Shabbat Shalom

May 19, 2022 / 18 Iyar 5782

Volume 20 Number 20

Community Level—Medium

Current Protocol:

• Masks are required for all.
• Social distancing is recommended.
• Proof of vaccination is not required—we encourage you to stay up-to-date on your vaccination and boosters.
• We request that you sing quietly.

​​​​​​What's happening at TBE?

Friday: Erev Shabbat Service (In Person)
Friday, May 20, 7:30 p.m.

Join us in person or online for an evening Shabbat service. This service will be led by Cantor Fine and Rabbi Tiwy. Masks will be required for all those attending in person.

A digital version of the Orders of Worship is available every Friday on the Stream Services page.

Live streaming services:

• The Erev Shabbat Facebook event can be found here.
• You can watch services on the TBE YouTube channel here.
• The streaming player for online services can be found on our website here (click "play" and this feature will work after services begin).

Saturday: Torah study and Shabbat service (Zoom)
Saturday, May 21, 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.

 
Our Saturday worship experience begins with Torah Study from 9:00–9:45 a.m. followed by services beginning at 10:00 a.m., on Zoom. All are invited!
 
Link to Shabbat morning Torah study and Shabbat service Zoom meeting: https://bit.ly/sat-torah-study.

Havdalah (Zoom)
Saturday, May 21, 7:30 p.m.
 
Please celebrate Zoom Havdalah here.
Zoom Meeting ID: 320 3406 647.
 
What will I need?
Just yourself! However, if you would like to participate in blessings at home, Havdalah blessings are said over wine, besamim (fragrant spices), and a braided Havdalah candle.
 
What if I don't have those things?
If you don't have a Havdalah candle at home, you can use two candles (or even two matches) joining the flames as the blessing is recited. And if you do not have wine, it can be substituted with something you might use to celebrate or offer to a guest, perhaps coffee or tea. And, most importantly, if you don't have any of these things, just come to say blessings and be together. You can find the Havdalah blessings here.
 
Questions? Contact Stacy Van Wagoner through Facebook Messenger or at stacyrai22@hotmail.com. 

Yahrzeits

Now that in-person services have resumed and Orders of Worship are available both online and in person, the names being read at services will be available there. The OOW is available every Friday here. 

Upcoming Events

Temple Hikers: Snoquera Falls (In Person)
Saturday, May 21, 8:00 a.m.

Join the Temple Hikers for a moderate, leisurely hike to Snoquera Falls. We’ll hike to the waterfall and make a loop of six miles through an old-growth forest. This hike can be done in nearly any weather. Meet us at Temple at 8:00 a.m. to carpool to the trailhead at Camp Sheppard on Highway 410 (folks can also meet us there at 9:30 a.m.). We should return to the temple between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. Please RSVP to David Wheeler at templehikers@comcast.net or call him at (253) 312-8563. Bring lunch, water, a hiking stick for a minor creek crossing, and all your other essentials.

Windows to Israel Through Poetry—WRJ Israel Education Committee (Zoom)
Monday, May 23, 10:00 a.m.

The Israel Education Committee is hosting a program with renowned Israeli educator, Rachel Korazim, teaching The Other as a Mirror. This session combines Israeli literary works of both Jews and Arabs. Rachel will explore images of Arabs in Jewish Israeli literature and juxtapose them with Arab Israeli literary works depicting a society in which they feel often disenfranchised. Poems of Yehuda Amichai and Agi Mishol will offer conflicting images of friend and foe.

Please register here and join in for what promises to be a thought-provoking session, using poetry to better understand the complexities of Israeli society.

Sisterhood Final General Meeting (In Person)
Tuesday, May 24, 5:30 p.m.

Sisterhood members, join us for our final general meeting which will take place in the TBE courtyard (weather dependent). There will be finger foods and schmoozing until 6:00 p.m. The business meeting will be followed by a program from Sunny Young on exercise. This is an important meeting as the nominating slate for the Sisterhood board (2022-23) will be presented to members! RSVP here. (Masks will be required while indoors.)

Speaker Series: Steeped in the Blood of Racism (Multi-Access)
Thursday, May 26, 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

Join us for the May installment of the TBE Speaker Series where Professor Nancy Bristow will talk about her book Steeped in the Blood of Racism on in the temple social hall. Early in the morning of May 15, 1970, members of the Jackson, Mississippi police and the Mississippi Highway and Safety Patrol opened fire on unarmed students at the historically-black Jackson State College. Two young people were killed and at least twelve wounded. Though the shooting took place just over a week after the Kent State University shootings, they have been largely forgotten. Professor Bristow will explore the role of white supremacy in the shootings, the unjust aftermath, and the nation’s historical amnesia, as well as the linkages between this history and our current crisis of police brutality against black citizens. Please contact Olivia at olivia@tbetacom.org to RSVP. This is a free event, sponsored by Lamed Vav. Donations are appreciated. (Masks will be required for those attending in person.)

Save the Date

Keshet: Idit at Jewish Women’s Federation of New York.
Thursday, June 2, 9:00 a.m.–10:00 a.m.

In conversation with JWFNY’s Board President, Rachel Weinstein, Idit Klein will be speaking about LGBTQ equality and a Jewish community, and world, in which everyone belongs. Online, free, and open to all. Register here (registration is required).

Joy & Justice / Alegría y Justicia (In-Person)
Sunday, June 5, 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. at Powell Barnett Park in Seattle
 
The holiday of Shavuot marks the Jews receiving two joyful and sweet gifts: the Torah and the season’s first fruits. This year, Never Again Seattle honors Shavuot with a creative, all-ages community celebration in support of our migrant siblings. Join us and bring your friends and family—we’ll be out there rain (with pop-up tents) or shine!

Dance to live klezmer by Shpilkis at 12:15 p.m.; make art; hear about current migrant-led organizing by La Resistencia and how you can get involved; write a personalized letter asking the Northwest Detention Center to allow detainees to have visitors once again; enjoy light snacks or bring your own picnic lunch.
 
Never Again invites you to gather with us to amplify and help to grow our migrant siblings’ incredible organizing! By doing so, we’ll embody the Torah’s framework for living morally in the world: “You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the Land Egypt.”

Temple Hikers: Greenwater Lakes
Sunday, June 19, 8:00 a.m.

Make plans to join the Temple Hikers in June for a gentle hike to Greenwater Lakes on Father’s Day. Check out the upcoming bulletin for more information!

TBE Baseball with the Tacoma Rainiers
Sunday, July 3, 6:05 p.m.

It's back! Join in on the fun with Temple Beth El for an evening of baseball and family fun at Cheney Stadium. The Tacoma Rainiers will be taking on the Salt Lake Bees—there's even a fireworks show after the game! Tickets are $16/person and include a reserved seat, ballpark meal, game program, and group video board recognition. To register, please go here. Purchase before June 3!

Opportunities

Personal Appeal from Yuliya Barron (TBE Community Member)
I am sure you are aware of the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine right now. My family is directly impacted as we are from Kharkiv, Ukraine, which is on the eastern border with Russia. My immediate family immigrated to the U.S. in 1994 when I was 8 years old under the Laetenberg Amendments since we are Jewish, but some distant relatives who were Christian Orthodox could not join us and were left behind. They are now living under constant fire.
 
Since the Biden administration opened up a pathway for 100,000 refugees to be admitted into the U.S. from Ukraine, I filed eight petitions to sponsor eight of my distant relatives there. They are all women and children. One of them, my aunt Irina, has stage three lung cancer and she had surgery to remove the tumor just before the invasion of February 24. She needs additional chemo treatment but her hospital was bombed. I am currently raising money to fund their travel to the U.S. and for Irina's cancer treatment upon arrival. My sponsorship application was approved and we are now applying for their visas. I have established a GoFundMe page for them here. If you have any questions, please reach out to me at yuliya.zeynalova@gmail.com.

Tikkun Olam—Family Resettlement
The newly resettled Merzayee family from Afghanistan, through St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, is expecting their fourth child the beginning of June. If members of the TBE community would like to welcome the family, and the new American-born child with a monetary gift, the Tikkun Olam Committee is accepting donations for this purpose. We feel that a monetary gift would be helpful, but it is also possible to purchase a Target gift or giftcard. Checks should be made out to Temple Beth El with a note that the funds are for Tikkun Olam, Merzayee Afghan resettlement family. We will compile these donations into one check from the Temple Beth El community—thank you!

Volunteers Needed for the Temple Tech Team (Soundboard)
The Temple Tech Team desperately needs more volunteers. No experience necessary—training is provided! In addition to training, a step-by-step guide is provided for you. One Friday evening a month is all we ask. To sign up, please contact Jordan Harris at jhhandjnh@aol.com or (253) 414-7237 or Aaron Petersen at aharon.micharl78@gmail.com.

Information

HFLA Can Help You Pay for College
Applications are open now through May 31. HFLA offers interest-free, no fee loans of up to $7,500 for postsecondary education including college, graduate school, vocational, technical, and community college. No interest. No origination fees. No fees of any kind. Learn more about the Student Access Fund program on their website. Questions? Contact office@hflawa.org or (206) 397-0005.

Judaica Shop Summer Hours

• Fridays: 6:50–7:20 p.m. (before services) and 5:20–5:50 p.m. (before early service–last Friday of the month)
• By appointment by emailing judaica@tbetacoma.org.

Contact the Clergy 
If you have a question or concern you would like to share with the clergy, please email Rabbi Tiwy at rabbitiwy@tbetacoma.org or Cantor Fine at cantorfine@tbetacoma.org.

Tachlis (the bottom line)

Submitting an event or announcement to Shabbat Shalom 

If you have an item you would like included in this weekly bulletin, please email it to olivia@tbetacoma.org by noon on Wednesday. Submissions must adhere to the guidelines, which may be found here.

For the URJ's transliteration guidelines, click here. Please note that submissions that do not follow these guidelines may not be accepted.
 
To have a copy of the guidelines emailed to you, simply reply to this email with a message to that effect.