For the past two years, the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland hosted an Israeli shaliach (male emissary) and shlicha (female emissary) to serve the Jewish community.
This year the shlicha will be based at the Greater Portland Hillel.
Shiran Halfon arrived in Portland Sept. 1, and will be here for a minimum of one year and possibly through the 2015 school year. Shiran will spend a majority of her time interacting with students at Portland State, Lewis & Clark and Reed College. The remainder of her time will be spent on community-wide engagement, with a particular focus on planning the annual Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration.
“Shiran will focus almost all her time on college students, hoping to help our students learn more about Israel and be proud of Israel. She will work to engage students. She will work with mostly Jewish students, but also help us to partner with many groups on campus,” says Rachel Hall, executive director of Greater Portland Hillel.
Born and raised in Shoham, Israel, Shiran worked for “Hamesh” — The Municipal Corporation for Culture, Youth & Sport LTD, which operates all informal education and cultural services provided in Shoham. Her job included coordinating partnerships between Shoham and Westchester, NY, and Shoham and Venezuela. She managed and operated the partnership projects as part of the “Shutfut 2000” program of the Jewish Agency For Israel.
On her application to become a shlicha, Shiran wrote: “Throughout the past year as the coordinator of Shoham’s partnership, I was further exposed to the world of informal Jewish education and was ‘captured.’ After leading a few youth delegations, I looked for the next step in this world, how I can further impact and strengthen the connection between Israel and Jewish people around the world. I see it as a great privilege to be a part of this world of shlichut.”
In Oregon, Shiran Halfon can be reached at shiran@pdxhillel.org.
