Rabbi Gary Ellison, who was the rabbi at TBS for 11 years, has offered to teach a 10-part class that he offered at Willamette University for all those who feel they would benefit from an introduction to Judaism course.
If you are interested in this course, please contact Rabbi Eli at rabbi@tbsholom.org.
This class will require a serious commitment from students: $200 for TBS members ($300 for non-members) and attendance at all 10 classes. There will be one textbook (Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, Jewish Literacy, $35 new/$8.50 or more used) required for the course.
Needs-based scholarships will be available upon request.
Class will begin on Sunday, January 27 at 11:00 am.
Every Monday night, come together and study our heritage and Torah. No matter what background or affiliation, join together and let’s unite!
Come and join, bring a study partner or you can request one at https://portlandkollel.org/partners/
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.
In this second of three story swaps, Marc Blattner and Rachel Nelson, of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, and Sankar Raman and Wafa Almaktari, from The Immigrant Project, will share their stories.
The series will conclude March 19 with Stories of Resistance: featuring Mike Murawski, Portland Art Museum, Bobbin Singh, the Oregon Justice Resource Center, and Erin McKee, co-founder of OJRC and co-director of OJRC’s Immigrant Rights Project.
Brown Bag lunch with Shoshana Gugenheim Kedem speaking on In/Visible: Reinserting the Jewish Female Body in Contemporary Art Practice. Through the lens of erasure and invisibility, social practice artist and Torah scribe, Shoshana Gugenheim Kedem, will speak about her own body of work and the critical role it plays in the reinsertion of the female body in traditional Jewish practice and culture. Informed by feminist theorists, Gloria Anzaldúa and Bonna Devora Haberman, Shoshana will draw from her own life experiences and her 25-year career as an artist.
In addition to her socially engaged art practice, Shoshana is an essayist, curator and educator. She is occupied with curiosities about religion and ritual, feminism and patriarchy and systems thinking. She often reimagines traditional or patriarchal practices, primarily but not solely, Jewish ones, reinserting them, with new forms, into their familiar contexts. Some subjects of her work include erasure, branding, citizenship, silence, loss, ritual object, death and dying.
Shoshana was one of the first women in modern times to train and practice as a Torah scribe. Her scribal work inspired her international collaboration, Women of the Book, launched with the Jerusalem Biennale 2015, and is informing her current work on sustainable parchment manufacturing. After 20 years in Israel, Shoshana currently resides with her family in Portland where she is an MFA candidate in Contemporary Art Practice at Portland State University.
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
Monthly Mitzvah Project – March
Each month, the MJCC and PJA communities will collect items for the monthly mitzvah. These projects reflect the Jewish commitment to Tikkun Olam (repairing the world), providing opportunities to give back to our community.
Please drop off items in the blue bin in the MJCC Lobby.
March – Pillows for Purim for Community Warehouse
Brown Bag Lunch Conversation on the life and work of jazz saxophonist Michael Brecker.
In advance of the Portland Jazz Festival’s Michael Brecker tribute show, Saturday, March 2, OJMCHE is proud to host a conversation on the brilliant musical life of Michael Brecker a saxophonist who won 11 Grammy Awards and was among the most influential musicians in jazz since the 1960s. Michael Brecker died in 2007.
This is part of the OJMCHE series of informal lunchtime conversations. Bring a lunch or buy a brown bag lunch in Lefty’s Cafe and join us in the museum’s auditorium for a lively give and take as we share and explore ideas, experience, and expertise.