News in Brief

Neveh Shalom extends Rabbi Posen’s contract
Congregation Neveh Shalom has agreed to a five-year contract extension beginning July 1 and running through June 30, 2025, for Rabbi Eve Posen. The new contract includes a change in title from assistant rabbi to associate rabbi.
“We are appreciative of the dedication and innovation that Rabbi Posen has brought to CNS, especially to our young families,” said CNS President Jason H. Kaufman. “While Rabbi Posen did not begin her career as a pulpit rabbi, she has embraced this role, which has allowed her to work with our b’nai mitzvah families among other duties such as leading services, handling funerals, visiting our sick and celebrating births. She has developed a robust, year-round young family program, which has been vital to our membership outreach by serving an important demographic in our community.”
Rabbi Posen and her husband, Duncan, have two children, Shiri and Matan.
“I’m excited to continue the work that started almost 6 years ago,” said Rabbi Posen. “CNS and Portland have become a home for our family. We appreciate the contract extension along with the support we receive from so many of our congregants, staff and clergy. I look forward to continue working with everyone on our programming and religious services for our entire congregation. As the current president of the Oregon Board of Rabbis, I am committed to ensuring that we have a Conservative voice in our larger Portland metro community and beyond. That voice comes from my own experiences along with yours.”

 

Weingrad contributes to award-winning book
Local Judaic Studies Professor Michael Weingrad has been recognized for his contribution to the award-winning book, What We Talk About When We Talk About Hebrew (And What It Means to Americans), edited by Naomi Sokoloff and Nancy Berg.
The book won the 2019 National Jewish Book Award for best collection/anthology. The award was announced on
Jan. 15, 2020. The book includes a chapter by Professor Weingrad on Hebrew writing in the United States.
Weingrad is a professor of Judaic Studies in Portland State University’s Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies. He teaches courses listed under Portland State University departments of Judaic studies, English and film. 
He is the author of American Hebrew Literature: Writing Jewish National Identity in the United States and the editor and translator of Letters to America: Selected Poems of Reuven Ben-Yosef.  His essays and reviews, on topics ranging from Israeli fantasy and science fiction to the Jews of Baghdad, have appeared in the Jewish Review of Books, Mosaic, and a range of other magazines and scholarly journals.  He has been a Fulbright Fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Montague Burton Fellow in Jewish Studies at the University of Leeds, and a Harry Starr Fellow at the Center for Jewish Studies at Harvard.  A selection of his recent writing is on  www.investigationsandfantasies.com.

 

Chabad opens young professionals chapter
Chabad of Oregon announced the opening of a full-time Chabad Young Professionals Chapter in Portland’s Northwest District under the leadership of Rabbi Meir and Sheina Posner. The Posners along with their two children will be serving the local-area Jewish community.
“In honor of the 36th – double chai – year of Chabad in Oregon, we are doubling our efforts to share the joy, meaning and relevance of Judaism in our community, “ said Rabbi Moshe Wilhelm, the executive director of Chabad of Oregon. “The rebbe taught us that we must go out and meet Jews where they are, and a full-time Chabad Young Professionals will do just that.”
Rabbi Chayim and Simi Mishulovin directed Chabad’s young professional programming in Portland for the past 15 years. According to the couple, “Portland’s young professional scene is ever growing, and our programs must grow in tandem.”
Jodi Berris, whose work in developing Portland’s Jewish young adult scene is well known, said, “Portland has a ton of Jewish young adults – some connected and many not yet – and I’m so happy a full-time Chabad Young Professionals is coming to our city to focus on and help cultivate Jewish connections for this population.”
Rabbi Posner spent many years on the famed Chabad of Boston University, and Sheina worked at the New York headquarters of Chabad Young Professionals international. They plan to spend their first few months getting to know the young Jewish professionals of Portland and exploring how they can best serve them.
To get involved in this new venture, email Rabbi@PDXCYP.org or Sheina@PDXCYP.org or call 503-583-2025.


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Send news items to editor@jewishportland.org by the Thursday before publication. Please send photos as attached jpgs. Deadline for the April 1 issue is noon, March 26.

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