Paul Norr and Helaine Gross, members of Congregation Neveh Shalom, were perplexed by the kitchen in their 1924 Ladd’s Addition bungalow. They’d remodeled it themselves twice during the 35 years they’d lived there, but now that they were older, and their son, Aaron, was grown, their home had become the gathering place for family events…
Dear Helen: I recently broke up with my boyfriend of five years. We met freshman year, dated all through college and the first year of relocation and jobs. We lived together for the last two. I got a big promotion and he was in a dead-end job. I watched him become increasingly depressed, angry, jealous…
Congregation Beth Israel’s young adult group Jews Next Dor uses social action to help community members feel engaged. Elisheva Cohen, the current chair of Jews Next Dor, says the group has been growing rapidly over the past few years. “There seems to be a strong desire among young Jews in the area to meet and…
Are you MoDox? If you don’t know what MoDox means, you’re not alone. The latest slang word is a hybrid of Modern and Orthodox and helped Jodi Berris attract a hip, fun-loving demographic of Jews to her Outdoor Adventure Shabbaton. More than 74 Jews from around the world came to Oregon to hike, eat and…
I grew up at Leo Baeck Temple, a large Reform community in Los Angeles in the 1970s and ’80s. Then, as now, Leo Baeck was a hotbed of social action. Our founding rabbi, Leonard I. Beerman, was a compelling speaker and a brilliant orator who wove current events into his sermons like the blue threads…
Holly Witte says she was clever enough to marry a winery. Jim and Holly Witte, the husband-wife team that runs A Blooming Hill Vineyard outside Cornelius, deliver prize-winning pinot noir, pinot gris, chardonnay, riesling and other blushes and blends. Like the 1960s CBS sitcom Green Acres, where Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor traded New York…
Dear Helen: I’m once divorced, then single six years after another long-term relationship in which I repeated all the mistakes of my first. Now that I’ve taken the time to do my emotional homework, I’m ready for something healthier and happier. I’ve made “The List” for what I want in my next (and hopefully last)…
Every day you hear about a 100th anniversary commemorating this or that. It’s the smaller blocks of time though – the decades or quarter-centuries – that truly impact us. With all the celebrations of her 32-year career at Congregation Beth Israel over the past nine months and with preparations for a final party in late…
Fashion and fun don’t always go together in the Pacific wind and rain. In fact, getting motivated to wear anything besides athletic wear can be a style puzzler. So, what is the Northwest Fashionista up against? A closet full of clothes with nothing to wear; and how does she define the trends and translate “In…
Passover is one of my favorite holidays. I spend days before our Passover Seder rendering chicken skin for the schmaltz in my matzah balls, and slowly poaching homemade gefilte fish. I gather all the necessary items for the Seder plate and look forward to gathering with my family, reading the Haggadah and recalling the story…
