Willa Schneberg teaches (guides) a six-session overview of “Literature of Modern and Contemporary Jewish American Women Writers” through Literary Arts’ Delve Seminars begins Sept. 17.In this seminar, we will discuss the “other” Jewish American writers — not Bellow, Roth, Pinsky or Chabon, but work by Jewish American women writers who have created a different canon. We will discuss work by Susan Sontag, Cynthia Ozick, Adrienne Rich, Marge Piercy and others arguably of their stature. These Jewish women writers are not defined by the Jewish male writers’ gaze. They do not perpetuate stereotypes of the Jewish mother as martyr, or as the controlling Jewish woman. They are writers who may be mothers or child-free, partnered or not, straight or non-heterosexual, observant or secular, of Ashkenazi, Sephardic or Mizrachi backgrounds. We will explore the particular light Jewish women writers shine on the American Jewish experience and why their profound contributions to literature have often been overlooked.
READING LIST:
I, Etcetera: Stories by Susan Sontag
Cannibal Gallery by Cynthia Ozick
Split at the Root: An Essay on Jewish Identity by Adrienne Rich
He, She and It by Marge Piercy
A Few Words in the Mother Tongue by Irena Klepfisz
The Moon is Almost Full by Chana Bloch
Divinity School by Alicia Jo Rabins
Paper is White by Hilary Zaid
Getting Home Alive by Rosario Morales and Aurora Levins Morales
Willa Schneberg is a poet, ceramic sculptor, interdisciplinary artist, photographer and curator. She is the author of five collections and received the Oregon Book Award for In the Margins of the World. Her poetry and visual art have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including American Poetry Review, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review and the Tikkun anthology.
Join us on the first Wednesdays of every month from September to June for Chai Baby Indoor Playground, with kosher snacks, storytelling, friends and fun!
For parents/caregivers and their children up to 5 years old.
Chai Baby resumes Wednesday, September 4, 2019.
2019-2020 dates held on the First Wednesday of each month (with the exception of January, when it is Jan. 8):
September 4, 2019
October 2, 2019
November 6, 2019
December 4, 2019
January 8, 2020
February 5, 2020
March 4, 2020
April 1, 2020
May 6, 2020
June 3, 2020
In partnership with PJ Library, Chai Baby, Portland Jewish Academy
Come study and discuss the Bible with Rabbi Isaak at Neveh Shalom.
This 18-week course is taught by members of The Oregon Board of Rabbis, representing a variety of Jewish affiliation. A carefully constructed curriculum includes Jewish history, life cycle events, holidays, ritual and daily practice, theology, study of Torah and contemporary Jewish America. While not a conversion class, most OBR members consider it a prerequisite for students beginning study for conversion. Classes 7-9 pm, Thursdays, at rotating Portland area synagogues. Register here, https://oregonboardofrabbis.org/introduction-to-judaism-class/
Torah Troop for 3rd-5th Graders
1st and 3rd Shabbat every month at 10:00am
Torah Troop allows families at Congregation Neveh Shalom to move into the main sanctuary while still enjoying youth-oriented activity. At 10:00am, families meet in the main service. After the beginning Torah service, youth join their friends for a lesson on the Torah portion (parsha) of the week with adult leaders, and come back to help lead the Adon Olam at the end of the service.
As always, we end with our community for lunch!
In spite of our increasingly connected world, we find more an more that people are retreating into themselves. How can we overcome our inner loneliness and reach out to HaShem in a world where people feel increasingly isolated?
A Shabbat Teshuva Drasha with Rabbi Brodkin
Join Shomrei Teva for our annual Tashlich hike in an old-growth forest. We’ll learn and use Jewish nature prayers followed by a Tashlich service along the banks of the beautiful Sandy River. Meet at CNS at noon to carpool or at Oxbow at 1pm. Dress for the weather and bring water and a snack. Given the season, we may even be able to find spawning salmon! Good for all ages, but dogs aren’t allowed in the park. RSVP to Yaakov Epstein, yaakovm@comcast.net, 503-245-6580.
This event is free with museum admission, free for members.
4 Days in Clint is a firsthand account of what Willamette Law professor and international children’s rights expert Warren Binford discovered when she and her colleagues walked into the Clint Border Patrol Facility on a routine monitoring visit outside of El Paso, Texas, in June 2019. Over the course of four days and through interviews involving approximately 70 children, the team came to realize that hundreds of children were being unlawfully warehoused by the US government in a state of filth, hunger, sickness, and sadness, without any meaningful adult care. Some children reported being assaulted by Border Patrol while many reported being forced to sleep on concrete floors, including infants and toddlers, in overcrowded jail cells, a loading dock, and a windowless warehouse. Professor Binford will explain what had changed in their observations about the government’s treatment of the children in its care that compelled them to go to the media for the first time in 22 years of Flores monitoring visits. Professor Binford will explain the legal framework that applies to migrant children in custody, highlighting both the legal violations by the US government, as well as the loopholes that need to be closed to ensure the humane treatment of children, and how the average U.S. resident can help. Professor Binford’s talk will include direct quotations from the children’s sworn declarations to ensure that their voices and stories are known to and amplified by the American public.
Warren Binford is Professor of Law and Director of the Clinical Law Program at Willamette University. An internationally recognized children’s rights expert, Professor Binford was invited by legal counsel in Flores v. Barr to help conduct a series of site inspections of especially concerning government facilities where migrant children have been detained since 2017, including the former Wal-Mart, the Tornillo tent city, and most recently, the Clint Border Patrol Facility, among others. Professor Binford was selected as both a Fulbright Scholar in 2012 and the inaugural Fulbright Canada-Palix Foundation Distinguished Visiting Chair in Brain Science, and Child and Family Health and Wellness in 2015. She holds a B.A., summa cum laude with distinction, and an Ed.M., from Boston University, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Gates of Light: A New-Old Approach to Torah and Kabbalah
Jewish mysticism helps us understand the Torah, the world, and ourselves. Delve into the core teachings of the majestic Kabbalistic tradition. Red bracelets aren’t going to do it – dig deep into the texts and into ourselves. Join Rabbi Joshua Rose for a look into the book Sha’arei Orah – Gates of Light.
Monday, September 9
Monday, October 7
Monday, November 4
Monday, December 9
2:30 – 3:25 pm
Free and open to the community.
In partnership with Congregation Shaarie Torah