Nava Brief-Fried of Leelach.com is dedicated to connecting women from Israel to women around the world through the fashion and design found on her website. Currently living in Nachlaot, Nava is a college student studying communications and Jewish art at Bar Ilan University. Her husband, Yehoshua, recently finished his army service and now studies computer…
During its first century, Portland’s Jewish Community Center met varying social, cultural, educational and recreational needs of Oregon natives, successive waves of immigrants and transplants from other communities across America. As the Mittleman Jewish Community Center enters its second century, it must meet the needs of a population that continues to shift and evolve. The…
In 1910 three men filed articles of incorporation for “The B’nai B’rith Building Association.” They had a grand vision. The aim was a campaign to establish “a building which is to be made a centre of Jewish communal activities” – with seed money to come from selling 2,500 bonds at $10 each. They wanted the…
Eat your vegetables! A plea to young children, a demand to teenagers, who would skip straight to dessert if allowed, and a reminder to all of us that a steady stream of vegetables in our diet is just a darn good idea. I love to begin a meal with a fresh and tasty salad. Plain…
First and foremost, J Street founder and President Jeremy Ben-Ami wants everyone to know that “We believe in the right of the Jewish people to a national homeland in Israel, in the Jewish and democratic values on which Israel was founded, and in the necessity of a two-state solution.” Ben-Ami and Carmi Gillon, the former…
My mother-in-law, Tamar, was born in Shiraz, Iran. Along with her parents and siblings, she made the long and dangerous journey to Israel in 1951, arriving at the age of 12. Although she rarely has the opportunity to speak her native Farsi, she is still fluent and follows Iranian events closely, both in the mainstream…
Israel is in mourning. On Nov. 26 Arik Einstein died at the age of 74. And I honestly think Israel has died a little too. Arik Einstein was part of my reason for coming here and making Aliyah. He was a nuanced symbol of the Israel I so loved in the early ’70s. I didn’t…
A Portland teen’s d’var Torah on marriage freedom has gone viral, getting more than 100,000 hits in its first two weeks online. Duncan McAlpine Sennett, who became a bar mitzvah at Congregation Beth Israel on Nov. 9, delivered his d’var Torah about parashat Vayetzei, which details Jacob’s marriage to Leah and Rachel. Duncan notes that…
Congressman John Lewis, representing Georgia’s 5th District, will be the featured guest speaker at Congregation Beth Israel’s annual MLK Shabbat service, at 6 pm, Jan. 17. Since 2007 Beth Israel has collaborated with local African American communities to present this lecture and Shabbat service honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The son of Alabama sharecroppers,…
Solomon Olshin’s bar mitzvah project started in the kitchen almost a year ago. “SoupSac is something my dad and I made up,” Solomon explains. His personal project has turned into a series of Congregation Beth Israel events, beginning with serving more than 300 meals on Martin Luther King Day 2013. While he will become a…
