Calendar

Sep
14
Thu
Rivkah & Nica’s Dream Jazz @ The 1905
Sep 14 @ 6:00 pm
Rivkah & Nica's Dream Jazz @ The 1905
Jewish Jazz drummer Rivkah Ross will perform with the all-female Nica’s Dream jazz group.
Rivkah currently sits on the board of Beth Israel’s Jews Next D’or.

Rivkah began to play drums after being inspired by a Sevendust concert in Miami, FL. After a few years of being self-taught and playing in local bands, she attended Broward College in Davie, FL, as a music major and studied jazz drum set and classical percussion. Rivkah played and recorded with a variety of South Florida artists, including Andrew Bayuk, the four-time winner of the American Idol Underground Folk Competition.

In 2008, Rivkah moved to Los Angeles to study drumming at Musicians Institute. While being a student at Musicians Institute, she went on tours around California with Jeff Hershey and the Heartbeats, a 1960’s soul-rock band, and recorded and played with many other local artists. Rivkah opened for Dick Dale, the B-52s, and The New Mastersounds with Jeff Hershey and the Heartbeats. The band went on to complete three European tours, performing multiple dates in Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, and Switzerland. After touring with the band, Rivkah returned to Los Angeles and continued to play and record with two unique all-female jazz bands, Lady Jazz and the Hard Bop Chicks, as well as other artists. She gained an endorsement through Soultone Cymbals while living in Los Angeles, and performed with Stevie Wonder as part of a drum ensemble on Stevie Wonder’s Annual House of Toys at the Nokia Theater. In 2016, Rivkah relocated to Portland, Oregon, where she continues to perform.

Rivkah loves to teach and is a Certified Facilitator for The Rhythmic Arts Project, a non-profit organization that teaches life skills to students with disabilities using hand drums and specialized curriculum. She has worked with students with disabilities, as well as disadvantaged and chronically ill students, and she has a special interest in working with students who face challenges. Rivkah holds a Master of Education with emphasis in Special Education from Southern New Hampshire University.

Rivkah enjoys being out in nature, spending time with loved ones, writing stories, traveling, dancing, hiking, and inspiring and teaching others, especially girls and women, to play drums. Her favorite drummers are Roy Haynes, Cindy Blackman, Terri Lyne Carrington, Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, and Sean Reinert.

Sep
20
Thu
“Why commit suicide? After all, ‘Everything he hated was here!’: Philip Roth and Kitaj on Death, Sex, and Love” Roger Porter lectures on Philip Roth and R.B. Kitaj @ Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education
Sep 20 @ 7:00 pm

Philip Roth and R.B. Kitaj became good friends in London during the ’80s, and the painter influenced Roth in many ways, especially for the title character of Roth’s greatest novel, Sabbath’s Theater. Roger Porter, Professor of English and Humanities, Emeritus, Reed College focuses his lecture on Roth and Kitaj’s shared attitudes, or perhaps those of their characters and their painterly subjects, regarding desire, ecstasy, and the inevitable demise. The title of the lecture is a paraphrase of a quote by the protagonist Sabbath on the last page of Roth’s Sabbath’s Theater.

Mar
10
Sun
Art + Spirit Workshop @ Mittleman Jewish Community Center
Mar 10 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Art + Spirit Workshop

Willa Schneberg, poet and ceramic artist, will join us for a two-hour workshop based on poems by Jewish poets that are in part inspired by biblical texts. Discussion, prompts, visualizations and opportunities to write, sketch, move and imagine will be provided.

Cost: $18.
Tickets: oregonjcc.org/art-spirit

In partnership with ORA: Northwest Jewish Artists

Aug
1
Thu
Art + Spirit Workshop: Entering into the Shiviti @ Mittleman Jewish Community Center
Aug 1 @ 6:30 pm

Art + Spirit Workshop: Entering into the Shiviti

Through the traditional Jewish art form known as the Shiviti, we will study, contemplate and enter into artistic expression. Please bring the medium of your choice — visual and expressive arts, songwriting and composing, sculpture, glass, fabric arts and more. A half-hour talk on the history, mystical practice and examples of traditional and contemporary forms will be followed by Q&A, Shiviti gazing, time to create your own Shiviti art work and debriefing.

Rabbi Dr. Goldie Milgram is an artist, educator, author and spiritual guide honored by the Covenant Foundation and National Jewish Book Council for her innovative programs, books, and resources. Her new book release is Wisdom from Reb Zalman: Embracing the Jewish Spirit (Reclaiming Judaism Press).

Thursday, Aug. 1
6:30 pm

Cost: $18.
Register: oregonjcc.org/artandspirit
In partnership with ORA

Dec
1
Sun
ORA Holiday Art Sale @ Mittleman Jewish Community Center
Dec 1 – Dec 6 all-day

Looking for a great holiday gift? Local artists from ORA will be in the MJCC lobby all week selling all forms of artwork.
Sunday – Friday, December 1 –  6

Dec
14
Sat
Young Family PJ Havdallah @ Congregation Neveh Shalom
Dec 14 @ 5:15 pm – 7:30 pm

Young Family PJ Havdallah

Saturday, December 14, 5:15-7:30pm

Young families say goodbye to Shabbat in our PJs with dinner, stories, art and fun at Congregation Neveh Shalom

$30/family or included with the Shul Pass with RSVP required.

RSVP: nevehshalom.org/pjhavdallah

Please note: Programs are subject to change; please contact the office for more information: 503.246.8831 or visit the website at: www.nevehshalom.org