PHOTO: Eddy Shuldman and her parents at her bat mitzvah (1966). OJM 07171 The tradition of girls having bat mitzvah ceremonies in the United States is relatively new. Bat mitzvahs weren’t customary until the 1960s, and it took until the 1980s for it to be commonplace for girls to read from the Torah. The…
Staff at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education have spent the past six months settling into their permanent home in the Pearl District – and that means filling the new positions that come with the larger building. For the museum’s education department, that means finally hiring a full-time educator and filling an…
Hillel at the Oregon State University is finally off the ground thanks to a grant that has funded a part-time position for a staff member on campus. Until winter term began in January, a staff person from Hillel at University of Oregon would shuttle between Eugene and Corvallis, bringing limited programming but also a growing…
At the Oregon Holocaust Memorial, the young and old collide regularly. School groups and organizations tour the memorial each fall and spring. They are led by volunteer docents, who have memorized a script of important points, putting their own personal spin on it. For Harold Lesch, 64, serving as a docent is a hobby. He’s…
For playwright Andrea Stolowitz, weaving pieces of history into a story is what she does best. So when she came across her great-grandfather’s diary in 2013 at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum archives, she knew she had to weave it into a play that could be performed for a larger audience. Andrea, who lives in…
Portland theatergoers will have the opportunity this month to learn more about the remarkable life of Golda Meir, the iron-fisted fourth prime minister of Israel. The fearless leader is being played by Portland actress Wendy Westerwelle in Triangle Production’s “Golda’s Balcony.” The one-woman show explores how Golda found her voice and the courage to become…
For Seth and Debbie (nee Stone) Reder, a spontaneous and career-oriented trip to Israel turned out to be romantically life-changing. Seth, who was raised in Boring, OR, recalls meeting Debbie on the flight to Israel. Both were participating in a MASA Israel Teaching Fellows program, where they would live and work in Netanya for the…
Ten years ago, it was just gaining traction. Then it became a trend. But today taking a gap year between high school and college is the norm. Teens who choose not to go straight to college have dozens of options for what to do with their time. Some travel, some work and some join programs…
Many children in both Nogales, Arizona, and its sister city Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, would not recognize a tennis court, let alone know the rules of the game. For Charlie Cutler, a former professional tennis player, the goal is to change that. Charlie grew up in Portland, Oregon, attending Havurah Shalom where he became a bar…
For two Portland philanthropic couples, the Portland Jewish Academy’s annual auction in December is a time to come together and invest in Jewish education. Jay and Diane Zidell and Steve “Rosy” Rosenberg and Ellen Lippman say they view Jewish education as vital for the future of Jewish people. Both couples have matched Mitzvah Moment donations…
