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.
Reach us at:
office@shirtikvahpdx.org
503-473-8227
Visit us at:
7550 NE Irving Street
Portland, OR 97213
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, Administrative Director
.Katie provides for the day-to-day management of Shir Tikvah's fiscal, physical, security and administrative affairs. In her former life, she was a writer, a historian and a teacher, all skills which serve her well as she coordinates programming, education and congregant care. 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.
Rachel Walkinshaw, Education Director
Rachel organizes, coordinates, and manages the Nashira educational program. In the past, she taught at Nashira for more than 10 years and worked with kids in various school and home settings for 20 years. She is finishing up her bachelor's degree in art history and Judaic studies and she is also a printmaker. Last year she did a 6-month long internship at the OJMCHE where she was a guest curator and did historical research. Rachel has deep roots in Portland's Jewish community, and her great grandparents are all over the place in the museum archives.
Shir Tikvah News
Dear Fellow Shir Tikvah Congregants,
We are Randy Bluffstone and Bruce Birk, the current chairs of the Congregation Shir Tikvah Board of Directors. We will work to keep you abreast of your board’s activities through quarterly communications like this one. In between our emails, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at the email addresses below.
Under the leadership of co-chairs Aron Borok and Leora Troper, during the past year (5779) we have seen growth in terms of membership and richness. We’ve added members from a variety of backgrounds, which has pushed us ever-closer to being a > 200-household congregation. Shir Tikvah’s doors are open for Shabbat and holy days, community events and social justice efforts, and our High Holy Days were a season of serenity and contemplation.
Our Torah study, led by Rabbi Ariel and other talented leaders, continues to be lively and our Nashira Education Project, now overseen by Rachael Walkinshaw, is exciting for our kids. Our programming is meaningful and, importantly, well-organized, thanks to our administrative director Katie Schneider and office manager Amelia Schroth and others. And it has been a lot of fun (thank you Cinema Tikvah organizers and others), which is critically important, for life is very short! We have worked through differences and found common ground within and beyond our community. Our staff has grown and prospered in new and old roles.
The Board of Directors has matured in its processes thanks to the very important support of congregant Susan Goldstein. The Board continues to implement our three year plan, which we are about halfway through, to improve programming, support volunteer efforts, and prepare for future growth and change. When Rabbi Ariel takes her well-deserved sabbatical during the first quarter of 2020, we will get to learn from others, including our highly-valued lay leaders.
Our challenges ahead are significant, but well within our capabilities. In the coming year, we will work towards improving our present space, while exploring future options. In the past quarter, the Board has been working on addressing space issues with our Bridgeport partners. We met with them to discuss a new two-year lease, and are confident that we will reach an agreement in short order. We have also met with Board members of the Eastside Jewish Commons who are also Congregation Shir Tikvah members, and received a thorough update on their plans and goals for the coming year.
With guidance and leadership from Katie and board treasurer Percy Wise, the Board continually monitors the finances of the congregation, not only to make sure we are financially sound, but to position ourselves for the future. Our Fundraising Oversight Committee is hard at work planning Rooted Together, an inspiring fundraising event at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education. Rooted Together will take place on February 8th, and features keynote speaker Pastor E.D. Mondaine, the head of Portland’s NAACP. (Find more information at bit.ly/RootedTogether)
As 2019 draws to a close, we ask that you to consider a year-end gift to Congregation Shir Tikvah. It takes significant resources beyond our dues to run our Congregation. Addressing our facility needs in both the short and long terms will come with costs. If you are able to make a tax deductible gift, we would ask you to please go to our website to contribute. (Log in to your member account before hitting the “donate” button.) A gift to our general fund offers your board maximum flexibility to use your contribution as needed.
We are grateful for the faith that the Congregation Shir Tikvah leadership and all of you have placed in us. We look forward to a great year for our congregation. As Randy’s grandmother used to say “tsu vaxn aun se kvellan,” to grow, be proud and enjoy. This is what we hope for Shir Tikvah in the coming year and beyond. We are confident that our congregational community will continue to grow, mature and, above all, enjoy.
With warm wishes,
Randy Bluffstone (chair) and Bruce J. Birk (vice-chair)