May 2020     
 
    הקשר HaKesher  
                                                 "The Connection"      
  



   Come be a part of our growing Reform synagogue. All are welcome!
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In This Issue
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Celebrations
TBT Board Members
 Co-Presidents:
   Sheila Luber  
   Ann Rosenfield 
   
 Secretary: 
   Terry Hoogstede
    
 Treasurer: 
   Mark Schindel
   
 Members-at-Large:
    Lester Dober
    Paul Jacobs
    Kerrie Zurovsky
   
TBT Committee Chairs
Budget & Finance
   Chuck Shattuck

Membership 
    Terry Reynolds
    Michael Rosenfield

Program Oversight
    Kathy Schindel

TBT Team Leaders
Adult Learning
    Mel Siegel

Bikur Cholim
    Suzanne Schlosberg
    Evie Lerner
    Linda Brant

Calendar Keeper
    Kathy Schindel

Chevra Kadisha
    Ralph Uri

Communications & PR
    Kathy Schindel
    Shiela Luber

Connections
    Sheila Luber

Fundraising
    TBD

Music
    Julie Geveshausen

Newsletter
    Eileen Katz

Onegs
    Jan Freeman-Bauer

Religious Education
    Sara Jo Slate

Rituals
    TBD

Social Action
    Lynne Connelley

Venue Logistics
    Mark Schindel

Webmaster
    Jeanne Freeman
   
Newsletter Sponsors



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Quick Links
Temple Beth Tikvah is pleased to welcome our newest members:

Ted & Rhiana Maidenberg 
and children Elana & Maisy
                    
 
May Calendar of Events 
 
Note:  All TBT May Events and Activities except those listed below have been cancelled.

 Events and Activities
  May 12 - 1:00 pm - Board Meeting via Zoom
   
 Kabbalat Shabbat Fridays via Zoom, 6:00 pm 
   5/1, 5/8, 5/15, 5/22, 5/29
      
 Rabbinic Judaism
    Thursdays via Zoom 4:00 pm - 5/7, 5/14, 5/21, 5/28 



Leadership News
                   Message From Co-Presidents  
Sheila Luber and Ann Rosenfield

It's hard to grasp how much life has changed in such a short time due to the coronavirus. March 12th we cancelled our first TBT event, an Erev Shabbat service. Instead, Rabbi Johanna shared Shabbat Shalom reflections with the first of many YouTube videos to come. Our cancellations grew as we took our cues from the CDC and Governor Brown. It was particularly painful to cancel our Community Passover Seder. Then we scrubbed all events in April. 
 
Now we meet virtually on Zoom, exchange posts on Facebook and watch Rabbi Johanna become even more creative, comfortable and engaging on camera. We intend to continue connecting online through the month of June to stay on the side of caution. If you'd like to attend our weekly Kabbalat Shabbat Zoom service but need some technical assistance, please contact Mel Siegel at 412- 983-2626 or Mark Schindel at 541 610-9807. Not a member of TBT? No problem, you are welcome to join us. Contact Lauralei Garrity at lauraelei.garrity@gmail.com to request a Zoom invitation.
 
With June cancellations so goes our annual congregational meeting, replaced by email voting for the new fiscal budget and for a new board member. (Information coming soon.) At a special virtual Shabbat service, we will celebrate our members who make our temple run. We are also rescheduling our listening campaign for the time when we can meet face to face whenever that might be. We'll need your fresh perspective to re-create what life looks like in public post-COVID-19. 
 
Looking into the future, our programming committee has set our calendar of events for 2020-21. The schedule includes at least four special events for members of TBT, Congregation Shalom Bayit and Chabad to enjoy together. This marks a new chapter of purposeful collaboration between our three organizations with our three rabbis working in partnership. While focused on the needs of our respective congregations, leadership is building bridges, sharing ideas and creating opportunities to serve the collective Central Oregon Jewish community.
 
Kind words and good deeds make a difference in these challenging times. Please reach out to each other with Zoom meetings, Facetime calls, and chats on the phone. Include items for friends in your market runs or Insta-cart baskets. Drop goodies on porches and arrange meal deliveries. We must care for and nurture each other in every way we can since we are all spokes in the wheels of this wild ride. If you need more help, TBT has a Goodwill Fund available to assist you. Please contact Sheila, Ann, Rabbi Johanna or Mark Schindel with any questions, suggestions or requests that you have.
 
Rabbi Johanna, we are grateful for your fearless leadership in these challenging times. 
 
Stay home. Stay healthy.
 
L'Shalom,
Sheila and Ann


Divrei Tikvah  RJohannaHeadShot
From Rabbi Johanna Hershenson

If ever there was a truer maxim...April showers bring May flowers. Mark and I have been hiking our butte and neighboring public lands, and indeed, wildflowers are popping up in the high desert just like blossoming daffodils and crocuses in town. The promise of spring, from Passover eve when we dipped our karpas, has manifested in blooms and buds in our landscape.

The new moon marks the start of the Jewish month of Lyar and heralds in the third week of counting the Omer (the days between Passover's liberation from slavery and Shavuot's revelation at Sinai). For our Muslim neighbors and friends, the new moon marks the start of the holy month of Ramadan. As the moon waxes and wanes, Jews prepare for receiving the Torah by drawing attention to balancing character traits such as love and discipline, initiative and appreciation. Muslims fast, reflect on self-discipline, sacrifice, and empathy, and engage in acts of generosity towards others.

Spring is, after all, a time of rebirth. That which has lain dormant in the soil through darkness and cold, reinvigorates. Grasses green ordinarily brown desert landscapes. Blossoms flash whites and pinks from tree branches, yellows and purples from the ground. Calves and lambs and kids appear among the cattle, sheep, and goats I pass by as I drive into Bend. Warm winds and open windows... "For, lo, the winter is past" (Song of Songs, 2:11).

And yet, this Spring is different than last Spring and the one before that. It is not merely a case of winter slumber from which we rouse, rather weeks of quarantine and physical distancing from which we have yet to agree on how to emerge.

I imagine I am not the only member in Temple Beth Tikvah grateful to be in Central Oregon during this Covid-19 pandemic. I recognize that our open spaces and our lack of dense population have proved to be assets during these trying times. I also appreciate the measured and collaborative approach our governor has demonstrated in orders for the state and its businesses and school and health systems. My life has been easier than that of my family in New Jersey, California, Wisconsin, Maryland, and North Carolina.

At the same time, I worry about re-opening. I feel vulnerable in that I know I cannot promise safety to our members, only that I and our board do our best as we make decisions every step along the way. So far, scheduled B'nai Mitzvah celebrations have been postponed. As we prepare our program calendar for the coming year, we do not know yet if we will gather for the High Holy Days or create some sort of hybrid livestream/pre-recorded experience.

I think that uncertainty has been both the greatest challenge of living through this pandemic and the most profound opportunity of having lived through it. We, human beings, thrive in the certainty of our will and our capacity to innovate and build and adapt to whatever situation arises in our midst. While I am absolutely certain we will persevere through the Covid-19 pandemic and any resurgence that occurs, until there is a vaccine I have begun to notice that in the absence of norms and habits, our relationships become the structures in which we find certainty or at least just enough trust to get through.

Another adage...Where there's a will, there's a way. Our commitment to one another, has transformed us from low-tech to medium-tech. Who would have imagined six months ago that we could bring our congregation on-line? We wanted to see each other. We wanted to welcome Shabbat together, learn together, chat and check in. And we did it. We figured it out.

I think continued opening in society, as well as Temple Beth Tikvah, will work this way: Step by step. Slowly. Smartly. Safely. In the end, it is not the perfection of each and every choice we make, but how we address one another and reach out to support and care for one another along the way.

~~ Rabbi Hershenson's office hours are by appointment. If you would like to set up an appointment, please contact her by email at: johannahershenson@gmail.com, or by phone at 541-213-9880.


Spotlight on Musicians
Kathi Copans-Essinger
Kathi Copans-Essinger

Flutist

This is the second in a series of  bi-monthly spotlights on our musicians. Eileen Katz, Newsletter Ed.

Did you know that our TBT flutist Kathi played music and sang in rock bands as a teenager and young adult?
 
Kathi grew up in Southern California in a talented musical family. Her mom was a gifted artist and musician; her dad loved opera. Kathi's grandparents were musicians as well. For most of her life, Kathi knew she wanted to be a musician. At age 3, when most of us were learning how to sort blocks, Kathi was taking piano lessons from her mom. Over the years music brought Kathi close to her mom and they often played flute and piano duets.
 
Although classically trained on several instruments, at about age 11 Kathi had dreams of becoming a rock star. At the same time, she wanted to be in the school orchestra and took up flute. As a teenager and into her twenties, Kathi joined rock bands playing saxophone, flute, keyboard and guitar as well as singing background and lead vocals. The band wrote original music and did some recording. The rock star phase ended when Kathi entered Cal State Northridge, majoring in music and art.
 
As an adult, Kathi began to explore her Jewish heritage and joined a synagogue in Thousand Oaks where she participated in choir for many years. In her 30's she became Bat Mitzvah. Professionally, Kathi began teaching math and music in middle school and went on to teach art and music in high school.
 
Kathi and her husband chose to move to Bend in 2017 for a lifestyle change. Kathi now teaches music two days per week and also enjoys drawing and painting. Kathi's husband Abraham (Abe) is self-employed in the business of PEMF (Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy).
 
How was TBT so lucky as to land this multi-talented musician for its services? When Kathi and Abraham first came to Bend, they wanted to be part of a temple community and contacted Terry Reynolds, who Kathi found warm and welcoming. They attended the Erev Rosh Hashanah service in 2017 and Kathi was very moved by the music played by Julie, Jo and Janet and sung by Eileen. Because of life circumstances, it was another year and a half before Kathi and Abe attended services again, and once again, Kathi was moved by the music. She found Julie after the service that night to offer her music to TBT. Julie spoke with Rabbi Johanna who was delighted, and the rest is a piece of our joyous musical history.
 
In Kathi's words, "I am overjoyed and grateful to be part of TBT's music quartet and to be playing with very talented musicians. I am delighted to be part of the TBT congregation."

TBT Highlights
Kabbalat Shabbat

Join your TBT family for a virtual Kabbalat Shabbat gathering each Friday in May at 6:00 pm. There will be blessings for candles, wine, and challah, a message/teaching, mi sheberach, and mourners' kaddish. 

The Zoom password will be provided by email to regular participants..  If you would like to join these discussions as a new participant, please contact Mel Siegel at mws@cmu.edu or 412 983-2626
 
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Rabbinic Judaism
The paradigm shift that birthed the Judaism and Christianity we know 

Join Rabbi Hershenson on Thursdays at 4:00 pm for an ongoing exploration of the paradigm shift that birthed the Judaism and Christianity we know. 

Explore historic and literary texts that give insight to the collision between a small world of Jewish intellectuals and the expanding world of the thinkers of Ancient Greece under Hellenist and Roman rule. 

The Zoom password will be provided by email to regular participants..  If you would like to join these discussions as a new participant, please contact Mel Siegel at mws@cmu.edu or 412 983-2626
 
Annual Congregational Meeting Cancelled

The Annual Congregational Meeting scheduled for June 7 is cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and out of our concern for all of you.  The meeting will be replaced by email voting for the new fiscal budget and email voting for a new board member. 

At a special virtual Shabbat service, we will celebrate our members who make our temple run.

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Board and Committee News
TBT Board Notes

Next Board Meeting:  May 12, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m
Location:  Zoom meeting; info will be sent to members

Your TBT Board meets monthly and members are invited to attend. Dates and times of Board meetings are on the TBT calendar at:  https://bethtikvahbend.org/events/

If you would like to read minutes of previous board meetings, you can request a copy from Board Secretary, Terry Hoogstede  tahoogstede@bendcable.com
 
June Newsletter Deadline:  May 24th 

This newsletter is emailed to both members and non-members each month.  If you have something you want to include in the newsletter, please e-mail it to Eileen Katz: eileentam@aol.com by the 24th of each month for the following month's publication.  As always, you will continue to receive "e-minders" before important events take place.

Shalom,
Eileen
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Community News
Taizé Service

The May Taizé Service is cancelled
This was to be the last Taizé service of the season. 

The next season will hopefully start in October, as usual. 
 
Since Taizé services are so uplifting and healing, the choir hopes to host a Taizé service this summer when it is safe to congregate again.  Stay tuned for further information.


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TBT Tributes
Temple Beth Tikvah gratefully acknowledges the following contributions:
  • Marlis Beier In Honor of Johanna's leading Philosotea discussions
  • Jeanne Freeman & Burt Litman In Memory of Rose Freeman
  • Stephen and Eileen Katz in Honor of Rabbi Johanna's honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree
  • Terry Reynolds In Memory of Pauline Segal
  • Kathy & Mark Schindel In Memory of Douglas Beetham
  • The Uri Family In Memory of Miriam Becker

 

Donations listed above were made to the Temple's general fund unless otherwise specified.

You may honor the lives and achievements of friends and relatives via a tribute with a donation to TBT. You can do this online by clicking here, or by sending a check and the name and address of the person being honored to TBT at P.O. Box 7472, Bend, OR, 97708.

Donations may be designated to a specific fund, including:

   - General Fund
   - Youth Education Fund
   - Music Fund   
   - TBT's Goodwill Fund
   - Social Action/Tzedakah Fund
   - or the Corrie Grudin Memorial Fund
   

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About Temple Beth Tikvah

For Jewish families, retirees and singles at every level of faith in Central Oregon, Temple Beth Tikvah provides a comforting embrace for the soul of your DNA. We are a dynamic Reform Jewish congregation with friendly, giving, active people drawn to Bend and Central Oregon because of the active lifestyle we find here.
 
We come together in different ways, inspired and informed by our common thread of Jewishness. Whether you were born Jewish, love someone who is Jewish or choose to be Jewish. Practice Judaism a little, a lot or not at all. TBT can serve as the heart of your vibrant, connected life.
 
We can be your primary source of friendship, purpose, spiritual and intellectual pursuit. Or a side note adding flavor and dimension how and when you want. Whichever you choose, TBT offers an inclusive, communal foundation on which to build your relationships, experiences and practice. From social activities to social action, worship to study, participation to leadership. It's your choice, in this community of yours. 

Please contact us at 541-388-8826 or info@bethtikvahbend.org for more information.
 
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