light we experience dims and reignites and flames rhythmically throughout our lives. Resilience matters.
We all cling to hope in some manner. Hope in what we might create or achieve. Hope in how our children and students might surpass us. Hope in the long-view, that there is a universal equilibrium that suggests this too shall pass. Hope in new discoveries and knowledge that will cure cancer and COVID and...
We all love a clean slate. Part of cheering ourselves up, part of motivating ourselves to initiate change, is our belief that we can start over. Our belief that each new day is a new opportunity. That each breath, each word, each kind deed can be the first move toward being our best selves.
Despite COVID, this year is no different than any other year in that winter’s diminished light and dormancy give us our annual seasonal pause for reflecting inward, reconnecting with our values and our loved ones.
As we light our chanukiyot this year, following the disappointment of a Thanksgiving during which so few of us had the opportunity to hug and kiss loved ones, I hope we allow its flames to remind us that in mere weeks the precious minutes of sunlight will increase.
In the months to come, we will learn more about COVID therapies and vaccines that may come our way in the new year. We will figure out how to return to our public spaces and invite others into our homes again. Until then, we have phones and zoom, FaceTime and Facebook. Temple Beth Tikvah is open for business, join us. If you need technical support to join us, let us know. We are ready with volunteers who are getting good at walking folks through the new tools of virtual gathering.
B'virkat Shalom
~~ Rabbi Hershenson's office hours are by appointment. If you would like to set up an appointment, please contact her by email at: johannahershenson@gmail.com, or by phone at 541-213-9880.
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Thoughts on Tot Shabbat
Ann Rosenfeld
Our five-year-old granddaughter, CeCe, often spends the night with us. That is definitely one of the blessings of the pandemic as we love the time the three of us get to spend together.
One Friday evening, she was sleeping over and we decided to try Tot Shabbat. We tuned in and all of us had a blast! Rabbi Hershenson read a story about a dinosaur, she interacted with Cece and got to know her a little, and we all had a little dose of Judaism at a very short service.
At a time when so many people are not interested in religion, it is important to see the beauty of our religion and culture. Tot Shabbat is a great way to expose a little Jewish culture to our grandkids.
GRANDPARENTS, PLEASE CONSIDER ATTENDING TOT SHABBAT WITH YOUR GRANDKIDS!
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Board Member
Kerrie Zurovsky
Vice President
This is the third in a series of bi-monthly spotlights on our board members. Eileen Katz, Newsletter Ed.
TBT’s Vice President is a busy woman. Besides raising three children ranging in age from 9 to 17, Kerrie runs her own design business and website. But let’s start at the beginning..
Kerrie was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia with her older sister. Her family was a member of the local synagogue and celebrated all the Jewish holidays. At age 13, Kerrie became Bat Mitzvah.
Kerrie’s interest in and talent for art started at a young age. On family trips to their beach home in South Carolina, Kerrie would take along an ice chest full of art supplies which kept her busy during the six hour trip. Of her immediate family, Kerrie is the only artist. Her paternal grandmother was an expert at needlepoint and made Torah covers for their synagogue which are still in use today.
When Kerrie was 11 years old, she was diagnosed with cancer. During the two years of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, art became a cathartic method of dealing with being so sick. While she gave up most of her athletic activities, art was the one constant during that time.
After graduating from the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia with a degree in graphic design, Kerrie moved to Aspen, Colorado where her best friend lived and where she found a job as a graphic designer for the local newspaper. After seven years in Aspen, Kerrie moved back to Atlanta to be closer to family, where she had her son, Jonah. Jonah was born with a rare liver disease and had a liver transplant when he was six years old. A few months after Jonah left the hospital, he was able to walk Kerrie down the aisle when she married her second husband, Craig. The births of their two daughters followed.
So how did the family find their way to Bend, clear across the country? Craig’s best friend lived in Bend, and Kerrie and Craig came to visit him one summer. While hiking South Sister, Kerrie and Craig had an epiphany “This is where we need to live.” Without thinking twice, the two returned to Atlanta to ready themselves for the move. They purchased a house in Bend and rented it out for three years until Craig could manage a job transition, and in July of 2016, the family packed up and moved to Bend.
Not long after they arrived, Kerrie and Craig joined TBT; at a Shabbat service and dinner, their son Jonah met fellow TBT members, Sophie Chudowsky and Chase Frankl, who encouraged him to join COJY. It was also at this first Shabbat where Jeanne Freeman prevailed upon Kerrie to get involved in the TBT community. Kerrie thought it was important to have a parent of school age children on the board, so she joined a year later.
In addition to her duties on TBT’s board, Kerrie homeschools her two daughters, Ellie age 10 and Gracie age 9, and manages her website, www.flutterbugsdesign.com, where she designs and sells stationery, invitations and gift wrap and designs company logos and websites.
TBT is lucky to have such a dynamic and energetic member of the TBT board. Kerrie has contributed her talents to designing the gift cards for our High Holy Days gift bags and will be designing the same for the Chanukah gift bags.
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Let's Celebebrate Chanukah 2020 Together
Lauralei Garrity
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Chanukah is around the corner and your friends at TBT have planned fun and meaningful festivities for TBT members of all ages to enjoy.
Happy Chanukah Roll-By
Sunday, December 6
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
First Presbyterian Church, Parking Lot
For those who have reserved a bag, pick up your Mitzvah Madness Gift Bag full of Chanukah treats, like candles and gelt, and say hello to the Mitzvah Mensches -- Rabbi Johanna Hershenson, Sheila Luber, Kathy Schindel, Lauralei Garrity, and other members of the TBT family!
Zoom Chanukah Party
Friday, December 11
4:30 - 6:00 PM
Zoom
Join Rabbi Johanna and your TBT friends on Zoom to play Chanukah games, make latkes, light candles, and party like it’s 5781.
Our latke mavens and their student apprentices are leading us in a fun demonstration and group cooking adventure for chefs of all ages from 4:30 - 5:15. They are teaching us how to make a tried and true potato latke recipe! If you’ve never made latkes before, this is a perfect opportunity to practice with the pros. Kiddos will love the chance to get their hands messy. If you’re a seasoned latke-maker, show us whatcha got! When the latkes are done, it’s time to relax, nosh, and socialize.
We’ll light candles at 5:15 to welcome Shabbat and kick off our Chanukah party.
Following the candle-lighting, families and those young at heart are invited to play the dreidel game with Rabbi Johanna. Look in your Chanukah Gift Bag to find the dreidel game instructions and a dreidel bingo card. Adults who want to socialize in a separate breakout room will have the option to do so.
No RSVP required. Just join the Zoom meeting whenever you’re ready. The Zoom invitation will be sent out in the weekly Happenings.
Light it Up: Illuminating our Present and Future
Early Childhood Educators of Reform Judaism
Wednesday, December 16
6:00 PM
Facebook
TBT members are invited to participate in a free, family-oriented Chanukah concert and candle lighting, held by the Early Childhood Educators of Reform Judaism.
No RSVP required. On December 16 at 6 PM, simply go to the event page on Facebook here: https://rb.gy/do4dry, then click the Facebook Live link to join. You can also click the link now to learn more. (Note: the Facebook Live link is posted on the day and time of the event.)
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Friday Night Shabbat Lights |
Fat Cows and Skinny Cows: Are you an ant or a grasshopper?
Friday, December 18
Join your TBT family for a virtual Shabbat gathering.
5:45 pm - Tot Shabbat for tots and kids elementary school age
6:00 pm - Proneg (Oneg before the service) Grab a nosh and socialize
6:20 pm - Erev Shabbat Service
6:45 pm - Meaningful Conversations
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December Hamsa Mini-Course: “Mussar for Trying Times” with Rabbi Leah Lewis
Tuesdays at 7:00 PM (December 1, 8, 15)
Zoom
Each month, Hamsa: Five Congregations Learning Together puts on a unique mini-course, open to any TBT member who wishes to participate.
Rabbi Leah Lewis will lead the December mini-course: “Mussar for Trying Times”. Mussar is a Jewish character-development practice helpful in exercising thoughtful behaviors that reflect our values, like loving-kindness, patience, and humility.
Watch weekly Happenings for the Zoom link and more details.
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TBT Board Notes
Next Board Meeting: December 9, 4:00 to 6:00 pm.
Due to COVID-19, all board meetings are being held via Zoom. If you would like to attend, contact Lauralei Garrity at lauralei.garrity@gmail.com.
If you would like to read minutes of previous board meetings, you can request a copy from Board Secretary, Terry Hoogstede tahoogstede@bendcable.com .
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Social Action Update
The Giving Plate Gives Thanks to TBT
Sheila Luber
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Many generous temple members contributed a total of $1,568 to The Giving Plate, a local food bank and one of our designated Tzedakah Funds during the High Holy Days. Our thanks to Lynne Connelley, our former Social Action chair, who connected us to this incredible organization.
Below is a note of thanks we wanted to share with you from Renae Staley, TGP’s executive director....
Hello Sheila & Lynne!
Wow! Thank you. This is wonderful and so very appreciated! I am so humbled by the way our community has embraced us and empowered us to provide for our community! We just gave out 629 turkeys and sides over the past two weeks to families in need. Not one person had to be turned away. You guys keep us on the front lines of feeding our community.
I am deeply touched by your generosity! Thank you!
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Ranae Staley
Executive Director - The Giving Plate
“Feeding the hungry today with compassion & hospitality.”
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Adult Education
Havdallah and a Movie
Mel Siegel
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Saturday December 5
7:00 pm via Zoom
Grab some popcorn and join Rabbi Johanna Hershenson over Zoom to watch a comedic and heartfelt Israeli sumo-wrestling film called “A Matter of Size.”
Starting at 7:00 pm, shmooz for about 30 minutes before the movie starts.
After losing his job at a salad bar because of his weight, Herzl (Itzik Cohen), a fat Israeli, finds new employment washing dishes in a Japanese restaurant. When Herzl's coworkers and new boss, Kitano (Togo Igawa), introduce him to sumo wrestling, he realizes he has found his calling. Energized, Herzl orchestrates a mutiny at a local weight-loss boot camp to recruit members for his own sumo wrestling club.
Stay tuned after the film for meaningful conversation about body-shaming, wellness, and community.
Zoom information will be provided in Weekly Happenings.
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January Newsletter Deadline: December 28th
This newsletter is emailed to both members and non-members each month. If you have something you want to include in the newsletter, please e-mail it to Eileen Katz: eileentam@aol.com by the month's deadline for the following month's publication. As always, you will continue to receive "e-minders" before important events take place.
Shalom,
Eileen
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Menorah Lighting at the Old Mill |
Join Rabbi Yitzchok Feldman and Chabad of Central Oregon on Thursday, December 10, for the 10th annual Menorah Lighting in the Old Mill District.
This year’s festivities, like many others, will be a bit different due to COVID-19. The lighting ceremony will be held in the westside parking lot across the Deschutes River from the shops in the Old Mill District, near the Hampton Inn. Spectators will be able to view the menorah from their cars at a safe social distance.
After the initial lighting ceremony, which is expected to start around 4:30 p.m., the menorah will be transported across the river to Center Plaza in the Old Mill District, where it will remain lit for the duration of Chanukah.
During the main event there will be light music, an inflatable dreidel, and a large screen showing Chanukah videos. The Rabbi and his wife will be passing out a Chanukah treat bag to each car.
This event is free to the public and all faiths are welcome.
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Temple Beth Tikvah gratefully acknowledges the following contributions:
- Beverly & Jeff Adler In Memory of Mark’s Father, Leon Schindel
- Beverly & Jeff Adler In Memory of JoAnn Ray
- Jan Freeman-Bauer & Larry Bauer To Youth Education Fund in Honor of the engagement of Bri Bauer to Tieler Martz
- JoAnn Ray & Larry Barker In Memory of Sarah Waldman
- Lynne & Ed Connelley In Memory of JoAnn Ray
- Phyllis & Jerry Greenbach In Memory of Goldie Gurvitz
- Phyllis & Jerry Greenbach In Memory of Mark's Father, Leon Schindel
- Phyllis & Jerry Greenbach In Memory of JoAnn Ray
- Terry Reynolds In Memory of her beloved aunt, Dina Lewinter
- Terry Reynolds In Memory of Mark’s Father, Leon Schindel
- Terry Reynolds In Memory of JoAnn Ray
- Mark & Kathy Schindel In Memory of JoAnn Ray
- Mark & Kathy Schindel In Memory of Mark’s Father, Leon Schindel
- Judy & Carl Schlosberg In Memory of Mark’s Father, Leon Schindel – for a long & independent life well-lived
- Judy & Carl Schlosberg To Social Action Fund in Honor of Mark & Kathy Schindel
- Chuck & Marilyn Shattuck In Memory of Sandra Shattuck
- Randi & Zac Zlatkus In Memory of Mark’s Father, Leon Schindel
- Randi & Zac Zlatkus In Memory of JoAnn Ray
Donations listed above were made to the Temple's general fund unless otherwise specified.
You may honor the lives and achievements of friends and relatives via a tribute with a donation to TBT. You can do this online by clicking here, or by sending a check and the name and address of the person being honored to TBT at P.O. Box 7472, Bend, OR, 97708.
Donations may be designated to a specific fund, including:
- General Fund
- Gary Reynolds Memorial Fund
- Youth Education Fund
- Music Fund
- TBT's Goodwill Fund
- Social Action/Tzedakah Fund
- or the Corrie Grudin Memorial Fund
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Temple Beth Tikvah
P.O Box 7472
Bend, OR 97708
541-388-8826
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Your secure online donation to
Temple Beth Tikvah
is greatly appreciated. Thank you for your generosity.
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Celebrations in December honor the following:
Birthdays:
- Lester Dober December 1
- Howard Koff December 4
- Terry Reynolds December 4
- Abraham Essinger December 6
- Michael Shapiro-London December 7
- Kathi Copans-Essinger December 13
- Robin Salant December 13
- Jesse Fishkin December 15
- Lawrence Schechter December 17
- Maxwell Friedman December 18
- Mark Schindel December 18
- Florence Beier December 19
- Ted Maidenberg December 20
- Gary Held December 24
- Susan Levin December 26
- Susan Richman December 26
- Beverly Adler December 28
- Jynx Frederick December 31
- Jeffrey German December 31
Anniversaries:
- Dan & Laurel Fishkin December 4
- Janet L. Freeman-Bauer & Larry Bauer December 4
- Ron & Bonnie Ruby December 11
- Burton Litman & Jeanne Freeman December 13
- Abraham Essinger & Kathi Copans-Essinger December 20
- Michael & Mickey Freundlich December 23
- Michael & Lee Shapiro-London December 23
- Carl & Judith Schlosberg December 25
- Leslie Conley & Joseph Jezukewicz December 27
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President:
Sheila Luber
Past President:
Ann Rosenfield
Vice President
Kerrie Zurovsky
Secretary:
Terry Hoogstede
Treasurer:
Mark Schindel
Members-at-Large:
Lester Dober
Jillian Frankl
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Budget & Finance
Chuck Shattuck
Membership
Terry Reynolds
Program Oversight
Kathy Schindel
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Adult Learning
Mel Siegel
Bikur Cholim
Suzanne Schlosberg
Evie Lerner
Linda Brant
Calendar Keeper
Kathy Schindel
Chevra Kadisha
Ralph Uri
Communications & PR
Kathy Schindel
Sheila Luber
Music
Julie Geveshausen
Newsletter
Eileen Katz
Onegs
Jan Freeman-Bauer
Program Coordinator
Lauralei Garrity
Religious Education
Melissa Wikler
Social Action
TBD
Venue Logistics
Mark Schindel
Webmaster
Jeanne Freeman
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Your secure online donation to
Temple Beth Tikvah
is greatly appreciated. Thank you for your generosity.
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About Temple Beth Tikvah
For Jewish families, retirees and singles at every level of faith in Central Oregon, Temple Beth Tikvah provides a comforting embrace for the soul of your DNA. We are a dynamic Reform Jewish congregation with friendly, giving, active people drawn to Bend and Central Oregon because of the active lifestyle we find here.
We come together in different ways, inspired and informed by our common thread of Jewishness. Whether you were born Jewish, love someone who is Jewish or choose to be Jewish. Practice Judaism a little, a lot or not at all. TBT can serve as the heart of your vibrant, connected life.
We can be your primary source of friendship, purpose, spiritual and intellectual pursuit. Or a side note adding flavor and dimension how and when you want. Whichever you choose, TBT offers an inclusive, communal foundation on which to build your relationships, experiences and practice. From social activities to social action, worship to study, participation to leadership. It's your choice, in this community of yours.
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PO Box 7472
Bend, OR 97708
(541) 388-8826
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