During the month of May, the MJCC and PJA communities will collecting Canned Fruit for Shavuot for Neighborhood House Food Pantry. Items can be dropped off in the blue pin located in the MJCC lobby.
Join us for a bonfire, art projects, music & dance, rustic pita making, active games, an Israeli shuk and – of course – goats! All are welcome (kids ages 0-12 and parents). FREE. No RSVP required. Contact JoAnn Bezodis for more information.
Top presenters from the three Abrahamic faiths will discuss friendship, dialogue, and pluralism in their respective traditions.
Learn to play this ancient game. It will give your mind a workout!
Every Tuesday morning from April 25 to May 23.
Register: oregonjcc.org/register; CG301
Sculpt your body with this new class that combines powerful yoga poses with light weights, therabands and exercise balls to increase strength, tone muscles, and improve flexibility.
Instructor: Tara Atkinson
Wednesdays, April 5 – June 7
Register: oregonjcc.org/registration Code: FIT308
Rabbi David Zaslow will teach a six-session class based on his newly published book “Reimagining Exodus; A Freedom Story.” The biblical Exodus is the most influential liberation and freedom story ever told. It has served as both an inspiration for Puritans, American revolutionaries, abolitionists, Mormons, the modern civil rights movement, and revolutionaries the world over. Participants will not only learn how the story has been used historically by non-Jews, but how in Jewish tradition the Exodus has also been applied to the individual life journey with its enslavements, challenges, liberations, and revelations. This groundbreaking course explores the Exodus as the intersection of this foundational story for Judaism and Christianity.
Fee: $70, including text. Dates: March 29, April 5, 12, May 10, 24 and 31. Wednesdays, 5-6:15 PM. Pre-registration required by calling 541-488-7716.The Havurah is located at 185 N. Mountain Ave. in Ashland. Call 541-488-5146 for more info.
Join as we celebrate Jerusalem Day!
Free
The Ten Commandments are just about everywhere in modern America: in houses of worship and private homes, on the street, the subway and even the interstate. How and Why is the subject of this illustrated talk by the distinguished historian, Jenna Weissman Joselit, author of Oxford University Press forthcoming book, Set in Stone: America’s Embrace of the Ten Commandments. Join us as she takes the measure of these ancient dos and don’ts and their hold on the American body politic.
Join us for a fun, introductory Israeli dance class. All levels are welcome. Six people needed to run class. Every Wednesday from April 19 to June 28.
Note: No class May 31
Register: oregonjcc.org/registration; CG300
Please join us for this ongoing series about Israel. The topic for May is “Sharing Life Stories: Bridging Our Perspectives on Israel.” The discussion will be facilitated by Israeli Elad Vazana.
Elad is in Portland through May, after which he returns to Israel where he is a Tour Guide for Social Change,Program Developer and Leadership Trainer, and Mediator and Dialogue Facilitator.
Elad’s family is here while his wife, Iris Erez, is an artist-in- residence at Reed College for the spring semester. They will return home to Israel, where Elad guides multi-narrative tours for
social change.
“For 15 years, I have cooperated with diverse Middle East organizations creating and leading successful, person-to- person engagement of Arabs and Jews,” says Elad.
In Portland and the Pacific Northwest, Elad is offering speaking engagements and workshops for quality listening and experiencing that “an enemy is one whose story we have not heard.”
Elad speaks from Israeli experiences growing up the son of Moroccan immigrants and as an IDF tank commander carrying pains of war. Drawing on those experiences, he facilitates empathic
interfaith and cross-cultural, trust-building workshops and tours.