At Temple Beth Sholom in Salem, two students who became b’nai mitzvah in August followed their passions to meaningful mitzvah projects. For his bar mitzvah project, Parker Mills worked to raise awareness about and money for Yismehu, a Salem-based nonprofit organization founded by TBS member Joan Myles that provides free Jewish learning to blind and…
Many students are required to complete a mitzvah project, but the challenge is in finding a project that will be meaningful and truly connect the students to a great cause in Israel. We spoke with Michael Leventhal, executive director of the Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind. He says, “Many students are drawn to…
Let’s face it, there are few things women have in common as I must admit, although I’m not a very active universal as food, figure and finance. Or, put a bit differently: person (my most common activity is fingers melt, svelte and gelt. Obviously there are more important flying across the keyboard), when I do…
Joseph Berman and Michael Galen met in Beth Israel’s Sunday school about 20 years ago, were in the same bar mitzvah class and continued at Wednesday night school through high school. They played together in the jazz band at Sunset High School before heading off to their respective colleges. In 2012 the two reunited and…
Normally Dan Fields spends his days dreaming up ways to get visitors swept up in the world of Disney. But this month, he has turned his attention to engaging people in the wonderful world of Jewish Portland. Now the executive creative director at Walt Disney Imagineering Creative Entertainment, the Portland native is returning to his…
The Robison Jewish Health Center is its official name, but almost everybody still calls it “The Home.”They probably don’t mean “home, sweet home,” but rather “the old folks’ home.” Though highly regarded by health care professionals, grateful families and dedicated donors, very few people are likely to say, “Goody! I get to go to The…
Dear Helen: I’m a really good writer. Not the Great American Novel kind of writer, but a knock out answers on a job application, write a cover letter that’ll land a job interview, kind of good. Over the years I have helped friends get jobs and then their children with college essays. I’ve learned to…
Dear Helen: Recently the sister-in-law of a good friend/neighbor woke up (in L.A.), did her morning rituals, went to work, and while seated at her desk in the shop she and her husband owned, was struck by a truck doing 90 miles an hour that plowed into their new building, seriously injuring her and three…
Dr. Dale Oller never thought about the mikvah outside of one Neveh Shalom Sunday school field trip. Life went by, marriage, children, medical school, her psychiatric practice, and then one New Year something changed. “Only after reading an article in a Jewish Women’s Magazine from Mayim Hayyim, the Mikvah project in Boston, did I find…
It has often been said that we eat first with our eyes. Whether we actively think about it or not, our senses play an important role in the food we choose to eat, even before we take our first bite. A simple breast of chicken served poached and pale becomes far more appealing when presented…
