MAY 2015
SERVING OREGON AND SW WASHINGTON
Stephen
Elliott OVERCOMES ABUSE & ADDICTION TO INSPIRE AUDIENCES
Focus on:
Seniors
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AVRAHAM INFELD Avraham is president emeritus of Hillel: the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, founder of Melitz (an educational service institution that fosters Jewish identity rooted in a pluralistic understanding of Jewish life), and was the first community shaliach from Israel to come to America in 1968. A world renowned speaker with a very impactful message about Jewish life, Avraham is the founder of The 5 Legged Table project, teaching us to engage with the five components, or “legs” of Jewish life - Memory, Family, Covenant at Mount Sinai, Israel and the Hebrew Language. Join us and be inspired! ®
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Inside
May 2015/ Nissan-Omer 5775 | Volume 4/Issue 3
54
34 Features COVER STORY JFCS helped Steven Elliot move from street tough to author.................... 28 Celebrating Our Caring Community........................................................ 29 UPFRONT No business as usual in China................................................................ 10 BUSINESS Ins & Outs.............................................................................................. 13 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Jewish mothers way back when.............................................................. 34 Eugene Scene: Jordan Schnitzer & Art.................................................... 37 Artists create windows with meaning...................................................... 39 CAMPUS Students need support to withstand anti-Semitism........................................................................ 45 ISRAEL Spring was full of surprises..................................................................... 46 Lag B’Omer is trail by fire........................................................................ 48 FOOD Chef’s Corner: Food is more than matter of taste.................................... 50 NW Nosh: Coop’s Cookies delivered to you............................................. 52
Seniors Robert Weisman rebuilds a classic car................................................... 14 Active seniors (55+) bound for Israel...................................................... 16 Redefine aging; stay strong.................................................................... 18 As Time Goes By, Robison grows stronger............................................... 20 They make you feel like dancing.............................................................. 22 Senior Adventuress: Bicycling the Viking Trail......................................... 24 Directory of senior advertisers................................................................ 26
4 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
JKids Reap rewards of cooking with kids....................... 40 Devoted teen, seniors and memory.........................42 Students speak for Israel at Model UN......................... 43 Teen fencer bound for European Maccabi Games.............. 44
JLiving A Rabbi’s Legacy: 22 haimish years........................................................ 54 Crossword............................................................................................. 58 Previews................................................................................................ 59 Shir Tikvah comes of age with community project.................................... 60 Learn how the blind find joy in nature and Torah...................................... 62 Salem congregation aims for full-time rabbi........................................... 63 FACES from recent events...................................................................... 64 February Calendar................................................................................. 66
Columns 46..... An Oregonian in Israel by Mylan Tanzer 49..... Ask Helen 50..... Chef’s Corner by Lisa Glickman 52..... NW Nosh by Kerry Politzer
Cover photo: Stephen Elliot. Photo by Katherine Emery
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SERVING OREGON AND SW WASHINGTON
Publishers Robert Philip and Cindy Saltzman Advertising and Editorial Director Cindy Saltzman Editor-In-Chief Deborah Moon Art Director Susan Garfield Copy Editor Susan Moon
Why do we care about exposed root surfaces? • Root Decay • Sensitivity • Esthetics
Practically painless gum surgery? It’s True!!
Social Media Editor Debra Rich Gettleman Webmaster Karl Knelson Columnists Lisa Glickman, Amy Hirshberg Lederman, Kerry Politzer, Helen Rosenau and Mylan Tanzer Contributing Writers Michal bat Makhir, Lee Brayman-Cleary, Rich Geller, Joseph Lieberman, Carine Nadel, Liz Rabiner Lippoff, Polina Olsen, Mary Peachin, Sura Rubenstein and Teddy Weinberger Advertising Sales Debbie Taylor How to reach us: Advertise@ojlife.com | 503-892-7403 Editor@ojlife.com | 503-892-7402 Publisher@ojlife.com | 602-538-2955
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A Prince Hal Production (TGMR18) The content and opinions in Oregon Jewish Life do not necessarily reflect those of the publishers, staff or contractors. Articles and columns are for informational purposes only and not intended as a substitute for professional advice. Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of our published materials, Oregon Jewish Life, and its agents, publishers, employees and contractors will not be held responsible for the misuse of any information contained herein. The publishers reserve the right to refuse any advertisement. Publication of advertisements does not constitute endorsement of products or services.
We ARe SO CLOSe, We CAN ALMOST SMeLL IT. Our community has generously raised 90% of the money needed to build a state-of-the-art care center for our beloved elders. We thank all of you who have gotten us this far. This lasting project is too important to be missed — and with $2.4 million left to raise, there’s still time for you to join us. Call today to explore the many available giving options, including garden bench dedications to memorialize your family in beautiful outdoor rooms. Together, we’ll build quality long-term residential households and remodel the Robison Jewish Health Center, turning it into a modern medical rehabilitation center. Please join us!
We’re almost there. See how you can help by calling (503) 535-4303 or visiting www.CedarSinaiPark.org/CapitalCampaign.
DIGNITY by DESIGN CAPITAL CAMPAIGN
Editor’s Letter When I was young, I thought old meant older than my parents (who were 40 when I was born). So in my young eyes, the age at which people became old kept getting later and later in life. When I was a teenager, my mom started riding horses when she was about 55 – obviously not old! And my dad retired from an office job and bought a lumber mill, where he stayed active with outdoor physical labor until the day before he died of a heart attack at age 81. So I had reason to assume old age started later. Looking at today’s active AARP-eligible (50+) adults, I think we can all agree that being a senior doesn’t mean being “elderly.” Our Senior section in this issue features two trips geared to seniors that assume they are capable, engaged and eager to explore the world. A trip to Israel for the active 55+ set and a senior cycling adventure of The Viking Trail are common fare for today’s seniors. Adventure travel groups offer hiking, mountainclimbing, kayaking, cycling and a host of other options. Some of the trips are specifically geared toward seniors, but even those that aren’t are frequently populated by those who have the time and resources to train for and enjoy an active vacation. When my
father-in-law was 88, he enjoyed a senior hiking trip through the Dolomites in Italy. You just have to keep moving. Staying active is the mantra a local physical therapist shares with her Jewish community in this issue. Contrary to assumptions last century, seniors can rebuild lost muscle through dedicated exercise programs. Surgery, illness or a stroke doesn’t have to mean giving up golf or tennis. Targeted exercise can help less fit seniors maintain more independence. Many seniors do chose to leave the homes where they raised their families and move into retirement villages or senior communities, where they can engage in a range of activities with their peers. Many of those communities offer a variety of options to age in place, with sections and services designed to meet changing needs. But this issue isn’t all about seniors. Our cover story looks at how Jewish Family and Child Service is there for teens who need help launching their lives. Later this month JFCS brings noted author Stephen Elliott to town to share how JFCS helped turn his life around. Whatever stage of life you’re in, I hope you’ll find something in this issue that resonates with you. Something that prompts you to move or makes you laugh. Something that engages your mind and piques your curiosity. It’s all relative – a young mind can be ours at any age.
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Join us in welcoming Debra Rich Gettleman, our new social media diva, by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter! You’ll stay up to date on news, views and all the Jews that’s fit to print.
Letters to the Editor Leading my family’s Passover Seder, I was struck by our Haggadah’s description of the Wise Son: “It is incumbent upon us to emulate the wise son by remembering our duties to our people and our faith. … The wise son, the wise Jew, is he who understands the importance of his personal participation in all efforts for the benefit of our people and for the betterment of mankind.” This verse eloquently represents my belief that now, more than ever, I have the responsibility and obligation to preserve not only my Judaism, but the opportunity for every other Jew to have the freedom to be a Jew. I cannot allow the voices of my ancestors to be silenced by the rising tide of anti-Semitism and the call of other nations for the complete annihilation of Israel. Along with other members of the Jewish Federation’s Israel Advocacy Committee, I monitor the anti-Semitic and anti-Israel events in our community. To my disappointment, a majority of Jews in this community remain silent as anti-Semitism rises on college campuses, is propagated in classrooms and has become the mantra of countless groups. Where is the outrage and public condemnation when anti-Israel rallies become the grounds for chanting “Kill the Jew?” Where were my fellow Jews at the recent talks given by Omar Barghouti (co-founder of the Boycott Divest Sanction movement) at PSU or Professor Mark Croatti at the MAC club, in which well-crafted speeches demonized Israel. Where was our community to support the pro-Israel students at PSU who have to endure public indignation on a daily basis. Don’t forget, the wise son understands the importance of his personal participation in all efforts for the benefit of our people. Richard Hurwitz Portland
Regarding the article “Campus Antisemitism on Rise Nationally: One Group Pegs PSU as Hot Spot” in the April issue of Oregon Jewish Life magazine, I found that on the whole the article provided a balanced look at the topic, the headline notwithstanding. However, I was puzzled by the absence of any mention of the Schnitzer Family Judaic Studies Program at PSU. PSU’s Judaic studies program is a major force for educating the campus and larger communities about Judaism, Jewish history and culture, and Israel. The fact that Portland State is the only university in the state offering a major in Judaic Studies should be, I think, counted very much to the university’s credit when assessing the campus climate. The presence of a strong Judaic studies program on campus sends a clear signal to all members of the campus community about the university’s support of the academic study of Jewish civilization, which can in and of itself help to elevate and inform the discourse about Israel and related topics. Moreover, I have polled a number of our majors and minors and the majority felt strongly that it is inaccurate, to say the least, to classify PSU as an anti-Semitic campus; they were eager to describe their own very positive experiences as Jewish students, and students engaged in Jewish and Israel studies, at PSU. Natan M. Meir Academic Director of The Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies at PSU
Estate Planning Wills, Trusts, and Making Things Easier for Your Beneficiaries Sunday, June 7, 1:30-3pm Julie nimnicht, attorney with the law Offices of geoff Bernhardt, will present a comprehensive overview of estate planning. topics will include Wills and living trusts, as well as estate planning for people in long-term care, for blended families, and for disabled beneficiaries. Julie will be available for Q&a after her presentation.
To RSVP call (503) 535-4004 or visit www.RoseSchnitzerManor.org.
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OREGON JEWISH LIFE | MAY 2015 9
[UPFRONT]
Business Is Never As Usual in China
While working as coordinator of cooperative education at LaGuardia Community College, Michael Bloom set up internships for college students. Michael and one intern, Frank Luan, have remained friends and business colleagues ever since. By Polina Olsen
After decades of doing business in China, Michael Bloom thinks being Jewish there is an asset. “When the people who work for me in China say their boss is Jewish, I gain a few stages in recognition,” he says. “There are bestsellers like How to Become a Jewish Businessman. They think Jews are smart and good at business.” His upcoming talk, “Community Without Walls: Jews, Business and China,” will feature Michael’s insight, experience and wonderful stories. The free May 14 event is co-sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland and the Mittleman Jewish Community Center. As a Community Without Walls program, it will meet downtown at the Northwest Health Foundation Conference Center. 10 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
Portlander Michael Bloom is president of Sinotech, a company that manufactures custom-engineered products in China for mostly American manufacturers. Customers come to Michael with engineering drawings, and he takes it from there. Employees at Sinotech’s three locations in China locate and negotiate with Chinese factories, which then build the product. When asked how his business started, Michael points to serendipity, not intention. An electrical engineer by training, he grew up in the Bronx and still speaks only a few polite Mandarin phrases. It started in 1983, only 11 years after President Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to China began normalizing the relationship with the United States.
“While living in New York, I was exhibiting at a trade show in San Francisco and met a Chinese man, who was being ignored because of his language skills,” Michael says. “I knew he was staying at the Chinese consulate in Manhattan. I said ‘Why don’t we meet?’ He said he’d be with a delegation from China, and I told him to bring them along. I set up a day that included visits to Brookhaven National Laboratory, companies that I designed products for and LaGuardia Community College, where I taught. That day the delegation experienced their first kosher meal – at my place. “In those days, the relationship between the countries was tenuous, so the Chinese Vice Consul came along to keep his eye on everyone,” Michael says. “When we became friends, the Chinese government asked if I could set up an internship program for Chinese scientists and engineers. I was the coordinator of cooperative education at LaGuardia Community College, and my job was to set up internships for college students.” Michael was delighted to work with students from China. He didn’t know it would soon lead to a new career. Michael says that while looking for an internship, he met staff from a New York company who wanted to connect with a company in China to make certain parts. “A light went off – wait a second, this sounds like a business!” Michael chose one of his best student interns to set things up when the student returned to China. That intern, Frank Luan, and Michael still work together and remain close friends. Meanwhile, Michael and his wife, Jaime, wanted to leave New York. They moved to Portland in 1989 and today live in the Raleigh Hills neighborhood. They have four grown children, two grandsons and three Havanese dogs, which Jaime breeds and shows. One daughter, Melissa Bloom, is the executive director at Shaarie Torah and daughter Liza Milliner is on the board at Congregation Neveh Shalom. Daughter Jeramie spent a few years in Israel and in Shanghai, and son Scott is vice president of engineering at a Silicon Valley high-tech firm. Michael and Jaime belong to multiple synagogues, and Michael has served on the Congregation Kesser Israel board. He also serves as a guest lecturer on The American Entrepreneur in China at the University of Portland and is an advisor to the Portland State University International Management master’s program. He is a board member and past president of the Northwest China Council – a group of 300 mostly Oregonians interested in Chinese business, language, culture and current events. Michael looks forward to his May 14 talk and is trying to select topics the audience will enjoy. Having visited China at least 100 times, there is much to choose from. He might talk about the exotic foods he’s tried like camel hump, cicada cocoon and poisonous snake, or experiences like Shanghai tours that focus on Jewish refugees during World War II. He can talk about everything from kosher meals with Chabad to the time he was stranded on a sandbar. “We chartered a Chinese fishing vessel in Bohai Bay, which separates China from North Korea,” he says. “We got stuck in a sandbar with Chinese fisherman for 10 hours. They asked, ‘Why do Americans have guns?’ and ‘Why don’t Americans like black
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OREGON JEWISH LIFE | MAY 2015 11
Michael Bloom receives a gift from his Chinese hosts during one of more than 100 trips to China.
“In doing business, if something goes wrong an American might yell at the factory owner. In China you must establish a partnership and not yell at the guy.”
Tuesday, May 19 11:30am –1:00pm
Michael Bloom
people?’ It was amazing how much they knew about the West compared to what we know about China. They knew our weak spots.” Three cultural concepts are key for Americans doing business in China, Michael says. First is the importance of saving face or not humiliating anyone. “In doing business, if something goes wrong an American might yell at the factory owner,” Michael says. “In China you must establish a partnership and not yell at the guy.” Some people say the second concept, guanxi, means bribery, but Michael sees this differently. “It means to build a relationship,” he says. “You do mutual favors for each other without the expectation of a specific benefit. It means, ‘We’re friends, we’re partners, and someday we’ll be there for each other.’ American businessmen depend on contractual, written laws. If someone violates a contract we sue them. In China, it’s relationship based. If we get a shipment of bad parts, it may be clear that the factory is at fault, but we try to reduce our losses and the factory’s losses, as well. “One of the biggest problems is most people have misimpressions about China,” Michael says. “I hope they come away from my talk with an appreciation of what it’s like. You can’t understand China without understanding the historic exploitation of the country and the impact the Cultural Revolution had on individuals. Today, we’re becoming polarized and see China as our enemy. They are our competitor, but so far they are not our enemy. It depends on what they do, but it also depends on what we do.”
Multnomah Athletic Club Visit jfcs-portland.org or call 503-226-7079, ext. 118 to reserve a seat or learn more. Special thanks to our major supporters:
The Holzman Foundation / Renee & Irwin Holzman The Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation our services Counseling, Disability Support Services, Emergency Aid & Homemaker Assistance
12 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
COMMUNITY WITHOUT WALLS WHAT: Jews, Business and China WHEN: 1-2:30 pm, May 14 WHERE: Northwest Health Foundation Conference Center, Bamboo Room at 221 NW Second Ave., Portland COST: FREE RSVP or INFO: 503-245-6219
[BIZ INS & OUTS] members of Congregation Kol Ami in Vancouver since 2005. Phil is a licensed life insurance agent in Oregon and Washington with 30 years of experience in customer service and sales. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University in 1982 and his master’s degree from City University of New York at Baruch College in 1988. HOLMANSFUNERALSERVICE.COM | 503-232-5131
RACHEL HALL TO LEAVE PDX HILLEL TONKON TORP’S OWEN BLANK HONORED WITH PRO BONO AWARD
Tonkon Torp business attorney Owen Blank has been honored with the Multnomah Bar Association 2015 Pro Bono Award of Merit. Owen maintains a busy law practice focused on working with corporate, family-owned and nonprofit organizations on a range of business, real estate and commercial matters. In addition to that, he consistently devotes significant hours each year to providing pro bono counsel to local nonprofits, particularly those serving disadvantaged communities. “It is not only the range and depth of his service, but also the example he sets within our legal community that make Owen stand out as a champion for pro bono legal service in Multnomah County,” says William C. Penn, member of the MBA Pro Bono Awards Committee that reviewed nominations for this year’s honor. For nearly two decades, Owen has provided pro bono services to Albina Head Start, Inc., which delivers school readiness, social and other services to more than 1,000 low-income children and their families in North, Northeast and Southeast Portland. A native Oregonian, Owen has practiced law in Portland for over four decades. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from Stanford University. He is a member of Congregation Beth Israel. Owen will be presented with the Pro Bono Award of Merit on May 7 at the Multnomah Bar Association’s annual meeting and dinner. TONKON.COM
Greater Portland Hillel Executive Director Rachel Hall has announced she will leave PDX Hillel after this school year. “It has been an amazing 7-plus years with an amazing organization,” says Rachel. “It has been a tremendous honor to watch this organization grow from its inception and to work with so many wonderful people who have supported PDX Hillel from the beginning. She says she is working with PDX Hillel board members and staff to ensure that the organization remains robust and strong throughout this transition. Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life provides opportunities for Jewish students at more than 500 colleges and universities to explore and celebrate their Jewish identity through its global network of regional centers, campus foundations and Hillel student organizations. The Greater Portland Hillel serves students on Portland-area campuses including Portland State University, Lewis & Clark College and Reed College. In addition to devoting time to being a mother, Rachel plans to continue to use her designation as a Certified Professional Coach to work part time with individuals and organizations. PDXHILLEL.ORG | 503-867-3646
MJCC JOINS NATIONAL JCCA
The Mittleman Jewish Community Center is now a member of the Jewish Community Center Association of North America. The affiliation offers several benefits for MJCC members and the community. MJCC members are now eligible to use facilities at most affiliated American and Canadian JCCs while visiting in those cities.. The JCCA membership enables the MJCC to offer new programs in fitness, adult programming, day camps and more. One of the most exciting is the JCC Maccabi Games/ArtsFest. Portland area athletes and artists, ages 13-17, now can participate in week-long JCCA summer programs to celebrate Jewish identity. OREGONJCC.ORG | JCCA.ORG
PHIL BERGER JOINS HOLMAN’S FUNERAL & CREMATION AS PREARRANGEMENT COUNSELOR Holman’s Funeral & Cremation Service, one of the few remaining family-owned funeral homes in the Portland area, has been serving the Jewish community from its location on Hawthorne Boulevard since 1923, and overall since 1854. Phil Berger has joined the Holman’s team as a pre-arrangement counselor. As a pre-arrangement counselor, Phil will assist with making decisions about funeral arrangements in advance of death to enable clients to reduce the emotional and financial tolls on their survivors. Phil can also provide guidance for those who choose to set aside funds to cover their funeral and final expenses. Phil’s spiritual journey has led him to memberships in Conservative, Humanistic and Reform synagogues. He and his family have been
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Special Section: Seniors Inside: Vive la Lazarus!; L’Dor V’Dor; Redefining aging; CSP Gala; Cafe Shalom dancers, Advertisers Directory
Vive la Lazarus!
Lazarus’ partially reassembled chassis displaying its rusty condition. Photo courtesy of Ruth Ross The new Lazarus in all his glory. Photo by Lee Braymen-Cleary
14 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
By Lee Braymen-Cleary
When envisioning a Citroen, the French car that has rolled out of the Parisian factory since 1919, what might come to mind is an otherworldly, avant-garde vehicle popular in films. Retired psychologist and Southwest Portland resident Robert Weisman has owned two of these exotic Parisians and maintains a Citroen Club membership. So he knows, for instance, that early models – the Type As and Type Cs – produced from 1919 to 1926 did not have that “otherworldly” look about them. The small, charming Type Cs that fascinated Weisman were dubbed ladies’ cars, not only because their size facilitated easier maneuvering, but also for their built-in electric starters. Post-World War I ladies need not strain. Also, since the cars’ thin tires with unusually large radii rendered them puddle jumpers, Type Cs became favorites among doctors making house calls. History buff Weisman estimates that today “maybe 200 of these 90-year-old French heirlooms exist worldwide” and that there are “less than a handful” in the United States. So, ever mindful of tikkun olam (repair the world), he chose to resurrect a 1924 Type C Cabriolet wrought about the time his rabbi grandfather became a teacher (and later an attorney). Our self-trained mechanic found the major parts of this twoseated Type C convertible relic lying in a shrouded heap outside of a California barn. Rusty piece by rusty piece, Weisman labored to find missing elements. He called this “bucket of bolts” that he hoped to bring back to life Lazarus. Countless Citroen aficionados don’t take on near-hopeless projects like Lazarus. But Weisman needed a sizeable challenge. “I’ve never been around vintage cars,” he says, “but I was retiring and needed a large project to take up a lot of time and thought. From some psychology readings of years ago, I learned you can get satisfaction from undertaking a creative project. Time can fly. Also, I had rebuilt a couple of engines and even earlier upgraded early home dialysis machines for the University Hospital in Denver. I figured those activities would certainly help.” They helped alright. Still, Lazarus, which Weisman calls his “Magnum Opus of Mechanics” threw figurative wrenches into its own restoration many times, to the point where Weisman nearly gave up. His first obstacle was that, unlike most cars, Lazarus had a wooden body. Its ancient structure, the size of a small rowboat with a pointed rear, applied brakes to the progress because it was dry-rotted out. Weisman had to create one. “Rebuilding a wooden chassis without any specifications was extremely difficult,” he says. Yet, however frustrated he found himself, he succeeded beautifully. You might note that Weisman suffered from childhood polio and still finds ambulation somewhat of a challenge. Another of Lazarus’ many cliff-hangers involved a missing driveshaft gear. They are no longer made, you see. Yet again Weisman was not prepared to throw in the towel. So he contacted a local foundry to make the gear. “Yes,” said the maker of many things metal, “I can do it for you for $25,000. But once I make the die, I can sell you a second for $50.” As many people would, Weisman found this too much to pay – way too
On a fine spring day, Robert Weisman took down his Cabriolet top. He sits at the wheel, pleased that it functions so well. Photo by Lee Braymen-Cleary
much. So, sadly, after all of his meticulous work, our vintage car mechanic was skunked; Lazarus would not rise again. Weisman could do nothing but adopt a philosophically rueful stance. Yet after one stalled year slipped by, serendipity crossed his path. In France with his new wife, painter and photographer Ruth Ross, Weisman located a man in Bordeaux whose father had owned a Type C. This son was parting out the dilapidated rig, and amazingly, our good doctor was able to buy an old differential with the requisite gear still in it – and for fraction of the cost of a foundry-made one. Assemblage was again afoot, posing that myriad of additional challenges, things like a dashboard covered with green house paint, which when removed revealed beautifully preserved mahogany. (What was someone with a paintbrush thinking?) Then, of course, there was the cloth top hanging in “rags of time” status; it needed fashioning from scratch. Weisman still raves about the small miracle a local automotive upholsterer performed in creating the watertight, detailed, dark-green-nearly-black top. The word “spiffy” is an understatement. Now, eight years later, after Weisman strove for a final year to fix a spongy gas pedal with a “simple but elegant solution,” Lazarus rises classily from decay, donning beautiful dark green wheels and a key-lime-pie-colored body. Voila! A miraculous French treasure threads its way through Portland, running on regular, pulling 40 miles per gallon. When asked if he would like to sell Lazarus – probably for a bundle – Weisman answered with a succinct “No.” Then would he like to raise another Citroen spirit from the dead, create “Magnum Opus Mechanical II?” Weisman again did not mince words: “No.” He and his wife want to travel and not necessarily in Lazarus. But his interest in history in general, and mechanical objects in particular, hasn’t diminished. He’s currently plying his talent on a defunct 1926 radio. Who knows if he will stop at just one? Lee Braymen-Cleary is a freelance writer and retired educator. She is also a highly enthusiastic grandmother of a 5-month-old granddaughter. She lives in Southwest Portland with her husband and yellow Lab. OREGON JEWISH LIFE | MAY 2015 15
[SPECIAL SECTION: SENIORS]
A Taste of Israel takes active seniors to a variety of iconic sites around the Jewish state.
Israel for the active 55+ set
By Carine Nadel
Far from being a “new” cliché, those of us over 55 are not living the same way our parents and grandparents did in their senior years. Many of us are far more physically fit and active. With that in mind Stacy Wasserman decided to create L’Dor V’Dor (From Generation to Generation), a nonprofit organization created for the sole purpose of making a trip to Israel more affordable for those age 55 and older. This was in 2011. “I really wanted to make this trip with my husband. My belief is that it is not enough for us to make sure our children and grandchildren make this trip –we must make it, as well,” explains Wasserman. Their first planned trip in 2009 with the Jewish National Fund wound up being cancelled due to weather. Wasserman rebooked the trip for 2010, but her husband was too nervous to go due to news reports of unrest throughout the region. Then in 2011, the pair finally made the trip together and he had a marvelous time. After the trip, this determined woman decided to create her own tour with the help of a travel agency in Los Angeles and to cultivate what she explains is “A Taste of Israel.” “L’Dor V’Dor was created with love,” says Wasserman. “Each
trip is different: the weather, the applicants and new places to visit. The only thing that is common is the feelings that everyone leaves Israel with. For many it is hard to explain; sometimes the explanation comes in tears, other times in actions. It truly is a very magical and personal experience.” In keeping with today’s active adults, Wasserman wants everyone to know that those who participate must be relatively physically fit. “We have 10-12 hour days on a very comfortable tour bus with a professional tour guide – however we also get on and off that bus six or more times a day and do a lot of walking on the cobblestone streets that are also very uneven. Because of this we can’t accommodate anyone who has a need to use canes, walkers, crutches and wheelchairs. Everyone needs to be able to do all that is needed to enjoy seeing all the various stops along the way. “We have 40 people per trip,” she adds. “The next trip we’ll be doing in October. Our goal is to make the trip affordable and not use up our entire retirement fund. This cost will be $2,150 plus a promise of a $500 donation for helping others of our generation make the trip.” About 120 people have joined her trips. Wasserman and her husband are looking forward to making the trip in October. “I’m a real mother hen! I make sure everyone is able to truly connect not only with each other as a member of the same generation but through their connection to Israel, as well.”
NEXT TRIP: OCT. 15-28 16 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
Typical itineraries include visiting or experiencing: Ammunition Hill, The Knesset, planting a tree, light show, Hadassah Hospital, Temple Mount, Chagall windows, marketplace, detention camps, bullet factory, Maya Sherim, Mount Scopus, Masada, Dead Sea, Western Wall, Western Wall caves and Kibbutz life. According to Wasserman, the fee includes: admission to all museums, cultural centers, Masada and group transportation to and from each location; transfers from/to airport (unless you do not go back to the airport with the group after the farewell dinner); seven dinners, two Shabbat dinners and one lunch at the Dead Sea; and four-star hotels throughout the trip (daily breakfast) during the 11 nights/nine days. Guests are responsible for all gratuities (hotel, bus driver and guide; about $120 per person), daily lunches/snacks, added tours and transportation, and any extra trips or when provided transfers are not used. What sets a L’Dor V’Dor tour apart from other tours to the Holy Land is that they are geared only toward active adults over 55. “We don’t have to worry about making it fun for kids – we stay and visit places that our age group has a genuine interest and passion to learn about and experience. It’s truly a time for us!” says Wasserman. The next trip will be Oct. 15-28 and applications are already online. For more information: ldorvdorisrael.com or call 818-943-1407.
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Redefining seniors as strong, not frail Oregonians fall – a lot; but falls can be prevented By Deborah Moon
Before lung cancer struck, 82-year-old Jody Klevit was an avid tennis player and an active member of the Jewish community. A member of Congregation Neveh Shalom and a past president of the Oregon Jewish Museum, Jody has also been active in Hadassah and the National Council of Jewish Women through the years. But following surgery to remove the upper right lobe of her lung, the nonsmoker says most of those she met in the medical community told her she needed to slow down. But Jody is determined to keep moving and return to both the tennis court and an active role in her community. To do that she not only needs to improve her lung capacity, she needs to regain her sense of balance. Fortunately, she met physical therapist Bayla O’Brien, who has been busy advocating a new paradigm of seniors as strong, resilient, vibrant and active. Bayla is the first PT in Oregon to be certified in all three of the Center for Disease Control’s senior fall prevention programs: Tai Chi Movement for Better Balance, Stepping On and Otago. She has taken the message about how seniors can
prevent falls and remain more active to senior facilities around town, including two programs at Rose Schnitzer Manor on the Cedar Sinai Park Campus. Preventing senior falls is especially important in Oregon, where seniors fall at one and a half times the national average. In fact the CDC gave the Oregon Health Authority a five-year grant for fall prevention. The program has created a website (healthoregon.org/ fallprevention). “Falls are prevalent and the consequences can be devastating, but many falls are preventable,” says Lisa Shields, senior falls prevention program coordinator for the OHA. “The top four ways to prevent a fall are: exercise to increase strength and improve balance – tai chi is particularly good; medication reviews by your health care provider or pharmacist; regular vision checks; and make your home safer.” Following her surgery Jody discovered she didn’t have the endurance or the
*****************FALL FACTS***************** Falls are the leading cause of injury death among adults age 65 years and older. Of 639 fall deaths in Oregon in 2013, 87% were among adults age 65 and older. In 2013, over 5,800 Oregon adults age 65 years and older were hospitalized as the result of a fall at a cost of more than $219 million. Falls are not an inevitable part of aging – many falls can be prevented. As many as 30% of older adults who fall suffer significant injuries which may limit the ability to live independently. Screening older adults for falls in healthcare/social services can increase assessment referral, and increase patient/client awareness and engagement in prevention. Exercise programs that focus on decreasing falls, increasing strength, mobility, coordination, balance, and physical fitness, can reduce fall risk by approximately 20 to 60%. For more information: healthoregon.org/fallprevention
****************************************** 18 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
Jody Klevit works with physical therapist Bayla O’Brien to improve her lung capacity and her balance so she will be able to resume playing tennis. Photo by Deborah Moon
balance to participate in the tai chi class she had previously enjoyed. But after working with Bayla for less than two weeks, she was able to return to her class. She even shared one of Bayla’s “tricks” for maintaining balance: “Look at a vertical line,” because it helps the brain regain a sense of vertical. Jody says her tai chi instructor now tells all his students to look at a vertical line if they have trouble balancing. While there really is an age-related decline after about age 35, it can be slowed dramatically by staying or getting fit. Bayla is a member of Chabad with four children who are active in the Jewish community, including the oldest who is
studying in Israel. She says she really wants to share the message that seniors can stay strong with “my community.” “You must keep moving,” says Bayla. “Don’t resign yourself that to get older is to decline and become weaker. Be proactive.” She quotes numerous studies that show the benefits of exercise at any age. With 50 hours or more of exercise within 12 to 24 weeks, seniors can regain 15 to 20 years of function. One study showed that seniors doing three sets of 12 reps of thigh exercises three times a week for 12 weeks showed a 174% increase in strength and a 9% increase in thigh diameter, proving that seniors can rebuild muscle mass. Participants also achieved a 43% increase in gait speed, showing that the new strength translates into improved function. Gait speed is important for seniors, notes Bayla, because to cross the average city street on a traffic light’s walk cycle, you need to be able to walk 1.5 mph for 30 seconds. Upper body strength is also important to maintain independence. Bayla says that 28% of men and 66% of women over the age of 74 can’t lift more than 10 pounds (the weight of an average bag of groceries). Rebuilding that strength enables seniors to continue to do their own grocery shopping – an important task for those wishing to remain independent. “The more you slow down, the less you are able to do,” says Bayla. “If you don’t keep moving, you fall into the decline normally associated with aging.” “Regular participation in moderate physical activity, 30 minutes, three times a week, can reduce physical decline by as much as 50% and delay age-related physical deterioration by 10 to 20 years,” Bayla says numerous studies show. “What do you want old age to be?” asks Bayla. “Do you want to golf, play tennis and travel alone or with your family? You need physical reserves just as you need financial reserves.” Bayla, who typically works with clients in their own homes, says she loves to work with clients like Jody. “I love her mindset. She believes independence is normal. … She will play tennis again.” Contact Bayla and similarly minded physical therapists: Fitnessandfunction. com, or 503-267-1030. OREGON JEWISH LIFE | MAY 2015 19
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As Time Goes By, Robison home keeps getting better Cedar Sinai Park’s annual gala to benefit the residents of the Robison Jewish Health Center drew 220 attendees who pledged nearly $125,000. Sharon Weil and Avrel Nudelman co-chaired this year’s event with the theme As Time Goes By, inspiring many attendees to dress as if they were visiting Rick’s Café in the classic film “Casablanca.”
Photos by Andie Petkus
Rabbi Michael Cahana of Congregation Beth Israel, visits with CSP CEO David Fuks, right.
As the live band played “As Time Goes By,” Sharon and Avrel donned trenchcoats and welcomed attendees to the March 14 gala at the Tualatin Country Club. “You know, time really does go by,” said Avrel. “It’s just so hard to believe that the Robison Home is in its 95th year. And for those 95 years, the Robison Home has continued to serve our Jewish elderly.”
CSP board members Liz Rabiner Lippoff and Elaine Brickner-Schulz, right, enjoy the event.
Sharon added, “I am proud to be a trustee of CSP … it is available to those who need a place to rehab or live out their days with family and new friends to share it with. Everyone is welcome at the Robison Home.” Looking back on the event later, Avrel said, “The money we raised helps offset the cost of over half our residents who are on Medicaid. When residents spend all their resources, they are never asked to leave the home. But Medicaid does not cover the entire cost of care and keeping a resident comfortable and living as full a life as possible. That is where the funds we raised at our event come into play, and that is why they are so important.”
Event Co-chairs Avrel Nudelman and Sharon Weil get into the Casablanca spirit as they welcome attendees to the annual gala. Live music and dancing were just part of the fun at “As Time Goes By.” The event to raise funds to benefit residents of Robison Jewish Health Center also included cocktails, dinner and classic casino games.
“The reason we have this annual event is to focus on the residents in the Robison Home,” added Sharon, noting two of the 23 tables at the event were for seniors from Robison. “Each year our goal is the same – to keep these residents living with dignity in a place they call home.” The gala also featured an update on the groundbreaking for the new phase of the Robison Home with the addition of household models to enable seniors to feel more at home as they live out life in dignity.
20 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
Guests Jemi Kostiner Mansfield and Rich Geller also dressed for the evening’s theme. From left, Robison residents Pauline Popick and Celia Hirsch are joined by Celia’s daughter-in-law Kate Loggan.
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For 20 years, Israeli folk dancing has been one of the CSP residents’ favorite entertainments. Photo by Polina Olsen
They Make You Feel Like
Dancing By Polina Olsen
You’ll find them almost any night of the week, from Sunday circles and couples at the Fulton Community Center to Wednesday night beginners at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center. Israeli folk dancing has been part of the local scene for more than 40 years. And for 20 of those years, a group led by Melba Davidson has entertained at Cedar Sinai Park every month. Throughout that time it has commonly been known as one of the residents’ favorite entertainments. “I was only planning to do this a few times,” Melba says, recalling how the program started. An alternative health practitioner, she grew up in Calgary and moved to Portland about 40 years ago. Along with caring for two children, she loves tennis and dancing and took up Israeli folk dancing 21 years ago when she 22 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
found the music “touched her soul.” “I thought it would be fun to entertain the residents,” she says. “I didn’t realize it would go into years. In the early days I brought a big boom box. Now the music is all on the laptop.” The laptop belongs to Duane Robins, who Melba recruited when her Cedar Sinai Park program began. He stores music for up to 5,000 dances on his computer. A few hours before each session, she calls him to say which ones they’ll use that evening. “I normally put together 14 or 15,” Melba says. “I tend to use contemporary more than classics. I love the amazing dances coming out of Israel today. I try to please the residents and make sure the dancers have a good time.” Melba draws from a pool of Portland’s experienced Israeli dancers and recruits between five and 10 each month. “I send email and get a count,” she says. “That tells me the kind of program I’ll put together. We try to coordinate outfits and look like a troupe, say black on the bottom or a certain colored skirt. In the early days, I had sashes but the dancers aren’t in to that too much anymore.” Thursday, March 20, at 6:30 pm the dancing began. Chairs filled with
residents circled the Robison Home’s large living room. Israeli music from Duane’s laptop floats through the halls. The dancers, looking lovely in coordinated outfits, vary their program between fast and slow, circles and couples, all in perfect time. Halfway through the performance, CSP resident Mark Padgett gets up for his usual comedy routine. “On Mondays I host an hour of trivia, and every other week we do word games,” he later says. “I used to work in radio.” Some in the audience have a long history with Israeli music and dance. Former librarian, Mimi Silver, says she has danced since she was 2 years old and still does. “I’ve watched her dance at our anniversary party,” her friend Betty Munch comments. “She’s still active.” Grace Klor says she’s been at the Robison Home forever. “I love it here. First of all, I do all these dances myself.” Melba recognizes residents from week to week. “It’s sad when I don’t see them again,” she says. “They ask if we can come back and hold our hands. Every dance is different; you never tire of it.” For more information on local Israeli dancing visit portlandisraelidance.com.
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Bicycling Newfoundland’s Viking Trail through Gros Morne National Park Story and photos by Mary L. Peachin
Pedaling Newfoundland’s Viking Trail offers the challenge of “holding your line” along the edge of Trans Canada Highway 430 while being totally distracted by the Gulf of St. Lawrence’s glorious views. Numerous abandoned fishing villages dot the road throughout Gros Morne National Park. The pebbled beaches separating these villages are outlined by steep, vertical, eroded rock columns called sea stacks. This remote wilderness is also the summer migratory route for 22 species of whales, including the world’s largest population of humpbacks plus minke, sperm, blue and orca. Flocks of seabirds numbering in the thousands include gannets, orange-beaked puffins and storm petrels. Birds of prey – eagles, hawks, ospreys – float the currents of the wind. Arctic icebergs, typically calved in Greenland, drift along the shore. The boreal forest, edged by fields of wild flowers dominated by the bright fuchsia-red fireweed, is the nesting site of 350 varieties of colorful songbirds. For sure, when you want a break from sitting on the bike saddle, there is plenty to see, an entire horizon to scan. Our six-day Freewheeling Adventures (freewheeling. ca) bicycle tour would cover about 300 miles between Newfoundland’s airport gateway city of Deer Lake and World Heritage Site L’Anse aux Meadows, where Lief Eriksson and his Norse Vikings landed five centuries before Columbus “discovered” America. Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada’s most easterly provinces and encompassing the northeastern-most point of North America, are surrounded by 18,000 miles of coastline. Triangular in shape, Newfoundland is an Atlantic Ocean island while Labrador, considered part of mainland Canada, shares its western border with the province of Quebec. Visitors to Newfoundland typically fly into the cities of St. John’s or Deer Lake, rent a car or RV (accommodations are scarce), and speed through the province. A bicycle tour offers a better opportunity to enjoy scenic vistas while becoming immersed in beautiful surroundings and enjoying Newfoundland culture. Arriving the prior night, we stayed at Lake View Bed and Breakfast near Deer Lake’s airport. The Freewheeling van shuttle detoured to allow us to explore the nearby Newfoundland Insectarium’s collection of butterflies, tarantulas, beetles and bees prior to our hitting the road to begin cycling in Norris Point, the entrance to Gros Morne, a UNESCO site and the second largest national park in Atlantic Canada. Considered part of the Long Range Mountains, Gros Morne is located at the northern end of the Appalachians. 24 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
In Norris Point we spent several nights at Neddie’s Harbour Inn. Formerly a senior home, the inn has been renovated using creatively designed, handcrafted Newfoundland birch. Newfoundland has long, uninhabited distances without many restaurants. But finding a place to enjoy a meal is never an issue when traveling with Freewheeling Adventures. The Canadian company is noted for creative picnics in scenic places. Lunches served on checkered tablecloths include local cheese, charcuterie, fruit and vegetables. Handmade pastry is served for dessert accompanied by their signature hand-ground coffee. Guides Dan and Riley created our first “pop up” picnic along the highway overlooking Bonne Bay. The following day we were given the option of taking a challenging eight-hour Gros Morne Mountain hike to the end of the tree line, followed by a hand-over-hand climb through rock scree to a summit reward offering a glorious view. A second option was a catamaran tour on the M.V. Emm-Cat. Choosing the latter, we motored through Bonne Bay. David Forsey, our guide at Norris Point’s Bonne Bay Marine Station (bonnebay.ca), emphasized how precisely Captain James Cook charted the adjacent glaciated fiords carved some 15,000 years ago. The aquarium is geographically located at the southern habitation boundary for Arctic creatures. Other displays include elongated eel pouts, snow crab, striped and Atlantic wolffish, and the rare blue lobster. The following day we took a small ferry from the Bonne Bay landing to Woody Point. The small village features a single street lined with several coffee shops, a bar and an art gallery. Cycling to the nearby Discovery Centre, we viewed its exhibits before continuing our ride through desert-like Tablelands to Trout Lake. A 2-mile walk to Western Brook Pond (lake) followed a dirt trail with wooden walkways covering bogs and marshes. About 9,000 years ago, Western Brook Pond, home to salmon, brook trout and arctic char, became landlocked. The pond is not considered a fiord because it is enclosed. Following a picnic of pasta salad, fine cheeses and smoked salmon, we rode 30 miles to Portland Creek, a small waterfront village hosting a population of 77 residents. We enjoyed the 19-year-old Entente Cordiale, which has five rooms plus an attached suite. The next day’s lunch was served next to the highway adjacent to stored lobster traps and a field of lupine. We dined on hot seafood chowder, Montreal beef, pickled herring and fine cheeses. Our departure from Portland Creek to Main Brook’s Tuckamore Lodge was a long 180-mile ride. This exceptionally long distance, dictated by the scarcity of lodging options, is a day when most riders graciously accept
a lift in the van. After a single night at Tuckamore Lodge, we pedaled to the region settled by the Vikings. Archaeologically and historically significant L’Anse aux Meadows includes a museum in addition to remnants of the sturdy turf buildings the Norse used for winter camping. During their North Atlantic voyages, they encountered aboriginals including the Innu, Beothuk and Mi’kmaq. Our final two nights would be the unique and charming accommodations at Quirpon Lighthouse Inn. Following our stay at Quirpon we were shuttled either to the airport in St. Anthony or Deer Lake to catch our return flights. Traveling with Freewheeling is all about adventure. We cycled our own limits, hiked and enjoyed scenic boat rides. Newfoundland offers a beautiful landscape with friendly residents. Its remoteness and distance makes it a unique Canadian province. TIPS: ➥ A clear evaluation of physical limitations is required for this trip. Keep in mind there are numerous options. ➥ Advance training is very useful. The ability to ride 20 miles between 10-15 mph or two-three weekly gym spin classes should be adequate. ➥ Riders can determine the distance they want to ride by letting the shuttle driver know in advance or signal when the van passes them along the road. Freewheeling offers electric-assist E-bikes, which are handy for long distances. ➥ freewheeling.ca
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From Generation to Generation A trip to Israel for Adults 55+ Our belief is that it is not enough to send our children and grandchildren to Israel...We too must visit! L’Dor V’Dor is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization that was created to make travel to Israel affordable to adults 55 and older.
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(818) 943-1407 ldorvdorisrael.com UPCOMING TRIP • October 15-28, 2015 Applications available online
OREGON JEWISH LIFE | MAY 2015 25
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L’dor V’dor 818-943-1407 A trip to Israel for adults 55+. Upcoming trip Oct. 15-28. Our belief is that it is not enough to send our children and grandchildren to Israel. We too must visit.
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Cover Story
Photo by Katherine Emery 28 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
Stephen Elliot t ’s
INCREDIBLE JOURNEY
CELEBRATING OUR CARING COMMUNITY WHAT: Jewish Family & Child Service’s Celebrating Our Caring Community Luncheon WHEN: May 19, 11:30 am-1 pm WHERE: Multnomah Athletic Club FEATURING: Stephen Elliott COST: FREE RESERVATIONS: Visit jfcs-portland.org or call 503-226-7079, ext. 111 to reserve your free tickets.
By Liz Rabiner Lippoff
Stephen Elliott, 43, is a successful and acclaimed author and director, living in New York and New Orleans, with seven books and two films to his credit. He is a senior editor at Epic magazine, funded by Fox, which features longform journalism that is optioned and made into movies. He is the founder/ editor-in-chief of The Rumpus, an online literary magazine. And he has a new collection of essays coming out soon. Stephen Elliott is also a victim of child abuse whose mother died when he was 13 and who was raised by the state of Illinois for much of his teen years. He was a runaway, a drug addict, a stripper and a homeless guy who lived in his car. The New York Times Book Review called his, semiautobiographical Happy Baby, “the most intelligent and beautiful book ever written about juvenile detention centers, sadomasochism and drugs.” So you may be wondering why Stephen Elliott is also the featured speaker at the Jewish Family & Child Service annual luncheon to be held May 19 at the Multnomah Athletic Club in Portland. His story has more ups and downs than the Cascade Range. Stephen grew up in a nice neighborhood on the north side of Chicago. His home life, however, was not so nice. When Stephen was 8, his mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis; Stephen and his sister took care of her at home. His father was in real estate and was himself a writer. As a father, however, he was negligent at best and verbally and physically abusive at his worst. When Stephen was 10, he was already experimenting with drugs and running with the wrong crowd. It was also at 10 that he turned to writing as an outlet. He wrote on paper, on the walls of his room, anywhere.
OREGON JEWISH LIFE | MAY 2015 29
He was now on the radar screen of the Jewish community. Stephen desperately wanted to run away, but his mother begged him to stay. When she died, Stephen was 13 ... and he was outta there, living on the streets, on rooftops, wherever he could. He attempted suicide several times and has the scars on his arm to prove it. It was after one such attempt, at 14, that the police came, finding him lying in a doorway. They asked him where his parents lived; he replied that he didn’t know. (Actually, as he reported to The Chicago Sun Times, that wasn’t true. “He knew where one of them was. But his father … had up-andmoved without leaving a forwarding address.”) So Stephen became a ward of the state, and he eventually came to sample just about all the state had to offer kids like him: foster care, group homes and juvenile detention. The first thing they did, though, was put him in a public mental hospital because of the suicide attempt. “This was a bad place on the edge of the city where they warehouse people,” Stephen says. “There were no towels, no soap: you dry yourself off with a bed sheet. It has since closed down for all kinds of health violations.” It happened, though, that there was a program where the kids could go to a nearby synagogue once a week with the adults in the adult ward. Stephen actually was Jewish, via his Jewish father, but he didn’t feel Jewish and wasn’t raised with any religion at all save an occasional Christmas. Nevertheless, this program appealed to him. “We weren’t allowed to smoke in the facility, but we could smoke there,” he remembers with a laugh. “And they had really good food – cake and stuff. These black kids and I would go, not because I was Jewish but because we could smoke and eat.” He was now on the radar screen of the Jewish community. 30 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
When the mental hospital released him after three months, Stephen went to a very tough group home. Stephen was sent because he had a record of running away; the other kids were there because of their violent records. As a result, Stephen continued to run away – a lot. After six months, even a place this tough kicked him out. There weren’t many options left. “They were going to put me in a horrible place, a locked facility near Wisconsin,” says Stephen. “But instead, I got picked up by the Jewish Children’s Bureau, a program of Jewish Family & Child Service. They had external funding because of their fundraising, plus they had kids there who were placed by their parents and guardians, not just wards of the state, so it was a much better place and much less violent.” Stephen was still doing a lot of drugs at 16, but the JCB facility was across the street from Mather High School, and Stephen’s attitude began to change. “They’re not better than I am,” he realized. “I want to go there. I said to the JCB principal, ‘If I get straight A’s, can I go there?’ He said yes, so I went off drugs and got the A’s.” Stephen completed four years of high school in 2½ years, and he was off. “I credit JCB with this. I wasn’t good with adults. But they gave me a place that was stable and nonviolent, a place where I could make the changes I needed to make. There would have been no way to do that in a place where every day I was fighting for my life.” The JCB also gave Stephen money for college, and off he went to the University of Illinois. The road ahead was still rocky, however. He dropped out of school after three years and spent time in the red-light district in Amsterdam, did more drugs and
The scene is set...
Stephen Elliott works on a short film he is creating with Alex Karpovsky.
made more bad decisions. Yet, when he returned to school, he won a short story competition in his senior year. He continued writing back in Chicago while working as a stripper and doing more drugs. He began to submit stories for publication, and he wrote a novel. He moved to San Francisco and wrote more seriously, still “on the side.” In 2001, things turned around. Stephen was chosen for the prestigious Wallace Stegner Fellowship, which sent him to Stanford University for two years to be a writer-in-residence. There he studied writing, taught writing and sold several novels. He was now, by profession, not just by inclination, but officially: a Writer. Then and ever since, Stephen has done what he needed to do to steer his life in his chosen directions. He has published books, most of them about the violence, sex and drugs he himself has lived through. He travels and studies. He writes and films, edits two publications and he blogs. He hangs out with creative people who fan his own creative fire. And he speaks to
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Cover story Steven Elliots 4-5 pages
“
I like Stephen’s edginess and drive in overcoming a lot that could have made his life go elsewhere … or maybe nowhere. He is smart, creative and embraces what makes him tick differently. Stephen is also a model of how much of a difference a Jewish social service agency can make in someone’s life.
“
—Miriam Hecht, chair, Celebrating Our Caring Community, 2015
32 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
groups about his journey and about the importance of taking care of our troubled youth. He freely credits Jewish Child & Family Service for its pivotal role in his own saga. “I like Stephen’s edginess and drive in overcoming a lot that could have made his life go elsewhere … or maybe nowhere,” says Miriam Hecht, chair of this year’s JFCS Celebrating Our Caring Community luncheon. “He is smart, creative and embraces what makes him tick differently. Stephen is also a model of how much of a difference a Jewish social service agency can make in someone’s life.” In 2005 Stephen was invited to join Steven Spielberg and a group of artists who are, he says, “culturally influential and Jewish” at a luxurious weekend to talk about art and culture, to “move the needle,” as it were. “For me, the needle had a long way to move. It was the first time I hung out with Jews who are my peers, and it’s amazing how much we have in common.” Little things, like a shared sense of humor and a love of lox on a bagel. It also, he says, explained a lot to him, like “why I was drawn to Israel even though I didn’t think of myself as Jewish. It’s almost like being Jewish is in your blood. “I am privileged,” says Stephen, but he isn’t talking about money. “People who are poor but are doing what they want for a living, compared to people who have to go to a job they don’t enjoy: that’s my definition of privilege. A lot of people may have
Stephen Elliott leans his head against his friend Anthony’s shoulder in his younger days.
more money than I have, but that I can choose my work, I feel fortunate.” Portland’s Jewish Family & Child Service Interim Executive Director Carrie Hoops says, “For me, Stephen is a reflection of why the services JFCS provides in our community are so desperately needed. As Stephen has said, ‘There is lots of funding for people who are doing well.’ What JFCS does is to help create a fabric of support for those that are the most needy. (Without this) Stephen’s life would most likely have had a different – and dire – outcome.”
Liz Rabiner Lippoff is a marketing consultant, freelance writer and community volunteer. LizInk.biz
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[ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT]
Jewish Mothers, Way Back When: A Visual Midrash
SARAI BECOMING SARAH I am priestess of the moon. The universe is spacious and cyclical. Pay attention. Remember.
T
Story by Michal bat Makhir; photos by Judith Pavlik.
Torah offers enough about the patriarchs that we can surmise Esau needed a better razor than Jacob, and Abraham was hospitable. But Torah is less forthcoming about the matriarchs.
34 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
LEAH I am priestess of fertility. I mirror all the mothers that came before me, as you shall mirror the mothers before you. Remember.
From Sophie Portnoy to Helen Seinfeld, strong, vibrant Jewish mothers have long made their mark on us. Were our imahot, our matriarchs, similar to Jewish mothers today? How did they see themselves? How did they adapt to their roles? Which of the matriarchs was most seductive? Most duplicitous? Who kept her sisters laughing with her wit in the red tent? A year and a half ago, Temple Emek Shalom member Nancy Pagani, an Ashland fabric artist with more than 30 years’ experience in quilting and textile work, began wrestling with such questions. Nancy has created art in the Rogue Valley since 2001 when she became a founding member of AMBUS Contemporary Art. Her quilting has been exhibited locally and nationally, including at the Museum of the Americas in Madrid,
Ashland fabric artist Nancy Pagani has now begun work on a breastplate (ephod) that she imagines the Jewish Matriarch Hagar might have worn. LILITH I am first woman. I am beast and bird and bug. I am fish and fowl. I am everything in you and you are everything in me. I left Adam-Other-Self to pursue my own agenda and fulfill my own desires. I am the liberator of abused babies. The red thread is mine. It is the beginning of the lineage. Watch for it. Remember.
Spain. She was profiled in the documentary “Woman’s Work: Making Quilts – Creating Art.” Contemporary author and Torah scholar Aviva Zornberg wrote, “Women have a separate hidden history which is not conveyed on the surface of the text.” Nancy believed it was time for them to emerge from Torah’s white spaces by creating what she calls “visual midrash.” But how could an artist coax the earliest Jewish mothers’ personalities from parchment? To Nancy, a deeply committed Jew by choice and founder of Emek Shalom’s Temple Arts Committee, this was more than casual curiosity or a whim: this was a mission. How could she best apply her fabric art to this rejuvenation? “I believe that the emotional makeup of humans hasn’t changed much over the millennia,” Nancy remarks. “Artists can make use of the emotions and feelings to tell a new story.” At Torah study of Tetzaveh in which the priestly vestments are described, Nancy felt a compelling tug – if the men had breastplates (ephodim), perhaps the women should, too. Drawing from Torah and Talmud, The Hebrew Goddess (a text by Raphael Patai), and other sources, Nancy began teasing the colors of each matriarch from the white spaces.
While designing the breastplates, her sixth sense began to “hear” the voices of these ancient Jewish mothers. Some were quite voluble. “The matriarchs, with the exception of Rebekkah, conveyed their voices,” says Nancy. “Rebekkah was not forthcoming, so I projected what she might say.” Once she began to hear the matriarchs, Nancy expressed their emerging personalities in fiber. Mesopotamian texts from the time of matriarchs indicate that fine raiment, including fabrics woven of gold thread and embellished by jewels, was worn by the priestesses to indicate their status. Using artist-dyed silk and cotton fabrics, brown kraft paper (wrinkled and treated with metallic paint) and hand-sewn beads, Nancy fashioned the ephodim. Sarai’s breastplate came first in April 2013, followed by those of Leah, Lilith, Rebekkah and Rachel. The project is ongoing, and Nancy is currently working on Hagar’s ephod. Sarai’s name means princess or chieftainess. The first thing Sarai expressed to Nancy was, “I am priestess of the moon.” That gave the artist a starting point. What would a priestess of the moon wear? Blue and silver for the sky, perhaps. Jeweled moons and stars for embellishment. OREGON JEWISH LIFE | MAY 2015 35
REBEKKAH I am the placekeeper of the lineage. I mourn my sons, both banished to far places. I mourn my husband’s afflictions. I am the mother of nations. Remember.
While not known for her beauty, Leah was fertile, a desirable trait in her time and culture. Was she an example to other women to keep birthing? According to Torah and Talmud, having so many children did not make her more beloved of Jacob. Lilith couldn’t wear actual garments, because according to Genesis, clothes didn’t come along until Eve’s time. But Lilith had a ribcage. Nancy explains, “She guided me. When I painted the ribcage, Lilith deemed it to be too ‘pretty.’ She didn’t like that. ‘No, not that. Yes, this is right.’ And ‘You think I’m trouble? Look what happened when Eve listened to the snake.’” For Rebekkah, Nancy culled the clues offered by Torah. “Rebekkah left the safety of her own home and tribe to journey into the unknown. Beautiful Rebekkah, who fell off her camel upon seeing Isaac; Rebekkah, who had to hold her world together through trauma and family politics. She was caretaker of a good man who had experienced the akeda. No pretending
RACHEL I am guardian of the household goddesses and gods. We left in a hurry, fleeing my father who pursued us. We took our valuables, driving the herds before us. To protect the idols, I wrapped them in many-colored weaving remnants, and secreted them amongst my clothing. Sometimes the only solution is subterfuge.
that it didn’t affect Isaac, and thus Rebekkah. Her heart ached for having to deceive him, according to preordained decisions. And her heart ached for losing her sons to their far-away destinies.” Rachel had a sister, who gave birth multiple times while she herself remained barren. She loved her husband Jacob; it hurt to see him father her sister’s children. But she had spirit and gumption. And like Rebekkah before her, she wasn’t above a bit of deception. From the feral power of Lilith’s rib plate to the celestial delights in Sarai’s breastplate, the matriarchal ephodim inspire our perceptions of these ancient Jewish mothers, giving them zoetic force. As Nancy puts it, “Mothers through the centuries have held the lineage. These matriarchs were the beginning, and we honor our own mothers for continuing this very valuable task.”
The matriarchal ephodim will be on exhibit at the Salem Art Association/Bush Barn Art Center from Sept. 11-Oct. 24, 2015, and at the Chehalem Cultural Center in Newberg from Oct. 26, 2016-Jan. 4, 2017. Portland synagogue and museum venues are also being explored. 36 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
H
Eugene Scene: Jordan Schnitzer & Art
GA OM ] [ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT R E
DE & N
By Joseph A. Lieberman
Jordan D. Schnitzer speaks at the Fralin Museum in Charlottesville, VA, for the opening of the “Jasper Johns: Early Prints” exhibition. Photo by Stacey Evans
A RT I STS
R E P E RTO RY
T H E AT R E
Gilberto Martin Del Campo
Earlier this year, Jewish philanthropist Jordan Schnitzer opened another exhibition of works from his collection at his namesake Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene. A UO alumnus, he started contributing art to that institution as soon as he graduated. The Portland native recently sat down with OJL to discuss his inspirations, his philosophy, his Jewishness and the manner in which he selects art for the JSMA and for more than 70 other museums around the world. OJL: A lot of art you select could be called “edgy.” You’ve often said, “Artists are the chroniclers of our times.” Do you think that role has remained consistent from prehistory until the present day? JS: More precisely, artists are the conscience of their times. All artists – visual, dance, music – can create enjoyment and distraction, but visual artists especially can be thought-provoking even if they make us feel discomfort. Artists who are critical can be admired and thrive in healthy societies, where it’s OK to look inward by encouraging debate and dissension. But in repressive societies, such artists are absolutely essential. They may be persecuted, but still they rise to stand against fascism, dictatorships or ethnic cleansing. OJL: Regarding philanthropy, your mother Arlene was quoted as saying that charity is inculcated in Judaism. I think she was referring to the quality we call tikkun olam, healing the world. Is that something that informs the work you do in supporting and democratizing visual arts? JS: There’s an internal and external answer to that. Internally, to each of us, there’s no one more important than ourselves. Self-interest is part of the survival instinct, and we all do things that make us feel good. No one wakes up wishing to have a terrible day. However, I’ve found that when I help others, I end up feeling even better about myself. It’s a biological, scientific fact: doing good releases chemical endorphins that make us happier. Unfortunately, many people have trouble figuring that out. Externally, there is “legacy.” Society holds up role models in admiration who made a difference – creating jobs or creating art, diminishing suffering, enriching the world. Whether it’s in a village, a nation or global, the perfect legacy is leaving the Earth a better place than how we found it. OJL: What differentiates the print collection of Jordan Schnitzer and that of the Schnitzer Family Foundation? JS: There’s no real separation. It’s all about ideas in art. I have no sense of ownership in art, just as no one can own ideas. The collections simply mean that we are stewards of their messages. And why does art need stewards? Because in art markets, prices have escalated to disgusting levels. There are maybe 50 buyers
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in the world who can afford to pay $80 million for an original Andy Warhol painting. Now all we see are dollar signs, drawing attention to what something costs over what it is. This is especially ironic with Warhol, because he preached the democratization of art. His silkscreen print series were very affordable – he wanted to get them out to the people. This price escalation has made exhibiting some work nearly impossible, just from insurance fees and shipping. Our foundation counters that by lending work to museums free and paying for shipping ourselves. We also financially assist visits to exhibitions from school groups, seniors or underserved communities such as kids on Indian reservations. My interest, my joy is in sharing our collection’s great masters, making this art public. It’s a unique niche that we’ve fallen into out of happenstance. That’s why I love prints and multiples. They are affordable and allow us to expand the collection, while still conveying the freshness and originality of the art. I especially enjoy arranging single-artist exhibits, where we’re surrounded by an entire lifetime of the creative work of one individual. OJL: What was the process when you were young by which exposure to art evolved into such a passion? JS: I was always surrounded by art and consider it essential to my life. There was no single moment of awakening, but I do remember discovering the print drawers in my mother’s gallery and immediately loving what I found inside. Even before I started buying art, I was receiving it as gifts for birthdays and Hanukkah. And I recommend to every parent, surround your
kids with art, even if it’s just inexpensive pieces from street fairs and markets. Whatever speaks to you, get it, and start your kids on the road to art literacy. OJL: With all the art you’ve come into contact with, do you let the work alone inform and inspire you, do you delve into the artists’ biographies, or, if still alive, do you seek them out to sit together and have conversations? JS: My first reaction is simply an immediate visual response, and then I try to get into the artist’s background and how the work is meant to fit into society. I consider the time, place and layers of meaning for me, because, after all, each of us is a unique character who has billions of personal experiences that we bring to our observation of that work of art. I’ve met only a few artists face to face, but in so doing I realized they see the world in a different way, and we can learn from that. OJL: Does your Jewishness play any role in this? JS: Being Jewish has had a huge influence on my values and outlook. What’s still an issue for me is that “leap of faith” by which a person accepts all religious dogma at face value. But that doesn’t prevent me from loving the services, feeling I’m part of a Jewish community and being deeply proud of a tradition that goes back 5,000 years. OJL: Have you ever been tempted to take art lessons? JS: Yes, I did when I was young, but if you saw what I produced you’d understand why some people are better meant to be collectors and stewards of art. Joseph Lieberman, coauthor of Jesus: First-century Rabbi, lives in Eugene.
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38 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
Artists create windows with meaning
Steve Klein points to the Plum Street Temple he silkscreened onto a window designed for the rebuilt sanctuary of Temple Beth Sholom in Santa Ana, CA. Photo by Deborah Moon By Deborah Moon
When two art collectors asked glass artist Steve Klein if he would be interested in creating the windows for their California congregation as it rebuilt its fire-damaged sanctuary, he realized two things. First, he didn’t want to just make windows, he wanted to create “something special that would have meaning to the building and to the congregation.” Second, he knew he needed help and resources. Primarily a pedestal glass artist, Steve says he had no idea what he needed to know about windows. So he called on his friend Richard Parrish, a glass artist and former architect. The two have jointly taught workshops and residencies in casting and fusing glass at Bullseye Glass Resource Center, and knew Bullseye offered the facilities and support they would need for the project. Founded in Portland in 1974, Bullseye Glass Company is, according to its website (bullseyeglass.com), “a manufacturer of colored glass for art and architecture with worldwide distribution and a strong commitment to research, education and promoting glass art.” Raised in a Reform congregation in Southern California, Steve now lives in La Conner, WA. Richard lives in Bozeman, MT. But the two are involved with Bullseye. “They have the large-format kilns and the expertise we needed,” says Steve. When the two artists met with the TBS’s building committee and Rabbi Heidi Cohen, the rabbi emphasized that education was an important role for the synagogue. “We suggested windows that would blend in with the contemporary building, but would also tell a story and have
a traditional content,” says Steve. The windows will be set in 18-inch-thick Jerusalem stone, so the artists decided to texture the sanctuary side of the glass to complement the stunning stone wall. “We proposed to present a brief history of Judaism through images of iconic and important synagogues. Our story would start with Herod’s Temple in 20 BCE.” The two spent months researching historic synagogues for the remaining windows. In addition to Herod’s Temple, 13 synagogues are depicted, culminating in an image of the Plum Street Temple in Cincinnati built in 1865. Since TBS is a Reform congregation, Steve says it seemed fitting to finish with the Reform congregation where Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise served for 53 years. Rabbi Wise was the first President of the Union of American Hebrew congregations and founded Hebrew Union College. Since many of the synagogues predate photography, the two relied on descriptions, drawings and models to create the images. An expert with Photoshop, Richard would render the building image. Meanwhile, Steve created plates of glass in traditional jewel tones that were placed in the giant kilns lying on top of a fiber blanket torn and bunched to create a texture that mimicked the Jerusalem stone. Steve then silkscreened with glass powder onto the public gallery side of the window; finally the glass was kilned again to fuse the image to the window. Steve says plaques with information about each of the synagogues will be displayed beside the windows, ensuring that the educational goal of the project is as successful as the aesthetic presentation. OREGON JEWISH LIFE | MAY 2015 39
Kids
& Teens too A child friendly resource for parents
Cooking with kids has more benefits than chicken soup By Rich Geller
It’s no secret that the Jewish cook together invariably consume people have had a millennia-long love a healthier and more varied diet affair with food. From the manna with fewer processed foods than from Heaven that nourished the those who opt for typical American ancient Israelites during their long fare. Cooking as a family has the desert sojourn, to bagels and lox with added benefit of creating fond a shmear, few things delight us more memories of hearth and home that than getting our nosh on. will last a lifetime. World-renowned Italian-American Jewish chef Beyond mere sustenance, food Giuliano Hazan expounded on the plays a symbolic role in most Jewish significance of cooking to me while rituals and holidays. From time Sela Geller, 6, helps make chicken soup. on a recent book tour in Portland. immemorial the kitchen has been the “Why does cooking matter?” he heart and soul of the Jewish home. asked. “It’s not just about filling Countless generations of mothers a biological need to feed ourselves. Cooking and eating has and daughters have bonded over bubbling vats of chicken soup, united humanity ever since man first gathered around the fire a labor of love that produces, as if by alchemy, the liquid gold or to share the spoils of the hunt. Cooking is an act of love and “Jewish penicillin” so esteemed by our people. nurturing.” Soup making is important business in our household. My The look of pure joy on a child’s face when he or she cooks is wife, Leslie, and our daughter, Sela, age 6, are the designated a reflection of that love. This Pesach our son, Leo, age 8, helped soup makers in our home. A few weeks before holidays such as make matzah brei for breakfast. As he crumbled the matzah Passover and Rosh Hashanah, they make the chicken stock and and cracked the eggs he grinned from ear to ear and exclaimed, freeze it for later use as the base for the matzah ball soup. Sela “Matzah brei, here we come!” helps Leslie by throwing the carrots, onions and celery into the pot. As they worked together in the kitchen making the stock Allowing our kids freedom to explore their creativity in the for this Passover’s matzah ball soup, they sang an old preschool kitchen is a great way to build self-confidence as they master favorite to the tune of “London Bridge is Falling Down”: “Put various cooking techniques and equipment. Which brings us to the chicken in the pot, stir it up, nice and hot, get it ready for the issue of safety in the kitchen, and the first rule: Wash your Pesach, for Pesach.” The mellifluous sound of my wife’s and hands! Be sure to take the time to teach your kids basic food daughter’s voices raised in song is the quintessence of the and kitchen safety. The cookbook Kosher by Design – Kids in the Hebrew phrase L’dor v’dor (generation to generation). Kitchen by Susie Fishbein covers kitchen and knife safety in simple, straightforward language that even young children can Not only is cooking and eating together the way we pass our understand. This indispensable resource also contains the basics culinary knowledge down to the next generation, families that 40 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
of kashrut in the kitchen. The Children’s Jewish Holiday Kitchen by Joan Nathan is another fantastic go-to cookbook for children. For more help teaching kids about basic food safety visit foodsafety.gov. Finding cookbooks that really grab your kid’s attention is essential. My kids are really into science fiction, so our cookbook shelves now feature several Star Wars- and Star Trek-themed cookbooks. Making the recipes in these books has been a great way for them to explore both the kitchen and the galaxy! If you keep kosher, all of the recipes can be easily adapted to kashrut. For example Death Star Popcorn Balls are not only the most powerful weapons in the galaxy, capable of tantalizing the taste buds of an entire planet, but by subbing in kosher marshmallows they become nosh necessities! Just be sure to reprogram your food replicator before you begin. Cooking with kids teaches them about where their food comes from. We live in Oregon, take advantage of it! Chefs nationwide remark how envious they are of all the resources we have available to us in the Pacific Northwest, including produce, nuts, dairy and cheese, fish from ocean and stream, and world-renowned wine. Take your kids and visit a farmer’s market. Meet the farmers and talk with them. Help your kids really connect with their food. Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, CA, founded the Edible Schoolyard Project in 1996 to teach school children this very notion (edibleschoolyard.org). Learning which foods are available in each season puts them in touch with the ancient rhythms of nature that were so integral to the lives of our forebears. Our ancestors had no choice but to eat what was seasonally and locally available. By learning to cook in this manner, our children will undoubtedly be healthier and live longer, happier lives and might just pass this on to their kinderlach.
GOLEM COOKIES
Legend has it that the Golem of Prague was a man of clay brought to life by inscribing the Hebrew word “emet,” meaning “truth,” upon his forehead. Should he run amok he can be easily deactivated in the most delicious manner possible!
6 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon baking powder ½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature 1 cup dark-brown sugar, packed 4 teaspoons ground ginger 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1½ teaspoons ground cloves 1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper 1½ teaspoons salt 2 large eggs 1 cup unsulfured molasses Raisins Royal icing Sift together flour, baking soda and baking powder. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in spices and salt, then eggs and molasses. Add flour mixture; combine on low speed. Divide dough in thirds, and wrap in plastic. Chill at least 1 hour. Heat oven to 350 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough 1/8-inch thick. Cut into golem (gingerbread cookie) shapes. Inscribe the word emet on each golem’s forehead. Put on baking sheets lined with a nonstick baking mat or parchment paper. Use raisins to make the eyes and other decorations. Bake about 20 minutes until crisp, but not darkened, Cool on wire racks. Decorate with royal icing (recipe not included).
OREGON JEWISH LIFE | MAY 2015 41
KIDS Music, memory, seniors and a dedicated teen
S
Vivian Korn thanks Sam Ellenby after his performance at Rose Schnitzer Manor’s Tea Time.
By Deborah Moon
Seeking a culminating project for his years at Portland Jewish Academy, eighth-grader Sam Ellenby decided to combine his passion for music with helping the community’s seniors. “I have always had an immense passion for music, and I believe so strongly in the effects it can have on a person’s life,” says Sam. PJA’s Capstone Project is a multifaceted, interdisciplinary program in which eighth-graders consider PJA middot (values) as they each design, implement and facilitate a service project. At the beginning of the school year, Cedar Sinai Park Campus Life Enrichment Director Jennifer Felberg spoke to PJA eighth-graders about the opportunities for l’dor v’dor (generation to generation) projects for their Capstone Project. “Sam kept asking about music and how it helps seniors,” says Jennifer. “Music memories linger in people’s brains longer 42 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
than other memories.” She adds that long after many memories are gone, people remember songs and melodies and respond to them. So for his Capstone Project, Sam decided to support the Music & Memory program at Robison Jewish Health Center through sharing music with seniors and through fundraising. Though he has joined the PJA choir to entertain residents many times through the years, he is now performing solo as part of his project. On April 12 he sang and played the piano during “Tea Time” at Rose Schnitzer Manor, an independentand assisted-living complex that shares the CSP campus with Robison. “I hope to play solo there more frequently,” says Sam, the son of Robyn Tenenbaum and Miles Ellenby. Jennifer says, “Sam is a phenomenal singer and entertainer. He’s been coming with the PJA choir since he was little … now he will do it on his own.” In addition to performing, Sam has planned an event on June 7 that goes well beyond fundraising. On June 7 “Alive Inside: Music and Memory” will screen at 4 pm at the Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd., Portland. Admission is $8 for adults and $5 for students and seniors. Attendees are also asked to bring new or used iPods, iPhones or headphones for use by Robison seniors. Donations of cash, checks or iTunes gift cards are also welcome. Donations are tax deductible. In addition to donations of money and equipment, Sam also hopes to raise awareness of the power of music. “Alive Inside” is billed as “a joyous exploration of music’s capacity to reawaken our souls and uncover the deepest parts of our humanity. Filmmaker Michael Rossato-Bennett chronicles the astonishing experiences of individuals around the country who have been revitalized through the simple experience of listening to music.” The film won the Audience Award at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. “After seeing this movie, ‘Alive Inside,’ I was instantly moved by the idea of the massive potential for this form of therapy and wanted to take action in my community,” says Sam. “I am doing so by advocating and raising awareness, in addition to directly helping the cause by playing music for the residents at the Robison Jewish Health Center.” In May of 2014, Robison received a grant from Music & Memory, a national nonprofit created to bring “personalized music into the lives of the elderly or infirm through digital music technology, vastly improving quality of life.” According to the organization’s website (musicandmemory.org), Executive Director Dan Cohen “founded Music & Memory with a simple idea: Someday, if he ended up in a nursing home, he wanted to be able to listen to his favorite ‘60s music. Why not bring used iPods as well as new ones into nursing homes to provide personalized music for residents?” Sam wants people to be aware of the power of music and how Robison uses the program. “I hope to help show the world how transformative a pair of headphones and an iPod can be in shaping the last years of one’s life,” Sam explains.
Students to speak for Israel at Model UN
Tamar Boussi (standing) and Yvonne Bartlett (at laptop) help West Albany High School students learn about Israel for the upcoming Model United Nations program. Photo by Polina Olsen By Polina Olsen
When West Albany High School teacher June Satak learned her students would represent Israel at this year’s Oregon Model United Nations program, she gave everyone thumbs up. The students’ top request? They wanted to separate fact from fiction by researching Israel’s stand on social and political issues. The students would be expected to debate relevant global issues, and they needed an expert to advise them. June got Tamar Boussi’s name through contacts at the World Affairs Council and Mercy Corp. As former president of Portland Hadassah, winner of their 2007 Israel Advocacy Award and MJCC Exploring Zionism study group leader, Tamar would be a great help. Student Model United Nations programs take place throughout the world. Oregon holds its three-day event (oregonmun.org) in Eugene, usually at the University of Oregon campus. This year’s program falls on April 9-11. According to June, students from 60 to 70 Oregon high schools mimic U.N. proceedings with councils and committees such as health, environment and women’s issues. Students strive to represent their countries’ positions, leaving their personal points of view behind.
A few schools offer yearlong classes, but for most, like West Albany High, Model U.N. is an afterschool club. Every year, each school submits a list of five countries it would like to represent and is assigned one. “Israel is in a controversial position in the Middle East,” June says. “The students are intrigued by that.” Tamar Boussi hopped right to it when she got the call from June. “I decided to make them an Israeli meal and talk about how to talk about Israel,” she says. “You need to know important facts but also how to deliver those facts. You’ll have people yelling in your face.” Tamar first met everyone via Skype. A former high school teacher herself, she began by asking what the students wanted to know. Since they would represent Israeli positions on various U.N. committees, interests ranged from women’s issues to live animal trafficking. West Albany High had represented the Marshall Islands, Turkey and North Korea in previous Oregon Model U.N. events. They said ethnic and religious conflicts including Palestinian issues repeatedly came up. On March 20, nine students and their teacher arrived at Tamar’s Portland apartment for a full-day teach-in that included role-playing, question and
answer, and the movie “A Case for Israel” by Alan Dershowitz. Tamar had prepared enough scrumptious Israeli delicacies to feed a small army, and everyone munched happily throughout the day. Yvonne Bartlett, the Stand With Us (standwithus.com) Pacific Northwest coordinator for high school programs, drove from Seattle to help. “When I first came, I had the students sit in a circle and tell me one or two things they knew about Israel,” Yvonne says. “I wanted to see where their knowledge was. One girl knew there was mandatory army service, another about equality for women. They knew there was tension in the region between the Israelis and Palestinians. They are bright and asked good questions. They wanted to understand how Israel can be a Jewish state and still a democracy.” Before saying goodbye, Yvonne said she hoped everyone would visit Israel. The one Jewish student had already planned her Birthright Israel trip (birthrightisrael.com). Others asked for Yvonne’s business card hoping to learn about trips for non-Jewish youth. “These are young people,” Tamar says. “They are the future. If they feel committed, we can’t do more than that.”
OREGON JEWISH LIFE | MAY 2015 43
KIDS
TEEN FENCER BOUND FOR EUROPEAN MACCABI GAMES
W By Deborah Moon
When Jacob Brown was a toddler, his uncle, Robert Marx, a three-time Olympic fencer, put a stick in his hand and challenged him to a duel. Now the 16-year-old Bend resident is bound for the European Maccabi Games in Berlin, Germany, July 25-Aug. 4. The son of Debra Rycus-Brown and Henri Brown began his fencing career early. On his personal page on the Maccabi USA website, Jacob writes, “I began fencing when I was 10 years old. Before that, I remember trying to defeat my Uncle Bob with light sabers. I think that he was trying to mold me at this young age, by making me stand in the en garde position and hold the light saber a certain way.” Jacob has fenced at the Oregon State Games every year since 2009, when he took second place competing in the Y10 Foil. In Bend, where the family moved in 2003, Jacob trains at the High Desert Fencing Club. But he returns to Portland many weekends to train with his coaches at the Northwest Fencing Center in Beaverton. His aunt, Suzanne, and uncles, Bob and Michael Marx, all trained at the NW Fencing Center (then known as Salle Auriol) when they were young. Both Bob and Michael fenced at the Olympics multiple times and Suzanne was an Olympic alternate one year; Bob is now the president of the NW Fencing Club. Jacob’s interest in the Maccabi Games was sparked when Adam Frank, one of his teammates at the NW Fencing Center, competed at the World Maccabiah Games in Israel in 2013. Now Jacob and Adam’s younger brother, Timmy, have their eyes on the 2017 games in Israel. Knowing his son’s interest, Henri submitted an application on Jacob’s behalf to Maccabi USA for this summer’s European Games. After Jacob placed 15th at the 2015 Junior Olympics in Richmond, VA, competing with an epee, he was named to the USA Maccabi Team. Of his upcoming participation in the 14th European Maccabi Games, he wrote: “This is Europe’s biggest Jewish sports event and will take place in Germany for the first time in its history. I will be representing the U.S. at these games. This will be my first tournament abroad and will provide me invaluable experience not only in my fencing, but will enable me to celebrate Jewish unity, culture and heritage with athletes from all over the world.” 44 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
Judaism is a big part of Jacob’s life. He celebrated becoming a bar mitzvah on his Hebrew birthday in August with Rabbi Yitzchok Feldman of Chabad of Bend. The celebration continued over the Labor Day weekend when he participated in Friday evening services at Chabad and Shabbat morning services at Congregation Shalom Bayit with Rabbi Jay Shupack. When he became an Eagle Scout in February last year, he led a team of Boy Scouts to build and donate seven handmade benches to Congregation Shalom Bayit. Jacob says he enjoys Friday evening services at Chabad, which are followed by conversation about the week’s Torah Jacob Brown portion during a family style Kiddush dinner. A junior at Summit High School, Jacob plays trombone in the stage and concert band. For PE, he selects classes such as aerobics and conditioning to increase his fitness level for fencing. To compete in the games, Jacob needs to raise $5,800 to cover the cost of international flights, hotel, games registration, medical insurance, ground transportation and meals in Berlin. Donations can be made online at: support.maccabiusa.com/ site/TR/Games/MaccabiTeamRaiser?px=1031606&pg=person al&fr_id=1060. You may also mail a check (write Jacob Brown on memo line) to Maccabi USA, 1511 Walnut Str., 4th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19102. Donations (again with memo noting in support of Jacob Brown) also can be sent to: Chabad-Lubavitch of Central Oregon, 61023 Snowberry Place, Bend, OR 97702. “I am so honored to be a part of Team USA at these games,” says Jacob.
Jacob Brown with Rabbi Jay Shupack
[CAMPUS]
Students need support in face of anti-Semitic wave
M By Bob Horenstein
(Originally published in the Jerusalem Report Magazine)
Most American Jews are well aware of the alarming upsurge in European anti-Semitism. In fact, Jewish advocacy organizations on this side of the Atlantic have become quite vocal in demanding that European governments combat this spreading scourge. Ironically, when it comes to the rise in anti-Semitism in our own backyard – specifically, the kind that breeds under the guise of anti-Zionism on U.S. college campuses – many American Jews seem oblivious to a problem that could get out of hand if ignored. Moreover, the Jewish community’s response to the antiSemitic climate existing on some campuses has often been less than forceful, even ambiguous and confused. Just how disturbing has the situation become? A new study issued jointly by the Washington-based Louis D. Brandeis Center and Trinity College in Hartford, CN, found that 54 percent of the 1,157 Jewish students surveyed across 55 universities reported that they had “suffered or witnessed incidents of anti-Semitism” on their campus. Much of the problem stems from the hate-filled activism of the fanatical group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), whose disdain for Israel knows no bounds. A main force behind the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, SJP compares Israel to the Nazis and apartheid South Africa and invites vehemently anti-Semitic speakers to campus. They don’t even bother to feign civility toward pro-Israel students.
Consider the following situations from just the past year: • In the days leading up to the mid-February passage of a student senate anti-Israel divestment resolution at Stanford, Jewish students reported feeling marginalized and harassed, with one student saying she was afraid to wear a Jewish star on campus. • Last November at Cornell University, Jewish students holding a pro-peace rally had their signs grabbed out of their hands, torn and smeared with ketchup by SJP activists, who yelled obscenities such as “F—k you, Zionist scum.” • In a letter to the campus newspaper last April, several alumni of Vassar College complained that “faculty and student supporters (of BDS) have hijacked campus discourse and imposed an anti-intellectual atmosphere in which professors are ranting activists, not scholars, and students who disagree with the prevailing ‘progressive’ (READ: anti-Israel) ideology are intimidated into a deafening silence.” • In March 2014, University of Michigan students refusing to support an anti-Israel boycott initiative during a “sit-in” at the student government’s headquarters were reportedly threatened with violence by BDS backers and called “kikes” and “dirty Jews.” As one UCLA Jewish student put it succinctly: “The problem is the anti-Israel culture in which we are singling out only the
Jewish state creates an environment where it’s OK to single out Jewish students.” And it’s hardly a fair fight. SJP has successfully enlisted hundreds of far-left professors for their odious campaign to delegitimize Israel and vilify its supporters. By contrast, Jewish academics, fearful that partisan political activism could endanger a safely tenured career, are typically reticent to mobilize against BDS. At the same time, many Jewish students understand that if they stand up for Israel they may be bullied, ostracized, or even subject to receiving lower grades from pro-BDS professors. The anti-Israel forces – among them “career students” who never leave campus – use persuasive, focused messaging under the banner of “human rights.” They reach out to student groups, aggressively lobbying and recruiting allies, including anti-Zionist Jews whose presence they exploit to shield SJP from charges of anti-Semitism. Meanwhile, many Hillel directors worry that openly and vigorously defending Israel may alienate students who disagree with right-wing Israeli government policies. Similarly, some progressive Jewish campus groups put more emphasis on providing a “safe space” where students can voice criticism of Israel than they do on countering the Israel bashers, none of whom share their interest in respectful discourse on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It’s imperative that the pro-Israel community close ranks to confront this assault on Israel’s legitimacy. Jewish student organizations need to be provided with sufficient resources to: sponsor programs that promote a positive and accurate image of Israel and its people; cultivate relationships with members of student governments and the leaders of student ethnic and cultural groups; and help establish strong ties between university departments and Israeli academic institutions. The organized Jewish community must also go on the offensive against BDS-inspired anti-Semitism. This includes calling out professors who abuse their classroom authority to advance an anti-Israel agenda under the guise of scholarship and holding universities accountable for failure to take swift action against anti-Semitic behavior and ensure a secure campus environment. We can no longer sit idly by while Israel, which has always provided refuge for Jews fleeing anti-Semitism, becomes the pretext for Jew hatred on American campuses. Robert Horenstein is Community Relations Director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland. His columns frequently appear in Jerusalem Report Magazine.
OREGON JEWISH LIFE | MAY 2015 45
[AN OREGONIAN IN ISRAEL]
Israel’s spring is full of surprises By Mylan Tanzer
There were three big surprises over the last month. Not necessarily in this order, the first was the almost weeklong storm and cold spell in mid-April, only the third such occurrence since records have been kept. Some Shalom Aleichem-inspired web pranksters launched a convincing story claiming the Chief Rabbinate had miscalculated the Jewish calendar, and thus we would have to observe Passover once again. The second was the general elections results, which caught the pundits, pollsters and commentators with their pants down. The third surprise, even though it shouldn’t have been, was the United States and the Europeans agreeing to salvage the collapsing Iranian economy to allow a major exporter of terror to upgrade and broaden its behavior under a protective nuclear umbrella. Perhaps due to the third surprise, the coalition negotiations following the election have hardly received any attention. If it weren’t for the agreement in Lausanne justifiably preoccupying us, the coalition negotiations would have undoubtedly dominated our attention. The slow pace of the negotiations is the direct result of the unexpected election results. Despite an overwhelming victory by the Likud and Netanyahu, it still gave him only 30 seats (which illustrates the fragmentation of Israeli society and our increasingly inadequate political structure), meaning he needs coalition partners. But the nature of his victory strengthened his stature to the point where he is not aggressively pursuing the smaller parties, as he was forced to do in his earlier victories. He is taking his time, which he likely believes will cause these parties to minimize their demands. By the time I write my next column, there will almost certainly be a new ruling coalition on which I will elaborate. In the meantime, the election results justify not only a column, but an HBO or Netflix multi-season miniseries. Not being able to supply the latter, we will need to make do with the former. Benjamin Netanyahu. What can one say? Unflinching, the master campaigner did it again. His amazing accomplishment is primarily a personal one. He was the recipient of an unending media attack in the months before the elections, yet he was able to leverage it to his advantage. Likud gained 40% more seats than the final polls predicted. Not since 1981 has a ruling party gained such an increase. To understand how another victory by the right was achieved, one must understand the diminishing Israeli left wing. It is revealing how the left-wing Ha’aretz dealt with the election result. Yossi Verter expressed the frustration of the left when he wrote: “Netanyahu succeeded by breaking wildly right, discarding the Bar-Ilan speech (where he stated his support for a twostate solution), by an unprecedented confrontation with the U.S. president, by shamefully lashing out at Israeli Arabs on election day. He exploited dangerously edgy propaganda and incited against organized labor and the media, who he accused of trying 46 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
to defeat him. The result from a democratic point of view was a healthy one, but it was achieved by means that were anything but healthy.” Ari Shavit wrote, “First, we must bow our heads; the people have spoken. The elections were free, secret and fair. The deck was stacked against the right. Despite this, the majority went against the flow and crowned Netanyahu as prime minister and the Likud as the ruling party with an Ultra-Orthodox and nationalist coalition. Open-eyed, the public chose blindness. Clearheadedly and soberly, the public chose drunkenness.” While the elections were expected to be the most socially and economically dominated in our history, this turned out not to be the case. A massive number of Israelis who have become increasingly marginalized in society over the last 13 years should have voted against Netanyahu for their own financial security, yet they clearly embraced Likud. The left and center arrogantly tried to explain the result was due to Netanyahu’s fear campaign and the ethnic or “tribal vote” of the Sephardic population, instead of an issue-based vote. While this may be true to some extent, there is more to it. What many on the left do not understand is that for voters worried by the strengthening of the Iranian threat and Hezbollah, and the disintegration of Syria, the peace process with the Palestinians is simply not relevant. That proved to be a liability for the left. This is third consecutive time Netanyahu will form the government. The last relatively left-wing victory was Ehud Barak in 1999 (Ehud Olmert, was centrist). The final results reflect a long-established trend. The Israeli public is clearly moving right. The right enjoys a clear preference among three growing groups: the young, the religious and the Ultra-Orthodox. Netanyahu’s many failures and many people’s suspicion of him were not enough to override the advantage of the right in the elections. But there is something deeper at work here. Despite the overwhelming media coverage of economic hardships and the growing social gap in Israeli society, Israel’s security reality constitutes the overwhelming consideration on Election Day; on this subject, Netanyahu dominates the competition. Netanyahu’s responsibility for the desperate housing situation and his problematic personal conduct, combined with the long-term moral and practical implications of no agreement with the Palestinians, are far less important to the Israeli voter than the dangers the country faces throughout the Middle East. This is understandable because these fears are very real. The chance of solving the conflict with the Palestinians is almost nonexistent and is not a priority for members of the Arab world. With ISIS, dysfunctional regimes, Iran, Yemen, etc. … the Arab countries are up to their ears in matters of life and death, which the Palestinian issue is not. We face litany of threats after four incredibly tumultuous and bloody years in the Arab world that have brought sinister dangers to our doorstep. Israeli voters are justifiably concerned, and they believe that Netanyahu can deal with these threats. Amos Harel writes: “Despite the antagonism that Netanyahu provokes in large segments of the population, the alternative was the anemic, pale and unconvincing Yitzhak Herzog”
Israel’s security became the transcendent election issue because, when Israeli voters were deciding who to vote for, the threat posing the greatest danger to the survival of the Jewish people since World War II was in the process of gaining legitimacy and international approval. The negotiations in Lausanne between Iran and the six international powers provided the perfect backdrop for Netanyahu and the Likud, validating the central pillar of their campaign. Netanyahu’s divisive speech to the U.S. Congress two weeks before the elections dovetailed perfectly with the greatest fear that all of us have – a nuclear Iran validated by the West. The ayatollah’s declared aim of liquidating Israel seemed closer. With the negotiations heading toward the result we fear most, Netanyahu appeared nothing short of prophetic. His disputes with Obama and the administration became an electoral asset. Netanyahu’sclaim that the negotiations would leave Iran’s nuclear infrastructure intact and able to break out at the moment that the regime chooses, strengthened that fear. Also in his favor was the likely removal of sanctions, thus providing Iran with cash to fund its campaigns and proxies in Syria (including opening another front against Israel on the Golan Heights), Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq and Yemen. As Yaron Friedman writes in Ma’ariv: “now the U.S. is almost certainly going to solve Iran’s financial problems, not those of the Iranian people who will continue to live in poverty, but of Iranian military – with the removal of sanctions. What will Iran have to do in return? A flawed and problematic inspection regime of its facilities, limiting but not eliminating the technology to build nuclear bombs and no restraints on normalization with the Western world.” Ironically it is Ha’aretz, through Ari Shavit, that makes even Netanyahu’s fiercest opponents at least partially thankful that he will continue to lead the country. In an article entitled “A Thousand Red Lights,” he quotes from Obama’s interview with Thomas Friedman, when the president remarked, “I’ve been very clear that Iran will not get a nuclear weapon on my watch.” Shavit claims that this is the most important sound bite of Iranian-U.S. rapprochement. He cites the extremely worrisome questions that the agreement raises: Why is there no connection between the Persian and English versions of the agreement? Why does Iran claim vigorously that sanctions will be removed immediately and that they will continue to enrich uranium on an industrial scale and develop advanced centrifuges without limit? Why does the American version allow the Iranians to continue to operate the underground facility at Fordu and the reactor at Arak? Why is the American version unclear about the amount of fissile material that will be taken out of Iran and how much access international inspectors will have? Shavit adds, “What will happen in 10 years? Don’t we want to survive beyond 2025? Will the Lausanne agreement pave the way to the nightmarish prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran, a nuclear-armed Middle East and the collapse of the world order?” I have come to think that like Winston Churchill in the 1930s, it seems the only world leader who understands the threat to the world is Netanyahu. Unlike Churchill, he has the advantage of the precedent of World War II and therefore, also unlike Churchill’s situation, at least some of the world is listening. Like
Netanyahu, Churchill’s political career was littered with failures. But his fight against Hitler and Nazi Germany saved civilization and defined his important legacy. This is how Netanyahu sees his role, and following the acquiescence of the Six Powers, this is how most Israelis now view him. Over the last several months, many Netanyahu skeptics have come to believe that as long as Obama is president, Netanyahu must remain prime minister. This consideration was definitely one of the factors in the decisive Likud victory. Reading Brett Stephens’ Wall Street Journal article entitled “The Orwellian Obama Presidency,” it is easy to understand why. “There is an upside-down quality to this president’s world view. His administration is now on better terms with Iran – whose Houthi proxies, with the slogan ‘God is great, death to America, death to Israel, damn the Jews, power to Islam,’ just deposed Yemen’s legitimate president – than it is with Israel.” There was certainly a great deal of consternation in Washington and Europe with Netanyahu’s victory. I believe that at least some of the credit for this lies with the current atmosphere of international appeasement, which raises the alarm bells in Israel and strengthens Netanyahu. Ironically, I write this column as the 24-hour Holocaust Memorial Day observance begins. A few moments ago, Netanyahu addressed the official state ceremony. Not surprisingly he used the remembrance of Nazi destruction of the Jews as a warning of Iranian intentions. “The second world war teaches us that democracies cannot ignore expansionist intentions of tyrannical regimes. Appeasement increases their aggressiveness. But the world has not learned from the universal tragedy of the 20th century. … Just as the Nazi regime strived to destroy civilization, dominate with a master race and annihilate the Jews, so Iran is expanding its presence with the goal of destroying Israel. They are doing it openly. … The nuclear agreement with Iran proves that the world has not learned the lessons of World War II. The West is capitulating. … The world was gravely mistaken on the eve of World War II. We and many of our neighbors believe that this again is the case.” As it is Holocaust Memorial Day, each year on this day I am reminded of Elie Wiesel. His Night in Fog was the first Holocaust book I read, and it left an indelible imprint on me, probably helping to set me on my life path. When Wiesel was in the congressional gallery during Netanyahu’s speech, it erased any doubts I had about the wisdom of Netanyahu’s course of action. We have tolerated Netanyahu for many years. Perhaps the next few years will give us the return on our investment that we have waited so long to get from him. This is his moment and our fate. Iran is an existential threat, and while Netanyahu might be the lone wolf in the woods, at the least, he will be able to continue to howl about Iran now that he has won the elections. Mylan Tanzer is a Portland native who moved to Israel in 1981. He was the founding CEO of the first Israeli cable and satellite sports channel. Since 2005, he has launched, managed and consulted for channels and companies in Israel and Europe. Tanzer lives in Tel Aviv with his wife and five children. He can be reached at mylantanz@gmail.com.
OREGON JEWISH LIFE | MAY 2015 47
[ISRAEL]
TRIAL BY FIRE:
LAG B’OMER
By Teddy Weinberger
As soon as the Purim holiday ends, Israeli children start preparing for their next big day. It’s a different sort of holiday, one that “fires” their imaginations for weeks. Of course, we’re not talking about Passover here. What kid is going to get all excited by holiday preparations that chiefly call for the cleaning of one’s room? No, we are talking about a much more mysterious, primal holiday, largely unknown outside of Israel, but hallowed here with that most sacred of kid imprimaturs – a day off from school. We are talking about Lag B’Omer. There are only nine weeks between Purim and Lag B’Omer (which this year begins on Wednesday night, May 6), and the preparatory work is difficult and time-consuming. Since the bonfire is the central ritual of Lag B’Omer, the main job preparing for the holiday is gathering kindling wood, known as krashim. Anything and everything that looks like it can burn is lugged, roped, pulled and carted off.
I PROMULGATED THE NIMBY RULE CONCERNING KRASHIM: NOT IN MY BACKYARD.
Once harvested, the wood and semi-wood is typically hoarded in the backyard of your home, unless you are one of those mean parents who have forbidden your children from storing krashim. Every parent has their breaking point in this area. For our friend, Suzanne, it was when she woke up on the day before Passover and realized she was unable to see out of her kitchen window due to the huge pile of wood that her boys had stacked in her yard. My breaking point actually came a few weeks after one Lag B’Omer several years ago, when I happened to walk through my yard and stepped on a plank with an exposed nail that perforated my sandal and the sole of my foot, requiring me to get a painful tetanus shot. (Yes, the kids are so successful in gathering krashim that they do not use all they gather.) Following my doctor’s visit, I promulgated the NIMBY rule concerning krashim: not in my backyard. The other preparatory work leading up to Lag B’Omer is finding a group of kids with whom to celebrate. (The job of finding an appropriate place for the bonfire, which might prove difficult in the states, is relatively easy – it’s apparently part of one’s right as a citizen of Givat Ze’ev to start a fire wherever one wants.) Just as in days of old, when the Israelites gathered in groups to eat the paschal lamb, so the children of Israel today divide into groups to light bonfires and barbecue meat, potatoes and marshmallows. When the big day arrives, it’s time to take all the krashim that have been squirreled away and bring them to one’s designated bonfire area, where the krashim will be kept under constant guard against poachers. The program for the evening reads like something out of a manual for bad parenting: children playing with fire, a meat dinner beginning at 10 or 11 pm, and bedtime at who knows when. Well, the whole goal, the very raison d’etre of Lag B’Omer, is not to go to sleep on this night. In some of the more popular spots, there are five or six separate bonfires. The whole of Givat Ze’ev smells of smoke and soot. The wise have closed up their windows, and only the foolish have forgotten to take in all of their clothes from the clothesline. The kids at some of the bonfires (especially the boys) seem rather serious. These are kids with grim determination, grim enough and determined enough to carry them through the night. Trial by fire, if you will. The morning after, as I make my way to synagogue for the 6 am service, the fires have mostly died down, but quite a number of loyalists are still minding their embers. For the children, there’s a strong feeling of completion, a feeling of closure and accomplishment. All is right with the world.
Teddy Weinberger, Ph.D., writes from Givat Ze’ev, a suburb of Jerusalem just over the Green Line. He and his wife, Sarah Jane Ross, made aliyah in 1997 with their five children. Teddy is director of development for Meaningful, a company that works with Israeli nonprofit organizations.
48 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
[ADVICE]
Ask Helen
Grieving and gratitude both deserve handwritten notes
Dear Helen: My father-in-law died very unexpectedly. It was a huge loss to everyone. I went to help for a week and while I was there, my boss’s mother died. She was a matriarch just as my husband’s dad had been the patriarch. My boss sent flowers and refused to let me use vacation time, paying me full salary. How can I acknowledge and thank her? Grieving Dear Grieving: Write her a very personal note. Handwritten is best. Here’s a start: Dear (Boss): Thank you so much for the flowers, salary and most importantly your support during the recent death in my family. I was terribly sad to learn you were undergoing the very same grieving process after (mother’s name’s) death. She was a great person. Whether the end comes quickly or after a long illness, we who are left to carry on are no more prepared for coping with the forever absence of those we love and who were so much a part of making us who we were. As a wise friend told me, “You’ll have good days and bad ones, and no idea when you wake up which it will be.” Grieving is not linear and tears can sneak up on you when you least expect them. Don’t be shy about saying “My mother just died.” Everyone has been there or will be. Sometime when we’re all in a better space, let’s go have drinks and toast our departed loved ones. May their memories be a blessing. Empathetically, (your name) Then, in a few weeks, send her an email and ask when’s a good time to go out for sharing memories of the dear departed. Bring family pics and ask her to do the same. Share food and drinks, and absolutely pick up the tab graciously and appreciatively.
Dear On Track: People who are rude, judgmental and confrontational rarely respond well to having the mirror turned around on then. While you may be sure she is saying bad things about you behind your back, unless she does so to your face, you probably shouldn’t engage her in a battle of who’s ruder about whom. Your judgments about her rudeness might be construed as equally offensive, certainly by her and perhaps by others. If you know for sure that she has said something about you, you can talk to her. But be very sure that you do so with other people around whom you believe will be reliable and articulate witnesses. If she does say something to you directly, you can say something akin to this: I’d heard that you have no boundaries, especially about people who look like you used to. To be clear, my relationship with my body is none of your concern. I do not give you the right to judge me, nor will I internalize any of your opinions. Please keep them to yourself. Then turn and walk away. It may not stop her, but it might quiet her down.
A resident of Eugene since 1981, Helen is a member of Temple Beth Israel, where she studies and speaks on Torah. She claims to have black belts in schmoozing, problemsolving and chutzpah. She’s a writer and an artist (kabbalahglass.com). Please email your questions to helen@yourjewishfairygodmother.com and check out the blog at kabbalahglass.com/blog/
PHOTO: SOL NEELMAN
A Nosh of Jewish Wisdom: Don’t argue with people you do not respect.
Dear Helen: What can one say to someone who is unconscionably rude about weight issues? I am fat. I admit it up front. I am on a medical program and on Weight Watchers. I have taken and kept off almost 100 pounds. But the reasons that make it hard for me to lose more weight faster are no one’s business but my own. I work out in an aqua-aerobics class and there is a woman in the class who lost weight with a radical medical procedure, and is now very critical of everyone who’s not a skinny-malink. She told a man in the class who is planning a 1,000-mile tandem bike trip with his zaftig wife to “get another partner or she’ll strand you by the side of the road!” She hasn’t made rude remarks to me directly, but I can feel her eyes on me all the time. On Track
OREGON JEWISH LIFE | MAY 2015 49
[FOOD/CHEF’S CORNER]
Chef’s corner
Sometimes it’s not only a matter of taste Story and photos by Lisa Glickman
As a private chef I have prepared meals for many different clients. Invariably within a group there are at least one or two people with different dietary needs. There are always “the skinny girls” (I call them), who are watching their weight and won’t eat anything fried or remotely fattening. Ingredients like goat cheese, truffle oil or raw fish may be excluded from the menu for people who just don’t like the taste. A client’s aversion to being served offal, wild game or out of the ordinary feathered fowl is quite common. For some, what they choose to eat is merely a matter of taste, but for others it can be a matter of life or death. Dietary restrictions are more prevalent than ever. The foods I avoid serving my family are mostly a matter of taste rather than fear of allergy or physical discomfort. We all know vegetarians, vegans or those who avoid red meat. But allergies to gluten, dairy, eggs or nuts can cause serious repercussions ranging from
50 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
mild gastrointestinal discomfort to death. Gone are the days when a child is sent to school with a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich, because just a miniscule amount of peanut butter cross-contaminated to a child with a severe nut allergy could result in a serious medical emergency. Stores now have plenty of options for people on restricted diets. Mainstream grocery stores carry an assortment of glutenfree breads, buns, crackers and cookies. Egg-free mayonnaise, vegetable-based meat substitutes and dairy-free alternatives to milk and ice cream can be found almost anywhere conventional products are sold. Internet sites like Yummly.com are flooded with recipes for folks who want mainstream fare suited to their dietary needs. Kosher stabilizers like guar gum, xanthan gum and agar agar can be obtained easily online or at specialty food stores. A small amount of these plant-based thickeners used
in place of eggs or gelatin can create luxurious texture in salad dressings, ice cream, gelato and sorbets. Bob’s Red Mill produces an array of useful products ranging from packaged TVP (textured vegetable protein) to gluten-free flours and baking mixes. Home-baked, gluten-free breads, cakes and cookies are made easier with Bob’s large selection of gluten-free flours such as rice, amaranth, potato and oats (make sure oats are certified gluten-free). Readymade 100% gluten-free baked goods are easily found in grocery store bakery sections or at specialty bakeries like Kyra’s Bake Shop in downtown Lake Oswego. Kyra’s will even ship their incredible assortment of breads, rolls, cookies and awardwinning cupcakes and tarts right to your front door. They even do wedding cakes! (Kyra’s: 599 Avenue A, Lake Oswego, OR 97034 503-212-2979, kyrasbakeshop.com)
**Hazelnuts can be purchased roasted and peeled, or you can make them by placing nuts in a 375-degree oven for 8-10 minutes. Watch them carefully so they don’t burn. When nuts are toasted, the skins will begin to crack and peel from the nuts. Allow to cool slightly and roll gently in a towel to remove skins. **Some confectioner’s sugars contain gluten. Check ingredients.
Vegan Chocolate Coconut “Ice Cream”
Once you gather the ingredients, this incredibly creamy “ice cream” comes together in just minutes. Even without churning in an ice cream maker, it’s a smooth creamy treat. It can even be substituted for the mocha filling in the above recipe to create a gluten-free vegan dessert – without the whipped cream of course.
Gluten-Free Mocha Hazelnut Ice Cream Pie
For the crust: 1 box Annie’s gluten-free cocoa and vanilla bunny cookies* 1 cup peeled roasted hazelnuts** 2 tablespoons granulated sugar Pinch of salt ¼ cup melted unsalted butter or margarine
For the mocha filling: 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder 2 tablespoons water 1 can sweetened condensed milk 1 pint heavy whipping cream, very cold (divided) 1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar*** 1 teaspoon vanilla Shaved bittersweet chocolate for garnish
Put cookies, hazelnuts, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse until ground to a medium crumb, scraping the sides if necessary. Add melted butter and pulse a few more times to combine. Press crumbs into a 10-inch pie plate and press up sides and bottom. Bake in a 375-degree oven for 10 minutes. Remove and cool completely. Put espresso powder, cocoa and water in a small bowl and mix to combine. Set aside. Put sweetened condensed milk and ½ pint of whipping cream in a chilled bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a whip attachment. Turn machine to high speed and whip until thickened, about 3-5 minutes. Add espresso mixture and mix to blend. Pour mixture into cooled crust and spread to even. Clean out bowl of mixer (make sure it is still cold). Add remaining ½ pint of whipping cream and whip to soft peaks. Add confectioner’s sugar and vanilla and whip a few seconds more. Top mocha layer with sweetened whipped cream. Sprinkle with shaved chocolate. Freeze pie for at least 8 hours or overnight. * For a kosher alternative to Annie’s gluten free cookies, try Gratify kosher gluten-free vanilla cookies. One package is close to the same size as Annie’s.
1 can coconut milk (not lite) /3 cup agave nectar 1 /8 cup unsweetened cocoa powder ½ teaspoon vanilla bean powder (like you would sprinkle on a coffee) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 /8 teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon xanthan gum (Bob’s Red Mill carries a kosher version) 1
Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Chill mixture in freezer for 20 minutes, or churn in ice cream maker until smooth and creamy.
Lisa Glickman is a private chef and teacher who lives in Portland. She has made TV appearances on COTV in Central Oregon and appeared on the Cooking Channel’s “The Perfect Three.” She can be reached at lisa@lisaglickman.com.
OREGON JEWISH LIFE | MAY 2015 51
[FOOD/NW NOSH]
COOP’S COOKIES: Delivered to your door When not baking or walking dogs, Jessica Cooper likes to travel.
By Kerry Politzer
Several delivery options exist for the sleep-deprived, housebound new mom in Portland. Instacart delivers groceries, Farm to Fit brings prepared meals with assorted calorie counts and Local Farmers Delivery offers twice-weekly milk, bread and coffee. But until recently, there was no way to order up an assortment of giant, fresh-baked cookies. Since November 2014 Jessica Cooper, baker/owner of Coop’s Cookies, has transformed the local delivery landscape with her amazing plate-sized cookies. Offered in eight tantalizing flavors like triple chocolate and rainbow oatmeal, Jessica’s creations are a great gift for both
new and veteran mothers (and anyone else who craves sweets at midnight). The baker operates her home delivery service from 7 pm-3 am, Thursday through Sunday. Why such strange hours? “(During the day) I walk dogs,” explains Jessica. “It’s actually really fun. I get sunlight and exercise – it’s nice to have with all the stress of growing the business.” She also waxes nostalgic for the festive nighttime atmosphere of the “old” Voodoo Donuts. “Ten years ago, Voodoo’s hours used to be 10 pm to 10 am. It was tiny, you would walk in and there was room for maybe eight
Coop’s Cookies: 503-619-9246 | coopscookies.com 52 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
people huddled in together. It felt really fun, there was a party atmosphere with people out at night getting donuts; I liked the idea. Obviously, it’s great now that Voodoo is open anytime, but I kind of miss that you could only get them at night.” Jessica sometimes gets an idea for a new cookie while out walking dogs. She is particularly proud of her butterscotchcashew creation. “The butterscotch cashew is pretty much mine,” she says. “I’m really proud of it, with its caramel and butterscotch flavors. Many (commercial) cookies are made with butterscotch chips that are artificially flavored. I love really old-fashioned flavors that are made from butter, sugar and (use) different temperatures. You make caramel from browning sugar, butterscotch is from browning butter – it brings out a really different flavor. The crunch of the cashew and the salt on top kind of seal the deal.” Jessica, whose father is Jewish, grew up in Hillsdale. She baked for her family from an early age. “I was an early reader, and I got into recipes and I definitely was doing that by myself. I was probably 8; I always made the macaroons for Passover.” Soon she was baking for friends and receiving rave reviews for her cookies. When asked how she conceived of the idea of a cookie delivery service, Jessica says, “Portland has a lot of ice cream, cupcakes and all kinds of treats, but I couldn’t think of a really good cookie place.” So far, her chocolate chip cookies, which are based on the toll house recipe, are the customer favorite, with triple chocolate a close second. Jessica wants to add new flavors. “We are talking about maybe doing a monthly rotating flavor …,” she says. (We currently have) three every day and two rotating ones every day.” All but one of her cookies (triple chocolate) use whole grains, which she thinks improve the flavor. “It’s kind of nutty and richer. Both the oatmeal cookies are majority whole grain. Unless you’re talking about something really light like a lemon cookie, I think whole wheat improves the flavor.” Coop’s Cookies also delivers Cellar Door coffee, which may soon figure into a new cookie flavor. “I love the coffee we use,” says Jessica. “It’s the Puddletown blend from Cellar Door. It’s already kind of chocolaty, and the first time I smelled it, I thought this belongs with cookies. I like the idea of using it to make a mocha one, something coffee flavored.” The baker also loves spices and likes “the idea of developing something with cardamom in it, or chai.” This Mother’s Day, you can surprise your mom with a Coop’s Cookiegram: three cookies wrapped up with your own personal note.
GET YOUR LUNCH ON! Call today for catering: 503-227-NOSH (6674) or order online at www.bowerybagels.com House Cured Pastrami Reuben
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503.231.0740 www.bombaycricketclubrestaurant.com 1925 SE Hawthorne Blvd • Portland, OR 97214 OREGON JEWISH LIFE | MAY 2015 53
A RABBI’S LEGACY 22 years of haimish leadership
“A haimisher mensch means someone with whom you can take your shoes off, or let your hair down.” ~ Leo Rosten, The Joys of Yiddish By Sura Rubenstein
Inside 54 Rabbi’s Legacy 58 Crossword Puzzle 59 Previews 60 Shir Tikvah’s Mitzvah 62 Blindness, Torah and Nature 63 Salem Campaign 64 Faces 66 Calendar
54 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
If Rabbi Daniel Isaak had to pick one word to describe his tenure at Congregation Neveh Shalom, it would be “haimish.” The Yiddish word means informal, cozy, warm. Having the friendly characteristics, or kind of rapport, as writer Leo Rosten explains, that exist inside a happy home. And that is the atmosphere that Rabbi Isaak has fostered during his 22 years with the congregation. “I wanted Neveh Shalom to become the ‘haimeshest’ shul – if that’s even a word,” he said in a recent interview. “To increase the sense of community – that we are here for each other, for the good times and the bad.” On June 30, Isaak will retire from official duties at Oregon’s largest Conservative congregation and will step into the role of rabbi emeritus. But he will continue to look for ways to strengthen the congregation and community he and his wife, Carol, have embraced. “I’ve learned things from Rabbi Stampfer about how to be the ‘retired rabbi,’ ” he says, referring to Rabbi Joshua Stampfer, who had been the spiritual leader of Neveh Shalom for 40 years before stepping down in 1993. “I’m hoping that I and my successor will be able to develop as supportive a relationship as Rabbi Stampfer and I have had.” The congregation is honoring Rabbi Isaak’s service to the congregation and community May 15-16 with a full weekend of activities, including Friday and Saturday religious services and a
Saturday night “dinner and frivolity.” On Sunday, May 17, Rabbi Isaak will officiate a group Jewish wedding ceremony for congregants who may not have had an opportunity for a religious ceremony. His legacy? “He is a people person,” says Priscilla Kostiner, who, with her husband, Tony, has been a member of Neveh Shalom for more than four decades. “He embraces all ages and all people who come into the shul.” “He’s a mensch,” says Rich Meyer, 49, Neveh Shalom’s president and a lifelong member of the congregation. “He is generous, progressive – and a real Torah scholar. I’m always amazed at how he can pull out meaningful stories from the Torah.” “He has always been open to new ideas,” says State Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, D-Portland, “especially as the kehillah has grown and become even more diverse and members have needed different services – both in terms of tefillah and in terms of affinity groups.” Some speak of his role as the “lollipop man,” distributing candy to children, and sometimes adults, during the course of Shabbat services. Or his creative Purim costumes. Or how he’ll end High Holiday services with a joke, to set a lighter tone. “His greatest legacy,” says Meyer, “is that he’s empowered our members to take the shul in directions they want to go. He’s made it possible for everyone to worship in ways that interest them and still be part of a larger community.”
••••••••••
Rabbi Daniel Isaak has become well known for his creative costumes for Purim and other special times. Photos by Carol Isaak
Rabbi Daniel and Carol Isaak and their children and grandchildren gather for a family photo: From back left, Carol Isaak, Daniel Isaak holding grandson Jonah Wald, granddaughter Susannah Boyar, David Isaak (Misha’s husband), granddaughter Allison Boyar, son Misha Isaak, daughter Marissa Isaak Wald, her husband Daniel Wald, and daughter-in-law Katie Boyar. Middle row, at left, is son Ari Isaak holding his daughter Sherrie, and his wife, Eva Isaak, holding daughter Hazel. Son Gabriel Boyer is on the ground in the front row. Photo courtesy of the Isaak family
OREGON JEWISH LIFE | MAY 2015 55
In a double bat mitzvah celebration in Israel, Rabbi Daniel Isaak congratulates Emma Hayward, left, and his granddaughter Allison Boyar.
Daniel Isaak didn’t start out to be a rabbi. The son of German refugees, he grew up in San Francisco and graduated in 1971 from the University of California at Berkeley with a double major in linguistics and Near Eastern languages. He thought he might pursue a career in either psychology or psychiatry. “It was a wild time at Berkeley,” he says, remembering political demonstrations and a class he took from Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver. But he’d also spent his junior year in Israel, was a counselor at Camp Ramah and had a close relationship with the rabbi of his Conservative shul. “I liked the things he was engaged in – in people’s lives, in their celebrations and crises,” he recalls. “It was attractive to be involved.” By September 1971, he was enrolled at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, graduating in 1976. He met Carol there – their first date was at a protest of Richard Nixon’s second inaugural. They married in 1974 and then served congregations in Hackensack, NJ, and Briarcliff Manor, NY, before returning to the West Coast – and becoming a part of Neveh Shalom. “I came to a large congregation to succeed a much-revered rabbi, who had served the congregation for 40 years,” Rabbi Isaak wrote in his official biography. “It was a daunting undertaking.” But Neveh Shalom felt that the Isaaks were a good match for the growing congregation – and the Isaaks agreed. “We wanted someone who would excite and challenge us,” says Kostiner, who served on the search committee that hired Rabbi Isaak and is on the congregation’s current search committee as well. “Someone who could deal with a large congregation – who loves to teach, loves kids and who will be active in the community.”
“He is a risk taker,” she adds. “He’s not afraid to take a position that might be controversial. He’s curious. He’s always looking to learn.” When he came to Neveh Shalom, one of Rabbi Isaak’s first steps was to physically bridge the gap between the pulpit and the congregation: He asked the congregation to lower the bimah, began using a portable microphone so he could walk among worshippers during his d’var Torahs and strove to create dialogues rather than deliver a speech. “I wanted to start a conversation,” he says. He also encouraged congregants to take leadership roles in services, began weekly emails to share his thoughts on a variety of topics and asked congregants to share their thoughts and experiences about Judaism and faith. The latter led to publication of two booklets, “This I Believe,” in 2010, and “Why Be Jewish” (nevehshalom.org/flyers/ whybejewish.pdf ), published during this year’s High Holy Days. And now, the congregation is assembling reflections from members about their relationship with Rabbi and Carol Isaak and their family for a special retirement tribute. “Rabbi and man, rabbi and friend, religious leader and private citizen, the role of a rabbi serves many purposes for many people,” Barry Horowitz wrote of his family’s relationship with Rabbi Isaak. “All four of our boys and their wives have enormous respect and regard for him as a religious leader and a man.” “He is really involved with people, and has endeared himself to so many in the community,” Rabbi Stampfer says of Isaak. “He is very devoted to the congregation, and to every congregant.” Rabbi Isaak worked with the congregation to reach out to interfaith families and gay Jews, and engaged members in a round of discussions that ultimately led to his decision, following one of the options presented by the Rabbinical Assembly, the organization of Conservative rabbis, to officiate at same-sex weddings. “It was an excellent model of how a good rabbi combines being a Mara d’Atra (the local authority) and teacher,” Steiner Hayward says. In addition to his focus within the congregation, Rabbi Isaak has been deeply involved in the larger Jewish community and the greater Portland community. He’s twice been president of the Oregon Board of Rabbis, teaches in its Introduction to Judaism course and helped initiate an inter-congregational Selichot service and the Teen-Israel scholarship program that sends qualified high school students for a summer in Israel. He’s also taught various classes in the community and speaks
HONORING RABBI DANIEL ISAAK WHAT: A weekend of activities celebrating Rabbi Daniel Isaak’s 22 years of service to Congregation Neveh Shalom and the greater Portland community WHEN: Friday, May 15, 7:30 pm: PDX Live! Erev Shabbat musical service: Saturday, May 16; 9 am: Shabbat services and luncheon: Saturday evening, May 16; 7 pm: Rabbi Isaak Celebration Dinner – fancy dress, frivolities and praise; $54 RSVP REQUIRED FOR DINNER: tinyurl.com/rabbiisaak or 503-246-8831 FOR MORE INFORMATION: 503-246-8831 or jgreenberg@nevehshalom.org 56 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
to church groups, high schools and colleges on topics of Jewish identity, thought and culture. He participates in a JewishCatholic discussion group, works with Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon on issues of common concern and, together with Rabbi Joey Wolf of Havurah Shalom, organized a Jewish-Muslim dialogue group. In retirement, he expects to expand his involvement with the Oregon Food Bank, where he’s a member of the executive committee as well as serving on the board of directors. And he also is looking forward to taking some classes at Reed College or Portland State University. “He shouldn’t worry about time hanging on his hands,” Rabbi Stampfer advises. “There are constant needs in every Jewish community – I’ve found myself at least as busy in retirement as before.” Rabbi Isaak is grateful to Neveh Shalom’s board and membership for their support in a number of endeavors, from anti-hunger programs such as the Heifer Project International to congregational trips to Israel to his recent attendance at the J Street national conference. “People have been respectful of the way I feel I need to support Israel,” he says. He’s seen – and in some cases helped shape – what he calls “positive and wonderful changes in this evolving community,” yet notes there are also significant challenges for American Jewish life. “We are, as a community, engaged with both centrifugal and centripetal forces,” he says. “How broad can we make the center, so that fewer are spun away – but how broad is too broad?” He mentions feeling “heartbreak” when officiating at funerals of congregants at which none of the descendants identify as Jewish. And concerns, faced by all congregations, about attracting and retaining members. Still, Rabbi Isaak’s optimism about Neveh Shalom’s future, and the strength of its 850 or so families, is evident in his advice to his (still to be determined) successor: Smile. Be enthusiastic. Don’t get frustrated. Allow for failure. Trust the congregation. Sometimes you may have to say ‘No,’ but if the answer can be ‘ Yes,’ say ‘ Yes’ as much as possible. As he looks back on his career as a congregational rabbi, he recalls a conversation with one of his children, a financial advisor in the New York City area, who said he didn’t know anyone who was excited to go to work in the morning. Rabbi Isaak could understand the comment, but it’s never been a sentiment he’s shared. “I wake up every morning looking forward to going to minyan,” he says, “and looking forward to my day.” And perhaps that is the greatest tribute to him – and to his congregation.
The More We Get
TOGETHER Celebrating Our First Year as OJMCHE
Sunday, May 17, 2015 Mittleman Jewish Community Center 5pm – Silent Auction 6:45pm – Dinner RSVP at www.ojmche.org or 503-226-3600
1953 NW Kearney St., Portland, OR 97209 | 503-226-3600 | www.ojmche.org Tue/Thu 10:30am-4pm | Wed 10:30am-8pm | Fri 10:30am-3pm | Sat-Sun noon-4pm
Shaarie Torah Presents...
Into the Night Tikkun Leil Shavuot
Join Shaarie Torah for a night of inspiration, study and togetherness. Saturday, May 23, 2015 8:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m. Davening Delicious Cheesy Desserts Teachings by Dorice Horenstein, Rabbi Josh Rose, Jason Mann, Bob Horenstein, Chaim Lev and Ora Botwinick 920 NW 25th Ave., Portland, OR 97213 ~ 503-226-6131 ~ shaarietorah.org
OREGON JEWISH LIFE | MAY 2015 57
“Allentown” By David Benkof ACROSS 1 Dangerous feature of a Lebanon border fence wire 5 Norwegian site of early 1990s peace talks 9 Kind of hit Julie Taymor’s “Lion King” is on Broadway 14 Haman quality 15 The Central Bus Station in Jerusalem might be the last one 16 “___ Speaks” (autobiography of a Marx Brother) 17 Ingredient in many pareve entrees 18 Downton Abbey character whose father was a wealthy Jew 19 Tool for making a sukkah, perhaps 20 Woody’s 1999 romantic comedy about a jazz guitarist 23 Alan Dershowitz’s audience, sometimes 24 Put it in a fine stein 25 Carl Sagan’s book about them came out just before Halley’s in 1986 28 Kitchen items at Tein Li Chow kosher eatery outside Chicago 30 Congressman Jared Polis (D-Colo.), e.g. 33 “Changing Lives ___ a Time” (Jewish Family Service slogan) 34 A break-the-fast tries to do this to people’s hunger 35 Fish species of StarKist’s Charlie, voiced by Herschel Bernardi 36 Woody’s 2011 romantic comedy about a screenwriter 39 “Father of American Anthropology” Franz 40 Ingredient in gluten-free matzah 41 1970s Linda Lavin sitcom character 42 TV show created by a Canadian Jew born Lorne Lipowitz 43 Reactions to a Houdini escape 44 Sivan season 45 He might call a foul against Northwestern’s Aaron Liberman on the court 46 Spock colleague 47 Woody’s 1995 romantic comedy about a sports journalist 55 Don Rickles comedy forte 56 Robert whose name is synonymous with synthesizer 57 Something for Abram to destroy 58 “How to ___ Shiva” (essay at shiva.com) 59 Psychoanalyst’s line 60 “Skies of Parchment, ___ of Ink” (book on illuminated manuscripts) 61 Place to take a dip (or two)? 62 Suffix for Jewish or clueless 63 “A Yiddishe ___” (Song about a Jewish father)
Level of Difficulty: Easy Editor: DavidBenkof@gmail.com Answers on page 66
DOWN 1 Visits a Sheldon Adelson-owned casino 2 Appear before a beit din, perhaps 3 Like anti-Semitism in the Muslim world 4 Levi Strauss was the first to manufacture them 5 The subject of this puzzle has four 6 Like many a 57-Across 7 Hashem 8 Blueish-whitish shade 9 Tallitot 10 1970s Bea Arthur sitcom character 11 Escape-from-the-Ayatollah 2012 movie 12 Spout, as with hate 13 Shofar, e.g. 21 ___ Frutti (Bazooka gum flavor for Passover) 22 Not exactly made of gopher wood 25 They’re useful for Jewfros 26 Cholent ingredient 27 Something gold on Mark Spitz’s chest 28 Liev Schreiber’s actress wife Naomi (“Birdman”) 29 Oregon city with an “elevator” name where B’nai B’rith Camp is located 30 Perfect day to dress like a Megillah Gorilla
31 “Frozen ___” (chilly show where kids go to sing Idina Menzel songs) 32 Beam in Kenny G’s eye surgery 34 “Pygmalion” playwright who told Jews to “stop beng Jews and start being human beings” 35 Adin Steinsaltz of the Koren Bavli, e.g. 37 Disney character created by Art Babbitt 38 Canadian actor Costanzo (“Royal Pains”) 43 Place for some Manischewitz 44 Leaps forward in the polls for Knesset 45 Lillian Hellman’s “Watch on the ___” 46 Tevas, e.g. 47 Essential supplies for a tourist in Israel 48 They say one’s car should be this way on Shabbat 49 “Rejoice and be ___, O daughter of Edom” (Lamentations 4:21) 50 Idi of Entebbe 51 Recite a Four Questions question, perhaps 52 Monotheism, or social justice 53 How a custom-made kittel might fit 54 “So what ___ is new?”
Stay Active, Stay Engaged This month’s puzzle sponsored by: To sponsor future puzzles, call 503-892-7403 58 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
PREVIEWS
FEDERATION’S 95TH ANNUAL MEETING JUNE 9 The Jewish Federation of Greater Portland’s 95th Annual Meeting on June 9 will feature an inspiring talk by Avraham Infeld, who has invested a lifetime enhancing Jewish education and identity. The 4:30-6 pm free program will also feature the presentation of the inaugural Laurie Rogoway Outstanding Jewish Professional Award. Following Laurie’s retirement, federation created this award to honor Laurie’s dedication to community and passion for Jewish life. Nominations are due by noon, May 4. The recipient will receive up to $1,000 for professional development. For information, caron@ jewishportland.org or 503-245-6449. Federation invites the community to “celebrate another wonderful year of Jewish community,” and get inspired by Avraham as he speaks about his project The 5 Legged Table. A native of South Africa, Avraham immigrated to Israel in 1959. In the 1970s he founded Melitz, a nonprofit educational service institution that fosters Jewish identity rooted in a pluralistic understanding of Jewish life and the centrality of Israel. Avraham will speak about his most recent project focused on the five components, or “legs” of Jewish life – memory, family, covenant at Mount Sinai, Israel and Hebrew. At the 2010 event announcing project, Avraham described The 5 Legged Table is a metaphor for a strong and stable Jewish identity. Avraham argues that all Jews should commit to at least three of the five legs. In this way, whenever he or she meets another Jew who has made the same commitment, they will always have at least one of the legs in common. Avraham often speaks about the “Jewish people being unified but not uniform.” This project celebrates Jewish unity while demonstrating creatively the rich diversity of religious, cultural and ideological voices that make up the Jewish people. This year’s meeting will be held at Rose Schnitzer Manor on the Cedar Sinai Park campus. 503-245-6219 or info@jewishportland.org. OREGON JEWISH MUSEUM AND CENTER FOR HOLOCAUST EDUCATION PRESENTS two new exhibits on display through June 21. “Frank Barnett: FotoMacher – Examining Lives with Jewish Eyes” and “Shelley Jordon – Ordinary Matters” are the museum’s current exhibits. Photographer Frank Barnett seeks access to unusual and edgy outsider subjects. His images of Angola prison rodeo performers at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, nursing home patients and his late wife during her two-year losing battle with cancer are emblematic of his inclination to photograph on the edge of things – among the dispossessed, the outcasts and the hopeless in our midst. An award-winning photographer, Barnett’s work is included in private, corporate and museum collections. His rodeo photography and iconic images of New York Harbor and Bourbon Street in New Orleans were selected by Pendleton Woolen Mills to be woven in wool and included in their Limited Edition Fine Art Tapestry Series.
“Ordinary Matters” is an exhibit of artwork by Portland-based painter and moving image artist Shelley Jordon. In these paintings, animated installations and films Shelley explores interior and exterior worlds and the complex nature of memory. Using traditional forms of drawing and painting as well as hand-drawn animation, she focuses on everyday objects and brings out their emotional and psychological resonance. Daily life, relationships and everyday objects are investigated and informed by perceptions of previous experiences that reveal emotional and psychological resonance and reflect the passage of time. She is a professor of art at Oregon State University. She has had more than 50 solo exhibitions, including the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH; the Whitebox Gallery Portland, OR; and the Frye Museum, in Seattle, WA. Regular exhibition gallery hours are Tuesday through Thursday 10:30 am-4 pm, Friday 10:30 am-3 pm, and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 pm. Admission is $6 for adults, $4 for students and seniors, and free for members and children under 12 accompanied by a parent or guardian. Tours of the Oregon Holocaust Memorial are free and available by appointment. OJMCHE is located at 1953 NW Kearney St., Portland. For more information, call 503-226-3600. LEARN ABOUT SW CORRIDOR TRANSIT OPTIONS MAY 12 Before the Portland’s Southwest Corridor Project Steering Committee makes significant choices about transit, roadway, bicycle and pedestrian improvements, they want to hear from the people who live, work and travel in the Southwest part of the metro region. The corridor project looks at an area that is home to several synagogues, Jewish schools and the Mittleman Jewish Community Center, as well as a large concentration of the Jewish population in Portland. Attend a community forum at Wilson High School on May 12. Join project decision makers, staff and other interested community stakeholders to help shape the next steps for the SW Corridor project. At Wilson High School cafeteria from 6:00-8:30pm you can learn more about the tradeoffs between surface and tunnel alignment options; the impacts of tunnel construction; and future road, bike, pedestrian and local transit improvements. Various stations and short presentations will highlight considerations specific to the South Portland, Hillsdale and Portland Community College that will inform the steering committee’s July 11 decision, as well as information on project discussions this summer and fall about Tigard, Tualatin and other areas along the corridor. www. swcorridorplan.org CELEBRATE 40 YEARS OF RABBI YITZ The Temple Beth Israel hosts a gathering at 4:30 pm, Sunday, May 31 at TBI to honor Rabbi Yitzhak Husbands-Hankin and Shonna Husband-Hankin’s 40 years of service and leadership building Jewish community in Eugene. The formal program will last about an hour, and will include reflections from Rabbi Yitz. There will be lots of time for socializing, noshing and reminiscing. TBI welcomes any and all former and current TBI members as well as friends of TBI to join us in honoring and celebrating Rabbi Yitz as he transitions to rabbi emeritus of TBI. Temple Beth Israel-Center for Jewish Life is located at 1175 East 29th Ave., Eugene. For more information, call 541-485-7218 or email info@tbieugene.org.
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PREVIEWS LEARN ABOUT BREAST CANCER GENES MAY 18 The MJCC will host a free program May 18 about BRCA genes. Women of Ashkenazi (central or eastern European Jewish) descent have greater risks of developing breast or ovarian cancer due to a higher incidence of inherited genetic mutations. Ashkenazim have a one in 40 chance of having a harmful BRCA1/2 (BReast CAncer) genetic mutation. Only one in 400 people in the general U.S. population have such a mutation. “Everything you wanted to know about the BRCA genes but were afraid to ask,” is slated for 7-8:30 pm at the MJCC. Clinical geneticist Dana Kostiner Simpson, M.D., is the featured speaker. She will be joined by a panel of BRCA mutation carriers followed by question and answer session. Here’s your chance to sit down with a clinical geneticist and learn more about the BRCA genes, including their impact on the Jewish community. Dr. Simpson will be on hand to present the facts, answer questions and clear up common misconceptions. The panelists will share their personal stories about how BRCA mutations affected their lives. No reservations are required, but for more information, contact Special Events Program Manager Laurie Fendel at 503 535-3617.
Shir Tikvah comes of age with learning and service Bat mitzvah project allows community to bury its treasured trash
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ROBISON SISTERHOOD LUNCHEON TO UNVEIL NEW DIRECTION This year’s annual Robison Sisterhood luncheon on May 31, includes lunch a fashion show and a preview of things to come. The sisterhood has been in existence for more than 90 years. The sisterhood raises money to make sure the residents the residents of Robison Jewish Health Center have all the extra comforts they need to feel at home. Robison Sisterhood will be going through many changes in the coming year, including a name change a new board and many new opportunities for volunteers. This year’s lunch begins at 11:30 am in Zidell Hall of the Rose Schnitzer Manor, 6125 SW Boundary, Portland. Guests will be treated to a wonderful lunch and fashion show provided by Chicos. The luncheon is being chaired by Christi Goodman and Michelle Gradow. Cost for luncheon and fashion show is $36. All are welcome. For more information or to make a reservation, contact Mary Jane Schenk at 971-717-7165 or Mary.schenk@ cedarsinaipark.org.
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Congregation Shir Tikvah turns 13 this spring and celebrates its coming-of-age the same way all b’nai mitzvah students do: through learning and serving the community. The congregation’s bat mitzvah project does both – all in the name of sacred trash. Congregation Shir Tikvah Rabbi Ariel Stone explains, “As a congregation we have been generating bar and bat mitzvah programs, studying texts and engaging in creative tefillot for everything from Tu B’Shvat to Tisha B’Av. When we produced our own siddur, we realized we’ve run out of room to store any more of the sacred texts that we no longer are using. “Since we have no space to wall off for a genizah (to store sacred texts), we chose as our project a different tradition for respectful disposal: the burial of our sacred texts in the consecrated ground of a Jewish cemetery,” Rabbi Stone says. Congregation Shir Tikvah is making available this ancient ritual to all comers in Portland. “This is our way to serve the many people who have come through Shir Tikvah’s door, not members or even people we’ve met, just eastside Jews who have come into possession of Hebrew texts that they know are special,” the rabbi says. “Since we are celebrating our congregational bat mitzvah, we see this as our mitzvah project, a way of giving back something of ourselves to our larger Jewish community.” Congregation Shir Tikvah bookends May with two learning opportunities, both having to do with the mitzvah of properly handling worn out, sacred Jewish texts and objects. On Wednesday, May 6 – erev Lag B’Omer – join Professor Oren Kosansky for his talk, Hidden Treasures: Lives and Afterlives of Jewish Texts. Kosansky is director of The Rabat Genizah Project and chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Lewis and Clark College. His free lecture begins at 7 pm at Congregation Shir Tikvah, 7550 NE Irving St., Portland.
For those new to the proverbial sacred trash, the word “genizah” is related to the verb “to set aside, reserve, hide.” The professor explains that in Judaic tradition, documents containing references to God are forbidden from being destroyed, including any item with religious or legal references, such as ketubot (marriage documents) or business contracts. The professor says, “A genizah is a repository for sacred Jewish texts that have gone into disuse. They should be protected from desecration and treated with respect. Following the rabbinic principle of treating sacred texts as living bodies, a genizah repository is often destined for burial in a cemetery.” To build on Kosansky’s lecture material, Congregation Shir Tikvah and other organizations are planning a ritual burial of Jewish texts. “As Jews we are often known as the People of the Book,” writes Kate Farrell, chair of the Tefillah Committee that planned the ritual. “We value learning
and treat the sacred texts we study and learn from with reverence. This reverence requires us to treat these books and documents which contain the Hebrew name of God with special care and respect when they are no longer usable.” On Sunday, May 31, the community will gather at the River View Cemetery to experience and participate in the ritual burial of sacred Jewish texts and objects. At 10:30 am participants will meet at the cemetery’s main office, located at 0300 SW Taylors Ferry Road. From there, people will make their way – via car or bike – as a processional to the Jewish Cemetery at River View for a brief, traditional ceremony. Congregation Shir Tikvah thanks its community partners in bringing this mitzvah to fruition: The Jewish Cemetery at River View, The Oregon Jewish Community Youth Foundation, River View Cemetery Association and P’nai Or of Portland.
IF COMMUNITY MEMBERS HAVE MATERIALS FOR BURIAL, SHIR TIKVAH WILL ACCEPT THEM AT THE FOLLOWING TIMES AND PLACES: At the May 6 lecture, at Congregation Shir Tikvah May 1- 28 at the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, 6680 SW Capitol Hwy. At the May 30 burial ceremony, at River View Cemetery. It might be easy to decide which books, scrolls and other materials emblazoned with the written word have gone to seed, but not everyone knows what kinds of objects require ritual Jewish burial. How should materials be prepared? They must come packaged in natural materials so they can be easily transported – a cardboard box or paper bag is best. What can be interred? This list is long and distinguished; visit shirtikvahpdx.org/sacredtrash for answers and additional, fascinating facts.
For more information on Genizah and text burial, visit http://shirtikvahpdx.org/sacred-trash
A recommended donation of $18 in support of this mitzvah is greatly appreciated. You may write a check to Congregation Shir Tikvah and mail it or bring it with you to the May 30 ceremony, or you may use your credit card at shirtikvahpdx.org.
OREGON JEWISH LIFE | MAY 2015 61
Learn how the blind experience nature and Torah By Deborah Moon
Joan Myles and Ari enjoy the beach.
Yismehu founder Joan Myles reads a Hebrew text in braille in her home office in Salem.
Joan Myles, her guide dog, Ari, and her daughter, Colleen, explore Calaveras Big Trees State Park in California. Joan wants other visually impaired adults to experience nature, too.
EXPERIENCING TORAH IN NATURE WHAT: Yismehu fifth-anniversary celebration and preview of future camp for blind and visually impaired Jewish adults and teens WHEN: Noon-7 pm, May 31 WHERE: Oral Hull Camp, 4323 SE Oral Hull Road, Sandy, OR COST: $20 per person RSVP by May 15 to: Joan Myles, 4742 Liberty Road South #323, Salem, OR 97302; director@yismehu.org; or 503-391-7754. 62 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
Five years ago, Joan Myles wanted to share her love of Jewish learning with others who were visually impaired. The result was Yismehu, a nonprofit devoted to enabling Jewish learning for visually impaired students of all ages. Since then more than 100 students around the world have enrolled in Yismehu’s distancelearning programs. Many of those students have learned to read Hebrew in braille, and a couple of them now chant Torah in their congregations. “Enabling people to be more involved in their own congregation is gratifying,” says Joan. Now she wants to share her joy of nature. In 2017 she hopes to launch a weeklong summer camp. As a preview, this summer she has invited Yismehu students and board members, as well as all interested community members, to enjoy a day at Oral Hull Camp, a facility in Sandy created for the blind and low-vision community. On May 31, Yismehu’s “Experiencing Torah in Nature” will take advantage of the camp’s beautiful nature setting on the Sandy River and resources for those with low vision. All interested community members are invited to come along for the magic of experiencing Torah in nature and how that magic can be shared with the blind. “This is a preview – a tangible way for us to envision more clearly what a camp could look like,” says Joan. With Yismehu’s students scattered across the country and even overseas, Joan says only one student has thus far committed to traveling to Oregon for the inaugural nature experience. But Joan plans to expand the experience for that student, and any others who decide to come, to a full weekend. She has planned a trip to the coast to enjoy the ocean in addition to the Camp Oral Hull event. Joan says Camp Hull offers many resources for blind campers. “A path through the Gardens of Enchantment has a railing so someone with a cane or guide dog can move through easily,” she says. The camp is also set up to stimulate all of the senses. “Tactile, aroma, taste – we will use all of that as part of our program. We want to let people experience Jewish camp by using all of their senses.” Yismehu will provide sleep shades for sighted individuals who want to experience the gardens through their other senses without the distraction of sight. The day will also include guided Jewish Yoga. Yismehu Vice President Rabbi Gary Ellison will lead a Torah study in the camp’s large gazebo with a focus on ideas that bring Torah and nature together. A vegetarian meal and Jewish sing-along around a campfire will round out the day. “Visually impaired people can participate in Jewish camp and all aspects of Jewish life,” says Joan.
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Campaign to bring rabbi to Salem temple
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Founded in 1947 to serve the Salem/Keizer Jewish community, Temple Beth Sholom has had a full-time rabbi for most of its history until 2013. Now the congregation has embarked on a fundraising campaign as the next step to bring a full-time rabbi back to the only synagogue in the area. Membership dropped from a high of nearly 140 families 10 years ago to fewer than 110 families today. In 2011 “61% of the membership did not feel TBS was moving in the right direction,” a situation current TBS Board President Stephen A. Lipton calls “unacceptable.” In a report from TBS’s 2012 Visioning Parlor Meeting, the board noted: “The number one way TBS could be most improved is with a full-time rabbi who has a vision for building a community in all realms and can bring everyone together.” The TBS board pondered a fundraising campaign for a fulltime rabbi, but determined a long-term financial sustainability plan was needed before embarking on it. Over four months of dedicated work, two committees developed a long-term financial sustainability plan. On Jan. 25, 2015, a board-approved fundraising plan was presented at the TBS membership meeting. The goal is to raise $300,000 through pledges payable over the next five years and through outright donations. Reaching that goal and taking the actions noted in the financial sustainability plan will provide TBS with the revenue needed to support all operations and a full-time rabbi long after the five-year period ends. “In the first half of our six-month campaign, we have received gifts and pledges in excess of $150,000” announced Campaign Co-chairs Marc Overbeck and Paula Boga. “We are happy to say we are on our way to our goals being realized.” Hiring a full-time rabbi will enable the revitalization of Jewish life in the Salem/Keizer area, make a meaningful difference for many Jewish individuals and families, and will
Campaign Co-chairs Paula Boga and Marc Overbeck, right, serve up treats during an ice cream social to discuss the fundraising campaign to bring a full-time rabbi to Temple Beth Sholom in Salem.
leave a legacy of a vibrant Jewish community for generations to come. The congregation anticipates a full-time rabbi at TBS will enhance Jewish life through six key areas: • Youth Education: Actively engage our youth to build a lifelong commitment to Jewish values and observance. • Torah/Adult Education: Offer thought-provoking, meaningful experiences for expanding awareness and understanding of Judaism through adult education opportunities. • Spiritual Guidance: Create a supportive, accepting and nonjudgmental environment for individual and communal celebration of Jewish customs and rituals for people of all backgrounds and levels of observance. • Lifecycle Events: Provide rabbinic guidance and support for milestones in the lives of everyone in the Salem Jewish community, such as b’nai mitzvot, baby namings, weddings and funerals. • Pastoral Counseling: Extend caring support to individuals and families who need spiritual or emotional guidance. • Community Building: Grow a stronger congregation by embracing our diversity, bringing people together in connecting to our Jewish identify and building a greater awareness of the Salem Jewish community through public outreach and education. To make a financial contribution to the TBS campaign to acquire a full-time rabbi, visit tbsholom.org.
OREGON JEWISH LIFE | MAY 2015 63
FACES MODEL MATZAH BAKERY – Teacher Mimi Wilhelm helps students at The GanPortland Jewish Preschool mix water into the flour to make matzah at the school’s Model Matzah Bakery before Passover.
REED COLLEGE SEDER – J Street U Chair Austin Weisgrau and Hillel intern Sara Ekaireb lead a progressive seder for a growing Jewish student community at Reed College. “I was concerned that young Jewish students were avoiding Jewish community spaces because they felt that their progressive values, particularly around Israel, would not be welcome,” says Austin. “This seder was an opportunity to demonstrate that wasn’t the case, and it was really successful.” More than 40 Jewish students gathered over Passover for the Liberation Seder, co-hosted by Greater Portland Hillel and J Street U. Students shared their experiences working in political struggles against sexism, homophobia, human trafficking and the Israeli occupation.
SOUL HARMONY – Composer and pianist Michael Allen Harrison poses with the cast of Soul Harmony: The Story of Deborah Chessler, Sonny Til & the Orioles. The show continues through May 3 at Brunish Theatre, Antoinette Hatfield Hall, part of Portland’5 Centers for the Arts. Photo by Paul Fardig
WINE FEST – Portland Kollel hosted the fourth annual Kosher Wine and Art Festival at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center March 12. Attendees, including (pictured) title sponsor Michael and Rachel Rosenberg of Cashco Financial Services and their guests, enjoyed five excellent kosher wines paired with superb gourmet food by Century Catering. Rabbi Tzvi Fischer thanks Event Chair Jason Zidell, pictured with Crystal Lamb . Other committee members were Jeff Edelson, Kerry Goldring and Jeff Waite. The event also included an art exhibit by Sidonie Caron. The evening celebrated the Portland Kollel and its ongoing growth and development. Over $40,000 was raised through event sponsors and ticket sales. Photos by Jon Perrin 64 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
HILLEL IN GUATEMALA – Greater Portland Hillel took a group of 14 students from Lewis & Clark College to volunteer in San Juan Comalapa in Guatemala over spring break. San Juan Comalapa suffers from the lack of appropriate waste management strategies and the lack of educational and employment opportunities for youth. Hillel students partnered with Long Way Home, a nonprofit that has worked there since 2004. Groups of volunteers helped build a school for the community using recycled materials. The trip was be led by two Hillel student leaders and Israel Fellow Shiran Halfon, exposing participants to the cultural experiences of the San Juan Comalapa as well as Shiran’s perspective and cultural background.
UNTO EVERY PERSON – On April 16 the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland and the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education hosted the Reading of the Names in Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland. Portland Mayor Charlie Hales and First Lady Nancy Hales were among the local dignitaries who read names of individuals continuously throughout the day as part of a worldwide Holocaust memorial project “Unto Every Person There is a Name.” Designed to perpetuate the memory of the six million, the ceremony remembers them as individuals – one at a time – through the public recitation of their names on Yom Hashoah. Holocaust survivor Ruth Bolinger and Rabbi Eve Posen light one of six memorial candles at the opening ceremony. OREGON JEWISH LIFE | MAY 2015 65
CALENDAR Through May 3 Soul Harmony: The Story of Deborah Chessler, Sonny Til & the Orioles at The Brunish Theater, 1111 SW Broadway, Portland. Stumptownstages.org or 800-273-1530
Through May 24 4000 Miles at Artists Repertory Theatre with related art exhibit by ORA Northwest Jewish Artists. Artistsrep.org or 503-241-1278
May 1-3 North Oregon Coast Art Weekend: This year, 10 galleries will spotlight new work by nearly 40 artists with unveilings, demos, receptions and live music in Cannon Beach. Cannon Beach Art Gallery will feature “Shirley Gittlelsohn, A Retrospective,” honoring the work of this well-known Jewish artist. cbgallerygroup.com Oregon Potters Association’s 33rd Annual Ceramic Showcase includes talented Jewish ceramic artist Deborah Shapiro from Tigard. This May marks her 24th year participating in the Showcase. At Veterans Memorial Coliseum. ceramicshowcase. com
May 6
May 15-16
Nutrition Seminar 2 Let’s Talk Food: Cravings. What do you crave and why? Learn what your cravings mean and how to eliminate them with a few diet modifications. 6-7:30 pm at the MJCC. Members $21; others $31.
Honoring Rabbi Daniel Isaak. See page 54.
Hidden Treasures: Lives and Afterlives of Jewish Texts. See page 60. Judaism Decoded, a six-week class presented by Benaroya Jewish Learning Academy. Meets six Wednesdays: noon at Perkins Coie LLP or evenings at MJCC. 503-977-9947 or MyJLI.com
JFCS Luncheon: Celebrating Our Caring Community. Free. See page 28.
May 10 Mother’s Day Brunch prepared by Shaarie Torah Men’s Club at the synagogue. 503-226-3600
May 11 Identity Theft featuring guest speaker FBI Agent Matthew Floyd. Presented by the Oregon Jewish Community Foundation Professional Advisors Group. Multnomah Athletic Club 1849 SW Salmon St., Portland. Noon-1:30 pm. Free. RSVP by May 5 at 503-248-9328 or to gailm@ojcf.org
May 12 May 13 “TO LIFE!” 7 pm at The Clinton Street Theater. Zeitgeist Northwest offers this movie that keeps the memory alive of what happened during the dark decades of German history; but is also a bright and hopeful piece. German with English subtitles. Portlandgermanfilmfestival.com Passport to Success. Dinner celebration of Maayan Torah Day School featuring guest speaker Rabbi Steven Weil on Brave New World: As more Jews dismiss religion, can community survive. The event also honors Jewish foster mother Mary Perlman. 6 pm at MJCC. Tickets $54. RSVP by May 5: 503-245-5568 or info@maayanpdx.org
May 14 A Touch of Class: An Evening of Music and Sephardic Cuisine with Michael Allen Harrison. Sephardic Appetizers and Wine 6 pm at the MJCC followed by concert at 7 pm. Benefits the Judi and Richard Matza Sephardic Cultural Center. Cost: $26 till May 1; $36 at the door. RSVP: ahavathachim. com/concert or call Ron Sidis 503-750-0888 Community Without Walls: Jews, Business and China featuring Michael Bloom. 1-2:30 pm at NW Health Foundation Conference Center, 221 NW Second Ave., Portland. Free. Presented by the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland and the MJCC. 503-246-6219 MJCC is the Mittleman Jewish Community Center at 6651 SW Capitol Hwy., Portland. 503-244-0111, oregonjcc.org
66 MAY 2015 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
“Everything you wanted to know about the BRCA genes but were afraid to ask.” See page 60.
Bringing Bubbe Home. Book talk by Debra Zaslow, storyteller and rebbetzin, who brought her 103-yearold grandmother home to die with her family. 7 pm at the MJCC. Free.
Tell It Like It Is: Portland’s Jewish Storytelling Festival presented by Congregation Shaarie Torah. Saturday 7- 9:30 pm; Sunday1-7:30 pm. 920 NW 25th Ave., Portland. shaarietorah.org/storyfest
The Seattle trio Uncle Bonsai performs original, contemporary folk/pop music at Temple Beth Sholom in Salem at 6:30 pm. VIP tickets include wine/chocolate reception with the band after the concert. 503-362-5004
May 18
May 19
SW Corridor Project. See page 59
A Night of Magic and More. Congregation Kol Ami Gala 2015 features Grand Prix World Champion of Magic, Shawn Farquhar, plus other magicians and entertainers. https://ckolami.ejoinme.org/magic
The More We Get Together: Celebrating first year of merged Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education. 5 pm silent auction 6:45 pm dinner at the MJCC. RSVP: ojmche.org or 503-226-3600
May 7
May 2-3
May 3
May 17
May 20 OJMCHE Film: Iraq N’ Roll. 7 pm at OJMCHE.
May 22 The North Coast Shabbat Group holds its monthly services March-October. Rabbi Rachel Joseph leads May services at 8 pm at the Bob Chisholm Senior Center, 1225 Ave. A in Seaside. Bev Eastern, 503-244-7060
May 23 CNS Shavuot Showdown. An evening of learning, fun and food at Congregation Neveh Shalom! Come for one part or all of the night’s festivities beginning with young family program at 5:15 and concluding with Tikkun Leyl Shavuot at 9:30 pm. 503-2468831 Tikkun Leyl Shavuot. Join us for a cheesecake potluck and a night of study. 8 -11 pm at Congregation Kol Ami, 7800 NE 119th St., Vancouver, WA. 360-896-8088
May 29 Friday Night Lights. Celebrate Shabbat, enjoy dinner, songs and entertainment. 5:30 pm at the MJCC. Adults: members $15, nonmembers $18; ages 3-12 members $9, nonmembers $12; Max $50/family. RSVP by May 27: oregonjcc.org/fnl
May 30 Shir Tikvah offers ritual burial ceremony for unneeded Jewish texts. See page 61.
May 31 Robison Sisterhood Luncheon. See page 60. Yismehu: Experiencing Torah in Nature. See page 62. Eugene celebrates 40 years of Rabbi Yitzhak Husbands-Hankin. See page 59 ADDING EVENTS: To obtain a password to enter event on our online calendar, go to the bottom right of our home page and under “Quick Links,” click on Calendar Access Request. OJMCHE is the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education at 1953 NW Kearney, Portland. 503-226-3600, ojmche.org
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JOB INFORMATION 8174818/ 603249935
PROJ. NO.:
TRIM SIZE:
SPECIFICATIONS 7.375" × 9.938"
NOTES