Welcome to Temple Beth Or - Temple Beth Or

Welcome to Temple Beth Or!

Temple Beth Or is a warm, compassionate, vibrant, spirited, inclusive, and participatory Reform Jewish community. We are religiously and geographically diverse, serving Washington’s northern Puget Sound. As God’s covenantal partners in fulfilling mitzvot, our priorities are:

K’hilah/Mishpacha (community & family) — nurturing our interactive, multigenerational extended family;

Torah — lifelong learning, searching for meaning, and seeking comfort and healing;

Avodah — worship and celebration through the observance of meaningful, creative, and traditional rituals;

Tikkun Olam — transforming ourselves and our world through tzedakah (fairness), social justice, and g’milut chasadim (acts of loving kindness).

The Building is not the Community!

The Temple building is closed, and the office is open for business via phone and email ONLY. Following state guidance, all in-person Temple activities are cancelled. We are scheduling remote learning, online adult education, and virtual Shabbat connections. See below and check our calendar for event schedules and resources.

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What's Going On

TBO statement: Black Lives Matter

Temple Beth Or joined more than 600 Jewish organizations to make a statement that Black Lives Matter. Jewish tradition teaches us that justice is not something that will be bestowed upon us, it is something that we need to pursue, and that the pursuit is itself sacred work. We’ll show up for each other every time one of us is targeted because of our differences, and reject any effort to use fear to divide us against each other.

Read the full statement here.
Service Bulletin and Online Prayer Book
We are introducing several support tools for our virtual worship services to enhance your experience at home including: greeters from our Board, bulletins, and a flip-book prayer book to use during our more formal worship services.

Bulletin

Service bulletins will be attached to the ORbits email. They will include our misheberach–healing list, yahrzeit–memorial list, and community events. Some weeks, especially for our informal services, we will include song lyrics in the bulletin. You may want to print your bulletin in advance or choose to access on another device during the service.

Flip-Book Prayer Book

For our more formal services we will use a flip-book version of our regular prayer book, Mishkan T’filah. The most comfortable way to use the flip-book is to access it on a different screen from the screen you are using for Zoom. For example, access Zoom on your desktop computer and access the flip-book prayer book on your phone or tablet.
- Access the flip-book prayer book here: https://www.ccarnet.org/publications/mishkan-tfilah-for-shabbat/
- Instructions on ‘how to use flip book’ here: https://www.ccarnet.org/publications/how-to-use-flip-books/
- If you already own a copy of Mishkan T’filah, the page numbers will be announced.
Using Zoom for Virtual Events/Services

We know it can be daunting to learn a new application, and we’re trying to make this as smooth as possible! To join a meeting or event on Zoom, click on the link from your computer, smartphone, or tablet – or use any phone to dial into the meeting and enter Meeting ID. If you use a device with a screen, you’ll be able to see as well as hear what’s going on.

Check out this tutorial on using Zoom for more information.
Volunteers Needed for TBO Mitzvah Corps

Temple Beth Or’s Mitzvah Corp has been a hallmark of our community. We are the support system for Temple families in times of need. It takes a village to provide a safety net when something turns your life in unexpected directions due to injury, accidents, health issues, or family upsets, to name just a few. Currently, only a small group of people do all this on a regular basis.

We need more participation from our members in providing help to families who need our support. We all find ourselves in need of support sometime. You don’t need to know the people you are helping, your first introduction to them can be when you are reaching out to provide support. Join us in this critical service to your temple families!

Click here to sign up for our online application that notifies volunteers when our members need meals, home or hospital visits, or check-in phone call connections. You will then get a confirmation request, and that’s it! Please feel free to contact us for help signing up, of to add your name to our volunteer list.
Introducing 'Ten Minutes of Torah' Subscriptions

Did you know that Temple Beth Or and the Union for Reform Judaism are now offering an email subscription to ‘Ten Minutes of Torah‘?

The ‘Ten Minutes of Torah‘ page lists the most recent short and pithy email posts on ‘Reform Voices of Torah’, ‘Celebrating Jewish Arts & Culture’, ‘Pursuing Social Justice’, ‘Israel Connections’, ‘Reform Life, Jewish Life’, and ‘The Rhythm of Jewish Time’.

From there, select, “Sign up for Ten Minutes of Torah“, where you can subscribe to each of these newsletters, which will then be delivered weekly to your email mailbox. Don’t forget to indicate that you are a member of Temple Beth Or, to receive the co-branded TBO/URJ versions of these newsletters.