Two Oregon congregations are participating in the Oct. 19-20 HIAS National Refugee Shabbat. Havurah Shalom in Portland and Temple Beth Israel in Eugene both plan special Shabbat programs focused on the plight of refugees. HIAS, the global Jewish movement that protects refugees, is sponsoring the National Refugee Shabbat, a series of weekend-long events taking place…
Dear Helen: I’m a really good writer. Not the Great American Novel kind of writer, but a knock out answers on a job application, write a cover letter that’ll land a job interview, kind of good. Over the years I have helped friends get jobs and then their children with college essays. I’ve learned to…
A Nosh of Jewish Wisdom: I can chew for you, but you have to swallow for yourself. Dear Helen: I’m godmother/fairy godmother to my friends’ son. His parents have trained him to talk to me if he has a serious problem. It only happened three times, when they were close to a divorce that didn’t…
All across the United States, Jewish organizations are seeing a trend among young adults that’s been long in the making. According to the latest Religious Landscape Survey conducted by the Pew Forum, nearly one-third of Jewish young adults (ages 18-29) don’t identify as religious, with only 15% of all Jewish adults saying that Judaism is…
This year, commit to changing one trait that impacts your life. Dear Helen: How can I make this year better than the last one? Mostly, I hate my job. But in general I feel: Stuck Dear Stuck: After the echoes of “Auld Lang Syne” have faded, any resolutions you may have made will sound a…
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…
The hills are alive with the sound of… prayer chants? They are when Rabbi Boris Dolin takes eager groups of hikers out of Temple Beth Israel and into the merry woodlands surrounding Eugene. Influenced by his Oregon upbringing, a cult of forest-screaming rabbis in Israel and a dozen other sources, Rabbi Boris decided in the…
