About Us
Congregation Shir Tikvah strives to be a kehillah kedosha (holy community) where all are respected, valued and included. Clergy, staff and dedicated volunteers work together to provide a space for spiritual growth and study. As partners in Jewish life, we educate our children and offer programming around holidays, cultural interests and acts of social justice.
Clergy
Rabbi Ariel Stone has been Shir Tikvah’s spiritual leader since the congregation’s founding in 2002. A caring and vibrant leader, she is an exceptionally knowledgeable teacher of Torah and a recognized scholar of Jewish mysticism.
Rabbi Stone is also currently the chair of Hesed Shel Emet (the Oregon Jewish Indigent Burial Society), Rabbinic mentor for TischPDX and Convener of Portland Interfaith Clergy Resistance. She serves as adjunct faculty with the Judaic Studies department at Portland State University.
STAFF
Katie Schneider, Interim Administrator
After six years working for Shir Tikvah, Katie has recently been named Interim Director at Shir Tikvah. She continues to coordinate Education, Programming and Communications, along with the added responsibility of financial oversight and office operations. Contact her if you’d like information about membership, education, communications or planning our next party.
Amelia Schroth, Office Manager
Amelia answer your phone calls, emails and questions about everything from membership to finances and all of the small details in between. She’s the woman you contact to schedule a movie, a bar mitzvah or anything else in the building. Our plants always look fantastic because Amelia is also a landscape contractor – in the summer and on the weekends, look for her outside.
Shir Tikvah News
As Shir Tikvah looks for ways in which we can help address the problems experienced by Portland’s most vulnerable residents, we have become aware of the needs of the nearby Lents family shelter operated by Portland Homeless Family Solutions (PHFS), a well-established Portland nonprofit organization.
Portland Homeless Family Solutions empowers homeless families with children to get back into housing and to stay there long-term.
“When we first purchased the building (6220 SE 92nd Avenue), we had no idea that we would be creating the first family shelter of its kind in Oregon: a shelter that will help families heal through the trauma and crisis of homelessness by using the evidence-based model of trauma-informed design and architecture.”
One of the two buildings at the Lents campus is already housing and providing services to a dozen families, so PHFS needs volunteer support to help make the program successful. Until the second building is completed this Fall and opportunities expand, there are three ways to volunteer, as individuals or as a small group. They include catering and serving meals, being a “kid-time host,” and helping the administrative staff with various tasks. These opportunities are typically structured as convenient two-hour shifts.
Henry Werch has agreed to be our point person for this effort, so please email or call him to get a more detailed insight into how we can perform some serious mitzvot with PHFS!
You can also get more information by going to the PHFS website - INFO@PDXHFS.ORG