Volume 50, Issue 19

When plans to have a group of Portland teens join the Seattle delegation to this summer’s Maccabi Games in Detroit fell through, coach Jodi Berris couldn’t stand to see the teens who had signed up miss the experience totally,  read more »

The Jewish Federation of Greater Portland authorized $1,827,748 in allocations to its constituent agencies and to overseas needs for the 2008-09 fiscal year which begins July 1.  read more »

Mother, daughter take Israeli flag up Everest

SYDNEY, Australia (JTA)—The first mother-daughter team to reach the summit of Mount Everest waved an Israeli flag on their way to the top.  read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA)—If there’s any doubt about AIPAC being the belle of Washington, check out this week’s ball.

The lobbying powerhouse’s conference, to be held June 2-4, is the only policy event since the presidential election campaign was launched that has attracted all three major candidates: U.S. Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.).  read more »

Jewish camps plant many seeds in the hearts and minds of the youth who spend pleasurable summers there.

Numerous studies have shown the benefits of Jewish camping in promoting a strong Jewish identity and connection.  read more »

Patricia Schwartz has been appointed Head of School for Portland Jewish Academy, a preschool through eighth grade Jewish day school of 340 students.  read more »

The highlights and achievements of Israel’s first 60 years will be the topic when Colonel Miri Eisin (ret.), Israeli foreign media advisor and former Israeli government spokesperson, comes to town June 12.  read more »

After more than a decade of working in or supervising virtually every program provided by Jewish Family and Child Service, Marian Fenimore became the social service agency’s executive director on April 1.  read more »

Jewish Family and Child Service plans a Diamond Jubilee to celebrate 60 years of serving the Jewish community on Portland.  read more »

At “A Night to Honor Israel” May 19, Christians United for Israel raised more than $10,700 to aid the heavily bombarded Israeli town of Sderot and presented the check to Charles Schiffman, executive vice president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland.  read more »

Last November’s U.S. National Intelligence Estimate, which discredited Iran as a nuclear threat, “was a disaster” for the ability of the United States and Israel to confront Iran.  read more »

Mittleman Jewish Community Center has planned a busy summer of specials and special events to introduce people to the renovated center and help people keep their cool this summer.  read more »

Mimi Wilhelm will head this year’s Mini Gan Izzy, Camp Gan Israel’s preschool summer program.  read more »

World renowned singer and songwriter Debbie Friedman spent two days in Portland as part of a partnership between the Mittleman Jewish Community Center and the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies at Portland State University.  read more »

The Oregon Jewish Museum received a $20,000 grant from the Carl J. and Alma Johnson Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation to build capacity by hiring a development director.  read more »

The Portland Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Yaacov Bergman presented an innovative and captivating performance of Beethoven’s two-act ballet, “Creatures of Prometheus” May 24 at the Kaul Auditorium at Reed College.  read more »

Elisa Albert’s debut novel “The Book of Dahlia” could have been called “The Short Unhappy Life of Dahlia Finger.”

A clever student might argue persuasively for some parallels—real or imagined—between Albert’s short novel about the early death of Dahlia Finger and Hemingway’s short story about the unnatural death of Francis Macomber.  read more »

New Drash on sale now

The second volume of Drash: Northwest Mosaic, a literary review, includes work by four Oregonians.  read more »

Fifty Portlanders had the “ultimate experience” visiting Israel on its 60th anniversary to “experience the people, their country, their sorrow, their joys, their holidays.”  read more »

The excavation at the southern end of the Western Wall formed the backdrop for the Jerusalem bat mitzvah of Mira Hayward, daughter of Elizabeth and Michael Hayward, members of Portland’s Congregation Neveh Shalom.  read more »

The recent raid in Postville, Iowa, on this country’s largest kosher slaughterhouse, where at least 390 people were arrested on immigration charges, is troubling on many levels.  read more »

To the editor:

American evangelical Christians are not monolithic. The 80 who signed “An Evangelical Statement on Israel/Palestine” reflect those sympathetic to giving Palestinian Arabs another state.  read more »

Jewish organizations, from Brit Tzedek v’Shalom on the left to the Orthodox Union on the right, are still applauding last month’s decision by the United Methodist Church to reject divestment from Israel.  read more »

I saw neither a military vehicle nor a soldier when I traversed the Golan Heights weekend before last. Off the main roads there are undoubtedly units of the Israel Defense Forces but, overall, visitors to the Golan now will find it tranquil and pastoral, filled with fruit-laden cherry and apricot trees.  read more »

Sarkozy: No more Hamas talks

JERUSALEM (JTA)—France is now shunning Hamas, Nicolas Sarkozy said, after holding informal talks with the radical Palestinian faction. The French president told visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni that Paris will have no more contact with Hamas, Israel Radio reported May 26.  read more »

Agriprocessor’s Rubashkin to resign

JERUSALEM (JTA)—The chief executive officer of the United States’ largest kosher meatpacking plant will step down. Sholom Rubashkin will resign as head of Agriprocessors Inc. after a search for a new CEO is completed, the company announced May 23.  read more »

Rabbi Nochem Kaplan, director of the Chabad-Lubavitch Education Office of Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch visted Maimonides Jewish Day School in Portland last month to help the school begin the process to accreditation.  read more »

The Oregon Jewish Museum’s annual meeting on June 16 will feature Rhoda Rosen, deirector of the Spertus Museum in Chicago, who will speak on “Re-envisioning the Jewish Museum of the 21st Century.”  read more »

BIRTH

GEFFEN KAMA  read more »

TEL AVIV (JTA)—Yosef Lapid, among the most politically incorrect figures of Israeli politics, died of cancer Sunday. He was 77.  read more »

SAN FRANCISCO (JTA)—The Contemporary Jewish Museum, set to open June 8 in its new San Francisco location, is a mind-blowingly grand celebration of what Jewish sensibilities can contribute to the American cultural experience.  read more »

MUMBAI, India (JTA)—About 500 well-wishers gathered recently around Isaac Divekar and Siyona Garsulkar at their outdoor catered wedding reception at the Elie Kadoorie School here.  read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA)—Dogged by political scandal at home, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert headed here this week in search of a friendly crowd at the annual AIPAC policy conference.

While his tough talk on Iran drew strong applause from the pro-Israel audience, his calls for peace talks with Syria and the Palestinians fell flat.  read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA)—No confessional bloc rejects the Iraq war more than American Jews do. But in a bit of political jiu jitsu, John McCain is making the policy his own in his plea for Jewish votes.  read more »

DOKSHITSY, Belarus (JTA) —A smattering of the 7,500 residents of this village where Jews once lived huddle under their umbrellas as the rain falls.

They peer over their shoulders to catch a glimpse of Aaron Ginsburg, who traces his ancestors here, reciting a speech through tears.  read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA)—After months of seeking to paint each other as opposites on Middle East policy, U.S. Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were on the same page June 4 at the AIPAC policy conference as they ripped into the Bush administration and John McCain on several fronts.  read more »