This summer, P’nai Or is taking it outside! Please join us at 6 pm on Friday, Aug 24 at Wilshire Park (NE 33rd & Skidmore) picnic area for a very joyful, very musical Kabbalat Shabbat with Bruce Morris and friends. We’ll start with a bring-your-own-picnic at 6 pm, then the service will start around 6:30. We will also offer our Community Food Program distribution prior to the service. See you there!
From award-winning novelist and memoirist Mary Morris comes the story of a sleepy New Mexican community that must come to grips with a religious and political inheritance they never expected. Morris is the author of numerous works of fiction, including the novels The Jazz Palace, A Mother’s Love, and House Arrest, and of nonfiction, including the travel memoir classic “Nothing to Declare: Memoirs of a Woman Traveling Alone.” She is a recipient of the Rome Prize in literature and the 2016 Anisfield-Wolf Award for Fiction.
Her novel alternates between late medieval Spain and Portugal during the traumatic time of the Inquisition, and a very small town in New Mexico in 1992. The modern New Mexican characters are Catholics with peculiar habits. Nobody in town eats pork but they don’t know why. It is likely they are the descendants of conversos, Jews who converted during the Spanish Inquisition. The story weaves a connecting thread from the Iberian Peninsula to Mexico City and then on to the original settlers who moved into what is now the American Southwest. Five hundred years later, a young amateur astronomer wonders about the secret of the town he grew up in: Entrada de la Luna, or Gateway to the Moon.
Morris’ previous work, The Jazz Palace, won the Anisfeld-Wolf Book Award for important contributions to the understanding of racism in 2016. She also writes short stories and travel memoirs. Her many novels and story collections have been translated into six languages. She lives in Brooklyn, New York and teaches writing at Sarah Lawrence College.
Doors open at 4:00 PM to meet and greet the author. A one-hour author reading and discussion will follow beginning at 4:30 PM. Light refreshments will be served. Admission is free.
Co-sponsored by the Beit Am Jewish Community and the MJCC. Grassroots Bookstore will be there with copies of the paperback edition of Gateway to the Moon for sale and author signing.
From award-winning novelist and memoirist Mary Morris comes the story of a sleepy New Mexican community that must come to grips with a religious and political inheritance they never expected. Morris is the author of numerous works of fiction, including the novels The Jazz Palace, A Mother’s Love, and House Arrest, and of nonfiction, including the travel memoir classic “Nothing to Declare: Memoirs of a Woman Traveling Alone.” She is a recipient of the Rome Prize in literature and the 2016 Anisfield-Wolf Award for Fiction.
From award-winning novelist and memoirist Mary Morris comes the story of a sleepy New Mexican community that must come to grips with a religious and political inheritance they never expected. Morris is the author of numerous works of fiction, including the novels The Jazz Palace, A Mother’s Love, and House Arrest, and of nonfiction, including the travel memoir classic “Nothing to Declare: Memoirs of a Woman Traveling Alone.” She is a recipient of the Rome Prize in literature and the 2016 Anisfield-Wolf Award for Fiction.
Sunday, April 7: Serve Meals at Oregon Food Bank
At Portland and Beaverton Locations
Space is limited. Pre-registration required by April 4.
Shifts are 1:00 – 3:30 pm.
Please RSVP to Lenny Steinberg at lsteinberg@oregonjcc.org with your full name, email address, preferred location and any guests that will be joining you.
Check out all of our volunteer opportunities for Good Deeds Month: HERE
Sunday, April 14: Passover Box Assembly
At the Mittleman Jewish Community Center
Event schedule (shifts):
8:00 – 9:00 am: Setup and build boxes
9:00 – 11:00 am: Pack boxes
10:30 – 11:30 am: Send off drivers to deliver boxes
RSVP by emailing jonperrin@gmail.com with the following information:
- Do you want to build boxes/help with setup, pack boxes, or deliver boxes?
- How many people will be helping, including total number of adults and children.
- If you choose to deliver, how many boxes can you take in your vehicle? (boxes are approximately a 2 ft cube)
Check out all of our opportunities to participate in Good Deeds Month: HERE
Sunday, April 28: J-Serve Project
J-SERVE Project: Houseless Community in PDX
At Agape Village
Time to be determined. J-Serve is a teen initiative supported by BBYO open to 6th – 8th graders.
Registration opens April 1.
SAVE THE DATE. Check back for more details for this project, as well as other opportunities to participate in Good Deeds Month: HERE
Sunday, April 28: Beautify Grounds of Oregon Holocaust Memorial
At Washington Park
Space is limited to 20 people per shift. Pre-registration required by April 26.
Shifts are 9:00 – 11:00 am, and 12:00 – 2:00 pm.
Register for this event here.
In partnership with the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education.
Check out all of our opportunities to participate in Good Deeds Month: HERE
MJCC Author Series Events 2019-2020
Film Screening and Conversation with Author Aimee Ginsburg Bikel
Join us for an engaging evening featuring a screening of legendary Theodore Bikel’s z”l critically acclaimed documentary film, In the Shoes of Sholom Aleichem, followed by a lively audience discussion with Aimee Ginsburg Bikel, widow of Theo, and Director of The Theodore Bikel Legacy Project.
Monday, October 28
7:00 pm
Cost: $10. MJCC Member Cost: $8.
Register: oregonjcc.org/bikelfilm
Co-sponsored by the Kostiner Cultural Education Fund and Portland State University’s Judaic Studies Department
Talk with Jamie Bernstein
Join us for a talk with Jamie Bernstein on her memoir, Famous Father Girl, in conjunction with the exhibition Bernstein at 100! and Jewish Book Month. Jamie Bernstein is a writer, narrator, broadcaster, and filmmaker who has transformed a lifetime of loving music into a career of sharing her knowledge and excitement with others.
Monday, November 11
7:00 pm
OJMCHE Members Cost: $12.
General Public Cost: $15.
Register: ojmche.org/tickets/a-talk-with-jamie-bernstein
Held at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education
Organized by the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education with support from the Mittleman Jewish Community Center and Institute for Judaic Studies
SAVE THESE AUTHOR SERIES DATES FOR 2020!
January 15 – Josh Frank
May 5 – Yousef Bashir
Check back for more details, soon to come!