Rosh Hashanah (Oct. 3-4, 2016) On Rosh Hashanah the sound of the shofar announces the arrival of the High Holy Days, or 10 Days of Awe that stretch from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah celebrates the creation of the world, but it is also a solemn day of reflection. The blasts on the…
After 64 years, the Oregon Board of Rabbis held a short ritual ceremony July 24 to close the Portland Ritualarium (aka Portland Community Mikvah), which has served the full spectrum of the Jewish community for 64 years. The Jewish Federation of Greater Portland in partnership with the Oregon Board of Rabbis and others is building…
The first Oregon Jews, who came from Germany in the mid-1850s, often lived in other places in America before finding their way out West. Many of them were merchants who helped build a strong Jewish community – founding synagogues, schools, social and charitable organizations and welcoming waves of other immigrants, refugees and survivors who would…
The Israel Philatelic Agency of North America will be representing Israel Post at the American Philatelic Society Convention in Portland Aug. 4-7. The show is free. A limited number of the special Sheetlet issued for the World Stamp Show 2016 in New York will be available for sale. Also on sale will be stamps on…
Photo by Eden Swartz The Oregon Jewish Community Foundation named Steve and Elaine Kantor as the 2016 OJCF Legacy Society Honorees, and recognized their leadership and generosity at the foundation’s Annual Meeting and Reception on June 15 at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center. Foundation President-Elect Steve Laveson, and others, honored the Kantors, noting their considerable…
More than 150 people filled the Ashland Community Center on June 19 to witness a Jewish scribe slowly ink the last 20 of the Hebrew letters on the Torah scroll with a turkey feather. Every letter of a Torah scroll is exact just like it was received by Moses on Mount Sinai. It is artistically…
In the week following the shooting that killed 49 and injured 53 patrons of a gay nightclub in Orlando, Portland congregations and rabbis reacted to what was reportedly the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. Several congregations, including Havurah Shalom and Congregation Neveh Shalom (above), and Congregation Beth Israel, marched in the June 19 Portland…
PHOTOS: Left, Kathy Davis-Weiner presents an award to Jemi Kostiner Mansfield. Right, guest speaker Rabbi Jonathan Porath with incoming JFGP Board Chair Ed Tonkin. The Jewish Federation of Greater Portland’s 96th Annual Meeting on June 8 began with a moment of silence for the victims of the terrorist shootings at the Tel Aviv Mall earlier…
Food, fun and friendship were on the menu at Cooking “Salsa” – Kosher in PDX on June 2 and 5. Venezuelan Chef Karen Balbas provided step-by-step instructions and tastings of sangria, datiles con marconas, tortillas espanolas, empanadas gallegas, and churros y chocolate. Salsa dance lessons followed the cooking lesson both days. Held in a private…
On the day the Portland State University student senate planned to vote on a resolution for PSU to divest from specific companies doing business with Israel, Jewish students invited the community to attend an Israel Fest to celebrate Israel. On June 6, 150 students, community members and families with kids gathered in the PSU Park…
