Throughout the month of October, the MJCC and PJA communities will be collecting Reading Glasses for Street Books. Items can be dropped off in the blue bin located in the MJCC lobby.
Jewish photographic documentarian Jono David showcases 59 images from his 4-year project documenting Jewish life, culture, and history in 30 African countries and territories. The exhibition features numerous anecdotal narrations and “Jewish African Voices” — video commentaries from people across the Jewish African world.
Exhibit displayed October 2 – December 31
Join other families for prayer, singing, conversation and fun followed by an indoor picnic style lunch.
The Jewish Genealogical Society of Oregon invites you, your family and friends to its upcoming program on two topics – Ellis Island Name Change Myth & “Finding “Waldo” At Ellis Island presented by Joel Weintraub
Ellis Island Name Change Myth
The idea that inspectors at Ellis Island regularly Americanized immigrant names is a persistent myth. We will investigate the evidence that should exist (it doesn’t) to confirm the story as fact, and why name changing at the station was improbable given how immigrants were processed. The history of this immigration station, the types of people who passed through their doors, the legal documents (including their name) they came with, and station detention documents generated for about 1/6 of them, will be discussed with actual examples. Note: be prepared to avoid deportation by Inspector Weintraub.
Finding “Waldo” At Ellis Island
Using a case study, we will show how nine different strategies can be used to find the immigration record of an elusive immigrant to Ellis Island. For those who still cannot locate Ellis Island immigration records of their ancestors, this talk may provide some approaches you might not have tried. The difficulty of providing accurate indexes from transcriptions of ship manifests is a major problem associated with many of these strategies. We will see how well you do as a transcriber of manifest names.
Bio: Joel, a New Yorker by birth, is an emeritus Professor at California State University Fullerton and won awards for his science teaching. He volunteered for nine years at the National Archives and Records Administration. Joel created search tools for the U.S. and New York City censuses that are freely available on the Steve Morse “One-Step” website. He and Steve are currently developing locational tools for the 2022 release of the 1950 federal census. Joel has written and talked on NYC and Federal census research, immigration and naturalization, Ellis Island, biographical research, and Jewish genealogy topics.
Join friends for an evening of great food, schmoozing, singing and storytelling!
Cost: $15 per family
Register: oregonjcc.org/sukkah, Please register by October 4
Free and open to the community
In partnership with PJA
Learn to play this ancient game. It will give your mind a workout!
Register at: www.oregonjcc.org/registration
Registration code: CG 100
The MJCC presents four Israeli films Tuesday nights in October! A discussion will follow each film.
Yolki Palki: A documentary about the Russian community in Israel today – their successes and personal stories. The film is filled with interesting people who talk about their memories of Russia, the anti-Israel lessons, and the reasons that they left. They look back with humor on the difficulties of their aliyah and laugh at their mistakes in Hebrew.
Per film: $8. Member Cost: $5
Film Series Pass: $20, Member Cost: $12
Register: oregonjcc.org/film
In partnership with IJS
Sign, Sing & Play (ages 9 months-approximately 2.5)
EACH class offers a chance to learn and discover for you and your child and also includes numerous strategy tips, ideas and specific demonstrations of how to teach certain signs- especially abstract ones which are more challenging to teach without proper guidance.
Registration code: CG103
Register at: www.oregonjcc.org/register
Music, Movement & Signing for preschoolers (ages 2-5)
Little movers and shakers ages 2-5 and their caregivers will sing, dance, hear stories and learn some sign language in this lively interactive class.
Cost: $15/family
Register at: www.oregonjcc.org/registration
Registration code: CG104
Join us for a fun, introductory Israeli dance class. All levels are welcome. Six people needed to run class.
10 week class
No class on 11/22
Register at: www.oregonjcc.org/registration
Registration code: CG 101