Wednesday, April 22, 2026

THIS FRIDAY, APRIL 24: 4th Friday Kabbalat Shabbat Service at The Eastside Jewish Commons
with Cathy Zheutlin, Lynn Taylor, and Lisa Lieberman

When: Friday, April 24, at 7 pm

Where: The Eastside Jewish Commons
2420 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland, OR 97232

We are grateful for Reb Zmira for leading last week’s service!

We are grateful for recent donations from:

Elaine Cohn: in honor of Maxine and Robert Cohn
Marla Resnick: in loving memory of my Dad, Herb and Mom, Lee, on the observance of Herb's 60th yahrzeit on March 26
Dawn Schuldenfrei
Mindy Miller: In memory of Frieda Kale, Keith's mother. May her memory be for a blessing.
Mindy Miller: In memory of Jacqueline Herman, the daughter of Lynn Taylor's dear friends Rickie Herman and the late Debbie Tyler, of blessed memory. May Jacquelines's memory be for a blessing. With Love, Les and Mindy
Mindy Miller: May Michael Eaton have a successful surgery on March 31st and a complete and comfortable healing of body, mind, heart and spirit in the weeks ahead. Love, Mindy and Les

Donation Cards
- A donation to Pnai Or was given by Joanie and Yehudah in memory of Linda Rothschild, Chaim Lev’s Mother

KVELL: Joan Glebow is our Song of Miriam Recipient this year and will be honored at the Jewish Women's Round Table brunch on June 14th. Please check out JWRT.org (laptop only) to register, and alert rep. Linda Zahavi if you are attending. Seating is reserved.

KVELL: From Mindy Miller - “I want to thank the P'nai Or Community for their years of prayers for my mother Maxine Miller and our family members. It has meant so much to me and our family.”

Baruch Dayan HaEmet: Chaim Lev’s beloved mother, Linda Rothschild, passed away last Wednesday night, with Chaim holding her hands.
Yehi zichra Baruch | יהי זכרה ברוך
May Linda Rothschild’s memory be a blessing.

PRAYERS: Michael Eaton had back surgery on March 31st. He requests prayers for a complete and comfortable healing in the weeks following his surgery.

PRAYERS: Please continue to pray for the restoration of health and hope to Michael Garcia, Judith Auslander, Cassie Falling, Mindy Miller, Anita Mention, Bronte Grimm, Lisa Stiller, and Aryeh Tzvi ben Shoshanna Tova, and for the family of Maddox Alexander Luke, Alex and Barry Luke, and Lynda Malerstein.

Please join Reb Zmira and her friend Sheryl Shapiro at this link each Thursday at 8:45 pm, April 2 through May 14, for a brief exploration of the Sefirah of the week in our Omer counting.

In ancient times, a sheaf/measure (omer) of barley was brought to the Temple on the second day of Pesach (Passover). The 7 weeks between Pesach and Shavuot (Shavuot literally means "Weeks," a week of weeks) are counted each night. This practice of counting the omer has agricultural and biblical roots in addition to being a spiritual journey from liberation (from slavery in Egypt) to revelation (of Torah on Mount Sinai).

In Hebrew, the counting of the omer is called Sefirat haOmer, and clearly the early Kabbalists were inspired by the fact that the word for counting (sefirah) is the same as the word for each of the 10 emanations (Sefirah singular, Sefirot plural) in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. They mapped each of the 7 weeks of the Omer period to one of the 7 lower Sefirot, starting with Chesed, and each day in each of these weeks also corresponds to one of the Sefirot--it's like fractals of holiness! Thus we pair our counting with an exploration of each Sefirah inside each of the Sefirot, starting with Chesed sh'b'Chesed (the lovingkindness within lovingkindness), moving to Gevurah sh'b'Chesed (the strength/boundaries within lovingkindness), and so on, through Malchut sh'b'Malchut (the Sovereign Presence/Shechinah) within Sovereign Presence/Shechinah).

Reb Zmira and Sheryl Shapiro will introduce the theme of each week's Sefirah at the beginning of each week on Zoom, Thursdays at 8:45 pm, at this link. Please join us!

Chant Group News:
This Month: No Chantlings for April

Next Session: Sunday, May 31st

Chantlings will be meeting most every last Sunday of the month, 11-12 PST, over Zoom or in person at Zahavi’s in West Linn. Check with her if you’d like to join in person.

This session is a nourishing, meditative, almost continuous hour of chanting with mindful guidance and kavanot (setting of intentions) in between.

Newcomers welcome!

Please contact Zahavi for the link and more information:
Zahavi3@comcast.net