By , JTNews Correspondent
JFS newborn month
Jewish Family Service is holding several programs for new and expectant parents during the month of April. The first, on Mon., April 12, is Bringing Baby Home, followod on April 13 with the start of a Jewish-based PEPS group for parents of newborns. On Sun., April 18, “Becoming Parents: A Workshop for LGBTQ Couples and Individuals” will explore parenting in that community. Also on April 18 will be “Parenting Mindfully: The Middah of Humility,” which will use the tradition of Mussar to help build up parents’ and children’s character, facilitated by Rabbi Yohanna Kinberg of Temple B’nai Torah and Marjorie Schnyder of JFS. Finally, on Thurs., April 29, “The Only Constant is Change” will show parents how they can help their kids with life transitions, from a new baby to a move to a parent’s job change.
For details, times and costs of all these events, contact Marjorie Schnyder at 206-861-3146 or familylife@jfsseattle.org, or visit www.jfsseattle.org.
Surviving the Holocaust
Hester Kool was 13 when the Nazis invaded and occupied The Netherlands in 1940. Several months later her entire family was deported to Auschwitz. Kool, who never received an order to leave, stayed in Amsterdam for a brief time before her friend Rosa, a member of the Dutch Resistance, helped Kool obtain a new identity and go into hiding with a young family, where for two years she cleaned their house and served as a nanny to the family’s three small children. All the while, she kept a diary of her experience.
Kool will appear at Hillel at the University of Washington’s Yom HaShoah commemoration on Sun., April 11from 5–6 p.m. Contact Robert Beiser at robert@hilleluw.org to RSVP. She will also speak at UW Prof. Naomi Sokoloff’s “Literature & the Holocaust” course on Thurs., April 15 from 2:30-4:20 p.m. at 135 Thomson Hall on the UW campus. Free and open to the public, but space is limited.
S. Seattle Community College Yom HaShoah Commemoration
South Seattle Community College will hold its sixth annual Yom HaShoah – Holocaust & Genocide Remembrance Day on Mon., April 12, from 9 a.m.–noon.
The commemoration honors the great courage and resilience shown by children under the most dangerous and dire circumstances. This year’s event commemorates the lives of the victims and affirms the lives of the European, Cambodian, and Rwandan survivors.
Speakers will be Dr. Philip Wagenaar, a Holocaust survivor, at 9 a.m., Maythia Airhart, a survivor of the Cambodian killing fields at 10 a.m., and Liliane Kamikazi, who survived the Rwandan genocide. At the SSCC Jerry Brockey Student Center, A&B, 6000 16th Ave. SW, Seattle. Contact 206-768-6749 or chjohnson@sccd.ctc.edu, or visit www.wsherc.org. Free and open to the public.
Call for Jewish fabric craft projects
A new book, Jewish Threads, that will spotlight Jewish fabric crafts, seeks submissions of crafts created with spiritual inspiration, such as sewn and knitted tallitot, embroidered and appliquéd tallit and tefillin bags, crocheted yarmulkes, needle-pointed siddur covers, embroidered Torah covers, and more.
The projects in the book will come from people around the world. All projects submitted for the book must be handcrafted Jewish ritual objects, created with spiritual intention.
Anyone involved with Jewish fabric craftmaking is encouraged to submit a project for inclusion in the book. Submissions should include step-by-step instructions for making each project, plus photos, to give readers the tools they need to make these projects on their own. Send stories about the ritual pieces, a jpeg photo, and a brief bio plus a telephone number to jewishcrafts18@gmail.com. The deadline for submissions is July 1.