On the Saturday evening before Rosh HaShanah, Jews begin the special Selikhot (”forgiveness”) prayers which help us prepare for the Days of Awe.
Usually the Portland Jewish community gathers for a community-wide Selikhot service, but this year the Board of Rabbis decided that it was too early for a successful program to be conducted, so we are on our own!
Come and help make the minyan – we’ll pray, study, and eat together.
WHERE: Bridgeport
WHEN: a typically beautiful Havdalah at 8.30 pm, followed by study and Selikhot prayers and a nosh
PLEASE BRING a dairy or vegetarian (finger-food) snack to share
These evenings are designed to conclude with Selikhot prayers at midnight but we’re going to have them earlier, allowing whoever would like to stay to do so. More study and food will be available until it gets late!
MORE INFO ON SELIKHOT:http://www.jewfaq.org/elul.htm

Today we begin the fourth and final week of Elul.
Today, Rosh HaShanah is eight days away. We have one more week to muse upon the way we live and the improvements we might choose to make in 5771. This coming Shabbat, by popular request, we will discuss “How to Speak about Another” in our Elul assignment, Creating an Ethical Jewish Life. It will be our topic as much as possible on erev Shabbat at our erev Shabbat Family Tefilah, and certainly also on Shabbat morning.
Rabbi Jose ben Zimra taught:

come and see how vicious is an evil tongue….
The tongue…is imprisoned with the cheeks and teeth surrounding it,
and with many other restraints upon it. Yet no one can withstand it. (p. 194)

In medieval Jewish philosophy, we are called the hai medabeyr, the “animal that talks”. It is our special gift and a terrible responsibility. Some Jews have fasted from speaking as a ritual way to try to become more sensitive to the power of speech. When to speak? when to keep silent? when is it a mitzvah to talk about another’s troubles, and when is it lashon hara‘?

This Shabbat we’ll share our impressions of this chapter in our book, ask our own questions, and consider our own powers of speech.

In spite of the cool weather, quite a few bagel and challah lovers showed up at Overlook Park. At least six dozen bagels and five loaves of challah were loaded with schmears of all varieties and toppings galore; desserts, fruits, veggies and juices rounded out the repast. Hevra worked off in the distance, planning goals for the upcoming year, while younger children enjoyed the playground and the adults talked and talked. Thanks for making it such a success!