During the month of April, the MJCC and PJA communities will be collecting toiletries and new underwear for Portland Homeless Family Solutions. Items can be dropped off in the blue bin located in the MJCC Lobby.
A PDX Art Display: People from the Greater Portland area submitted photos they took while traveling in Israel. Visit this exhibit the week before our annual Yom Ha’Atzmaut Celebration on April 18. Vote for your favorite photo in the MJCC Lobby!
Winners will be announced April 18 at our celebration.
Exhibit on display in the MJCC Lobby.
Sponsored by Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, PJ Library, Institute for Judaic Studies
Yom HaShoah, Jewish Remembrance Day, memorializes the millions of victims of persecution and mass murder during the Holocaust. On Yom HaShoah, in the nation of Israel, air raid sirens blow throughout the country, announcing two minutes of silence, during which Israeli Jews stand wordlessly in place – traffic stops, pedestrians stop, all join to remember the dead. Here in Portland – as in Jewish communities around the world – we gather to read the names of the men, women, and children murdered by Nazi Germany and its European collaborators between 1933 and 1945. On Yom HaShoah we read aloud names of those confirmed to have died in the Holocaust. There is no definitive list of those who perished. The list we read here in Portland is comprised of names archived at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust remembrance center in Jerusalem.
Memory, remembering, memorializing – these are practices anciently familiar to Jews. During Passover we remember the exodus from Egypt; at Shavuot in mid-June, we will remember the giving of the Torah to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Jews have a 4,000-year-old history and we continue to survive, in part, by remembering our history through a variety of narratives. Remembering the Holocaust is yet another traditional way to save history from oblivion.
Chaja Brajtsztajn died 1942 Treblinka; Beryl Solowjczyk died Wilna 1942; Rywka Fyhrer died Auschwitz 1943; Rachela Szucht died Warsaw 1944; Lina Stern died 1944 Theresienstadt. Throughout our Remembrance Day members of the community – dignitaries, clergy, and people like you and me – will read these names out loud in Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square. One cannot help but reflect on the once living spirit and body of these lost individuals. Some names sound familiar and others seem like a cluster of consonants that we can barely pronounce. But though we didn’t know them personally, they belonged to our family, and we miss them. Is the obligation to mourn them any different than that of any other family member?
Everyone has a story to tell and every story is unique, interesting, and special. In this workshop you will have an opportunity to write your story in a supportive, noncritical atmosphere. Dorothy Dworkin, an experienced author, columnist, and writing coach, will offer prompts and suggestions to get you started on writing your stories.
Every Thursday April 5-May 3. Class on April 19 will begin at 12:00 pm.
Class is located in Ballroom A.
Class size is limited to 12.
Mar: Passover Torah; Apr: Jewish perspectives on Gun Control.
A monthly discussion covering a wide range of topics that will draw on our experiences.
April’s Topic: Jewish Perspectives on Gun Control Held in the Cafe at the J
Free and open to the community.
In partnership with Congregation Neveh Shalom
Judaism; Essential Spiritual Practices, Rituals and Ethics Class
Rabbi David Zaslow, Cyrise Beatty Schachter, Rabbi Sue Morningstar and guest teachers present an eleven-week series of classes at the Havurah Synagogue – Judaism; Essential Spiritual Practices, Rituals and Ethics. Classes will be held beginning on Thursday, February 1 from 5-6 PM for eleven weeks. Online streaming is available for those who are unable to attend at this time – a code will be given upon registration. Pre-registration is required by calling 541-488-7716. Class fee is $50-$90 sliding scale. Please call for more info. The Havurah is located at 185 N. Mountain Ave. in Ashland.
Weekly learning and discussion with Rabbi Emeritus, Daniel Isaak.
Join Mel Berwin for uplifting learning and conversation – all levels welcome!
The State of Israel is one of the most important aspects of the global Jewish experience and identity in recent history. And yet it is also one of the least discussed in Jewish community. This meeting is the first step toward creating a space at TBS where we can openly discuss our feelings about, aspirations for and experiences of Israel; a place where we can learn and grow, openly engage, and build trust and community around our relationship(s) to Israel, its place in the Middle-East and the world, its past and its future. No previous experience or knowledge is necessary; you are welcome here.