Jen and Jonathan united by kidney donation For Jen Feldman, who received a kidney from Jonathan Cohen on April 18, the story is not about her. The story is about heroes like Jonathan and fellow donors, Marshal Spector and Debbie (Danish) Plawner. It’s about normalizing the idea of kidney donation. It’s about creating a ripple…
They promised an eye-opening experience, and they were absolutely right. A tour for the Jewish community of an evolving homeless community provided a positive insight few are privileged to see. Hazelnut Grove, a North Portland village that began as an organized homeless encampment, has tacit support from the city of Portland. The March 12 tour,…
When Linda Cohen decided to do 1,000 mitzvahs to work through her grief over her father’s death, she had no idea the concept would launch her on a career as an author, speaker and kindness consultant. She recently launched “The Economy of Kindness,” a program designed to teach businesses how to cultivate kindness in their…
Jathan Janove has decided to pay it forward and share his Hard-Won Wisdom as a labor and employment lawyer, executive consultant and author to help enhance the leadership skills of executives at local Jewish organizations. His free six-month program kicked off at a luncheon Jan. 30 hosted by the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, which…
Yosef Abramowitz, aka Captain Sunshine, was a member of the negotiating team representing Israel at the 2015 Paris climate talks. Serious business, yes, but he spent much of his time there getting hugged by African energy officials. As the only one of the 50,000 or so attendees wearing a yarmulke, he was easy to spot….
Dry cleaner Brian Olson feels a little slice of Shabbat every time he cleans a tallit – and he cleans a lot of them. For the past four years, Brian has cleaned tallitot for free for Portland-area synagogues. He has done free cleaning for congregations Havurah Shalom, Neveh Shalom, Shaarie Torah and Shir Tikvah. Beit…
Many, many years from now, Andy Olshin hopes his tombstone notes: “He built a thousand homes for the homeless.” To date the coalition he created has built four “safe sleep shelter pods,” which Andy says are “a place to live, but not home. It is temporary shelter.” Two of the mobile shelters have been deployed…
Alexander Millkey, the co-founder of Northwest Forensic Institute, LLC, was obsessed with Sherlock Holmes books as a kid. Maybe that is a clue into his chosen career as a forensic psychologist. He grew up in Atlanta, where he was raised “loosely Jewish” by his Jewish mother and non-practicing Catholic father. His mother’s family has lived…
Strange election provides plenty of fodder for Oct. 26 speaker Award-winning journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, national correspondent for The Atlantic, expects he will have plenty to talk about when he is in Portland Oct. 26. “This is a very strange, unpredictable election, so I imagine there will be stuff happening that day that will warrant comment,”…
During a casual conversation with his father in 1993, Portland neurologist Dr. Richard Rosenbaum suddenly asked, “Dad, how long have you had Parkinson’s?” “What?” replied Dr. Edward Rosenbaum, then 78. He went on to live with the disease for 16 years, dying in 2009 at the age of 94. “He was a physician,” says Richard….
