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Fremont Fair's a wrap!

Welcome, Fremont Fair-goers! 🤗 We're happy to have you in the Circle!

Thank you SO MUCH to all the volunteers who stepped up to volunteer with us at the Fremont Fair this year! 🙌 There wasn't a moment that our booth wasn't fully staffed with enthusiastic volunteers, ready to share their experiences and have conversations.

"So, what's next?" you may ask, noticing that our Annual Calendar lists no upcoming events, and our sidebar is empty. 🤔 Don't worry, it's all planned out! We're currently hard at work booking venues, updating the website, updating holiday programs. Here's a sneak peek! (If you met us at the fair, this will look familiar!)

Our next event will be a summer potluck to celebrate our 30th anniversary! We've got a lot planned to make that date special, and more summer programming to follow that. If you're not already subscribed, stay tuned by subscribing to our monthly newsletter!

Excited for what's next? Help us make this possible! Become a member!

Wrapping up 5785!

The last of our holiday events for this Jewish year have wrapped up, and we'll be welcoming summer shortly! A few reminders for the months ahead:

  • Planning for 5786: We wrap up every year with a half-day community meeting to review the past year and plan the next one. As a 100% volunteer-run organization, we invite all existing community members interested in being a part of this planning process join us for our Annual Retreat! 🧑‍🏫
  • Sunday School Early Bird Discount: Once the Annual Retreat wraps up on 6/8, our Sunday School webpages will be updated and enrollment will open for the 2025-2026 school year. Existing students are not automatically re-enrolled! Families that enroll by 7/31 will receive the Early Bird discount (10%) on their oldest enrolled child's tuition. 💵
  • Tabling for 5786: Each year, we table at the Fremont Fair Summer Solstice festival in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle to raise awareness of Secular Humanistic Judaism in our community and build engagement and excitement for next year. If you wouldn't mind sharing your experience with secular Judaism and/or SJC, we'd love your help manning our table at the fair! 🗣️
  • Leadership Change/Call for Volunteers: Our President and Secretary, Jacob Kosman, will be stepping down from his role with the organization following the Annual Retreat. He was a dependable backbone to this organization who will be leaving behind huge shoes to fill. If you're interested in helping us keep this organization vibrant and growing, check out the roles we most urgently need or reach out to offer your support! 🤝

A toasty and contemplative Lag B'Omer!

There was a bit of a scare about rainy weather in the lead-up to the event--we even had the cancellation email drafted--but against the odds, our first South Sound event was not just sunny, but also a ton of fun!

Our Madrikh, Jeff Treistman, led a brief service, where he covered the history of the holiday and shared some relevant readings from notable Jewish humanists, followed by lighting a bright bonfire, around which everyone, both young and old, roasted fresh fruit and custom s'mores concoctions.

Everyone who made it fell in love with the event and are excited to see it return next year. heart

Sadly, this was our last holiday event of the Jewish year (5785), but we've still got a little more for you on the horizon!

Check out our Upcoming Events!

 

A special Yom HaShoah gathering

Yom HaShoah (Jewish Holocaust Remembrance Day) with the Circle was very special this year,  because Seattle's very own Holocaust Center for Humanity is hosting a new, traveling exhibit -- Let Me Be Myself: The Life Story of Anne Frank -- of which SJC is proud to be a Community Partner.

As a community, we toured the exhibit on Thursday, April 24th, and whispers of the tragedy's parallels to our modern day political climate weighed heavy in the air. The story of the The Annex -- of both the eight Jews who were hidden away for over two years and the employees who helped safeguard them -- is a devastating one; no one in attendance left dry-eyed.

However, underpinning this, and many other Holocaust stories, is the fact that countless lives were rescued, or kept alive much longer than the Reich wanted, thanks to the bravery of both victims and allies. Anne's story is hard to revisit, but must inspire us to strive to be that neighbor who is willing to hide the persecuted when the oppressors come knocking.

If you missed our visit to the exhibit, but still want to check it out, you're in luck! The exhibit is in town through May 31st!

Reserve your tickets today!

With spring comes renewal... 🌸

SJC hosted its annual Secular Humanistic Passover Seder on Sunday, April 13th at a new venue with a refreshed, even more inclusive Haggadah! 🍷 The venue unfortunately did not allow candlelighting, due to all the historical murals in the hall having been recently restored, but fortunately, we had a young Hogwarts witch in attendance who knew alohomora and could magically light up everyone's tables!

Thanks go out to everyone who made this event so special: Education Director Deirdre O'Dwyer and longtime member Tina crafted artistic, floral centerpieces for the tables, Madrikh Jeff Treistman's spouse volunteered to lead all the singing portions of the Haggadah, and longtime volunteer Dana graciously volunteered to manage the chaotic trash/recycle/compost organization and disposal at the end of the event, to name just a few Huge Helpers. And as always, we can't forget to thank everyone who arrived early to help set up, who stayed late to help clean up, and who contributed to the potluck! These events don't happen without you!!

Want to ensure we can continue to host secular humanistic Jewish cultural events like this around the 'Sound? Consider volunteering with us! We have several roles we're looking to fill urgently!

Get involved with SJC today!

 

A Successful Purim Party! 🎭🎲

Thanks to all who attended our first self-hosted Purim event since the pandemic! Inline with this Hebrew year's event enrollment trends, registrations again exceeded expectations! (And honestly, attendance pushed the occupancy limits of the space we'd rented...!)

Our Madrikh Jeff Treistman gave a contextual, humanistic history of the holiday, our Education Director Deirdre O'Dwyer manned a noisy (and delightfully messy!) grogger painting station, and attendees of all ages participated in a live spiel recounting the classic tale. Huge thanks to all the brave kids who stepped up to participate, and to all the adults whose enthusiastic performances kept the spiel engaging and lively for everyone!

 

Happy New Year, Trees!🌲

This year's Tu Bishvat ceremony and environmental action event was a huge success! SJC and Mitzvah Secular Sunday School families met up at the Kingfisher Natural Area in North Seattle on Sunday, February 9th to do some good in our community.

Our ordained Madrikh, Jeff Treistman, led a brief standing seder over light snacks of trail mix and juice, followed by a tree-planting ceremony. Typically, this is the only tree we are able to plant at this event, given Seattle's typical frigid January/February weather, but the weather was so uncharacteristically fortuitous that day that we were actually able to permit attendees to plant many of their own trees as well! Following the holiday programming, GSP's trained steward Rick Swing led some invasive species removal and planting of new, native plantlife in the natural area.

Coming up in March, we'll be hosting our own Purim event for the first time in years, and it's bound to be a ton of fun for all ages! We went with a "game night" theme for this year. Save the date!

Get involved with SJC today!

 

Mon, 7 July 2025