Eddy Shuldman hopes this year’s Celebration of Art will be a community event. Scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 3, at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center, the ORA-Northwest Jewish Artist’s exhibition will include paintings, beadwork, glasswork, fiber arts, metalwork and photography. The group Eddy and her friend Esther Liberman founded eight years ago continues to be a…
For Beit Haverim student Emily Anderson, who has loved to read since she was very little, figuring out what to do for her bat mitzvah project was easy – she wanted to find an opportunity where she could help at-risk kids with their reading skills. “I thought I’d be helping kids who were at the…
On a recent afternoon, Rabbi Joshua Stampfer made his way to a light-filled classroom in Congregation Neveh Shalom, greeted other members of his study group and opened a volume of Talmud. Everyone turned to page 119b(5) in Tractate Shabbos, but the real topic was “Why was Jerusalem destroyed?” Rabbi Stampfer read aloud, in Hebrew and…
For the past two years, the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland hosted an Israeli shaliach (male emissary) and shlicha (female emissary) to serve the Jewish community. This year the shlicha will be based at the Greater Portland Hillel. Shiran Halfon arrived in Portland Sept. 1, and will be here for a minimum of one year…
The word “agenda” often carries a negative connotation; however, having one is not necessarily sinister. Simply put, an agenda is a well thought-out plan that outlines the steps that will move a person from one point to the next. That’s actually how you get things accomplished. You make a plan; then you work your plan…
I was so foolish. I was sure the English version of a Hebrew recipe for an exotic cauliflower dish was correct. Why would I doubt it? It arrived in the morning paper and looked so appetizing that I decided to drop what I was doing and make it. (OK, so I finished my cup of…
This column on the renewed negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians might seem somewhat detached because I am writing as all of us are preoccupied figuring out if America will attack Syria – and whether Assad, Hezbollah or even Iran will take out their frustration on Israel. The rush that overwhelmed the civil gas-mask distribution…
Not every girl gets to lead services chant the entire Torah portion of the week when she becomes a bat mitzvah. Portland Women’s Tefillah, led by Erica Goldman, has provided that opportunity to girls (and women) of all backgrounds since 1984, when the well-known Jewish educator cofounded the group embarked on what was to become a 30- year…
Say you’re the parent of an 11- or 12-year-old and that bat/bar mitzvah date is looming ever closer. With so many details to cover – sending invitations and tracking RSVPs, making guest arrangements for out-of-town friends and family, keeping track of your child’s progress on their drash and Torah portion, perhaps learning one yourself –…
