In November 1940, days after the Nazis sealed 450,000 Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, a secret band of journalists, scholars, and community leaders decided to fight back. Led by historian Emanuel Ringelblum and known by the code name Oyneg Shabes, this clandestine group vowed to defeat Nazi lies and propaganda not with guns or fists, but with pen and paper. Now, for the first time, their story is told. Based on the book by Samuel D. Kassow, Who Will Write Our History mixes the writings of the Oyneg Shabes archive with new interviews, rarely seen archival footage, and stunning dramatizations to transport us inside the Ghetto and the lives of these courageous resistance fighters. They defied their murderous enemy with the ultimate weapon—the truth—and risked everything so that their archive would survive the war, even if they did not. With narration by Academy Award winner Adrien Brody and Academy Award nominee Joan Allen.
About the Archive: In 1999, three document collections from Poland were included in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register: the masterpieces of Chopin, the scientific works of Copernicus, and the Oyneg Shabes Archive. The Oyneg Shabes Archive is the richest cache of eyewitness accounts to survive the Holocaust. Despite its importance, the archive remains largely unknown outside academic circles. The theatrical release of Who Will Write Our History is about to change that.
Co-presented with the Portland Art Museum, Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, and Institute for Judaic Studies. Presented as part of International Holocaust Remembrance Day in partnership with UNESCO, World Jewish Congress, USC Shoah Foundation, Emanuel Ringelblum Institute, and YIVO.
Mah Jongg for Beginners
Learn to play this ancient game. It will give your mind a workout!
Tuesday Mornings
10:30 am – 12:30 pm, CG200
Cost: $100. Members: $85.
Register: oregonjcc.org/registration
Mah Jongg for Intermediate Players
Take your game to the next level and become an expert!
Tuesday Afternoons
1:30 – 3:30 pm, CG201
Cost: $100. Members: $85.
Register: oregonjcc.org/registration
Family Stories with storytellers Gail Mandel of Oregon Jewish Community Foundation and Freda Ceaser and Gary Cobb from Central City Concern.
Everyone loves a good story and in 2019 with the help of storyteller Cassandra Sagan, Maggid-Educator, OJMCHE is going to be storytime headquarters. Cassandra will be working with community members from across cultural and social service agencies to polish their stories for sharing and the audience will also have the opportunity to share in an open mic segment. The series includes Immigration Stories, Family Stories, and Stories of Resistance.
Israeli Dancing
Join us for a fun, introductory Israeli folk dance class. All levels are welcome. Six people needed to run class.
Wednesday Evenings,
Dec. 26 – Feb. 27
Cost: $100 Members + Guests.
Drop-in Fee: $15 per class.
Registration information: CG105, oregonjcc.org/registration
Seniors and young families enjoy an inter-generational celebration of stories and songs each Thursday.
Join Kim Schneiderman for this weekly inter-generational story hour for young families with music, PJ Library books, and the residents of Cedar Sinai Park.
Come study and discuss the Bible with Rabbi Isaak at Neveh Shalom.
INTRODUCTION TO JUDAISM CLASS
Winter/Spring 2019 Session begins January 17. 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, course fee $360 includes class materials. Register online or contact JoAnn Bezodis, Class Facilitator, at 971-248-5465, or by email at info@oregonboardofrabbis.org. Website: http://oregonboardofrabbis.org/introduction-to-judaism-class/
Education Administrator
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!
Talk with Esther Podemski following the screening!
Tracing the history of an old family photograph, the filmmaker, Esther Podemski, travels to Poland with a group of her parents’ contemporaries. Fifty years after surviving the Holocaust, the elders return to their hometown, Poddebice, to conduct a memorial service in the Jewish graveyard. They find an empty field, marked by a lone tablet, the only testament to the history of this place to survive the wartime desecration. In the nearby city of Lodz , we meet Layb Pradskier, custodian of the immense, crumbling Jewish cemetery. Here we discover that all that remains of the once several hundred thousand strong Jewish population of Lodz is a handful of aging Holocaust survivors. Lodz, and indeed all of Poland, exemplifies the success of the Holocaust; Poland is all but totally cleansed of Jews. A montage of historical images, snapshots, and archival music, together with new location footage, House of the World moves between personal accounts of Jewish Poland and historic events.
Esther Podemski is a filmmaker and visual artist whose works have been exhibited in galleries, film festivals and academic venues. House of the World, her documentary about the aftermath of the Holocaust, was shot in Poland and has been showcased in European and American art centers and festivals, including Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, Lincoln Center, and Los Angeles International Jewish Film Festival.
The screening is in conjunction with Memory Unearthed at the Portland Art Museum and Last Journey of the Jews of Lodz at OJMCHE.