During this time of uncertainty, support our neighbors who depend on SNAP benefits by contributing to the Bellingham Food Bank.
“If there is a needy person among you … do not harden your heart and shut your hand against your needy kin.” Deuteronomy 15:7
Nearly 15 percent of Whatcom County households depend on food stamps. The Bellingham Food Bank has doubled its weekly food spending in the wake of the government shutdown. Learn more about the Bellingham Food Bank’s response to the crisis and support its efforts here: https://www.bellinghamfoodbank.org/snap-amidst-the-shutdown/
As we prepare to welcome the New Year together on Monday evening, I am filled with excitement and gratitude. The High Holy Days are always a highlight of my year, not only because of their depth and meaning, but because of the way our whole community comes together to make them special.
I look forward to sharing the bimah once again with Andrea Shupack and our wonderful musicians, whose voices and melodies lift us into the spirit of the season. I am grateful for all of our Torah and Haftarah chanters, our shofar sounders, and the many volunteers whose dedication ensures that our services are rich, beautiful, and accessible to all. Behind the scenes, so many hands are working to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere—ushers, our A/V team, office staff, childcare providers, and security personnel who help us feel safe as we gather. These efforts are a true expression of what it means to be a sacred community.
On my part, I am eager to share my Torah with you this year through sermons, teachings, and moments of reflection that I hope will spark connection and meaning. The High Holy Days invite us into both the personal and the communal: to take stock of our own lives, and also to stand together as a congregation, supporting one another in the work of renewal.
Our tradition calls these days yamim nora’im (Days of Awe). They remind us to pause, to notice what truly matters, and to begin again with hope and intention. For me, that awe is always magnified when I look out and see all of you gathered, including multi-generational families, long-time members, and those who are new to our community—all joining voices in prayer and song.
On behalf of my family, I wish you all a Shanah Tovah U’metukah, a sweet, healthy, and meaningful year ahead.
“Nature’s Midrash: Art by Sheila Sondik” will be the fourth exhibition in the Programming Committee’s series showcasing the work of visual artists who are members of CBI. Paintings, original prints, and quilts will be on display in the foyer and social hall September 12, 2025, through February 2026.
The 6:15 p.m. Shabbat service on September 12 will include remarks about Sheila’s art, and we will celebrate the opening of the show at the oneg. A not-to-be-missed exhibition-related event will be a free Artist Talk at 2 p.m. on Sunday, October 19.
The exhibit includes prints produced on an etching press in Sheila’s Silver Beach studio. She works in many printmaking techniques, including collagraphy, etching, monotype, and chine collé. Recently, she has added to her repertoire mokulito, a Japanese wood lithography technique. There are also sumi ink and watercolor paintings on crinkled Japanese paper, as well as the quilts she made for the b’nei mitzvah of her two daughters.
Sheila’s subject matter has always been inspired by the natural world, although she is not interested in replicating what she sees. She also has been greatly influenced by the Chinese Literati painters of the 11th century to the present, who aim not to depict nature realistically, but to filter through their consciousness the landscapes they have observed. Sheila considers her own art — within this tradition of subjective, personal, interpretive expression — to be the visual equivalent of Midrash. She made that connection while recently listening to one of her favorite poets, Alicia Suskin Ostriker, at an online poetry conference discussing her book, The Nakedness of the Fathers: Biblical Visions and Revisions.
Sheila’s art has been shown in solo exhibitions and invitational and juried art shows in galleries and museums in several states, and in Japan and South Korea. Most recently her work was in the 2025 “Women Rising” juried exhibition presented by the Cascadia International Women’s Film Festival in Bellingham, the 2023 Whatcom Museum National juried show, and the 2024 “Ink, Paper, Scissors” three-person exhibition at Dakota Arts Gallery in Bellingham. Dozens of other exhibitions are listed in her resume on her website, https://sheilasondik.com/
One of Sheila’s most influential mentors was her ikebana flower arranging teacher, Soho Sakai. Her critiques were astounding as she walked around the class making the slightest modifications of students’ work — often by removing something — that completely transformed them. Looking at various series of prints displayed on the walls of Sheila’s printmaking studio, it was clear to me how deeply she absorbed those lessons in the power of slight modification.
Sheila is also an award-winning published poet. Her poetry has appeared in CALYX, Raven Chronicles, The Floating Bridge Review, Frogpond, and many other journals and anthologies. Her two chapbooks are Fishing a Familiar Pond: Found Poetry from The Yearling, published by Egress Studio Press in 2013; and Lighting Up the Duff published by The Poetry Box in 2024. Haiku Northwest’s 2024 anthology Glimmering Hour includes both her paintings and three haiku. Links to selected poems are on her website. Perhaps she will read a few poems during her Artist Talk.
As a child, Sheila drew constantly, wrote poetry, and admired her aunts’ paintings and poetry. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, a BFA in Painting and Printmaking from the California College of Arts and Crafts, a Teacher’s Certificate in the floral art of Sogetsu ikebana, and is a longtime student of Chinese calligraphy.
Growing up in Hartford, Conn., Sheila and her family attended a Conservative synagogue. While she and her husband, Dr. Paul Sarvasy, were living in the San Francisco Bay area, they attended Kehilla Community Synagogue. Sheila’s introduction to Bellingham was in 2003, when she attended a retreat of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, held at Western Washington University. Their younger daughter attended Western, and Paul and Sheila followed her to Bellingham in 2008.
Our curator for the exhibition of Sheila’s work is CBI member Inka v. Sternenfels, who has worked closely with Dr. Ashley Mask on previous CBI art exhibitions. Inka worked as Assistant Curator at the Esther M. Klein Art Gallery in Philadelphia, PA, where she started an outreach program for underserved schoolchildren. She also founded and ran the PNI Gallery, in the Philadelphia Inquirer building.
Art displayed during the exhibition series is not for sale through CBI, but if you are interested in purchasing artwork, contact Sheila at ssondik@gmail.com.
The Programming Committee is continuing to contact other CBI artists and scheduling subsequent exhibitions. We know of several artists we hope to include, but with CBI membership expanding so fast we want to be sure we don’t miss someone — so if you are interested in participating please contact the Programming Committee co-chairs: Emily.Weiner@bethisraelbellingham.org and Melissa.Schapiro@bethisraelbellingham.org
As a synagogue community committed to a thriving Jewish homeland for all its citizens, we join countless people around the world in sharing profound sadness and concern over the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, Iran, and Iran’s many proxies in the region. There is no shortage of organizations offering critical emergency aid to individuals and communities in Israel still reeling from October 7th. We stand with Israel and we pray that she will endure and become stronger with our help.
Below is a list of organizations offering assistance to Israel. Please check back as the list may change over time. If you have a suggestion, please email webmaster@bethisraelbellingham.org
ARZA
ARZA is the Zionist arm and voice of the Reform Movement, serving 1.8 million Reform Jews in North America. ARZA’s mission is to make Israel fundamental to the sacred lives and Jewish identity of Reform Jews. ARZA unconditionally supports Israel and champions activities that further Israel as a pluralistic, just, and democratic Jewish state.
BROTHERS FOR LIFE Brothers for Life was created and is run by injured Israeli veterans. They give critical and immediate help to other injured Israeli combat veterans who sacrifice their lives for the safety of the Jewish people, helping IDF veterans reclaim their lives in a way no one else possibly could. https://www.brothersforlife.com/
FRIENDS OF ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES Primary nonprofit organization dedicated to those serving in the Israel Defense Forces, wounded veterans, and the families of fallen soldiers. https://www.fidf.org/
AMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM Your donation ensures Magen David Adom’s 33,000 paramedics, EMTS, first responders, and first-aid providers, volunteers and staff have the training, equipment, and medical supplies they need to treat all injured and ill people in Israel. https://afmda.org/
NEW ISRAEL FUND
The New Israel Fund (NIF) helps Israel live up to its founders’ vision of a society that ensures complete equality to all its inhabitants. NIF’s aim is to advance liberal democracy, including freedom of speech and minority rights, and to fight the inequality, injustice and extremism that diminish Israel.
The hearts from the 240 Hearts Collaborative Art Project are now available to order as prints and greeting cards as a fundraiser for First Line Med, helping provide support for returning hostages and Oct. 7 survivors.
The 240 HEARTS Community Art Project is on display at Congregation Beth Israel since January 2024. The hearts were hand-painted by CBI members and allies to represent the 240 unique individuals who were taken as hostages into Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023.
We are excited to share these hearts with everyone and to share mutual solidarity, grief, and hope. You are welcome to visit the exhibition, which will be on the top floor and on the stairwell leading up to it.
Hanukkah Party, Fourth Night for Others and Candles for sale!
Candle sales
Hanukkah candle sales support our annual Hanukkah Party. Candles are $5 per box. You can purchase a box before and after Kesher or online and pick up from the CBI office. Click here to purchase.
Join us for dreidel games, music, an ugly Chanukah sweater contest, latkes, a soup cook-off and more!
Fourth Night for Others
A Hanukkah Social Action Project Wednesday, December 17 • 6 to 7 pm
Please join the Beth Israel community as we observe Fourth Night for Others, our annual Hanukkah tradition of giving outward.
On the fourth night of Hanukkah , we invite you to pause the gift-giving at home and instead bring a donation (see list below) to CBI to support families in the Bellingham School District through the Friends of the Family Resource Center. Your contributions will help meet students’ and families’ most essential needs this winter.
