Support the MJCC and PJA communities by donating books for our annual Used Book Sale.
Book Collection Drive: January 14 – March 15. Donate your used books to the MJCC. Drop off at the front desk. Need a pickup? Email pjabooksale@gmail.com to schedule pickup. No encyclopedias, please.
The Book Sale will be at the MJCC March 31 – April 2
Free and open to the community.
Chag Purim Sameach
Happy Purim!
The CST Sisterhood Needs Your Help This Year!
Our Sisterhood is about to embark on the annual hamentashen baking and sale. We have customers from all over Portland who buy these tasty treats and in turn Sisterhood funds many wonderful aspects of our community. Our hardworking bakers are about to start a multi-week process that will eventually make about 30,000 hamentashen! This is a wonderful, community-building endeavor.
Jobs include: rolling dough, shape balls of fruit, knipping the edges of the hamentashen (the best part!), egg washing, baking, packing and more. It’s great fun, and a great community builder. Everyone is invited to help, including children 12 and over.
Lunch is provided free for all volunteers each day of baking. We have aprons available in our kitchen; feel free to bring your own apron if you’d like. Questions? Email sisterhood@shaarietorah.org.
JAM Art Show + Sale
March is Jewish Arts Month but the show starts in late February! Enjoy a rotating exhibit in the MJCC lobby. Members of ORA: Northwest Jewish Artists will answer questions, accept commissions, and sell their art. A portion of the proceeds benefits the MJCC.
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
OJMCHE looks back at the determination, resilience, and leadership that have brought Portland’s Conservative congregation through 150 years, preserving tradition while embracing modernity.
In 1869 a group of Polish and Prussian immigrants settled in Portland and founded the city’s second synagogue, Ahavai Sholom, blending traditional religious practices with modern American customs, struggling to find stability in their early days. Three decades later a group of Russian immigrants faced the same challenges when they founded Neveh Zedek Talmud Torah. The two congregations eventually merged, becoming Neveh Shalom in 1961. Always ready to adapt and innovate, today the congregation stands at the forefront of social justice, carrying forward the Jewish values which light their way.
The exhibit gives visitors a view into the history of Neveh Shalom, highlighting some of the events and people who shaped its growth, drawing personal connections between devotion to tradition and the progressive outlook which has characterized the congregation from its very beginning.
CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION ON THE ISRAEL360 TALK at Neveh Shalom March 12.
Mel Bochner: Enough Said from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation
Mel Bochner (b.1940) consistently probes the conventions of painting and language. Bochner’s text-based works will be on view.
From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundations, this body of recent works, 2007-2018, challenge audiences to reflect on the nature and structure of everyday language. Curated by Bruce Guenther, adjunct curator for special exhibitions, the exhibition explores language as image and idea through Bochner’s long-held interest in complex printmaking techniques.
“Bochner’s historic use of language and words as both a linguistic system of inquiry and as a formal visual vocabulary of his painting practice has found new focus in the last decade through the artist’s intense engagement with printmaking and his exploration of the relationships of words as image, text, voice and thinking,” says Guenther. “He plumbs English and Yiddish for language’s power to establish identity, to command respect, or to attack in works of unpredictable emotionality and humor.”
“Mel Bochner is one of the most important conceptual artists of our time. His word art makes us smile, laugh, frown and jeer – but always forces us to think,” says Jordan D. Schnitzer. “He seduces us with emotions, words and phrases that we all have used. Whether we laugh or frown experiencing his art, we are forever moved.”
Born in 1940 to an Orthodox family in Pittsburgh, the artist attended Hebrew school and was exposed to art early through his father, who was a sign painter with a workshop in the family’s basement. Displaying an early talent for drawing, Bochner participated in the Carnegie Museum of Art’s innovative children’s art classes, eventually winning a scholarship to Carnegie Melon University.
ojmche.org
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.
Nosh + Drash with Rabbi Eve Posen
A monthly discussion covering a wide range of topics that draw on our experiences.
Thursday, January 10
Topic: Parshat Bo – What does it Mean to Walk into Freedom?
Thursday, February 14
Topic: Different Learners, Different Temperaments: A Rabbinic Perspective on Recognizing our Strengths and Weaknesses
Thursday, March 14
Topic: TBA
Free and open to the community.
In partnership with Congregation Neveh Shalom
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