Another season is peeking around the corner and you know what that means … It’s time to shop. Once the essential back to school shopping for erasers, backpacks and socks is complete, it’s time to start thinking about packing up the tank tops and shorts and digging out your favorite comfy sweater and pair of…
Dress for Success Oregon founders Karen Fishel and Barb Attridge met about 25 years ago through Career Maker workshops they each took to explore new career options. For nearly 15 years they have helped about 17,000 disadvantaged women expand their own career options. The initial mission of Dress for Success was to provide low-income women…
Birth Jewish children are given Hebrew names in addition to their English names. The most prominent ceremony surrounding a birth in our tradition is the circumcision of the male child, performed on the eighth day after birth. The ceremony is called a brit milah, which means covenant, harking back to when Abraham entered into a…
During the first 100 years of Jewish life in Oregon, congregations emerged, merged and evolved to meet the ever-changing spiritual, life-cycle and community needs of an increasingly dispersed and diverse population (see the early history, pages 10-14). by the 1960s, Oregon’s synagogues had stabilized to include today’s Congregations Beth Israel, Neveh Shalom, Shaarie Torah, Ahavath Achim…
It’s that time again – time to get back to school! Outside of fall holiday shopping, it’s one of the busiest shopping seasons of the year, filled with sales and savings. So shake off the summer sand from your beach vacations and trade in those flip-flops for back to school styles! My must haves for back…
Polish Jews call it babka; Russians call it baba. But by any name, the delicious yeasted cake was among our grandmothers’ favorites. So, when the Mittleman Jewish Community Center staff chose their home bake-off challenge, they deemed the sweet treat a perfect fit. They posted signs inviting bakers to compete and asked the public to…
A Wish from Your Jewish Fairy Godmother: May you be written into the Book of life for a year of peace, health and wisdom. And may you share that with the world. Dear Helen: It’s the High Holidays again and I feel unsure what to do. I’ve been a secular Jew for decades. I grew…
It’s officially eat-outdoors season – summer is here! Available now are crisp, juicy watermelon, fresh ears of corn, flats of colorful berries and tart rhubarb. Finally, after the long flavorless winter season, we have fruity-sweet locally grown beefsteak tomatoes just waiting to be thickly sliced to adorn a smoky backyard-grilled hamburger or gently layered with creamy fresh mozzarella, tangy…
When it comes to fashion, it should be buyer beware. Trends and a “what’s next” mentality often rule the magazines and style shows’ content, pressing the fashion loving to stay trendy, buy something new and turn a nose up at last season’s “in.” Trends may keep the wheels of the fashion industry moving, but at the helm of every…
Dear Helen: I just volunteered to edit my neighborhood association’s quarterly newsletter. I’ve recently retired and have more time, so thought this might be fun. Wrong! Chasing after people to give information or to write the articles they promised to do is worse than getting paid employees to do their jobs. Everyone gives me their articles late, incomplete, misspelled, with…
