SHAVUOT: JUNE 8-10, 2019 Shavuot commemorates the anniversary of the day G-d gave the Torah to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai. Traditions on Shavuot include all-night study of the Torah on the first night, reading the Book of Ruth and hearing the Ten Commandments in synagogue. By Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael The…
Photo courtesy B’nai B’rith Camp By Jane Larkin Shabbat at camp is “cool” and adds a sense of sacredness to the camp experience. My son just returned from his second summer spent at the Union for Reform Judaism’s Greene Family Camp. While Sammy is glad to be reunited with his puppy, he misses his other…
ABOVE: Rabbi Joshua Stampfer, right, and Rodney Page, former executive director of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, are planning a new interfaith effort to combat hatred, poverty and other injustices. Photo by Deborah Moon BELOW: Rabbi Joshua Stampfer at Congregation Neveh Shalom c. 1960. Courtesy of Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education: OJM09392 Shortly…
PHOTO: PJA student Liana Kressel with Wholistic Peace Institute Executive Director Nancy Spanovich and event guest speaker Rabbi Arik W. Ascherman. By Elana Cohn-Rozansky First there was a letter. Next was a play. Then there was a friendship. Portland Jewish Academy seventh-grader Liana Kressel fondly remembers the first note she received from her pen…
By Ellen Rifkin In an Israeli children’s story, a Bedouin girl sits tall on her camel, leading her community to an oasis during Ramadan. Her grandfather, their former leader, has just died; when the mourning period concludes, his “she-camel” kneels before Fatima, indicating her destiny. Fatima is prepared. Riding alongside her grandfather during this…
