Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Panim Hadashot, a new Seattle area Jewish education organization, receives the Levitan Innovation Award

Deb Frockt, Director of OperationsPanim Hadashot
press@panimhadashot.com

Friday, July 1, 2005, Seattle, WA - At the recent Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle Annual Meeting Panim Hadashot (www.panimhadashot.com), New Faces of Judaism, received the Levitan Innovation Award. The award seeks to stimulate and encourage organizations, synagogues, agencies and individuals to develop programming with new and different approaches aimed at fostering and/or increasing engagement in Jewish life in the greater Puget Sound Area.

Panim Hadsashot was granted the award for its innovative work on the “Shabbat Around Seattle” program. As winners of the award, Panim Hadashot will receive a $10,000 grant to directly support of the program. “We are greatly honored and excited by this recognition,” said Rabbi Dov Gartenberg, Panim Hadashot’s Rabbi and Founder. “We would like to thank Dan and Stacey Levitan for creating this award as well as the review committee for choosing our organization. We applaud the creation of this award that will spur creativity and innovation in our community.”

Panim Hadashot views Shabbat as Judaism’s great innovation and enduring contribution to the world. Shabbat Around Seattle is a Shabbat-centered Jewish learning and outreach project that models the Shabbat home experience in homes around Seattle, providing a rich menu of Shabbat activities that build fellowship and stimulate learning about Judaism. The program offers a mobile and portable Jewish program that moves to a different neighborhood each month, creating sacred Shabbat experiences through feasts, learning, conversation and song, with each program featuring Jewish learning and dialogue connected to a particular theme. Rabbi Gartenberg, resides with the hosts and serves as resident teacher, seder co-leader, and Shabbat co-host. Through Rabbi Gartenberg’s skillful and accessible presence, hosts and guests renew and deepen their Shabbat practices and gain the confidence to create beautiful and meaningful Shabbat celebrations in their own homes. Those interested in participating in the program as a host or as a guest, please contact Rabbi Gartenberg (rabbidov@panimhadashot.com) to make arrangements for when the program resumes in September after a summer hiatus.

About Panim Hadashot: Panim Hadashot (www.panimhadashot.com), New Faces of Judaism was founded in 2004 by Rabbi Dov Gartenberg and is a new Jewish endeavor of learning, celebration, and outreach. Panim Hadashot is not a synagogue. Rather it is a Beit Midrash - a house of learning. We offer a welcoming place for a wider circle of Jews and others who are seeking a passionate and open-minded Judaism. Panim Hadashot conveys a Judaism that is joyful and humane, spiritually and ethically rich, and encouraging of diverse forms of Jewish expression.

Panim Hadashot is the winner of the Levitan Innovation Award for our Shabbat Around Seattle program. Panim Hadashot is endorsed by the Union for Reform Judaism and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and is a registered 501(c)(3) organization.

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Weekly Email-June 23rd

Weekly Email-June 23rd

June 23, 2005, 16 Sivan 5765. Volume 1, Issue 24

A Message from Rabbi Gartenberg

Panim Hadashot-New Faces of Judaism will take a planned hiatus from programs from this week (June 20th) through the beginning of August. During this time we will be planning our fall programs and events. I will also be in Israel the month of July studying at the Shalom Hartman Institute. We are now completing our first year of activity. During this year we built a new Shabbat experience in Seattle which has touched many people. We created new opportunities for many to experience the beauty of Judaism. Panim Hadashot fostered ways in which people could be enlightened by Torah and Jewish learning. I wish to thank the many people across the Jewish community who have supported the efforts of Panim Hadashot with their time, ideas, and financial resources. I especially want to thank the leadership of Panim Hadashot for being partners with me in implementing a vision for our Jewish community.

Panim Hadashot means new face or new faces. We chose a name which is not immediately accessible to the non-Hebrew speaker. Yet, we chose it because it forces us at every turn to explain its beautiful and multi-faceted meanings. Panim Hadashot-new faces describes the Jewish tradition's insistence on the sharing of our joy with others. It is a term which also means 'many facets'. Another tradition uses the term to describe the holy Shabbat.

The term Panim Hadashot itself reveals the multifaceted, creative, imaginative, tolerant, welcoming, meaning-laden nature of the Judaism. We teach a pluralistic Judaism, a Judaism of many resonant voices. I acknowledge that there are many versions of Judaism, including intolerant and narrow understandings of Torah. But the passionate commitment of Panim Hadashot is to present an alternative yet very authentic interpretation of Judaism and Torah. The Torah teaches us to be engaged in the world, to affirm its sanctity, to embrace the humanity of the other, to stand up to injustice, to cry out against human cruelty, and to be witnesses to a God who teaches and commands us to live this way. Panim Hadashot seeks to articulate a core message of Judaism which joins our vision of a better world with an affirmation of the uniqueness of the Jewish way of life which refines our humanity through the love of learning, the Sabbath, and a life of caring for and serving others. Please join us in advancing this vision of Judaism.

I will continue to be in touch with you during the summer with occasional emails and writings. We will soon announce our plans for the Fall program which will be posted on the website. I think you will be excited Panim Hadashot's Shabbat programs, learning and dialogue opportunities, and unique outreach activities.

Please go to our website for a fuller view of the scope of Panim Hadashot's activities and approach: www.panimhadashot.com.

Help support the good work of Panim Hadashot: become a haver-a Friend of Panim Hadashot. Click on 'haver' to take you to the site to sign up.

Recent News
On June 9th at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle Annual Meeting Panim Hadashot-New Faces of Judaism received the Levitan Innovation Award.

The award seeks to stimulate and encourage organizations, synagogues, agencies and individuals to develop programming with new and different approaches aimed at fostering and/or increasing engagement in Jewish life in the greater Puget Sound Area.

Panim Hadsashot won the award based on a grant for the Shabbat Around Seattle Program. As winners of the award Panim Hadashot will receive a $10,000 grant in support of the program. We are greatly honored and excited by this recognition. Panim Hadashot thanks the Dan and Stacey Levitan for creating this award and the review committee for electing our organization. We applaud the creation of this award that will spur creativity and innovation in our community.

Below is a summary of the Shabbat Around Seattle program as it was described in the grant proposal.

"Panim Hadashot views Shabbat as Judaism’s great innovation and enduring contribution to the world. Shabbat Around Seattle is a Shabbat-centered Jewish learning and outreach project that models the Shabbat home experience in homes around Seattle, providing a rich menu of Shabbat activities that build fellowship and stimulate learning about Judaism. Our project offers a mobile and portable Jewish program that moves to a different neighborhood each month, creating sacred Shabbat experiences through feasts, learning, conversation and song, with each program featuring Jewish learning and dialogue connected to a particular theme. Our director, Rabbi Gartenberg, resides with the hosts and serves as resident teacher, seder co-leader, and Shabbat co-host. Through Rabbi Gartenberg’s skillful and accessible presence, hosts and guests renew and deepen their Shabbat practices and gain the confidence to create beautiful and meaningful Shabbat celebrations in their own homes."

If you are interested in participating in this program as a host or a guest, please write to Rabbi Dov Gartenberg at rabbidov@panimhadashot.com. Our Shabbat Around Seattle Program will resume in September after a summer hiatus.

Sunday, June 12, 2005

Announcements for week of June 12th

Panim Hadashot Announcements for June 12-June 19, 2005

Hag Sameah!!

1. June 17th Panim Hadashot Shabbat Dinner
2. June 18th 70 Faces of Torah-Interactive Shabbat morning Torah Reading
3. June 18th Shabbas Shmooze (Engaging Conversation): Why Be Jewish
4. Recent News: Panim Hadashot selected for Levitan Innovation Award

June 17th Panim Hadashot Shabbat Dinner
Friday Evening, June 17 for singles 40 and over hosted by Rabbi Dov Gartenberg and cosponsored by Lox of Friends 7:00-10:00 pm, at Panim Hadashot Beit Midrash-House of Learning, 3827 NE 90th Street, Seattle, 98115

Rabbi Dov Gartenberg will lead a Shabbat table talk on “Religion in the Public Square: The Debate Among Jews About Public Religiosity.”

Join Lox of Friends and Rabbi Dov Gartenberg for a unique Shabbat dinner with storytelling, humor, song, delicious food, great company and lots of opportunities to learn and share. Potluck Dinner.

Please rsvp at rsvp@panimhadashot.com or call 206 525-0648 #2 by Wednesday evening. We will call you about a dish after you RSVP.This event is limited to 25 persons.
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70 Faces of Torah- June Schedule
June Schedule for Shivim Panim LaTorah. All sessions take place from 10:30-12:00pm on Shabbat mornings at the Panim Hadashot Beit Midrash, 3827 NE 90th St. in North Seattle. D0ors open for light refreshment at 10:15am. No rsvp necessary, but if you are new, let us know you are coming.

For a description of this innovative Shabbat morning program click Shivim Panim

June 18: Portion: Behaalotcha. Numbers 8:1-12:16 We will focus on the dramatic chapter 11 which the rabbis saw as an example of 'chutzpah kelapei shamayim'-audaciousness toward heaven. Why does Judaism glorify frustration with God? What does that mean for us and our relationship with God. Why can faithful people be more chutzpadik than athiests? We'll explore Moshe's famous complaints to God in this light.

June 18th Shabbas Shmooze (Engaging Conversation): Why Be Jewish 4-5:30pm, 3827 NE 90th St.

Come by Rabbi Gartenberg's Home Beit Midrash on Shabbat Afternoon for nosh and conversation on the subject of Why Be Jewish. Join Rabbi Dov, otherwise known as the 'Jewish Baggage Handler' to discuss the impediments and the incentives to living a Jewish life in our times. Be prepared for interesting guests, stimulating conversation, and a restful but engaging Shabbat experience. No rsvp necessary, but let us know you plan to come by sending a note to rsvp@panimhadashot.com or 206 525-0648

Recent News
On June 9th at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle Annual Meeting Panim Hadashot-New Faces of Judaism received the Levitan Innovation Award.

The award seeks to stimulate and encourage organizations, synagogues, agencies and individuals to develop programming with new and different approaches aimed at fostering and/or increasing engagement in Jewish life in the greater Puget Sound Area.

Panim Hadsashot won the award based on a grant for the Shabbat Around Seattle Program. As winners of the award Panim Hadashot will receive a $10,000 grant in support of the program. We are greatly honored and excited by this recognition. Panim Hadashot thanks the Dan and Stacey Levitan for creating this award and the review committee for electing our organization. We applaud the creation of this award that will spur creativity and innovation in our community.
Below is a summary of the Shabbat Around Seattle program as it was described in the grant proposal.

"Panim Hadashot views Shabbat as Judaism’s great innovation and enduring contribution to the world. Shabbat Around Seattle is a Shabbat-centered Jewish learning and outreach project that models the Shabbat home experience in homes around Seattle, providing a rich menu of Shabbat activities that build fellowship and stimulate learning about Judaism. Our project offers a mobile and portable Jewish program that moves to a different neighborhood each month, creating sacred Shabbat experiences through feasts, learning, conversation and song, with each program featuring Jewish learning and dialogue connected to a particular theme. Our director, Rabbi Gartenberg, resides with the hosts and serves as resident teacher, seder co-leader, and Shabbat co-host. Through Rabbi Gartenberg’s skillful and accessible presence, hosts and guests renew and deepen their Shabbat practices and gain the confidence to create beautiful and meaningful Shabbat celebrations in their own homes."

If you are interested in participating in this program as a host or a guest, please write to Rabbi Dov Gartenberg at rabbidov@panimhadashot.com. Our Shabbat Around Seattle Program will resume in September after a summer hiatus.

Wednesday, June 8, 2005

Shavuot

Shavuot Late Night Learning, Sunday, June 12th

Panim Hadashot Tikun Lael Shavuot-Shavuot Teach In. Sunday night, June 12th. Panim Hadashot Beit Midrash, 3827 NE 90th St. Seattle, WA 98115

See the updated schedule below.

We are adding a piece for families and young people from 7:45-8:30 which leads into a festive meal from 8:30 to 10:00pm. A Tikkun-Shavuot Torah study will follow which is adult centered. Please rsvp for the evening and let us know which parts you hope to attend. The meal will be dairy potluck. We will be in touch with you about what to bring after we receive your rsvp.

This year we will be sharing the teachings of A.J. Heschel in his recently translated masterpiece: Heavenly Torah. Be prepared for a far-ranging exploration on the how to understand God from traditional and non-traditional points of view. As with all our programs, there is no faith litmus test or agenda beyond a serious engagement with the meaning of Jewish texts and their applicability to how we lead our lives today.

7:45-8:30pm Family Tikkun: Stories on the Giving of the Torah

8:30-10:00pm Dairy Shavuot Feast.

Please rsvp at 206 525-0648 #2 or rsvp@panimhadashot.com.

10:00-12:00pm Tikkun.
What is Torah? On the night of the Giving of the Torah, we will ask the central question of Judaism. Using selections from Heschel's recently translated work, Heavenly Torah, we will explore the opinions in Jewish tradition about what Torah is. Ultimately, we have to answer for ourselves about what Torah means for us as modern Jews. Does it speak to us, command us, guide us? Come prepared to learn, discuss, and come away with new insights.