Eugene resident Joseph Lieberman was raised in a kosher home in Boston, Mass. He's visited 55 countries on 6 continents, written 8 books, and published over 700 articles. Contact: gone2oregon@yahoo.com
You could say that Jewish Eugene’s newest spiritual leaders, Rabbi Ozer Moszkowski and Rebbitzen Leah, were fated to come to Oregon together. As infants in South Africa, their mothers were close friends living one apartment building apart. When Ozer was just 3, his family announced they were moving to England, causing a tearful goodbye between…
Maybe growing up in a seriously Jewish home leads some people to take refuge in a life of comedy. Or could it be that laughter has been the greatest cure for all the trials and tribulations Jews have endured throughout history? Whatever the reason, our tribe has certainly contributed more than its fair share of…
International traveler, leather virtuoso, philanthropist and entrepreneurial innovator Will Adler dared to dream big. During the past two decades, the Jewish CEO and founder of Will Leather Goods has brought those dreams to fruition in Eugene and Portland, as well as in four other U.S. cities, and soon, overseas. A one-time Shakespearean and Hollywood actor,…
In a lucid dream that occurred a few days before the first anniversary of his mother’s passing, Eugene harpist David Helfand answered a phone to hear his mother say, in a voice gravelly from disuse, “Hey, Sweetie! It’s been quite a trip!” He then entered into a conversation with her until his own voice got…
After being crushed by the Nazis and further diminished by Soviet-era communism, it hardly seems likely that Warsaw, Poland, could nourish anything resembling a thriving Jewish community today. And yet, support for Jewish culture is emerging from some very unlikely sources. Last summer, Eugene’s Rabbi Boris Dolin and his wife, Sarah, left Oregon to accept…
On Oct. 7, I traveled to Roseburg to attend the memorial service for Professor Larry Levine, who at 67 was the oldest person murdered during the Oct. 1 massacre at Umpqua Community College. I’d been invited by Larry’s sister, Joanne Press, in company with Eugene’s Or haGan Rabbi Jonathan Seidel, who presided over the event….
Rabbi Boris Dolin has leveraged his considerable contributions at Temple Beth Israel in Eugene to embark on an exciting new opportunity in Warsaw, Poland. The native Oregonian received a job description from a progressive synagogue in Warsaw in early June; he was intrigued, but not sure he and his family could handle such a big…
William Shakespeare lived in a time when Jewish people in England were still very much outsiders. Works like “The Merchant of Venice” reflect that, yet Shylock’s famous “If you prick us, do we not bleed?” speech demonstrates the complexity of The Bard’s sensitivity to the Jewish situation. What’s never been in dispute is Shakespeare’s genius…
This summer will see major transitions in the rabbinical staff at Temple Beth Israel in Eugene. A fresh new face will appear in the person of Rabbi Ruhi Sophia Motzkin Rubenstein, a musically gifted social activist from Saratoga Springs, NY, and a recent graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Rabbi Ruhi Sophia has signed on…
Earlier this year, Jewish philanthropist Jordan Schnitzer opened another exhibition of works from his collection at his namesake Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene. A UO alumnus, he started contributing art to that institution as soon as he graduated. The Portland native recently sat down with OJL to…
