PHOTO: Rabbi Zalmy Berkowitz pauses during his reading of the megillah at Jewlandia's Purim celebration Tuesday, Mar. 3 in Southeast Portland. Rabbi Berkowitz, part of the group which launched Jewlandia last year, is aiming to bring what he describes as "Portland flavor" to traditional observance. (Rockne Roll/The Jewish Review)
Rabbi Zalmy Berkowitz is building a synagogue. Sort of.
A photographer by trade, Rabbi Berkowitz doesn’t use his title in everyday conversation and perhaps saying he’s building a synagogue conjures the wrong impression.
“It’s hard to define because I’m not sure exactly what it’s going to turn into,” he said. “We started by just having lots of people over for Shabbos.”
What his project, which he shares with his wife, Estee, and Eva and Ben Fried, does have is a name: Jewlandia. It’s a project born of what drew Rabbi Berkowitz’s family here and what they found when they arrived.
Rabbi Berkowitz grew up the son of a Chabad rabbi in Huntington Beach, Calif., where he met and married his wife. They lived in Berkeley for a while, which they enjoyed, then around Lake Tahoe during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Neither ended up being permanent.
“Both my wife and I had friends telling us for years that, ‘You guys need to go to Portland,’” Rabbi Berkowitz explained.
In 2025, they did just that, landing in Southeast Portland. While they love their neighborhood, and they quickly met plenty of Jewish neighbors who also loved their part of town, what they didn’t find in their neighborhood were Jewish institutions of any sort, particularly not those catering to the Berkowitzs’ Orthodox observance.
“We’ve just started meeting a lot of Jews quite quickly,” he said. “Just having people over, talking about the community and we thought, ‘you know what, I think we really want to start something.’”
They connected with the Frieds, who they knew from homeschooling circles, and things have taken off. The name, which harkens to Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein’s satirical television series centered on the Rose City, evokes what Rabbi Berkowitz is trying to cultivate.
“We want to have a very Portland flavor,” he said. “I want our community to reflect that quirkiness, weirdness, a need to be more intentional about things.”
That spirit was on display on Purim, with Rabbi Berkowitz reading the megillah surrounded by costumed families as children played in the inflatable bounce-house nearby and snacks were laid out inside the house at the Frieds’ homestead. It’s also on display on Shabbat mornings , as neighbors gather to pray, sing, study Torah and be part of a Jewish community – all the things you do at a synagogue.
“There is so much demand for just honest Judaism and just something Jewish period in Southeast [Portland],” Rabbi Berkowitz explained. “But it has to be interesting and fun and spiritual and meaningful because, like, people here aren’t like, ‘oh, I’m just looking for a halachic shul.’ Then they wouldn’t live here.”
If what Rabbi Berkowitz is describing sounds like what you’re looking for, learn more, including the details on weekly Friday night and Saturday morning davening (prayer) online at Jewlandia.org.