Changed August date to: Aug 22nd

Greetings Zoo Minyanites,
after some discussion, the date for the August Zoo Minyan has been changed (due to a Bar Mitzvah in the greater community).

We will now be meeting on Sat. Aug. 22.
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Please adjust your calendars. The Zoo Minyan Google calendar has been updated - and if you are a Google Calendar person, feel free to add the Zoo Minyan Events calendar to your view.

Shavua Tov.

Good ol' fashioned Sat. at Zoo Minyan - July 11th

We'll be gathering for davenning, lunch, shmoozing, singing, etc., this Saturday in Woodley Park at Deborah and Shalom's house.

Volunteers still sought for Zoo Minyan veggies, davenning treats (i.e. Kavanot or creative tidbits, not actual food ;) also Torah Transporter, and davening leaders – write back to info@ZooMinyan.org.

If you'd like to Leyn there's one aliyah left (Revii)...use the self-service leyning spreadsheet to sign up, or email leyning@ZooMinyan.org.


The Details:

Zoo Minyan
This Saturday, Pinchas, 11 July
10am sharp, with a joyous Psukei d'Zimrah
Pot-luck dairy/veggie lunch -- main courses especially appreciated

At the home of Deborah Hittleman Flank and Shalom Flank. For directions, check your Zoo mail, or email info@ZooMinyan.org

Shabbat Shalom, hey!

July 11th - coming soon

Shabbos is coming!

Reb Deb here with a brief reminder that Zoo Minyan will be meeting next week, Parshat Pinchas, July 11th.

(I kinda' wish it was this week so i could drash on Parshat Balak, and use my famous utterance from a Tish preceding a wedding ceremony, where i had the opportunity to shout as the groom spoke about Balak & Balaam, "Tell us about your as&!" (referring to the talking donkey, not groom's backside of course!) Oy!

So, re: Pinchas, come bring your thoughts on Brit Shalom, or on continuity or succession (Joshua & Moses). Or just come for the Ruach and the singing ;)

Leyners, davenners, davenning treats, Zoo Minyan veggies, torah schlepping-- it's all yours for the asking. Just write back to info@ZooMinyan.org. Or for leyning, head to tinyurl.com/leyning to claim your slot.

(location Details in your next Zoo Mail)

Shabbat Shalom!
zoominyan.org

**Afternoon** Sat. June 27 - Seudah Shlisheet / Minchah

Zoo Minyan Sat. **afternoon**
for
summertime Seudah Shlisheet!

Something for everyone -- eating, singing,
brief davenning / leyning, a little learning
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(We've taken two items as a sign - not a lot of Leyners signed up this week, and there's a farewell Community Lunch for Cherrie Daniels & Jeff Fistel (moving to Oslo - she's a diplomat!) in a nearby party room (see Adas Trad Egal Minyan for details if you're interested.)
Now back to Zoo Minyan...
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The Details:

Zoo Minyan
Saturday, SEUDAH SHLISHEET, 27 June
**5pm**, niggunim, noshing, & Minchah
Pot-luck dairy/veggie supper

Last minute volunteers for davenning and davenning treats are all welcome, just write back to info@ZooMinyan.org

At the home of Deborah Hittleman Flank and Shalom Flank in Woodley Park.
For directions, check your Zoo Mail, or write to info@ZooMinyan.org.

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And don't forget to mark your calendars for the fast approaching July 11th Zoo Minyan (Sat.). Grab your leyning slot early, at www.TinyURL.com/Leyning

For more FRIDAY NIGHT INFO, get all the details here. Next Fri night Zoo Minyan - July 24th. And for all the upcoming Friday night dates (through September -- can you believe it?), check the Zoo Minyan Google calendar.

Fri night June 19th - Cleveland Park

Zoo Minyan davenning in the Miller -&- Potluck at Stefan's (Under the Stars)!

'Tis a shabbos for diversity within community. Those who participated
in sunrise services on Shavuot experienced first-hand the ruach of
many Minyanim davenning together.

This week Zoo Minyan will be davenning together with Ruach Minyan
(which started as Van Ness Minyan, and is now housed and blossoming at
Adas Israel). Afterwords we will have a joint potluck in the building
next door, at the home of Stefan. Rumor has it, he'll be hosting us
outside under the stars.

Speaking of Under the Stars -- Zoo Minyan cordially invites people to
mix-and-match davenning and dinner with the broader Adas Israel
community's "Shabbat Under the Stars" (http://adasisrael.org/
newsletter/KesherIshi_ThisWeek.htm#stars), the one-year anniversary of
Rabbi Gil Steinlauf's arrival in our community.
If the early 6:15 dinner doesn't match your schedule, join Rabbi
Steinlauf for davenning on Adas's front porch at 7:30, then come down
to Zoo / Ruach at Stefan's for a pot-luck dinner 8:30ish *after*
davenning. If dinner with the Adas community is appealing, but you
prefer a shomer shabbos space for davenning (no instruments), and/or
nusach shivyoni, then come join us in Adas' Miller Chapel at 7pm.

So come enjoy the cool evening, and see old friends and new friends.

We'll have spirited songful Davenning (in Zoo Minyan Nusach Shivyoni -
adapted language) and delicious dinner. We're still seeking davenning
leaders, and there's always room for davenning treats, special
niggunim, etc., just write back to
Fridays@ZooMinyan.org to volunteer.

NOTE: there will not be catering from Sienna's this week. Please bring
a potluck contribution (veggie/dairy) -- details below.

The Details:
This Friday night, June 19th
Rockin' Kabbalat Shabbat -- 7pm sharp!
----> Miller Chapel, Adas Israel

Followed by pot-luck dairy/veggie dinner, singing, drashing,
shmoozing....(main courses especially appreciated)
----> At the home of Stefan, in Cleveland Park.

For directions, check your Zoo Mail, or write to info@ZooMinyan.org.


+++ ABOUT DINNER - it's a pot-luck!

Don't worry about whether your kitchen is kosher (or “kosher enough”),
everyone gets to contribute. But please be prepared to explain what's
in your dish, to help people avoid allergy or kashrut issues.

If you're worried about whether you'll be able to eat at Zoo Minyan,
there is always a critical mass of pot-luck contributions with a
heksher or cooked in someone's heksher-only kitchen. The challot and
grape juice are always hekshered. And you'll get to know people as you
ask who brought which dish. Questions? Ideas? Want to help? Write back
to Fridays@ZooMinyan.org. Shabbos is coming!

And don't forget to mark your calendars for the fast approaching June
27th Zoo Minyan (parshat Korach!). And feel free to grab your leyning
slot early, at www.TinyURL.com/Leyning

For more FRIDAY NIGHT INFO, get all the details here. And for all the upcoming Friday night dates (through September -- can you believe it?), check the Zoo Minyan Google calendar.

A Moveable Feast of Torah

An idle thought about modern minyanim --

We're not very tied down, at Zoo Minyan and its various havurah-nik and minyan cousins. Last shabbos, we comforably fit a Moveable Minyan into one car-load:

• siddurim (three sets)
  
• chumashim
  
• pews (a half-dozen backjacks)
  
• catering (okay, really just dishes, utensils, etc)
  
• tallesim, kippot, madrich, luach, etc
  
• yad, torah blessings, tikkunim, and torah coverings
  

and most important, a sefer torah!

That's pretty much all we need to have a minyan (besides a minyan, of course). No permanent building, no stained glass and no organ (just our vocal chords), not a lot of paraphenalia and bulk. And of course that's by design -- not just a contrast between independent minyanim vs institutionalized religion, but also an essential aspect of yiddishkeit. Maybe it's a reaction to so many generations living in the shadow of so many exiles, needing the ability to flee and then re-establish a community quickly. Or maybe it goes back even earlier...

We just paused in the midst of our Torah-reading cycle in the middle of Perek Dalet in B'Midbar. We're reading about the duties of the various clans of Levites for moving the Mishkan -- the original Moveable Mishkan. Through forty years of wandering in the desert, and some more wandering even after we arrived in Eretz Yisrael, we had to assemble, disassemble, and re-assemble our sanctuary and altar over and over again. The instructions in these parshiot are detailed, practical, and quite a bit of work! Yet everything was clearly designed for mobility from the beginning, with carrying staves built into various large objects, ballasted foundations to support the erection of anything vertical, etc.

But we interrupted the reading of these instructions this past shabbat with a yontiff commemorating our receiving Torah, which happened even before the Mishkan was constructed. And Torah is the ultimate in mobility. A sefer torah is really the only thing that a Jewish community absolutely must have. And some Torah-learning is really the only thing that a Jewish community must know. All the rest, as it says, is commentary.

So how do we take full advantage of this unencumbered religion? What do we do with this weightlessness of the spirit? At Zoo Minyan, it means we get to bring davenning to your living room (check the calendar for dates that still need volunteers to host!). What are your stories of moveable -- and therefore ubiquitous -- torah?

PS: If you didn't get enough of Megillat Ruth over Shavuos, you can feast on this wonderful reading / drashing by Reb Zalman.

Shavuot at the Zoo

It's the only one-day yontiff of the year, but we've got a lot going on for Shavuot at Zoo Minyan. Check the calendar for details on the Tikkun, starting Thursday night -- until we all reach Sinai and receive the Torah at dawn.

Then sleep to your hearts content on the 1st day of Shavuot, wake up and join us for:

Blintz Fest at Deborah and Shalom's
- 1st Day of Shavuot
- 4pm, May 29

No RSVP necessary.

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Come join Shalom & Deborah for their Annual Shavuot Blintz Fest!
(Fri. 5/29) Come by starting at 4pm.
Blintzes come fresh from Grandma's heirloom blintz pan - you are invited to bring toppings. If you are in the mood, other hekshered potluck items are welcome but certainly not required. Eat bubbelah eat!

Fri. night Davening will follow the Blintz Fest.  It will be both yontiff and shabbos, so there will be an abbreviated Kabbalat Shabbat.  Though since we'll be following the nusach Shivyoni / nusach Sefard minhag, not quite as abbreviated as nusach Ashkenaz -- Ps. 29, 1st two and last two verses of l'cha dodi (no limit on the ya-dai-dai's), and then mizmor shir l'yom ha-Shabbat.

After davenning, we'll have a pot-luck shabbos dinner.  Even if you're stuffed from blintzes, stay, shmooze some more, have a ka-zayit of challah....Unlike the usual Zoo custom, please bring heksher-only pot-luck contributions (if you're not sure whether your kitchen counts as heksher-only, just write back to info@zoominyan.org and ask).

And if we still have any energy after dinner, there could even be a little of learning (a "micro-tikkun"?).  Maybe just some highlights of people's favorite learning from various tikkunim the night before; or if you've got something you want to share, bring it along!