My father was known as Louis Glick in English and Laibl Glick in Yiddish. He was born around 1900 in Meziboz in the Russian Ukraine. When “Fiddler on the Roof ” came out, he remarked that his shtetl, where the Baal Shem Tov developed Hassidism, could well have been the model for the movie. During the first years of the Russian Revolution,…
Sitting in a coffee shop, I ate breakfast with Vera Katz. The only clue I had that she is a self-proclaimed control freak was by how hard it was to get her to agree to meet. It took months. It was on her terms. What I found was an Oregon treasure. Vera is grateful, articulate and exceedingly charming –…
When Sharon Tarlow kicked off Congregation Beth Israel’s needlepoint pillow reunion on April 11, the women involved in the 1974 project gathered around her and smiled. Their handiwork of two dozen chair backs has graced seats along the perimeter and bima of the Byzantine sanctuary for decades. Envisioned by the sisterhood, designed by artist Janet Louvau Holt (then Jansen), and approved…
Renate Dollinger was a landscape painter with a small gallery in Palo Alto, CA, a husband, four children and lots of dogs when, in 1968, at the age of 44, she suddenly turned to painting life in a shtetl. “Cute,” her husband said when he saw the first painting. “Where did that come from?” “I don’t know,” she replied. Here’s what…
Modern Orthodox young professionals ages 26-42 are invited to Oregon June 26-July 1 for Portland’s third MoDox Outdoor Adventure Shabbaton. The first Shabbaton in 2011 drew 56 participants, with 74 young adults turning out in 2012. Portland’s third MoDox Outdoor Adventure Shabbaton already has attracted registrants from Israel, Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, New…
Marketing and dating – they’re not so different! After all, aren’t both of these about clearly communicating with another person in an attempt to forge a relationship? Let me review the 12 most persuasive words used in marketing – discovery, easy, guarantee, health, caring, money, new, proven, results, safety, savings and you – and illustrate…
When word of the Boston Marathon bombing hit the news, it riveted me and a majority of Israelis to the TV and Internet. Beyond the fact that it was clearly an important story and one that needed to be understood, the fact it occurred in the United States, in a location that many Israelis have…
In 1970 American Senator Gaylord Nelson called for a day of protest and learning on April 22, as a response to what he felt was a looming environmental catastrophe. Over 20 million people participated in that event. This year on April 22 the world celebrated the 43rd “Earth Day.” Communities, governments, groups and organizations all…
So maybe polemic is a bit of overkill. Is balsamic battle better? Here’s the thing … my raison d’être for endorsing Israel as a culinary haven has always been the balsamic vinegar story. It goes something like this: “I came to this country 20 years ago and what a gastronomic wasteland! I had to drive…
Ellen Eisenberg, whose interests span everything from Jewish gauchos to Japanese internment, is excited about her newest project: writing about Oregon’s Jewish community from the 1950s on. Eisenberg, the Dwight and Margaret Lear professor of American history at Willamette University, has just been selected to write what could be called “the sequel” or a companion…
