Passover is one of the most anticipated times of the year in Israel. This festive holiday marks the beginning of spring, and the seder reaffirms who and why we are Jews – even for the most secular Israelis. This year there was an uncharacteristic feeling of anticlimax. Not that Passover was less enjoyable. But the…
When Portlanders enjoy hearing journalist E.J. Dionne at Congregation Beth Israel on May 5, they may recall other speakers in the annual Oseran Family Lecture series. The syndicated Washington Post columnist and National Book Award nominee follows greats including Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon and national correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg….
Come one, come all. The Portland Mitzvah Network’s website is up, running and waiting for you to join. Sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland and developed by representatives throughout the Jewish community, this online, easy-to-use, automated matchmaker provides one-stop shopping for hands- on volunteer opportunities. Visit portlandmitzvah.org and check out the setup. Volunteers…
Having just celebrated Israel’s 65th birthday, I wanted to take you back and remind you about Israel’s symbols – where do they come from and how long have they been around. THE FLAG OF ISRAEL: The official flag of the State of Israel represents the state, its sovereignty, its institutions and its citizens, in Israel…
When Brian Yablon was 8 years old, his father taught him an important lesson: support of israel is not only a matter of words – it is something you do. Yablon, the new chair of Oregon AIPAC, remembers it well. it was 1973. the Yom Kippur War had broken out. the family came home from…
A delegation of 20 Oregonians joined nearly 13,000 pro-Israel political activists attending the 2013 AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, DC, March 2-4. Activists were addressed by U.S. and Israeli government officials including Vice President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer and Israeli Defense Minister…
A project to aid impoverished women and children in rural Honduras is rooted in Oregon. Eugene native Shmuel Rubinstein spent 1998-99 living and working in Israel through Project OTZMA thanks to funding from Jewish Federation of Greater Portland. He says the value of tikkun olam (healing the world), which he learned growing up at Eugene’s…
Realtors know that spiffed-up homes sell faster and for more money, so they sometimes recommend hiring a staging company to spruce them up. But all it takes, really, to vastly improve the look of a home going on the market is some elbow grease, serious decluttering and fresh color. Curb appeal is what gets potential…
The glamorous Art Deco hotel suite in “The Thin Man” long ago caught Eric Friedenwald-Fishman’s eye. He knew the style captured in the 1934 movie starring Myrna Loy and William Powell would one day live on. So as he and his wife, Rebecca, restored their 1909 dream house in keeping with its Arts and Crafts…
A group of teen dancers kneel on the floor, their mouths stretching in a silent scream. They remain motionless in a huddle, conveying the exhaustion of grief, a jumbled mass of dead bodies, or maybe both. Thus ends choreographer Josie Moseley’s compelling memo- rial to the Holocaust, “When I Close My Eyes.” The Portland Ballet’s…
