Jewish Federation of Greater Portland Volunteer Coordinator Merit Pinker has been selected for the fourth cohort of The Catalyst professional development initiative for Federation leaders working in volunteer service spaces.
Pinker joins 10 other Federation professionals from across North A…
When the Jews of Color Initiative planned out their national listening tour, Portland was a natural stop. “We’ve been working with the Jews of Color Initiative since 2022 when they gave us a grant to help fund what we think is one of the first surveys of Jews of Color in the Pacific…
One transplanted Jew’s quest to make clothing resale more fun turned into an online phenomenon and a growing business here in Portland. Owen Gail, raised in Wilsonville, came to Portland following his studies at Brandeis University. He was already selling used clothing online but…
Chanukah is the Festival of Light – a joyous occasion celebrating an ancient Jewish triumph.
As Portlanders gathered at Pioneer Courthouse Square Sunday, Dec. 14 for the annual Portland Menorah Lighting, the joy was tinged with sadness as the ancient triumph was marked alongside a very mo…
Talking about Israel can be challenging and fraught under the best of circumstances. Meir Zimmerman is on a mission to make those conversations a little bit easier.
Zimmerman, who serves as Mid-Atlantic Regional Director for the Jewish Grad Organization, came to Portland Wednesday, Dec. 3 t…
B’reshit bara elohim, the Torah starts. “In the beginning, G-d created…” Three Hebrew words that carry immense meaning for Rabbi Adina Allen.
“The first thing we learn about G-d is that G-d is the creative force of the universe,” she said in her Thursday, Dec. 4 conversation wit…
One of the hallmarks of Chanukah is public menorah lightings. With Chanukah’s celebration of light and the mitzvah of sharing the holiday’s message of Jewish self-determination, setting up a large menorah in a public space, and kindling the light of the season makes perfect sense. Numero…
Reset and Refresh, the Shabbat-centered cohort program for mixed-heritage couples to explore Jewish identity and practice, is debuting a family version.
The first cohort of Reset and Refresh for young families, defined as having children ages 0-5, begins Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. The program…
Sometimes, when government fails, the Jewish community succeeds.
A lapse in federal appropriations by the United States Congress brought many government services to a halt for a record 43 days beginning in October. Nearly one million federal employees were furloughed, many others continued …
A CNN anchor getting the population of Gaza wrong by 350 percent. Another CNN personality, Christiane Amanpour, said on-air that Israeli hostages held by Hamas experienced better conditions than the “average Gazan.” A photographer working for Reuters news wire, Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa,…
Every cantor of Congregation Beth Israel’s long history was on hand Friday, Nov. 14, for the installation of the newest of their number, Cantor Rayna Green.
Her predecessors, Cantors Judith Schiff and Ida Rae Cahana, not only celebrated her, and handed her Beth Israel’s cherished Czecho…
Basketball is not always thought of as a particularly Jewish sport. Dolph Schayes, likely the best Jewish basketball player in history, is not remembered in the same way as Sandy Koufax or Hank Greenberg. But looking more closely, there’s something there.
“The idea of coaching a basketb…
Phoebe Potts was a “professional Jew,” as she describes herself, long before she was professionally funny. But the comedian has been funny since long before she was professionally anything.
“I was raised by journalists and Jews,” the Brooklyn, N.Y.-native said, “so you had to tell…
The Jewish Federation of Greater Portland hosted its latest K-12 Parent Advocacy Night Tuesday, Oct. 28, at Congregation Neveh Shalom because even if the volume of incidents in schools has diminished, the problem has not disappeared.
“So far this year, it has been a little bit quieter. Th…
