You, your family, and your friends are invited to join in Shir Tikvah’s 5th annual Tu b’Shvat seder: an evening of poetry, songs, symbolic foods, wine, and community.  Tu b’Shvat is the traditional annual planting and counting of trees in Eretz Israel – but it has grown into a broader celebration of the seasons of nature and life on this beautiful planet.  Tu b’Shvat is a real treehugger holiday, and perfect for us Portlanders!
Our Tu b’Shvat seder – which includes original music composed at Shir Tikvah just for this holiday – will be followed by a pot luck supper featuring the seven sacred varieties of fruits and grains which represent Israel’s fertility.  Please feel free to invite guests – this seder is a great way to introduce non-members to one of the many fun and interesting ways we celebrate our Jewish heritage and values at Shir Tikvah!
We need to know if you are going to attend! Please RSVP to Amelia via email at shirtikvahoffice@shir-tikvah.net or call 503-473-8227 and let us know you’ll be joining us!!
Please bring:
Last names A-F : bread and olives
Last names G-L: dessert featuring or containing honey
Last names M-R: dairy or vegetarian main dish or salad containing barley or figs
Last names S-Z: dairy or vegetarian main dish or salad containing wine, grapes and/or pomegranates.
Also BYO wine and/or grape juice. Bring equal amounts of white and red wine as they are central to the seder.

Rabbi Ariel and J.D. Kleinke will lead the 12th Annual Community Havdalah Service this weekend for the Jewish Women’s Round Table in Zidell Hall at the Rose Schnitzer Manor, located at 6140 SW Boundary, Portland, 97221.  The service will start at 6:30PM and is open to the public. There is no charge for this event, and the entire community is invited.

Beginning on February 10, Shir Tikvah introduces Kley Kodesh (Holy Vessels) – a magical, mystical, musical Erev Shabbat every second Shabbat of the month. Join us at 6.30pm at our current location, the Bridgeport building at 621 NE 76th street, to welcome Shabbat with joy-filled song, prayer, and some kirtan-style meditative music, led by Rabbi Ariel and accompanied by J.D. Kleinke. In conjunction with Portland Young Adult Shabbat. Plan to join them afterwards at a local brewpub for fellowship.

Every two years since Shir Tikvah began, we’ve retreated to Menucha, in the Gorge, for a full Shabbat experience with Rabbi Ariel. Beautiful location, serene schedule, no hurry and no worry – lacto-ovo vegetarian meals included from erev Shabbat dinner through Sunday morning. Bring: tallit, humash, warm clothes, a good book for Shabbat afternoon rest, and your favorite snack and wine to share.
Cost: $180 per person (single, double, triple occupancy, doesn’t matter); consider, if you can, adding $20 to your check to help someone else attend.
Deadline: February 10, 2012 (we have to give up the space we’ve reserved at the end of the day on Feb 10 if we do not have 24 confirmed reservations). Your check is your reservation – please send it to the Shir Tikvah office marked Menucha Retreat by February 10, 2012.

The teachers and Rabbi will be expecting all students for at least one special session on Shabbat during the month of January. Here are the details:

• January 7, 10am-11.30am: BaMidbar, Devarim, and Bat/bar mitzvah candidate classes have a special Torah study and visit services for the Torah reading. Please bring a copy of the Humash*.

• January 21, 10.30am-11.30am: Bereshit attends Tot Shabbat tefilah and kiddush

• January 28, 10.30am-11.30am: Shemot and VaYikra classes have a special Torah study and visit services for the Torah reading.

Each session will be followed by a brunch for students and parents. Details about your brunch will be sent to your email.

*The word Humash generally only refers to “book” bound editions of the Pentateuch, whereas the “scroll” form is called asefer Torah (“book [of the] Torah”).

• A printed ḥumash usually sets out the Hebrew text of the Torah with vowel points and cantillation marks, separated into its 54 constituent weekly Torah portions (parashiyyot), together with the haftarah for each portion and, often, translations and notes.
• A ḥumash-Rashi also contains the Targum of Onkelos and the commentary of Rashi, and usually has no vernacular translation of the text.
• A Tikkun soferim or Tiqqun Qore’im sets out, in parallel columns, the unvocalized text of the Pentateuch as it would appear in a Torah scroll and the normal printed text as it appears in a Humash; it sometimes includes haftarot and the five megillot. It exists as an aid for Torah scribes and for those preparing to read from the Sefer Torah in the synagogue.
• A multi-volume set in Hebrew only, often but not always including the entire Tanakh with masoretic notes(sometimes), Targumim and several classical commentaries, is referred to as Mikraot Gedolot ”Great Scriptures.”