Gov. John Kitzhaber signs HB 4110, a bill introduced by the Community Relations Committee of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland. The bill strongly encourages the Oregon Investment Council to divest from multinational energy companies operating in Iran’s oil and gas sectors. Commenting on the three years of hard work it took to get the…
COURAGE by Zoe Fanning, St. Clare Middle School, Portland, was the Grand Prize Art Winner in this year’s Sala Kryszek Art and Writing Contest of the Oregon Holocaust Resource Center. Fanning was also the grand prize winner for her writing entry, One Word Can Change a Life. Each year the Oregon Holocaust Resource Center sponsors an…
The Jewish Theatre Collaborative presents The Loman Family Picnic by Don Margulies, a hysterically funny drama/musical of a 1960s’ Jewish family coming apart at the seams as they struggle for the American Dream and prepare for their son’s bar mitzvah. It’s 1965. Herbie is chronically overworked and underpaid; his wife, Doris, tells herself she loves…
May 17: Arden and Lois Shenker receive Stampfer Award Arden and Lois Shenker will be awarded the 14th annual Rabbi Joshua Stampfer Community Enrichment Award, May 17, at the Benson Hotel. Created in 1999 to honor Stampfer on the 50th anniversary of his ordination, the award honors an individual, family or organization who has enriched Jewish cultural, educational and/or community life with the…
Even before she became a senior, Store to Door Executive Director Helen Bernstein loved seniors. In 1979, Helen taught the first fitness classes in Manhattan designed specifically for seniors. She later went to the 92nd Street Y as director of the senior adult program. She chaired the Eastside Council on the Aging, a group focused…
Passover has passed. Shavuot is still to come. Food, food and more food! As I sat at my friend’s seder table I was surprised at how different our customs were. We had a roasted shank bone on the seder plate, she used a raw bone wrapped in aluminum foil. We made charoset from walnuts, apples,…
If you ask the average Israeli to describe what Israeli beer means to him in one word, he would probably reply, “Goldstar.” Goldstar is a dark lager beer brewed in Israel by Tempo Industries. The beer is by far the most popular local beer in Israel; in fact, it has 27% of the entire beer…
A few weeks ago, the Sports Center on ESPN’s international channel began a soccer segment with a spot on Portland Timbers fans. Anytime I get a glimpse of Portland from halfway around the world, my local patriotism gets aroused. If it involves sports, the feeling is even more profound (the regular disappointments of the Blazers…
Meira Spivak is trying to solve a major problem facing the Jewish community today – how to reach unaffiliated Jewish teens. As NCSY’s Oregon teen programming director, Spivak is in charge of local Jewish Student Unions – Jewish culture clubs in high schools. JSU has more than 300 clubs across North America and has expanded…
My grandmother used to say that a mother’s wisdom is the world’s greatest gift. Of course, she would often remind me of this right before ‘gifting’ me her advice on everything from the benefits of fiber, to how to keep a husband, to the best way to clean my kitchen floors. In honor of my…
