Oregon Jewish Life December 2023

DECEMBER 2023

SHARON POLLIN Easing the burden of grief

SWEET CELEBRATIONS Chanukah means donuts

ADELE RAEMER

Kibbutz Nirim Survivor

ECHOS OF CONCERN

Local Perspectives on the War

VIOLIN LEGENDS

COME TO PORTLAND

Itzhak Perlman in Recital wed, jan 17, 7 pm

*The Oregon Symphony does not perform

Violinist Gil Shaham Plays Tchaikovsky with the Oregon Symphony sat, feb 17, 7:30 pm sun, feb 18, 2 pm mon, feb 19, 7:30 pm ticket start at $25

arlene schnitzer concert hall MKT-545_PrintAd_OJL_ItzhakPerlman.indd 1

orsymphony.org | 503-228-1353 12/11/23 11:04 AM

CO N TE N TS Oregon Jewish Life December 2023

DECEMBER 2023

SHARON POLLIN Easing the burden of grief

SWEET CELEBRATIONS Chanukah means donuts

ADELE RAEMER

Kibbutz Nirim Survivor

ECHOS OF CONCERN

Local Persprctives on the Israeli War

COVER Sharon Pollin

4 DECEMBER 2023 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE

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POINT OF VIEW Oregonians speak out about war

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COVER STORY Sharon Pollin: Circles of Grief

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OJCF - Simplified Giving Donuts - Bringing in the sweetness and light of Chanukah Adele Raemer - How October 7th changed my DNA Oregon Stands Together with Israel Empathy in Action : How best to support Israel now

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SATURDAY, March 23

Tickets at portland5.com

OREGON JEWISH LIFE | DECEMBER 2023 5

DECEMBER 2023 OREGON JEWISH LIFE

PU B LI S H E R /E D ITO R

H OW TO R E AC H U S

Cindy Salt zman

602-538-2955

CO NTR I BU TI N G E D ITO R

EDITORIAL editor@ojlife.com

Debra Rich Get tleman

ART DIREC TOR Tamara Kopper

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Rich Browns tein Tara Dublin

ADVERTISING SALES 602-538-2955 advertise@ojlife.com BUSINESS publisher@ojlife.com EVENTS editor@ojlife.com

Debra Rich Get tleman Joanne Greene Mylan Tanzer

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6 DECEMBER 2023 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE

OES Information Evening January 4, 2024 • 7-8:30 p.m.

For grades 6 to 12 (parents/guardians & students) and pre-K to grade 5 (parents/guardians only).

Discover what inquiry-based education looks like at OES. Explore classrooms in the Lower School (grades pre-K through 5) and engage with faculty and specialists. Ask questions of current parents & students, and learn more about the entire Lower School community.

Enjoy a creative design activity in the Middle School (grades 6-8) and hear from a panel of current Middle School students and faculty.

Join us for an enlightening panel of Upper School (grades 9-12) students. Hear about their OES experiences and all the opportunities available in Upper School.

Learn more and register at: oes.edu/infoevening OREGON JEWISH LIFE | DECEMBER 2023 7

PUBLISHER’S MESSAGE

CINDY SALTZMAN Publisher

ONE THING FOR SURE It’s been over two months since October 7, and the shock has not worn off; not for me, not for Jews worldwide, hopefully not for the majority of non-Jews, and certainly not for Israelis.

To say that this has been an existential crisis for all of us would be an understatement. I wish I had words of wisdom or comfort, but I don’t. I wish I could wash away the pain and terror, but I can’t.

I’m sure like many of you, I could not fathom witnessing a literal “open hunting season” on Jews in the Jewish homeland.

Israel, after all, is our safety net against antisemitism, a sturdy ship in the storm, our refuge. And like many, I didn’t want to believe that “antisemitism would become a top international export in the year 2023, a kind of global zeitgeist.” (Mathias Dopfner, Free Press, Dec. 12, 2023).

And the hostages...where are they? How did this happen? Many expected a kind of “Raid on Entebbe” scenario response, where our brave and bold IDF soldiers would swoop into Gaza and bring them home quickly and safely. But unfortunately, the world is a different place today. It is a seemingly far darker and more complicated place than anyone can remember post-Holocaust. And now for the children being held as hostages, Anne Frank is no longer a historical figure, but a contemporary. That should sicken any person with an ounce of humanity.

But here we are, the lines between friends and foes, good and bad...no make that “evil”, have become blurred. Our equilibrium is off, and we aren’t sure if we are safe anywhere in the world. Our ears ring with the shouts of protestors calling for the death of Jews and the destruction of Israel. The only thing that rings louder is the deafening sounds of silence from humanitarian organizations and social action groups that have lost their voices when it comes to speaking up against the mass atrocities of October 7th, and the rampant antisemitism on our college campuses and in our cities days after. Will we ever feel safe again? I don’t know.

But here is what I do know. The Jewish people will not be extinguished, nor hardened to the good in the world. We have survived thousands of years and will continue to do so. We come together to fight a common enemy, not just for the Jewish people, but for all who cherish life over death, humanity over inhumanity, and light over darkness. Am Yisrael Chai.

The Weekly: orjewishlife.com, click on“Subscribe Now!” Facebook: @ojlife Twitter: @JewishLifeNow Instagram: @JewishLifeNow Call: 602-538-2955

8 DECEMBER 2023 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE

Email us: publisher@ojlife.com advertise@ojlife.com editor@ojlife.com calendar@ojlife.com

POINT OF VIEW

Seeing through Hamas deception

By Mylan Tanzer

Shema: Listen It’s been said that Judaism is a religion of listening. We are asked to believe in a God we cannot see, to hear the cries of the weak and oppressed, to awaken our spirit at the sound of the shofar. As Jews around the globe witness violence, hatred, and antisemitism, we honor the voices of those directly and indirectly impacted by the war in Israel.

10 DECEMBER 2023 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE

SINCE October 7, I have heard from many friends and colleagues who have expressed concern and support.

Thank you. We are fine, physically at least, but psychologically, how can anyone be fine after 7 October when thousands of your fellow citizens have been tortured, raped, kidnapped and slaughtered by Hamas.

I ask all of you to understand the following: We all know Hamas must be destroyed. We all know that Hamas not only uses millions of civilians as human shields but also rejoices in their deaths and cynically exploits this to portray Israel as barbaric and to exploit Western decency to pressure Israel to desist, thereby sentencing our civilians to a continual Isis threat on our borders.

These civilians in Gaza were alive before 7 October. These civilians would be alive had the

world not prevented us in the past from eliminating Hamas. Civilians in Gaza are warned by Israel to evacuate to designated safe areas(Hamas tries to prevent this). Where was the warning for Israeli civilians? Civilians in Gaza are not killed intentionally by Israel.

They are killed by Hamas hiding behind them as shields. Conversely You all know by now that Israeli civilians were and are intentionally targeted

by Hamas.

Hamas is part of the Muslim Brotherhood who sanctify death and murder in the name of Holy war. Iran has incorporated them into its Axis of proxies surrounding us on all of our borders.

Along with Russia and China, Iran and its proxies constitute an axis of evil threatening the entire free and democratic world.

The world will be a better place without Hamas. It will be an important win in this fight against darkness that threatens us all.

Please don’t be deceived by the chants for “Free Palestine and End Occupation” and all the other lies and deceptions.

That results in providing cover for Isis ideology and savagery, just as civilians in Gaza are cover for Hamas.

Support us this time to get this done. See through the lies. Hamas are not fighters, gunmen, militants or any of the laundered words used to describe them. This is sadistic and barbaric terrorism and needs to be destroyed.

We need you to understand this!!! ♦ Mylan brings expertise through almost 30 years of experience in sports television, and digital media. He launched, managed, and consults for sports channels in different territories.

My son

By Rich Brownstein TODAY I took my 25-yearold son, Yehuda, my only son, to the Gaza border. As my subdued anguish seeped out, Yehuda asked rhetorically, “why did we move to Israel if you didn’t want me to fight?” I explained that when we moved to Israel from Los Angeles when he was four years old, I thought that there would no longer be a reason to fight when he became an adult.

Obviously, I was wrong.

For the three summers before Yehuda went into the Army, we would work out in the weight room and swim laps at

the local Jerusalem pool.

He was drafted into the renowned Seventh Brigade, one of three Israeli tank brigades. He distinguished himself as a loader: the person who handles ammunition, especially tank shells in a four-person crew.

When he became a first sergeant, Yehuda was asked to be the loader for the unit’s commander, a lieutenant in charge of a group of tanks. Not long after, he was moved to the captain’s tank, which oversaw several units. Yehuda finished his military service with an extra six months, which culminated in his crew winning the annual wargames against other tanks, deeming them the finest tank crew in Israel.

After the Army, Yehuda eventually moved back to Southern California, where he got an apartment and started to work. On October 7, at 6:30 AM my time, he called me to ask if I had heard the news. Like everyone else, I dismissed it as just another outburst

by Hamas. He assured me that this was entirely different. Yehuda contacted his reserve unit, but they were so overwhelmed by the number of volunteers that they scarcely needed my boy. Nonetheless Yehuda persisted, booking one of the few

flights home, which was largely comprised of returning soldiers, including the flight attendants.

When he landed, Yehuda called the reserve officer who asked when he had last been in a tank. Because it had been three years, they told him to sit tight, so he went to his mother’s home on a kibbutz in Gush Etzion (the West Bank) and made himself useful.

On October 10th he was quoted in the Washington Post: “'It was probably the best flight I was ever on in the worst possible circumstances,' said Yehuda Brownstein, a 24-year-old Israeli American living in Los Angeles, who had not been called up for reserve duty but bought the first ticket he could find to Tel Aviv after hearing the news on Saturday anyway. The emotions on the flight were mixed, he said. At one point before they landed, everyone on the plane stood up and sang the national anthem in memory of those who had died. 'There really was this connectedness between everyone in that cabin on that flight — everyone there for the same cause,' he said."

Between working in the kibbutz kitchen, harvesting in the greenhouses and an uneventful 25th

birthday, Yehuda checked in with the reserve coordinator and his previous commanders.

Meanwhile, many of our friends and family were already serving, and some are hostages. Last week the Army coordinator informed my son that he would probably be needed. After a few days of frustration, Yehuda told me that he was going back to Los Angeles if they did not call him up.

Two days ago, his former lieutenant called him, asking if Yehuda would be interested in joining his command tank.

We drove down there this morning, through a myriad of intensifying checkpoints, to the staging area, just outside a kibbutz where 130 Jews had been slaughtered exactly a month earlier. I waited with Yehuda until the commander arrived with his chosen driver and gunner, who were also friends of my son.

After my introduction to each member of the old team, the commander – who had been promoted to captain – shook my hand and looked into my eyes. The captain didn’t have to annunciate what he knew I wanted to hear. As for the greater question, perhaps someday people will be able to move here without the fear that the five of us shared in that

OREGON JEWISH LIFE | DECEMBER 2023 11

POINT OF VIEW

muddy parking lot filled with otherwise useless war machines. ♦ Lecturer/Author of "Holocaust Cinema Complete: A History and Analysis of 400 Films, with a Teaching Guide", 2021. Has lectured for Yad Vashem since 2014.

Speak out loud, even if it’s a whisper!

By Debra Rich Gettleman EVERYDAY

I wear a very tasteful, and very noticeable Jewish star around my neck. It falls just above the necklace that reads my Hebrew name, Devorah. I also wear a blue ribbon when I go out to show my support for Israel and my hope that the hostages will be returned to safety.

I’m not screaming or shouting from rooftops.

I’m quietly asserting who I am and speaking up about what I believe.

While friends of mine are taking down their mizuzot, removing kippot and affirming not to put their hanukiahs in their windows this year, I am asking you to

honor your Jewishness by displaying meaningful Jewish symbols in your homes and on your person.

It’s not enough to support Israel silently right now. It’s about standing proudly for the Jews and the Jewish state.

Because back in 1938, when the Nazi regime was gaining power, most Jews preferred to tamp down their identities and try to wait out the antisemitism creeping into their lives.

In pre-World War II Germany, it was incomprehensible to imagine that Jews, successful members of a cultured society, could ever be targeted in one of the deadliest genocides the world had ever seen.

Jews were barred from certain professions. Their businesses were shut down. Jewish children were no longer able to go to school. Jews were defined as biologically inferior through their blood lines. And as all that happened, no one believed that it would lead to the systematic destruction of 6 million Jewish men, women, and children.

Look around right now.

Jews are being targeted.

Jewish businesses are being boycott. Jewish students on campuses all over the world are not safe. And yet, most Jews

12 DECEMBER 2023 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE

I know continue to assert that something like the Holocaust could never happen today. We say, “never again” and yet, we are watching history repeat itself.

Look at the Cooper Union Jewish students who hid in a library while pro-Palestinian rioters banged on the glass doors threatening violence.

Or the Jewish people in Rashida Tlaib’s 12th district who lost family during the October 7th massacre and have to grapple with the reality that their congresswoman sponsors terrorism and hate. Or, think about Aaron Dahan, Upper East Side owner of Caffe Aronne, whose half a dozen baristas walked off the job due to his support of Israel.

This is history repeating itself. And it is up to all of us to say something, do something, stand for something, and not pretend it isn’t happening. Let’s applaud business icons like Bill Ackman and Idan Ofer who spoke out against Ivy league alma maters that support anti-Jewish student groups. Let’s support the 234 Democrat and Republican Representatives who voted to censor Tlaib’s insensitive pro-Hamas rhetoric. Let’s cheer loudly for Pro-Israel

community members in New York who showed up to volunteer to work at Café Aronne.

Doctors, lawyers, Rabbis, Jews from all walks of life came to help and encourage people to buy gift cards to bolster the business. Customers now line up around the block to support the store and the business continues to see a significant bump in customers after news of the barista walk-off spread.

Elie Wiesel said, “Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

Speak your truth and speak it now. ♦ Debra Rich Gettleman is the Contributing Editor for Jewish Life Now. She is also a professional actor, producer, playwright, and awardwinning journalist.

I’m taking this personally

By Joanne Greene MY

grandparents lived through pogroms – organized massacres where bands of men, seething with hatred of Jews, rode into Jewish villages on horseback,

looting, raping, killing, and burning down their homes. I’ve known this the same way I’ve known about the killing fields in Cambodia and the Armenian genociade.

Unimaginable evil that happened to someone else, people who didn’t speak my language, who didn’t live like I did, safe and with boundless opportunity in late 20th and early 21st century America.

In Hebrew school they showed us newsreels from the war, the Holocaust, the Shoah. So many names for something that happened far away at another time. I and my friends had nightmares from seeing the grainy, black-and-white images of emaciated naked dead bodies piled high. But that was history, I told myself…like the slaughter

by Syrian-Greeks, the annihilation decreed

by Egyptian Pharoahs.

Except that the murder of 6 million Jews had taken place only twenty years earlier. Twenty years, I now know, is an instant. I’ve read countless books, seen innumerable films, been privileged to hear many first-person testimonies, but these atrocities were things that happened to other Jews, at other times, in other places.

Until now. “Never again is now.” It’s what

we chant at rallies, our minds filled with images of kids who look like our children, brutally murdered at a music festival, parents, and grandparents, just like us, mowed down in their homes. “Bring them home,” we chant of the 200 hostages perhaps held in tunnels filled with weapons, being used as human shields as Israel fights for its very existence against an enemy that doesn’t protect its people, that is known to use relief money to buy weapons, that teaches its children that judgement day will only come when every Jew is killed.

For the first time in my life, I fear for Jewish American college students enduring vicious threats that scare them into remaining inside their dorm rooms, that cause the closure of kosher dining halls because they’re no longer safe. Yes, I’m taking this personally because reason seems absent from much of the discourse. The left with which I’ve marched and identified over so many issues for decades – reproductive rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, human rights – seems not to care about Israeli hostages from more than twenty-five different nations held by a group of people that celebrate the beheadings of Jewish

infants.

I am sad and confused and feel the need to be counted among those who stand up for Israel’s right to exist.

I support the Israel that has continued to try to negotiate a Palestinian state, that, while imperfect, is still the closest thing to a democracy in the middle east. I take great pride in knowing that hundreds of thousands of Israelis turned out every Saturday after the Sabbath to protest judicial reforms that would have changed the makeup of the Jewish state. I, like so many around the world, yearn for a free and independent place for Palestinians to live peacefully, to cultivate land, to build infrastructure and to educate their children, not just about Jihad but about science and mathematics, art, and economics. This isn’t a fight against the Palestinian people; it’s a fight against the Islamic Resistance movement that is committed to killing Jews until Israel is wiped off the map.

Anti-Semitism pre-dates the printing press and, at this point, it may even be inevitable. And perhaps I should have been feeling it’s ugliness more deeply, more personally, all along.

Instead, I’ve acted by

upholding Jewish values and traditions, learning and teaching about our people’s history and struggles, visiting sites where Judaism thrived and Jews were murdered throughout the world, celebrating our rituals, telling our jokes, eating our foods.

Today’s geopolitical issues in the Middle East are complex and nuanced and the more I read and listen to experts, the more complicated I understand the path to peace to be.

What galls me is that most people, with little to no appreciation for history, reduce this and all conflict to good and evil, us and them, the haves and the have nots.

In this terrifying, quickly moving scenario in which we find ourselves, the narrative has shifted in mere moments from Israel as victim to Israel as all-powerful master of brutality.

I have no answers, only pain punctuated by moments of joy and guilt that, still, even now, I and my immediate family have it so good. ♦ Joanne Greene is a news anchor, host of the podcast “In This Story… with Joanne Greene,” and the author of a new memoir, By Accident: A Memoir of Letting Go. She lives in Marin County with her husband.

OREGON JEWISH LIFE | DECEMBER 2023 13

COVER STORY

CIRCLES OF GRIEF, GEMS OF LOVE Portlander Sharon Pollin Eases the Burden for Grieving Families at Shiva Northwest

By Tara Dublin

Dr. Sharon Pollin was moved to create Shiva Northwest after the death of her father, Harold Pollin, the owner of Pollin Hotels and a lifelong philanthropist who contributed to both Jewish and secular causes in Portland throughout his life.

14 DECEMBER 2023 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE

DR. SHARON P

POLLIN

OREGON JEWISH LIFE | DECEMBER 2023 15

CIRCLES OF GRIEF

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Jewish and secular teacher herself, Dr. Pollin has taken inspiration from her background in the hospitality industry to help families facing the often overwhelming details that come with honoring a loved one’s passing.

Dr. Pollin grew up at Congregation Beth Israel and Portland’s community Hebrew school and is the mother of three grown children who were raised at Congregation Shaarie Torah.

She also sings weekly with a group called The Songbirds, incorporating the healing power of music while performing for the residents of the Harold Schnitzer Center for Living.

Dr. Sharon Pollin with her Dr. Pollin is a Mahloket Matters Fellow father, Harold Pollin z”l at the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies, an initiative that teaches respectful conflict engagement skills, which informs the way she leads her staff at Shiva Northwest.

Shiva Northwest’s concierge service alleviates the logistical burdens at a time when even making the smallest decisions can feel overwhelming, helping to create a customized compassionate shiva from beginning to end.

In using the “Circles of Grief ” metaphor-those closest to the dead are in the center circle, with friends and family members creating the outer circles of support while tending n n, o io r r a a h M S . r E a to their needs--Dr. Pollin and D De ell here in ave Thanksgiving w t n e w her team handle all elements of ll A e'll be io to h h W O . m r o o f M ft the shiva with professionalism, just le er's family and extended compassion, and experience. & t s is id s k r e 's w/h with Allanll you did to get e m o Jewish Life Now spoke with h t a here u for a dsend. Take o y k n a Dr. Pollin a week before the h T family. ! You were a Go first night of Chanukah as us through re .

G h she was prepared for a quick it a Ca F Love and goodwill trip to Israel amidst the still-raging Hamas terrorism campaign. [comments have been edited for clarity]

16 DECEMBER 2023 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE

JEWISH LIFE NOW: Sharon, you only recently opened Shiva Northwest and had your first client-based Shiva. Aside from your own experience after your father died, what made you want to create Shiva Northwest?

DR. SHARON POLLIN: Jewish traditions around mourning have always been filled with compassion for not just the bereaved, but for their community. As a teacher, developmentally, if we ignore the first moments of loss after the passing of someone we loved profoundly, and we don’t allow ourselves to be as present as possible, we can’t get that back.

We can support a person in their grief and take care of the details of everything involved in the shiva, as well as their daily lives. I’m talking about canceling the appointments you made, walking the dog, who’s doing the laundry?

As a Jewish educator, I’m also able to share our traditions and then sort of offer a menu to specifically and personally craft the shiva to their personal needs. Our Jewish tradition is like a treasure chest. We open that chest and see what resonates, what gems sparkle, and take from those treasures and help people in their process.

In traditional communities and in years past, it was the Rabbi’s wife who would step in, or Temple Sisterhoods, but so many women are now working, with busy lives. We’re able to coordinate meals, take care of food shopping, things like that.

JLN: It’s such a beautiful tradition that I think more cities need to have available for their Jewish communities.

SP: Thank you, it’s something we’re thinking about exploring in the future. Drawing from my own experience with my father, I know I wanted resources that weren’t available just yet, so it moved me to help others through their process.

JLN: Speaking of helping others, you’re about to head to Israel. What made you decide to make this trip at such a dangerous and volatile time?

SP: I’m the Co-Chair of the Jewish Women’s Federation in Portland, and I love it so much. We do hands-on micro-grants to create opportunities for Jewish women.

At the same time, there’s this idea in Judaism to be an emissary for charity. So, I’m doing mitzvahs for others in my community, and I’ll do my best to give as much as I can in the two and half days I’ll be there.

Hopefully we’ll travel to different centers, maybe not any kibbutz visits, but they’re just overwhelmed by need now.

We had a meeting this morning, and we discussed security issues. We’ll do what we can, but we’ll also have to do what we have to do and stay flexible based on such a volatile situation.

JLN:What do you tell your non-Jewish friends who might not fully understand the intricacies of what’s happening in the Middle East right now? The things I’ve seen on social media have been horrifying, to say the least.

SP: I have a handful of non-Jewish friends, most of whom haven’t reached out to me. Since I mostly remain in Jewish circles, I just post what I post, and hope people take from it what they can.

JLN: I want to end our chat on a high note, literally.

How did you get involved with The Songbirds?

SP: My friend Eve Stern put out a call, and it’s run by another amazing woman, Michelle Gradow. I came back to Portland in 2019 and then it was COVID, then my father passed away. So, I’ve only been doing it for about a year.

We sing oldies, American standards, fun songs everyone knows to encourage singalongs. We do it once a week, Wednesday mornings at 10:30, and everyone’s invited! s

OREGON JEWISH LIFE | DECEMBER 2023 17

PHILANTHROPY

18 DECEMBER 2023 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE

Innovative Philanthropic Fund Addresses the Homelessness Crisis Through Simplified Giving

The Oregon Jewish Community Foundation (OJCF) has created a new charitable fund to address social issues in Oregon and Southwest Washington. The fund is designed to engage and inform our community about solutions that address societal problems.

Donating to a cause (rather than isolated services) allows members of our community to have a broader and more sustained impact, addressing root issues, driving systemic change, and promoting long-term solutions to complex problems.

For 2024, the fund, “Impact Together: A Philanthropic Fund of OJCF for Social Impact” will focus on homelessness in our community. The initiative facilitates the collaboration of six established human service organizations specializing in affordable housing and support services for those experiencing or at risk of homelessness and simplifies the process of donating to homelessness services.

The six organizations are: Community Partners for Affordable Housing, Rockwood CDC, HomeShare Oregon, Hygiene4All, Stone Soup PDX, and Outside the Frame. OJCF worked in partnership with nonprofit experts, government representatives, and people with lived experience of homelessness to assemble these organizations.

Impact Together allows for a more comprehensive, efficient, and holistic way to tackle the interconnected challenges that at-risk individuals face. The six organizations provide services across the spectrum that focus on various facets of homelessness.

Together, they collectively tell the story of individuals navigating homelessness, encompassing the journey from houselessness to obtaining services, stability, job training, and full societal engagement.

By giving to the Impact Together Fund, donors have a simple way to support the six organizations in

their collective effort to provide a continuum of care.

Donations can be made online, and every gift, regardless of size, is valuable. Impact Together will distribute all contributions equally among the six organizations.

From January to June 2024, donors will receive monthly updates featuring each of the six organizations, opportunities to give, and invitations to exclusive events to foster deeper connections with these organizations. These educational opportunities are designed to inspire donors to become more deeply engaged with the issue of homelessness and the community these nonprofits serve.

“The Community Study Report from the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland clearly illustrates the diversity of engagement within our Jewish community,” says OJCF President & CEO, David Forman. “The Jewish community understands the interconnection of all communities, and that no one particular community, including the Jewish community, can exist without a strong and vibrant general community. Impact Together is one way that OJCF touches the entire community on behalf of the Jewish community. Through Impact Together, we aim to address the data from the community study by connecting with those involved in our community and those seeking further and deeper engagement to express the value of ahava kehillah – for the love of community.”

To learn more about Impact Together, visit ojcf.org/impact/.

OREGON JEWISH LIFE | DECEMBER 2023 19

20 DECEMBER 2023 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE

SUFGANIYOT TO SWEETEN THE TIMES

By Debra Rich Gettleman

C

hanukah means donuts, at least in Israel. That’s right, over 80% of Israelis eat at least one sufganiya (donut) over the Chanukah holiday.

In fact, devouring donuts might actually be the most observed religious ritual in Israeli life. And guess who consumes the most of these delectible dunkers? The top donut buyer is actually the Israeli Army. Nearly half a million donuts are delivered via trucks and shared with soldiers all across the country each year.

In case you don’t remember, the custom of eating fried foods during Chanukah dates to back to the time of the Maccabees. Here’s the Spark Notes version: This evil Hellenistic king, Antiochus IV, wanted to get rid of the Jews and their religion. Hmmm…sound familiar? But a guy named Judah Maccabee and his brothers fought Antiochus to keep their religion and reclaim the Jewish temple in Jerusalem.

When the victorious Maccabees returned from battle, they found only enough oil to light the temple’s eternal

FOOD

Naaman Donuts Hanukkah Collection 2023 with a blue-white sign.

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF NAAMAN BAKERY

OREGON JEWISH LIFE | DECEMBER 2023 21

SUFGANIYAH

flame for one night. Well, since it was supposed to be “eternal,” this was a bit of an issue. But that tiny amount of oil miraculously lasted for 8 days and nights. Thus, we have the miracle of Chanukah.

The “Faithful Bakery” (Mafa Naaman) chain in Israel has been creating fabulous pastries, desserts, and donuts for decades.

This year, they are launching their most artistic, innovative, and patriotic donuts of all time, as a statement of Israeli pride.

Classic culinary combos like Donut Rocha, which includes white fondant, milk jam, Belgian white/brown chocolate and caramel ganache showcase some of the highest quality raw materials from the patisserie world. While one goal of Mafa Naaman is to sweeten the current war-ridden times, the patriotic “Israela” donut is at the top of this year’s collection as a testament to Zionism.

Feauturing a delicious donut filled with pastry cream, coated with white chocolate, decorated with Israeli flag-colored candies and boasting an Israeli flag, this delectable will fill both your heart and belly with sweetness. s

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Here’s a preview of Maffa Naaman's exciting donut menu for 2023: 1. Dolce Caramel – donut filled with caramelized white chocolate, coated with blondie chocolate cream, decorated with caramel toffee candies, coarse salt and salty pretzel pieces.

2. Pistachina – a donut filled with pistachio cream, topped with pistachio cream, decorated with a white chocolate cream rosette and pistachio chocolate curls.

3. Raspberry Rose – a donut filled with raspberry cream, coated with white chocolate, decorated with a rosette of raspberry cream, raspberry pie and a milk chocolate cigar.

4. Millefeuille – a donut filled with pastry cream, coated with vanilla pastry cream, decorated with vanilla pâté and powdered sugar.

5. Funchiki – a fried donut filled with pastry cream, coated with coarse sugar and a pastry cream rosette.

Mimi Neeman delivers to her best customers, the Israeli army.

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T KIBBUTZ NIRIM SURVIVOR

ADELE RAEMER:

My DNA changed on October 7th

By Cindy Saltzman PERSON TO PERSON

24 DECEMBER 2023 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE

he first time I met Adele Raemer was on a zoom interview. She wore a T-shirt with Hebrew letters on it that I couldn’t quite make out. When asked what it said, she replied, “Oh, I had the other one on before. I’m bilingual.”

She pulled up a matching t-shirt with English letters that read, “Bring them home now.”

Between zoom interviews, vigils, and live talks, Adele Raemer is so busy speaking out about her experience at Kibbutz Nirim on October 7th, that she can’t always keep track of which language t-shirt to wear for which audience.

She also dons a new piece of jewelry which is actually a dog tag. “It says in Hebrew to bring them home now,” she explains. “And on the bottom, it says, ‘My heart is being held hostage in Gaza, 7/10/23.’ She has her close friend’s name from the neighboring kibbutz Kfar Aza next door engraved on the bottom. Her friend, out on a regular sunrise walk in the field with her husband, called the kibbutz nurse at 7:04am on October 7th reporting that both she and her husband had been shot. Unfortunately, by that time the kibbutz ambulance had already been blown up. That was the last they heard of the couple.

We spoke with Adele Raemer in her temporary housing in a hotel in Eilat.

(Comments are edited for brevity.)

JEWISH LIFE NOW: Is it difficult to always go back and describe the horrors of that day?

ADELE RAEMER: I survived and I see it as a responsibility as a survivor to talk about it because the world needs to know and understand what actually went on that day. Because I’m watching the news and seeing all these different

“A switch in my DNA tells me that before we can get to the diplomacy, before we can make peace, we have to make war.” ~Adele Raemer

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ADELE RAEMER

groups saying that there’s an expiration date on this and that Israel is not going to be able to continue the fight much longer. That just infuriates me.

I don’t think anybody put a timestamp on the Americans when they went into Germany to win, to be victorious over the Nazis. They did what they did for as long as it took.

JLN: Tell us about kibbutz Nirim.

AR: Well, October 6th was our Kibbutz’s anniversary. We’re 77 years old. We are one of the 11 communities that were sent out into the Negev Desert in 1946.

Before I went to bed on October 6th, I told my son, who was visiting that if he doesn’t see me in the morning, it’s because I am going to get up early to take pictures of a field of wildflowers that are in bloom. I wanted to catch it at sunrise. Thank G-d I was too lazy to get up at six the next morning because at 7:30 we started getting incoming rocket warnings…a massive barrage which was really very unusual.

In retrospect, we learned that this heavy barrage was sort of camouflaging, taking the attention, the army’s attention, everybody’s attention, away from what was the main event.

Which was what was going on along the border in at least 40 spots where Hamas, who had been planning this for a year or more, broke through the border, this supposedly impenetrable border with an underground barrier and an overground electronic fence with the highest technology.

About 20 minutes later, we got notification that there were terrorists infiltrating Israel.

We were told to go out of our safe rooms, to close the doors and the windows, and to lock ourselves back in the safe room.

JLN: To go out of the safe room?

AR: Yes. So, I ran to the safe room where my son was sleeping. And it’s a “safe” room because it’s built to protect us from rockets. It has reinforced walls and ceiling.

It has a very heavy iron sleeve over the window which you close and click down to lock.

And it has a door, an iron door, which you close, and you click the handle down, and when you click the handle down, metal prongs stick into the ceiling and the floor, which prevents, if a rocket impacts 26 DECEMBER 2023 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE

your house anyplace else, it prevents an implosion from blowing the door open.

The problem with the safe room is that it wasn’t built for infiltration and you cannot lock yourself in.

In fact, it’s illegal to lock yourself in because if you have a medical emergency and you’re inside there, the first responders won’t be able to come and rescue you.

We often hear rocket explosions. But we’ve never heard gunfire, automatic machine gun fire inside the kibbutz. Grenades and RPGs and things were exploding all around and people were saying that they could hear people shouting in Arabic. Then all of a sudden, we started getting messages calling for help, that terrorists were at their doors. They were in their houses, and they were trying to open up the safe room doors. So, if you’re strong enough you

Happier times as Adele poses in her kitchen at Kibbutz Nirim.

The destruction in Kibbutz Nirim.

Adele en route to look at safe temporary housing

can keep that closed, but if they’re stronger, then somebody from the outside can open it. We also started hearing messages about houses being set on fire. So we’re sort of following the progression of this nightmare as it was going on and wondering, “When are we going to be next?”

JLN: So, you were just waiting for the IDF to arrive?

AR: We have a team of first responders who are trained and armed.

My son-in-law is one of them. They’re trained for all sorts of scenarios. But they’re trained for infiltration by one terrorist, five terrorists, not the quantity that we got. We got 50 to 60 terrorists flooding into our community.

Adele tells us about a young couple and their eight-day-old baby who were being suffocated by

“I saw over 3000 terrorists and just regular Gazans flooding through our borders, wreaking havoc in our communities, murdering in the most barbaric ways. I’m thinking, where were the good Gazans?” ~Adele Raemer

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Kibbutz Nirim before the destruction.

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ADELE RAEMER

smoke before first responders could reach them.

She describes the terrorists as more than Hamas militants. There were terrorists and everyday people.

AR: They were just your average everyday Joes, everyday Mohammed in Gaza.

Apparently, they sent out a message saying, “Come on, guys, we’re going to conquer the Jews. Come in and help us and have fun and, you know, do what you can to get your frustrations out, whatever.

There were so many regular people, just people; unarmed people and you see internal TV showing them coming through the gate. Like there was an old man with a stick and young teenagers just coming in.

They set cars afire and slashed windows and broke windows and went into houses and started taking stuff out of the refrigerators and sitting down and eating.

I did not think I was going to see another sunrise.

I was sure this was the end.

Adele remembers hearing Arabic voices right outside her home. Then she heard someone calling them away.

Once she was able to leave her house, she found broken slats on her window and realized they were on the verge of breaking into her home when other terrorists called them away.

Once the IDF f inally reached the kibbutz about 7 hours later, they systematically went from house to house to make sure there were no more terrorists. When she and a group of survivors were f inally walked back to the community center, where they could be protected, she wondered why the soldiers had taken such a long route around the outskirts of the kibbutz. She later learned that they were trying to spare the group even more trauma from viewing all the exposed bodies strewn across the road on the short way around.

AR: I was finally liberated at 5:15pm. From 6:30am, that’s almost 11 hours. My son-in-law and granddaughters had to be evacuated through their window because a terrorist body was right in front of the door. And as they were evacuating them, there was terrorist fire and they had to duck into a shelter nearby.

JLN: How are your granddaughters doing?

AR: They’re very traumatized and it’s very difficult for them now even to be in the hotel.

So, we were evacuated under fire through an active war zone. We passed smoking vehicles on the side of the road, vehicles that were still burning, charred bodies on the side of the road.

It was an active war zone.

JLN: How has this changed you? You said earlier that your DNA was changed.

Can you explain that a little?

AR: You know, I’ve been giving people tours through my kibbutz for years and telling our story to people that come to Nirim. I’ve always said, “I’m in

touch with people in Gaza and the people that I’m in touch with believe in different things. They believe that we can live as good neighbors and we should live as good neighbors, and they believe that children should not be educated to hate.

I’ve always said that I truly believe that most Gazans are like that, that most Gazans just want the same thing that I do, to put food on their table and to have safety for their children.

But after I saw over 3000 terrorists and just regular Gazans flooding through our borders, wreaking havoc in our communities, murdering in the most barbaric ways. I’m thinking, where were the good Gazans? Where were they?

They cut babies out of their mother’s womb. They chopped children’s fingers off. They dismembered people while they were alive and they were so proud of it that they took video footage of it, which I have not seen and I will not see, but it is out there and people need to see it, to understand what it is that we’re up against.

These are monsters.

Adele sadly discusses how Gazan children are educated to hate Jews.

AR: Gazan children have an end of the year play and they dress up as Gazan fighters and IDF fighters and the Gazans kill the IDF soldiers and take them hostage. These are the kids that grew up to be the monsters that came into our community on October 7th.

They’ve been trained for this. They have textbooks in Gaza that teach you math.

Saying if you had 10 Jews and you kill seven, how many are left? And it’s been going on for decades.

Adele describes herself as a pacif ist who has always advocated for a non-violent solution to the region’s conflict. But now, there’s been a shift.

AR: A switch in my DNA tells me that before we can get to the diplomacy, before we can make peace, we have to make war.

It’s not going to be pretty and it’s not going to be short. It’s not going to be easy.

And we can’t have a timeline imposed. We can’t have a time limit on this. The IDF has to be allowed to do what they know how to do best. ▲ OREGON JEWISH LIFE | DECEMBER 2023 29

W OREGON

STANDS TOGETHER FOR ISRAEL

ithin days of the October 7th war on Israel, and the kidnapping of hostages, a small group of compassionate and diverse community members went into action.

First, they lobbied the Portland Board of Commissioners and submitted a resolution expressing solidarity with Israel and to light the Morrison bridge in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag. They succeeded.

They then formed a grassroots organization to bring the community together to call attention to the fate of the hostages as well as the atrocities committed against Israel.

As stated on their website: "We've witnessed the recent horrors of terrorism in Israel, where over 1400 innocent lives have been lost, and hostages, including children and elderly, remain in captivity.

Our hearts ache for the victims and their families, and we are resolved to take action. We stand together, regardless of our backgrounds, to call for the freedom of the hostages."

If you would like to get involved with Oregon for Israel or to donate, go to: https://oregonforisrael.co

30 DECEMBER 2023 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE

Oregon shows its solidarity with Israel.

Right: 'Bring Them Back' necklace. The purchase goes toward support of Oregon for Israel.

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Empathy in Action: How to best support Israel now As Israel and America stand strong against Hamas, Hezbollah, and anyone who supports the massacre of innocent civilians, the desire to help is palpable. But how do you know where and how to give? How do you determine a charity is credible and f iscally responsible? How can you be sure that the money you donate is getting to those in danger and most in need?

Jewish Life Now has done some research and through a careful analysis of philanthropic, economic, and human service non-prof it organizations and charitable organizations, we have put together a list of some of the most reputable and effective charities. In addition to the short list below, your Jewish Federations, Combined Jewish Philanthropies and Jewish Community Foundations are equipped to help as well. (As always, please do your own research):

32 DECEMBER 2023 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE

AMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM https://afmda.org Help is desperately needed to put more ambulances on the road and to replenish supplies for EMTs and paramedics and for MDA’s blood services division.

AMERICAN FRIENDS OF MEIR PANIM https://meirpanim.org/ Food insecurity in Israel https://donate.meirpanim.org/nachal-oz/ Adopt the families of Nachal Oz AMERICAN FRIENDS OF NATAL afnatal.org NATAL - the Israel Trauma and Resiliency Center is an apolitical non-profit organization which provides a unique, multidisciplinary model of psychological support to victims of trauma due to terror and war, regardless of religion or political affiliation.

CITRUS & SALT COOKING/ CITIZEN’S KITCHEN www.citrusandsaltcooking.com https://www.gofundme.com/f/citizens-kitchen Tel Aviv cooking studio turned meal operation for soldiers and families in Isarel.

DOGS ARE US ISRAEL www.Dogsrus.co.il A dog rescue for the last 7 years, the need to rescue and house dogs since October 7 has increased substantially due to the chaos that ensued including displaced families, deaths and fear.

FRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES https://www.f idf.org A non-political, non-military organization that provides for wellbeing of the soldiers of

the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), veterans and family members.

JEWISH NATIONAL FUND (JNF) Jnf.org They work to ensure a strong, secure, and prosperous future for the land and people of Israel from planting trees, building houses and parks, source water solutions, buy fire trucks, and improve the lives of people with special needs and run volunteer programs in Israel. To volunteer on farms across Israel - register to their mission: https://bit.ly/3ucxy5D ONE ISRAEL FUND https://oneisraelfund.org Primarily focused on enabling Jewish life to flourish in all areas of our Biblical Heartland, as well as other areas throughout Israel.

SOLDIERS SAVE LIVES www.soldierssavelives.org A grass roots organization that saw the need on October 8 and jumped into action.They send equipment to the IDF via their US- toIsrael supply chain.

IN MEMORY OF DAVID NEWMAN. UNITED HATZALAH https://israelrescue.org/ The largest community-based volunteer emergency medical services (EMS) organization that provides the fastest response to medical emergencies across Israel free of charge. You can donate for emergency equipment as well.

VOLUNTEERS FOR ISRAEL https://vf i-usa.org/ Opportunities for civilians to volunteer on IDF bases

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