JR stories

“How Will I Do This 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 for celebrating at home.

HIgh Holiday events 2020

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 Hashanah fall family kickoff events.

As school begins online, some offer childcare

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.

New Books: Stepchildren of the Shtetl & One of Us

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 University Press. Combining archival research wit…

MJCC author series goes virtual

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.