Community & Adult Learning

Beth Shalom members are committed to Tikkun Olam! Check out the ways we’ve been active in the community:

Beth Shalom’s Social Action Committee provides Beth Shalom members with opportunities for service and action in the larger community on needs such as homelessness, gun violence, hunger, and many other issues. In 2015 committee members formed Ahavat v’Avodat l’Adama—Love & Service for the Earth as a place for inspiration and action, working together to help heal our relationship with the Earth. Congregants are encouraged to join educational programs on contemporary social and economic justice issues as well as direct involvement with service or advocacy. We regularly partner with other community organizations and have recently joined the Faith Action Network.

Click here for Social Action Community Events.  Click here for the “Action Items” from the National Refugee Shabbat.

Please contact our Social Action Committee Chair if you are interested in learning more about the Social Action Committee.

Social Action Committee Goals:

• To provide the adults and youth of the congregation with opportunities to learn about social and political issues of the day.
• To facilitate opportunities for maasim tovim, good deeds, for all members of the congregation and develop and support projects for the congregation to work actively towards Tikkun Olam, repairing the world.
• To facilitate opportunities for building bridges between the different movements of Judaism as well as between faiths in working towards Tikkun Olam.
• To work toward incorporating actions and consideration of Tikkun Olam into the culture of the Beth Shalom community.

Ongoing Activities:

TEEN FEED: The 5th Monday of a Month. Task force feeds 25-60 homeless youth as part of an interfaith coalition. Contact: Joan Lite-Miller

SANDPOINT TRANSITIONAL HOUSING: We can always use new or gently used cookware and bedding, as well as books and games.  Contact Judith Arms if you have any items to donate.

FOOD DRIVE: At least once a year work with the CBS religious school to collect needed food items for Jewish Family Service.

BLOOD DRIVE: Usually twice a year across the street from the building. Call the office at 206-524-0075 to check when the next drive will take place.

LAKE CITY MEALS: We are excited to continue preparing and serving meals to our hungry friends in the Lake City neighborhood on the third Sunday of each month, but need more volunteers to make this possible. To volunteer, please contact Julie Klein.

SUPPORT ASYLUM SEEKERS

DONATIONS NEEDED: In partnership with the Church Council of Greater Seattle, our U-District congregations have been helping asylum seekers over the past year– offering housing, hospitality, and accompaniment. Several asylum-seekers, including a family of four, are transitioning into housing. Donations are needed to help them furnish their apartments, fill the kitchen with dishware and pots, and add some warm winter clothes to their wardrobes. Can you donate plates, cups & cooking utensils? Possibly you have a small kitchen table with 2 chairs that is stored away, waiting for a new home. A full- or queen-sized mattress is needed…are you planning to replace one in your home, and able to donate the old one? Other items include: sheets, towels, a blender & tea kettle; a small desk that fits in a studio apartment; and gift cards for groceries and clothes. Link to the sign-up sheet.

Your donations will be collected on the weekends of December 8-9 and December 15-16. Link to the list to find out what’s needed. Sign-up, and CBS liaison Matt Saunders will contact you about dropping off your donations. If you have questions before signing up, contact Matt Saunders

HOST ASYLUM SEEKERS: It takes all of us, working together, to stand with immigrants in our community. Over the past few years, the Church Council of Greater Seattle (CCGS) has been assisting asylum seekers with housing and providing several other support services.
Congregation Beth Shalom is working to join forces with CCGS to provide housing for asylum seekers and support to our congregants who become host families. The Social Action Committee is embarking on this project and Haim and Jody Mizrahi will be facilitating the connection between CCGS and CBS. It is our goal at this time to identify people who are interested in participating in one or both of these areas of need.
• Providing short-term housing for asylum seekers: Click here to complete the volunteer host family for medium-term housing form.
• Providing assistance to host families (translating, transportation, social support, etc.): Click here to complete the support team for host families survey.
Contact: Haim Mizrahi or Jody Mizrahi

Shmita Blog

Deirdre Gabbay began a blog to teach, inform and help those who want to know more about healing the planet.  You can read her blog at shmitainseattle.com.