Katie Elliot, lead teacher at The Gan-Garrett Jewish Preschool in Vancouver, WA, is sold on the importance of Jewish education – even though she herself is not Jewish. Judaism, she says, brings so much meaning to early childhood education. “The children have opportunities to practice compassion, kindness and charity,” says Elliot, whose master’s thesis focused…
It seems like summer just arrived here in the Pacific Northwest, yet another school year is just around the corner. Each year Multnomah County Health Department and other community organizations gear up to support children, families, schools and communities to keep kids healthy in school so that they can learn and thrive. Supporting kids in…
Adults enroll in diverse education programs to enhance their professional life, enrich their cultural literacy, explore new interests or simply to keep their minds active and growing. The Internet has created a new avenue for learning at all those levels. “The changing nature of work in the 21st century requires a continuous cycle of training…
Parents of eighth-graders take note – fall is the time to consider where your son or daughter will attend high school next year. “High school is not that much different from college admissions,” says Meade Thayer, executive director of Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools. “Be aware of timelines each school has and make sure…
Portland Jewish Academy Principal Merrill Hendin is looking forward to a banner year. “We still have enrollment coming in, and we are in a very good spot,” she said, just days after returning from a mid-summer vacation. Portland’s flagship Jewish school will have about 190 kindergarten through 8th-grade students when classes start after Labor Day,…
When the first Jews arrived in Oregon in the 1850s, congregations weren’t far behind. In the more than 150 years since, synagogues have multiplied, grown and evolved to meet the ever-changing spiritual, life-cycle and community needs of an increasingly dispersed and diverse population. The first Jewish pioneers arrived in the state in the 1850s and…
Help Oregon Food Bank to celebrate 25 years of world-class blues and fighting hunger. Volunteer at the 2012 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, presented by First Tech Federal Credit Union, July 4-8. Owned and operated by Oregon Food Bank, the festival is not only the biggest blues festival west of the Mississippi, it’s also Oregon Food…
Newly ordained Rabbi Rachel Joseph aims to “connect young Jews to something greater” when she assumes the position of assistant rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel on July 1. CBI leaders had identified the need for an assistant rabbi when the congregation exceeded 825 families. Senior Rabbi Michael Cahana explains, “We wanted every family to have…
Hot on the heels of their success with the interactive A-B-See-Do exhibit at Israel’s Diaspora Museum, Tamar Hadar and Efrat Adiv came to Portland to share their vision of the future of children’s museums at the 2012 Association of Children’s Museum Conference held in Portland this year. The two women presented a lunch program at…
More than 300 people turned out June 3 to honor 18 women at the Jewish Women’s Round Table’s annual Song of Miriam Award Brunch to celebrate the contributions volunteers make to Jewish organizations. JWRT President Ellen Beck thanked the record crowd for honoring “those who do so much for our community.” “Without their continuing commitment…
