OrShalomSF.org

415-469-5542

333 Cortland Ave, SF, CA 94110

In creating our annual budget, our Board charts our fundraising course for the year in order to meet our expenses and make programmatic plans for our future.

This year our Annual Fund goal is to raise $70,000. We invite you to help us meet this goal so Or Shalom can continue to thrive and keep our services alive. We hope that you, as a friend of Or Shalom, will join us in contributing to this year’s Annual Fund, if you haven't already.

We thank the following members for their generous donations:

Jarel Glassman & Beth Mazie, Frieda Sion, Mary Ann Goldstein & Dave Berry, Linda Chafetz, Jody Reiss, Shelley Levine, Joshua & Gizella Babcock, Shelley Levine, Jody Reiss, Deborah Schlanger & Lisa Steinberg. Robin Roth, Debbie Benrubi, Laura Bresler, Judy Olasov, Leslie Roffman & Bob Goodwin, Matthew & Motomi Rudoff, Bonnie Willdorf, Allan Pleaner, Norisa Berardi, Sue Schechter, Madeleine Levin, Stephen Gerard, David & Eleanor Louis, Angelique von Halle, Elliot Helman, Stephanie Weissman, Lisa Garbus & Adam Goldberg, Chad & Kathy Balch, Margo Freistadt & Lynn Ludlow, Julie & Danny Brook, Betty Zonderman & Robert Blatherwick, Chana Jacobs, Robyn Talman, Stephen Seligman & Mary Amsler, Corey Weinstein & Pat Skala

Happy Half Hour, Shabbat Service and Vegetarian Potluck

Friday, December 20, 5:30 pm, Noe Valley Ministry

.Join us for lively musical services with R' Faryn and the Music ensemble! Before our Shabbat service, join us for a Happy Half Hour sponsored by Elliot Helman! After the service, enjoy Shabbat dinner with your fellow Or Shalomers. Bring a vegetarian dish and reusable dishware for our post-service vegetarian potluck.

5:30 pm: Happy Half Hour sponsored by Elliot Helman

6:00 pm: Lively musical services with R' Faryn and the ensemble

7:30 pm: Vegetarian potluck

NVM is ADA accessible. Masks strongly encouraged when not eating and drinking.

Embodied Spiritual Practice

Saturday, December 21, 10:00 am, 333 Cortland

RSVP here

Embrace the depth of winter with a transformative Embodied Spiritual Practice designed to honor the Winter Solstice and prepare for the light and renewal of Hanukkah. In sacred community, we will gather with Gail Gurewitz to recognize the longest night and honor the cycles of darkness and light within us. Through reflection on themes of Hanukkah—hope, perseverance, and miracles—this practice invites participants to connect to both ancient and personal sources of resilience and inner light, while offering a safe space to feel the full spectrum of emotions. This special time is an invitation to welcome the turning of the season, embracing rest, and nurturing our inner fire.

Our time together will weave prayer, sharing, gentle yoga, and moving meditation. Anchoring ourselves in the earth, heart, and spirit, each breath and movement becomes a prayer or offering to sustain us through the winter season.

This workshop is for all bodies and abilities.

Please bring: Yoga gear, meditation or other pillow, a tallit, notepad or journal 

Celebrate Hanukkah With Or Shalom!

Traveling Shabbat: Hanukkah edition

Friday, Dec. 27, 6 pm - RSVP for address

Or Shalom members Will and Mathilda will host this month's Traveling Shabbat at their home in the Richmond neighborhood of San Francisco. Join them to light Hanukkah candles, celebrate Shabbat, have dinner and get to know fellow members of the OS community. Please bring a vegetarian dish to share. 

RSVP here

Accessibility information: There are two flights of stairs with hand rails. Parking can be difficult in the neighborhood.

Please test for COVID and stay home if you have any symptoms.

Or Shalom Hanukkah Party

Wednesday, Jan. 1, 5-7:30 PM

331 & 333 Cortland Ave

Ring in the New Year and light up the final night of Hanukkah with Or Shalom! Join us for an evening filled with joyful programs and engaging activities for kids and adults. Savor delicious nosh, sing along to lively music, engage in learning and light the Hanukkiah with us. Plus, you might even get an exclusive sneak peek at our brand-new sanctuary space!

• 5-5:45 Toddler & Family Program with R’ Faryn
• 5:45-6:00 Candlelighting
• 6:00-6:30 Schmoozing, Munching, Music & Dancing
• 6:30-7:30 Hanukkah Adult Learning with R’ Faryn

Bring your own Menorah and candles for community candle-lighting, as well as a potluck dish to share.

Office updates

Rabbi Faryn will be out of the office December 22nd-December 31st.

In case of pastoral emergency, call the office to be put in touch with the rabbi on call.

Office closures:

The office will be closed Dec 25 and Jan 1.

Or Shalom Members Town Hall Meeting with Our Architects

Sunday, January 5, 2025, 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm

331 Cortland Ave

(option to attend remotely via Zoom, if necessary*)

Feed our architects with your hopes and dreams for our future multi-use space for congregating, learning, and the sacred.

Rabbi Faryn, Congregational Leadership and the Facilities Committee have engaged Herman Coliver Locus Architecture (HCLA) to guide us through a Master Planning Process to design our new building in alignment with our needs and values. Now it’s time for them to hear directly from you, in community with other congregants. Join us to share your thoughts and to hear the perspectives of others. All ages welcome.

Accessibility Information: There are no steps to enter this space.

Masks highly recommended.

* Register here if attending via Zoom.

Please only attend via Zoom if you absolutely cannot be there in-person.

Or Shalom is not yet technologically equipped to hold hybrid meetings well.

Or Shalom private tour of Mary Cassatt exhibition

Legion of Honor Museum, Lincoln Park

Sunday, January 12, 10 am-noon

We are thrilled to extend a special invitation to all art enthusiasts within our community for a private docent-led tour of the Mary Cassatt exhibition at the Legion of Honor Museum. Join us as we explore the works of the prominent American painter and printmaker, best known for her significant contributions to the French Impressionist movement. Space is limited to 30 people, so reserve your spot and purchase your admission tickets as soon as possible! For details and to sign up, see the Or Shalom website.

The cost of the tour is fully covered thanks to Or Shalom members/hosts Lorne Abramson and Elana Lieberman. Attendees are responsible for purchasing their admission tickets to the exhibition, as well as any food or beverages in the museum café, where we will meet for a casual nosh after the tour. 

New LGBTQIA+ Havurah

Are you LGBTQIA+ and feeling scared in light of increased personal and state-sanctioned violence and vitriol? We are putting out feelers for interest in a havurah to provide mutual aid and support for ourselves and the wider LBTQIA+ community, for we keep us safe.

 If you're interested in strengthening the channels of communication and meeting semi-regularly to hold space for the hurt, anger, and fear that are already growing in our community. If you're looking for a space to celebrate queer and trans joy... Please contact Vyvyan at vyvdecleyre@gmail.com so we can start figuring out logistical questions about meeting types and regularity.

Help us greet newcomers at Noe Valley Ministry!

The membership committee is organizing a new volunteer effort to warmly welcome guests at our Shabbat Services at Noe Valley Ministry! Members, this is your opportunity to get to know your community better and help make newcomers feel welcome. Click here to sign up to volunteer.

Email membership@orshalomsf.org if interested.

The Hanukkah Hebrew Challenge: Hanukkah Hebrew Challenge #6

Each week, November 7 - December 19

Our next holiday (ready for another one?) coming up is Hanukkah, which begins on Dec 25, in the evening. I was remembering that, in my forties, my first foray into Hebrew was learning the letters on the dreidel! It’s fun, like learning a secret code! One of our Jewish values holds that when we learn something, we become obligated to teach it. So I thought I would offer the Hanukkah Hebrew Challenge!

Standing Together

Saturday, Dec. 14, 6:30 pm

Unitarian Universalist Church, 1187 Franklin St., SF

The Or Shalom Ceasefire Circle invites you to hear from Palestinian and Israeli activists working on the ground. Rula Daood and Alon-Lee Green are co-directors of Standing Together, the largest Jewish-Arab grassroots movement in Israel, mobilizing Jewish and Palestinian citizens against the occupation and for peace, equality, and social justice. Click the registration link below for more information.

OS Chesed Circle Volunteer Site | Click here to join

Assist Or Shalom members with visits, rides and meals.

Questions? Email Madeleine at madelevin@gmail.com.

Member-Only Email lists

Interested in joining one of Or Shalom's dedicated email discussion groups? We have open enrollment for The Social Action Circle, Dayenu Circle, Voting Rights & Democracy, and Ceasefire. Click here for descriptions of each group.

Community

A Wicked-(For)Good Purim Shpiel

Do you see any parallels between the world of Wicked and our political moment? So do the Wizard & I! So, if you’re interested in being part of a team developing a Purim Shpiel using Wicked as our score, reach out to Rabbi Faryn.

Sunday, December 15, 2024 - 10:00am -1:00pm PST via Zoom

Join a Reconstructionist movement-wide virtual convening to explore the shared values that shape our connection to Israel and response to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as our connection to the Jews of Israel and ahavat yoshvei ha’aretz — a loving connection to all the inhabitants of the land.

Together, we will take a close and nuanced look at what binds us in covenantal community, even during this time of deep crisis.

Find more information and register here

Tzedakah

We gratefully acknowledge these contributions from our community:

When making a donation online, please be sure to specify where to allocate.

Tala & Chester Hartsough, in memory of Paul Hartsough

Stephen Gerard, in memory of Gerhard Rosenzweig

Lorne Abramson & Elana Lieberman

Corey Weinstein & Pat Skala, in memory of Robert Ostrowski

Betsy Strausberg, in memory of her loving parents Joan and Sol Strausberg

Judy Olasov, in memory of Louis Rabinowitz and Faye Rabinowitz

Yahrzeits

On the anniversary of their deaths, we remember:



Algis Raulinaitis, Bob LeWitter, Bob Rosenberg, Dorothy Jane Lauer, Emma Ruchames, Eneida Cordova, Esther Itelson, Faye Rabinowitz Olasov, Gerald Newman, Gerhard Rosenzweig, Harlene Marshall, Irwin , reene, Jeremy Lapidus, Joan Strausberg, Lawrence McCullough, Leona Kirschner, Louis Rabinowitz, Margy Antanore, Patricia Henderson Shimm, Robert Ostrowski, Sarah Resnick, Solomon Strausberg

To submit an Or Shalom group-sponsored event for the newsletter, email newsletter@orshalomsf.org

by the Monday before you want it to be included.

* Events marked with an asterisk are held at 333 Cortland Ave, a building which requires climbing 21 steps to access. If this poses a barrier to entry for you, please email rabbifaryn@orshalomsf.org with at least 5 days notice. Read our full accessibility notice here.