Monthly Mitzvah Project
Each month, the MJCC and PJA communities collect items for different area organizations in Portland.
In November, we will be collecting holiday gifts for families served by Jewish Family and Child Services. Items may be dropped off in the blue bin in the MJCC Lobby near the Member Services Desk.
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.
This 18-week course is taught by members of The Oregon Board of Rabbis, representing a variety of Jewish affiliations. 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.
Nov. 3 has been named a Solidarity Shabbat to stand together to support and comfort each other and the people of Pittsburgh. Whether you gather in a synagogue, share a Shabbat meal or join in with the community in some other way, we hope we can all come together this Shabbat. Many Oregon congregations plan special programming during or after Shabbat services. Oregon Jewish Life has compiled a list of congregations in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Explore the list here and check with a synagogue near you for Shabbat plans.
POSTPONED: NEW DATE TO COME.
This Sunday Conversation honors the artwork and book, In The Shadow of Death, by OJMCHE Holocaust Speaker’s Bureau member Miriam Greenstein (Oct.21, 1929 – April 2, 2018). Miriam spent time in the Lodz Ghetto before being transported to Auschwitz and OJMCHE’s exhibition The Last Journey of the Jews of Lodz is dedicated to her. Her book, In the Shadow of Death: A young girl’s survival in the Holocaust, is available at the museum’s Ron Tonkin Family Museum Shop.
This program is in conjunction with the exhibitions Memory Unearthed: The Lodz Ghetto Photographs of Henryk Ross, Portland Art Museum and The Last Journey of the Jews of Lodz, Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education.
Rachel Calof’s Story
Follow a dramatized story of Rachel Calof, a Jewish picture bride, as she emigrates from Russia to Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, in 1894, to marry a man she has never met. For four years, Rachel and her husband lived in a 12-by-14 foot shack with her in-laws, her husband’s brother, wife and children, two dozen chickens and a cow. She gave birth to nine children, all of whom survived. She chronicled the story of those years when she was 55 and living in St. Paul. Her manuscript, handwritten in Yiddish, was discovered by her children after her death and eventually published as Rachel Calof’s Story: Jewish Homesteader on the Northern Plains.
The play was well-received in Seattle, and organizers hope the story’s local connection will draw added interest here; Rachel is the great-grandmother to Sue Perkel, local community member.
Cost: $18. Youth Cost: $10.
Register: oregonjcc.org/rachelcalof
Held at Congregation Beth Israel.
Presented by the Mittleman Jewish Community Center in partnership with Congregation Beth Israel.
Get Fit Israeli Dance with Dorice Horenstein
Tuesdays, Oct. 9-Dec. 11 (no class Nov. 20)
Weekly beginning and intermediate level Israeli dance class helps you get in shape, learn new moves, and listen to fun, Israeli music.
$90 for 9 weeks or $12/week drop-in. Contact JoAnn at: jbezodis@nevehshalom.org
- 9:15 am: Beginning Level—learn Israeli dance steps for novice dancers, lower impact workout.
- 10:15 am: Intermediate Level—for those familiar with basic Israeli dance and ready for higher impact workout.
Infant Feeding Support Group
Connect with other nursing parents to share the joys and challenges of breastfeeding. Join the group if you are breastfeeding, formula feeding, pumping, bottle feeding or supporting a breastfeeding parent. Get answers from Lara Greenberg, a board certifed lactation consultant (IBCLC). Healthy snacks and activities for older siblings provided. Five people needed to run class.
Tuesdays,
October 30, November 6, 13, 27. NO CLASS: November 20
Cost: $20 Members + Guests.
Drop-in: $6 per class
Registration information: CG106, oregonjcc.org/registration
Mah Jongg for Beginners
Learn to play this ancient game. It will give your mind a workout!
Registration Information: CG101, oregonjcc.org/registration
Cost: $100. Member Cost: $85.
Mah Jongg for Intermediate Players
Take your game to the next level!
Registration Information: CG102, oregonjcc.org/registration
Cost: $100. Member Cost: $85.