Upcoming services are as follows (look for timely updates in Oymail):

Saturday mornings (10am)

Feb. 7
Feb. 28
March 14
April 11.

Friday evening services (6:15pm)

February 6
March 6
April 10.

 

The Middlebury College Summer School of Hebrew is offering a  3-week Lifelong Learners’ course which combines a curriculum designed specifically for adult students with the rigorous immersion environment of the Middlebury Language Schools.  Its focus on the spoken language encourages rapid mastery of Modern Hebrew grammar and vocabulary.  Four levels of study are available. Placement is determined by a test and the individual’s experience with Hebrew.  For more information and to apply visit: http://www.middlebury.edu/ls/hebrew/lifelonglearners.

 

 

PJ Library in Vermont, a program directed by Rabbi Tobie Weisman of the Yearning for Learning Center in Montpelier, is a gift to families raising Jewish children.

Any family with children 6 months through 8 years old is eligible to receive a monthly gift of an age-appropriate Jewish book or music CD sent right to their home. To begin receiving Jewish stories and music, just go to www.pjlibrary.org and sign up. You will also begin to receive a monthly e-newsletter with local family friendly events and Jewish parenting ideas and connections.

Please join us this Friday, January 9, at 6:15 p.m. at Havurah House for Shabbat evening services

Services this week will be led by the Dalet Hebrew school class and friends.  All are invited to spend Shabbat together for song, dramatic interpretations, and community.

…and

Please join us on Saturday, January 10, at 10 a.m. at Havurah House for Shabbat morning services  

The weekly Torah portion is Shemot, which is the beginning of the book of Exodus. We learn of a new Pharaoh who “did not know Joseph”, and proceeds to enslave the Israelites. The Torah portion continues with the birth of Moses and the story of the burning bush, and concludes with circumstances getting much worse for the Israelites.

A poem inspired by Mitch Pearl’s Havurah Hangout, held on December 17, 2014.

 

And the Angel appeared
after work
chanting her prayers,

 

her speechless words.
Have you seen God
anywhere ? she asked,

 

taking off her coat
of wings.
I read her lips.

 

Do you mean the turkeys eating
stones in the road
or the stones?

 

I said.
She didn’t say anything back.
She flew above my bed.

 

And asked again.
As if she knew the man
I knew, with numbers

 

burned on his arm,
he didn’t do. Who sang
his prayers, as a boy

 

I stood next to.
As if I was standing
in the middle of a road,

 

with stones in my mouth
trying to speak words
God would understand.

 

I had to be told what
those nameless numbers
meant under his choir

 

robes. How he came to still
be here after the work
he sang to them.

 

in the camps.
That stone of a man.
Who barely said anything

 

he couldn’t chant.
Our winged cantor.
The only answer I have

 

for the Angel roosting,
relaxing after a long day
away from us.

Monday December 22 on the 7th Night of Chanukah

Latkes! Donuts! Special gifts for children…(yes, it may seem far to travel, but it is the Governor after all, with a giant menorah, on the State House steps!).

Sponsored by PJ Library in VT and Chabad of VT

Photo credit: npr.org

“Tell me, tell me Joseph . . . Won’t you tell poor old Pharaoh . . . What does it mean?”

Please join us Saturday, December 20 at 10 a.m. at Havurah House for Shabbat morning services. This month, for our second morning service we will recognize and celebrate Hanukkah and the winter solstice, drawing what wisdom we can from these darkest days of the year.

The Torah portion is Miketz, which relates Pharaoh’s dream as well as Joseph’s interpretation and rise to power in Egypt.  The reading continues with Joseph’s first encounters with his brothers, who have come to Egypt during the famine seeking food.  Find the full text here.

Services this week will mostly follow our “regular” format, paying special attention to the seasonal themes of light and dark, and considering the Kabbalistic teaching that “the greatest light comes from the greatest darkness.” Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend.  All Hebrew school students and families are especially encouraged to attend.

Please pass this message on to anyone who may be interested.  We hope to see you there!

If you have any questions, please contact Mitch Pearl at  mpearl@langrock.com or Ira Schiffer at ischiffe@middlebury.edu .

Looking ahead:  Kabbalat Shabbat services Friday evening January 9  (Dalet class to help lead);  Next regular Shabbat morning services on Saturday January 10, 2015.

What does it mean for a modern (or post-modern) person to be “spiritual”?  Or “spiritual but not religious”?  Or “religious but not superstitious”?

Do we need to know “what we really believe” in order to embrace spirituality?

Where does a modern person find a place for their sense of awe, radical amazement, and gratitude upon encountering “that which is so hard to name”?

What role can Judaism, and traditional Jewish practice, play in all this?

Our third Havurah Hangout will be at Havurah House, on Wednesday, December 17 at 7:00 PM, the second night of Hanukkah.

In addition to getting together to light our hanukiot and sharing latkes and sufganiot (jelly donuts!),  Mitch Pearl will lead a discussion on adult spiritual journeys. Mitch, Havurah’s Ritual Chair, has been an adult Jewish learner for many years and a participant in Jewish spiritual retreats at Elat Chayyim, the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, in Falls Village, CT.

No answers will be given.

4:30-7pm (new time!)

Come join the party! Come light the menorah!

4:30-5:30 Crafts, Music, Dancing, Menorah Lighting. Musicians of all ages
needed for a multi-generational klezmer band.

Candles will be lit following
the end of Shabbat around 5:05pm.

5:30-7pm Latke Potluck. Please bring latkes, fried sweets, or a salad. We
will provide sour cream, applesauce, and drinks.

If you would like to participate in the klezmer band or organize dancing or
other activities, please contact Amy Trubek (atrubek@uvm.edu) or Ken Wolpin
(ken@wolpin.com).

Feel free to drop by Havurah any time between 5:30 and 8:30 this Thursday, Nov.20, to look at, listen to, and play music to be performed at the Hanukah party on Dec. 20^th.

All ages and instruments welcome.  Contact Ken Wolpin with questions.

Image credit: The Blue Fiddler, Marc Chagall 1947