The smoke and ash enveloping Portland and much of the West Coast has confined many of us to our homes. We are the lucky ones. As of Sept. 11, 500,000 Oregonians were under some level of evacuation notice with more than 40,000 evacuated from their ...

“Throughout time, the shofar has been a way for Jews to connect with others near them.” The Oregon Board of Rabbis and the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland invite you to use our ancient traditions to connect anew with Shofar Across Oregon...

I would wager that most of us associate the sounding of the shofar with High Holiday worship. An ancient people, we have used the shofar for other purposes. During crises, we sounded the shofar to express alarm and to call everyone together to sh...

The Jewish New Year of 5781 will be greeted in dramatically different fashion than the way we welcomed the years before COVID.
When Rosh Hashanah begins the eve of Sept. 18, COVID-19 will keep many who normally attend High Holiday services at home...

“This year is going to be different,” said Kesser Israel Rabbi Kenneth Brodkin in the introduction to a Zoom conversation he and his wife, Aviel, led about celebrating the holidays during a pandemic. Rabbi Brodkin offered some practical tips f...

Despite the limitations of a worldwide pandemic, many events, mitzvah opportunities and services are on tap to celebrate and observe the High Holy Days in 2020 including Mitzvah Morning to aid hungry and homeless on Sept. 27, and BB Camp Rosh Hash...

Most students in Oregon have begun the school year in online or distance-learning settings. The three Portland-area Jewish day schools each received funds from the Greater Portland Jewish Community COVID Emergency Fund to support distance learning.

PSU professor explores shtetl’s destitute, disabled, mad
Portland State University Professor Natan M. Meir’s Stepchildren of the Shtetl: The Destitute, Disabled and Mad of Jewish Eastern Europe, 1800-1939 was published in July by Stanford Univ...

The world of programming is evolving around us, and most, if not all, are embracing this new digital world of virtual film festivals, cooking demos ... and the Mittleman Jewish Community Center fall authors series.

Jewish Family & Child Service board of directors voted unanimously to appoint Ruth Scott as executive director: “She has always been the right person for the job.” Ruth recruited Hannah Holstein as the new development director effective Sept....

Nearly six months into our COVID-19 experience, I am struck by the ways in which I have seen community strengthen each other. I look to signs from the “quaran-baking” and sharing of those delicious treats on the doorsteps of neighbors and frie...

MJCC to reopen pools, courts, sportsplex; MJCC Enrichment Camps begin; Chabad welcomes Reed freshmen; PSU classes begin on Yom Kippur; New Wise Aging session; JFCS hires finance manager; Monthly Mitzvah: Mezuzah; Families parade through Big Truck...

The focus on racial justice, fairness, privilege, humanity and empathy arising in our reality of COVID-19 and protests may be “a chance to … transform the way we think about prisoners and build a less expensive system about genuine justice.

COVID-19 has changed how we live our lives, and now how we celebrate our High Holy Days. We must continue to protect ourselves and others from potential exposure. Oregon has reached 28,661 total cases, and 501 people have died as of Sept. 11, 2020.

Every year the Jewish Community Relations Council sends school leaders a packet of information about the Jewish holidays and resources to counter anti-Semitism. Families can access that information on the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland web...

Chef Michael Solomonov gave a live cooking demonstration for the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland last year. This year he will present a free Rosh Hashanah interactive virtual cooking demonstration at 5 pm, Sept. 14.
The renowned Philadelph...

BY DEBORAH MOON
During the 28 years I have been writing about and participating in the Jewish community of Greater Portland, my admiration for and support of the Jewish Federation has grown. When I moved to Clark County, Wash., in 1992, I was hir...

The online Community Directory maintained by the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland has been updated with current contact information for more than a hundred organizations across Oregon and Southwest Washington.

“We’ve added more tags to b...

On Sept. 1, Marc N. Blattner celebrated 10 years as president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland.
JFGP Board Chair Lauren Goldstein describes Marc as an incredible person and leader: “He’s a warm and caring collaborator, frie...

Applications are open for the fifth cohort of PDX Pathways, a mentoring and leadership program for Jewish young professionals ages 21 through 35ish. Applications will be accepted Sept. 1-Oct. 16.
This will be the first virtual cohort.

The new Jewish Federation of Greater Portland Young Adult Board held its inaugural retreat on Zoom for four hours Aug. 23. Board members are Jake Sullivan, Hope Peskin-Shepherd, Sarah Howard, Stuart Zeltzer, Ben Morgan, Hannah Holstein and Shayna ...

PSU’s Adam Allina named SWU Emerson Fellow; Portland Moishe House seeks two roommates; Apply now for part-time Serve the Moment Corps