PHOTO: " Tree Of Life: On Fire" by Linda Zahavi is part of ORA Northwest Jewish Artists' exhibition at the Beaverton City Library, on display through July 14. (Courtesy ORA)
While Beaverton and many other municipalities have taken the opportunity to recognize Jewish American Heritage Month this May, the Beaverton City Library is going one step further and putting pieces of American Jewish heritage on display in the form of art.
ORA Northwest Jewish Artists has assembled a gallery of work that is on display at the city’s Main Library on Southwest Fifth Street now through July 14.
“They didn’t have anything booked, so they just said, ‘How long would you like to be up,” ORA’s Eddy Shuldman said. “I said, ‘How about a month?’ They made it two months!”
The show includes works by Shuldman, Jan Baross, Judith Brown, Diane Fredgant, David Friedman, Jonathon Lietz, Brian Rohr, Amy Solomonson, Simkha Shields and Linda Zahavi.
“A number of folks have similar themes, either a Hamsa or a Tree of Life, so it’ll be interesting to see how they interpret those things differently through their art,” Shuldman said. “Rather than just Jewish artists making art, it needed to have a Jewish theme.”
Shuldman is excited to have her work and the work of her fellow ORA artists on display at the library.
“The library is gorgeous. I took a little field trip out there with one of the other artists to scope it out, and it is just a beautiful building,” she said. “Every scrap of wall space has basically been designated as a place for art to be.”
On top of that, the importance of the public embrace of Jewish art is not lost on her.
“To be accepted and welcomed into a public space, to be acknowledged, and to have that opportunity to share who we are and for people to see who we are in a different way, it’s really a big honor,” Shuldman said.
The Beaverton City Library is open from 10 am-7 pm Mondays through Wednesdays, 10 am-6 pm Thursdays through Saturdays and 1-6 pm on Sundays. For more information on ORA, visit northwestjewishartists.org.
Cities, schools, other local bodies mark Jewish American Heritage Month
The Jewish Review staff
Numerous public bodies in the Portland metro area took time to recognize May as Jewish American Heritage Month in 2025.
The City of Tigard’s City Council issued a proclamation at their May 15 meeting, specifically recognizing that “Jewish cultural institutions, such as the Tigard Chabad Jewish Center and the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, play a pivotal role in educating the public about Jewish history, the Holocaust, and the importance of tolerance, while actively promoting goodness, kindness, and shared responsibility for the well-being of all humankind.”
West Linn’s City Council made a similar proclamation at their May 5 meeting. “The City of West Linn embraces the diverse backgrounds and experiences that make our city stronger, and encourages all residents to celebrate the history and contributions of Jewish Americans while promoting unity, understanding, and mutual respect among all peoples,” the proclamation read in part.
The Board of Directors of the Tualatin Hills Parks and Recreation District, which serves eastern Washington County, issued their own proclamation at their meeting May 14, noting that “THPRD honors Jewish American Heritage Month as a time to reflect on this history and reaffirms its commitment to creating inclusive spaces for everyone, including our Jewish American friends and neighbors.”
The proclamation continued to say that “we recognize the importance of culturally competent education, representation, and policy that reflect Jewish American experiences and address the impacts of antisemitism in our communities.”
The Board of Directors for Reynolds School District, which serves the eastern Multnomah Counties cities of Fairview, Troutdale and Wood Village, passed a resolution at their Apr. 23 meeting, stating that “Reynolds School District encourages staff, students, and community members to remember and reflect, celebrate, and educate future generations about the past and current struggles Jewish Americans endure and the importance of their role in communities across our nation.”
Oregon City School District board members received a presentation from Civil Rights Coordinator Diana Grindea on Jewish American Heritage Month, as well as the work of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland’s Student to Student program at Oregon City schools, at their May 12 meeting.
Libraries in Beaverton and West Linn also made proclamations or put on programs related to Jewish American Heritage Month.
Jewish American Heritage Month was first proclaimed in May of 2006 by then-President George W. Bush and has been observed annually each year since. The monthlong observance is an expansion of the Jewish Heritage Week first proclaimed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980.