The annual Portland Jewish Book Month celebration has been expanded this year to reach beyond one book and one month. Events stretch from Nov. 3 into next April, with most events occurring in November and March. Now in the fifth year with Marge Congress leading the effort, this year’s program theme is Many Stories, One…
The Devil in Jerusalem by Naomi Ragen St. Martin’s Press, 2015, Hardcover, 310 pages, $29.99. When two children are brought into Hadassah Hospital with shocking injuries, Detective Bina Tzedek is contacted. The children’s mother, an ultra-orthodox American émigré refuses to answer questions. As Tzedek investigates, the disturbing story of how a charismatic and psychopathic cult…
Portland’5 Presents and Chamber Music Northwest present the game-changing string quartet Brooklyn Rider with Gabriel Kahane in Portland on Nov. 16 in The Newmark Theatre. Hailed as “the future of chamber music” (Strings), Brooklyn Rider performs eclectic repertoire in arresting performances that have attracted legions of fans and rave reviews from classical, world, and rock…
The atrocities of the Holocaust are well documented in memoirs, literature, feature films, documentaries, oral histories of survivors produced by the Shoah Project, music and the staggering paper trail left by the Nazis themselves, which describes in chilling detail the methodologies used and outcomes achieved in their attempts to implement the “Final Solution.” Perhaps less…
Fifth-generation Portlander Carmiel Banasky returns to her hometown this month for a book launch of her debut novel at Powell’s City of Books. The iconic locally owned bookstore is reputed to be the largest purveyor of new and used books in the world – a fitting place for a hometown girl’s local launch. Carmiel will…
The annual Portland Jewish Book Month celebration has been expanded this year to reach beyond one book and one month. Events stretch from Nov. 3 into next April, with most events occurring in November and March. Now in the fifth year with Marge Congress leading the effort, this year’s program theme is Many Stories, One…
Come see the light and explore the work of Oregon Jewish artists on Oct. 17 and 18. The Saturday evening Taste of Art preview party will fill the Mittleman Jewish Community Center ballroom to the max with original works of art, an array of tasty foods and beverages, live entertainment, and a preview and sale…
About a year after his parents divorced, 6-year-old Brian Bendis arrived at the Passover seder clutching his drawing of Spider-Man and announced that he would be “the artist of Spider-Man.” His mother is amazed at how close he came to predicting his future. Today at 48, Brian doesn’t illustrate Spider-Man, but he does write the…
Oregonian oboist Gabe Young performed the “Marcello Oboe Concerto” with the National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institute Orchestra on July 25 on the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage. Gabe, who was born and raised in Ashland, was featured in the April 2014 issue of Oregon Jewish Life (orjewishlife.com/gabe-young-named-national-youth-orchestra). He now attends the Jacobs School of Music…
Jewish Theatre Collaborative’s third Page2Stage season will bring to life a little-known story that reflects Jewish history. Previous Page2Stage seasons have featured settings in Argentina and Israel. This season brings readers and audience members to the gritty landscape of New York City during the turbulent 1920s and ’30s. In the stormy melting pot that was…
