Portland's Eastside Synagogue
From Rabbi Ariel Stone:
Our tradition teaches that life is a series of events that test our grounding. When the storms come, what do you hold on to? when fear and anger sweep reason aside, how do you choose your acts?
The Jewish tradition is always to seek learning, in community with others. Shir Tikvah offered three opportunities recently to learn about Israel and Palestine from the perspectives of history, culture, and halakha.
You can benefit from the learning in these sessions even if you missed them.
The material shared is here: Forum 1 Forum 2 Forum 3
The second and third sessions were recorded and can be accessed here: I/P Forum 2 I/P Forum 3
For more learning, visit this curated website:
The Torah of Israel and Palestine: Learn Before You Think
Congregation Shir Tikvah is a mid-sized independent congregation. Our founders envisioned a participatory, learning community and we work hard to fulfill that promise. At less than 20 years old, we're the "start up" in Portland's Jewish Community.
Our neighborhoods are diverse and so are our supporters. They come from across the Jewish spectrum: Jew-by-birth, Jew-by-choice, queer, straight, trans, interfaith, atheist, devout believer. We welcome all who want to grapple with the beauty and contradictions of our sacred texts to better understand our faith, our world and our place in it.
Shir Tikvah means "song of hope". We gather strength from each other and our tradition.
Until the Willamette River parts for Portland’s Jewish community to cross the divide, the liberal,
Independent Shir Tikvah remains the east side’s only full-time shul.
Rabbi Ariel Stone’s casual congregation is serious about social justice and
Torah Study, complete with fresh bagels and heated banter.
- Portland Monthly
STUDY AND SERVICES
For up-to-date listings of all of our services and activities, please check our calendar.
Guests: You may request Shabbat Zoom links, or sign up to join our weekly newsletter, by contacting our operations manager Amelia Schroth.
We follow the Jewish ethic of caring for the most vulnerable of our community; therefore continue to require vaccination and boosting. We will also provide high quality masks for those who require them in order to participate in our community
If you are feeling ill, please stay home and away from others.
Health authorities have recommended the following source for ongoing information about the pandemic.
A statement from our Rabbi
In the name of Elohim, of Allah, of G*d most merciful: we pray for the people of Palestine. May our Muslim and Christian Arab cousins be granted safety, success, love, security, and hope. May they enjoy the fruits of freedom and equality long denied them.
As Jews, we pray for their well-being in accordance with our Torah’s command: “you shall not stand by as your neighbor bleeds” (Leviticus 19.16. May we live to see the day when Jews and Arabs will live in the land we call holy, together, and in peace.
We pray that one day all the wanderers will come home in joy, and that the fruits of the peacemakers’ efforts will be shared equally among all.
Our freedom is bound up with the freedom of all others. We pray that Palestinians will be able to live lives free from violence and oppression. And we pray that we might be among those who work for that day.
וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִ֣י א֑וֹר וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר - Elohim said Let There Be Light, and there was light.
May we be the light that brings hope to our Palestinian friends and so to our ancestral home, and may we live to see peace over all Israel. Amen.
- Adapted by Rabbi Ariel Stone from a prayer created by Matah Adler, on ritualwell.org