Residents of Oregon come from many places and often leave family behind. While Passover is traditionally a “home” holiday, congregations realize there are many who do not have family nearby or who would just like to celebrate with their larger community family. Here are some options (Note: Many seders offer scholarships for those unable to…
In celebration of the fifth annual National Day of Unplugging from sundown Friday, March 7 to sundown, Saturday, March 8, the nonprofit Reboot is asking individuals and families to reconnect with each other by putting down their smartphones, tablets and computers for 24 hours. The NDU has roots in the Jewish tradition of the Sabbath,…
During its first century, Portland’s Jewish Community Center met varying social, cultural, educational and recreational needs of Oregon natives, successive waves of immigrants and transplants from other communities across America. As the Mittleman Jewish Community Center enters its second century, it must meet the needs of a population that continues to shift and evolve. The…
This month Oregon Jewish Life looks at education and the impact good schools and good teachers can have on children. An excellent teacher influences a child’s life long after the school year ends. A 2012 study by professors at Harvard and Columbia tracked 2.5 million students over 20 years, from fourth grade to adulthood. It…
Local artists and art lovers alike eagerly anticipate the annual Portland Open Studios tour, which takes place during the second and third weekends in October, but probably no one is looking forward to it more than Diana Unterspan. Unterspan is a fiber artist who works primarily with wool and silk to create both decorative and…
Eddy Shuldman hopes this year’s Celebration of Art will be a community event. Scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 3, at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center, the ORA-Northwest Jewish Artist’s exhibition will include paintings, beadwork, glasswork, fiber arts, metalwork and photography. The group Eddy and her friend Esther Liberman founded eight years ago continues to be a…
For Beit Haverim student Emily Anderson, who has loved to read since she was very little, figuring out what to do for her bat mitzvah project was easy – she wanted to find an opportunity where she could help at-risk kids with their reading skills. “I thought I’d be helping kids who were at the…
For Beit Haverim student Emily Anderson, who has loved to read since she was very little, figuring out what to do for her bat mitzvah project was easy – she wanted to find an opportunity where she could help at-risk kids with their reading skills. “I thought I’d be helping kids who were at…
On a recent afternoon, Rabbi Joshua Stampfer made his way to a light-filled classroom in Congregation Neveh Shalom, greeted other members of his study group and opened a volume of Talmud. Everyone turned to page 119b(5) in Tractate Shabbos, but the real topic was “Why was Jerusalem destroyed?” Rabbi Stampfer read aloud, in Hebrew and…
The word “agenda” often carries a negative connotation; however, having one is not necessarily sinister. Simply put, an agenda is a well thought-out plan that outlines the steps that will move a person from one point to the next. That’s actually how you get things accomplished. You make a plan; then you work your plan…
