OrH Newsletter

Weekly Newsletter

26 January 2021

Annual Campaign Update
 
Dear Friends,
 
We did it! We are thrilled to announce that we have essentially met our campaign goal! We have now raised $35,600. A total of 93 households showed their support for OrH by making a donation this year. We are so grateful for the generous support of our community! Our fundraising is vitally important and allows us to continue to offer meaningful and diverse programing, to pay our bills, and to sustain our rabbinic and education leadership. In a year of tremendous challenge and uncertainty we are fortunate to have this much-needed support from our members and friends.
 
With gratitude,
 
The OrH Board of Directors

Let Our People Sing!
 
What did our people do immediately upon our liberation, after crossing safely through the waters? We sang! “And Miriam … took her timbrel in her hand … and chanted for them: Sing to YHVH a new song!” [Ex 15:20-21]
 
We always sing together – in celebration or in consolation, music and song bind us to each other, to our heritage and through the ages. For this “5th Shabbat” service coinciding with Shabbat Shira, we’ll sing our way through the shape of a morning service with offerings of song led by musical members of our community. Rabbi Liz will chant the special melody for the Song of the Sea, and we’ll welcome guest cantor Shira Sanford-Asiyo (RRC ’05). Join us: Saturday, January 30 at 10:30.

Celebrating Tu Bishvat – the New Year of the Trees
 
We have a number of options for OrH members to celebrate Tu Bishvat – the New Year of the Trees:
 
ATTEND A TU BISHVAT SEDER! Join one of two seders, both on Wednesday evening January 27, erev Tu Bishvat, all without leaving a carbon footprint! A Musical Seder, co-sponsored by Reconstructing Judaism or a Jewish-Indigenous Seder, sponsored by Temple Israel. 
 
ATTEND A “DAY AFTER” GATHERING. Join COEJL (the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life) and The Shalom Center on Thursday, January 28 for a discussion of celebrating Tu B'Shvat from the standpoint of The Trees of Planet Earth.
 
CELEBRATE ON YOUR OWN! We have lots of resources available, including a page full of activities, songs and stories for Tu Bishvat created by Morah Jenny.

More details and links to all activities and resources can be found here: orh.ca/tubishvat2021

Next Repairing the World Learning Session

Last chance to register for February Repairing the World Session.
 
Tuesday, Feb 2, 2021
7:00 pm
Resource: YouTube Documentary - The Skin We’re In: Pulling back the curtain on racism in Canada  https://bit.ly/34CJVcw

Enthusiasts can read the book, The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power by Desmond Cole. This book describes the struggle against  racism in Canada during the year 2017, chronicling Cole's role as an anti-racist activist and the impact of  systemic racism in Canadian society. Here is a link to a review of the book: https://www.straight.com/arts/1360676/desmond-coles-new-book-skin-were-exposes-canadian-complacency-about-racist-violence
 
Register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAtcu2grjovH9edtrIkFsGKX-C8r854Zj1Q

Upcoming Services and Events

Machaneh Shabbat
Saturday, January 30, 2021
9:00 AM (Machaneh Aleph), 9:30 AM (Machaneh Bet) – 10:30 AM, Zoom  

Shabbat Shira
Saturday, January 30, 2021
10:30 AM - 12:00 PM, Zoom  

Repairing the World Learning Activity
Tuesday, February 2, 2021
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM Zoom  

Machaneh Shabbat
Saturday, February 6, 2021
9:00 AM (Machaneh Aleph), 9:30 AM (Machaneh Bet) – 10:30 AM, Zoom  

Shabbat Morning Torah Service
Saturday, February 6, 2021
10:30 AM - 12:00 PM, Zoom  

Chanting and Chocolate
Sunday, February 7, 2021
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM Zoom  

Reconstructionist News

OrH Members may be interested in some upcoming Recon events:
 
How To Be An Inclusion Hero (Recon Community Live)
Sunday, February 7, 2021, 2:30 pm EST
Presenter: Kehillat Sukkat Shalom - Columbus, OH
Presenter email: joaniecalem@gmail.com
Come join JEOrg, the Jewish Educators Organization (Columbus, OH) in honoring JDAIM, Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month (February!) This year’s intergenerational event will be online of course. Come learn how to be an inclusion hero and defeat exclusion. Interactive activities for all ages. To register for this event, please email Joanie Calem, Education Coodinator, at joaniecalem@gmail.com. Click here to receive event details.
 
Neurodiversity and Inclusion: Lessons from Covid 19 and from the Torah (Recon Community Live)
Sunday, February 21, 2021, 7:00 pm EST
Presenter: Kehillat Sukkat Shalom - Columbus, OH
Presenter email: joaniecalem@gmail.com
In honor of JDAIM, Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month, (February!) please join us for an online conversation with Prof. Samuel Levine, Professor of Law, Director of the Jewish Law Institute, and founder of the Disability Rights and Inclusion Project at Touro Law Center, on the topic of: “Neurodiversity and Inclusion: Lessons from Covid 19 and from the Torah.” To register for this event, please email Joanie Calem, Education Coodinator, at joaniecalem@gmail.com. Click here to receive event details .

Reconstructing Judaism is changing the location where digital prayerbooks are stored. The new links are now hosted on the Reconstructing Judaism website and should be much more stable and accessible. These links are not visible on the main website. Although the old links will remain active for the time being, we strongly encourage you to switch to these new links as soon as possible. 
 
Daily Prayerbook
Shabbat Vehagim
Prayers for a House of Mourning
Machzor

The archive of back issues of Reconstructionism Today is available at: https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/article/newsletter-archive

In The Ottawa Community
* = New item this week
 
Community Events and Announcements

Canadian Friends of Peace Now presents, “Taking Action for Peace: Palestinian Perspectives” – a webinar with Nidal Foqaha and Mohammad Asideh, January 31, 11:00 am Eastern Time. Nidal Foqaha is the Director General of the Palestinian Peace Coalition (PPC), a non-profit Palestinian organization that works on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through non-violent means and based on the two-state solution. Mohammad Asideh is the Projects Director of Zimam Palestine, a grassroots youth organization that aims to build a more democratic, engaged and pluralistic Palestinian society and build the foundations for a peaceful future. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_SWWs8B7FR4qAREJhx1Drdw

* The Zelikovitz Centre for Jewish Studies at Carleton University presents a virtual lecture: “Jews and the Development of Popular Music in the20th century in the USA and Canada,” presented by Allan Moscovitch, Thursday, February 4, 2021 @ 7:30 pm (EDT). To attend, email: michaelabaxleaney@outlook.com to get the Zoom link and passcode. Please: For security reasons, do not share the link or passcode with anyone else – ask them to contact Michaela directly.

Invitation from KBI to demonstrate on behalf of the Uyghurs. This year, between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, members of Kehillat Beth Israel (KBI) demonstrated every weekday afternoon opposite the Chinese embassy on St. Patrick Street on behalf of the oppressed and
persecuted Uyghur population of China. At the conclusion of the week they decided to continue the demonstrations and protests on a weekly basis – they continue to meet and demonstrate one day a week, on Thursday afternoon.  They have also reached out to other faith communities to join them in this stand and their numbers have grown over time.
The mistreatment of the Uyghurs, including forced labor and “re-education” camps, is reminiscent of the Jewish experience with concentration camps of the Second World War, in the opinion of campaign organizer Andre Brantz, which inspired him to start the protests in September. Since then, a committee of the Parliament of Canada has described the Uyghur persecution as a form of genocide.
This week, the Guardian newspaper published an article by Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis: "As chief rabbi, I can no longer remain silent about the plight of the Uyhgurs."  The subtitle is: "An unfathomable mass atrocity is being perpetrated in China.  The responsibility for doing something lies with all of us."
(https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/15/chief-rabbi-silent-plight-uighurs-atrocity-china)
We invite all members of the Ottawa Jewish community to join us on Thursday afternoons at 3 PM opposite the Chinese Embassy on St. Patrick Street.  It is our hope and our prayer that this action, taken in conjunction with other political and economic actions, will raise awareness and will lead to the end of these atrocities.

Donations to OrH

Donations are a significant part of the funding for activities and rabbinic support in our community. You can direct your contribution to different areas of Or Haneshamah’s activity, including: general donations to fund programming, rabbinic leadership, donations in honor or in memory of a person or event, or dedication of ritual objects. We also welcome donations to the Gita (Tova) & Zvi Taub Memorial Fund, the Rabbi's Discretionary Fund, the Or Haneshamah Endowment Fund. Federal employees or retirees can also give to OrH through the Annual Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign. Information on all these programs and how to give can be found at this link, or by clicking on the "Donate" tab on the main menu of the OrH website.

Board of Directors

January Board Chair: Elijah, elijah@orh.ca ​​​​​​​
Treasurer: Ari, treasurer@orh.ca
Interim Secretary: Kathy, secretary@orh.ca
Communications: David, communications@orh.ca
Membership: Barbara, membership@orh.ca
Learning: Diana, learning@orh.ca
Ritual/Many Hands: Shira, rituals@orh.ca ​​​​​​​
 Interim Member-at-Large: Elijah, elijah@orh.ca  
​​​​​​​Interim Member-at-Large: Carolyn, carolyn@orh.ca

Rabbi Elizabeth Bolton: rabbi@orh.ca
OrH Members are welcome to contact Rabbi Liz, the Hesed team (hesed@orh.ca),
or any member of the board, regarding pastoral needs.

Or Haneshamah
30 Cleary Ave., Ottawa, ON, K2A 4A1
613-239-4988
www.orh.ca
info@orh.ca

** Disclaimer Regarding Community Event Postings **

Or Haneshamah frequently receives requests to post notices of upcoming events in the community at-large.  These events run the range from cultural, educational, and in some cases explorations of topical political issues.  In the interest of providing information to our congregation about the diversity of interesting events in the Ottawa community we will post notices of these events in our regular newsletter.

We recognize also that from time to time we are requested to post notices of events which are highly controversial in nature and reflect a wide range of opinions among our congregation on particular issues.  We are, however, of the opinion that it is appropriate for us to post events taking place in the community which may challenge us, which may cause discomfort, and which may cause us to reflect on some of our beliefs.  Our openness to post notices for a wide range of community events, however, does not mean that we have abdicated our responsibility to show discernment and to distinguish between those events which demonstrate an open-minded and thoughtful approach to specific issues and those which do not appear to reflect such values.  So, we will make judgments about what notices we believe are appropriate to post and those which we believe will not contribute to a thoughtful and balanced exploration of ideas and issues.

Will we make mistakes along the way?  Probably.  But the possibility of errors of judgment does not mean that we can excuse ourselves from the responsibility to show judgment in posting notices about events in the community and we promise to do so with openness tempered by a sense of responsibility.

In agreeing to post any notice of an event in the community, Or Haneshamah does not endorse, support or promote any perspectives, positions or ideas expressed in the events which are posted in our newsletter.