Volume 50, Issue 22

JERUSALEM (JTA)—Two black caskets, laid out by Hezbollah officials on the sun-drenched tarmac of a Lebanese border crossing, unceremoniously put to rest one of Israel’s most wrenching hostage ordeals.  read more »

LOS ANGELES (JTA)—Iran’s nuclear ambitions are a security threat to the entire world, two top female politicians in the United States and Israel told more than 1,800 delegates in attendance at the opening session of the 94th annual Hadassah convention.  read more »

Sixty-eight years ago this July, a Japanese diplomat defied instructions from his foreign ministry by issuing transit visas to thousands of Jews desperate to escape Nazism in Lithuania.  read more »

A young Israeli special forces soldier who was severely wounded while on a mission to Nablus will speak in Portland this month at an event it is hoped will build interest for a local chapter of the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces.  read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA)—U.S. Sen. Barack Obama clarified his recent comments on Jerusalem remaining the undivided capital of Israel.  read more »

PARIS (JTA)—The French-initiated summit for the Union for the Mediterranean that ended this month did not produce any major breakthroughs.  read more »

Olmert could step down

JERUSALEM (JTA)—Ehud Olmert agreed to step down as Israeli prime minister if he loses a leadership election in the Kadima Party.  read more »

Wondering who’s Jewish? Take a tip from Rabbi Dov Greenberg. As director of Stanford University’s Rohr Chabad House, he’s developed a foolproof way to find out:  read more »

A Hillel for Portland area campuses is well on its way to becoming reality.  read more »

No charges have been filed in an alleged assault on a woman who helped organize a protest to counter the "Ending the Palestinian Nakba" (Palestinian exodus from Israel in 1948) program held at Portland State University on May 31.  read more »

Interfaith couples are invited to deepen their understanding of each other’s religious heritage through a shared journey to Israel next March.  read more »

For 10 years Leonard Barde has unceasingly performed one of the commandments known as “mitzvot beyond measure.”  read more »

On July 29 Rabbi Ariel Stone of Shir Tikvah and Rabbi Aryeh Hirschfield of P’nai Or led a ceremony consecrating the new bench and monument in the first Jewish section of Riverview Cemetery, formed by the two congregations in March 2005.  read more »

Rabbi Dr. Akiva Tatz, whose expertise reaches from medical ethics to Jewish spirituality and mysticism, will speak at 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 4, at Congregation Kesser Israel, 6698 SW Capitol Hwy.  read more »

Two Portlanders were among 70 teachers and school administrators who spent six information-packed days in Atlanta, Ga., to learn all they could about the story of modern Israel and how to pass that story on to their students.  read more »

The Oregon Jewish Community Foundation named a new president and two new trustees at its annual meeting July 1 at the Lucia Hotel downtown.  read more »

When Alan Lertzman was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in March of 2005, he decided to enjoy as much time as he had left.  read more »

Like any mom, Janette Bach, 36, knows when her child is hungry. Unlike most any mom, however, Janette quickly prepares 4-year-old Hannah’s liquid meal, gets down on a blanket beside her and expertly sates her daughter’s hunger—via feeding tube.  read more »

After a three-summer hiatus, Chabad is bringing its intensive summer yeshiva program back to Portland for the month of August.  read more »

Five members of the Portland chapter of Brit Tzedek v’Shalom visited Capitol Hill on June 24 to advocate for vigorous U.S. engagement in facilitating a negotiated, two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They also met Israeli Knesset Member Yossi Beilin of the Meretz Party.  read more »

Portlanders can learn about Hazon’s 300-mile Israel bike ride scheduled for this November during an informational meeting at 7-8:30 p.m., July 30, at Congregation Neveh Shalom.  read more »

About 50 youth have signed up for Portland Maccabi Club, which offers youth entering sixth to 12th grade in Oregon and Southwest Washington the opportunity to compete in 10 sports and socialize with their peers in a program modeled after the Maccabi Games.  read more »

About 68 miles north of Minsk in Belarus in the little village of Dokshitsy a long neglected Jewish cemetery has been restored and the memory of Jews slain in the village during World War II has been memorialized, thanks in great part to two Jews, one from America and the other from South Africa, and also due to efforts by today’s non-Jewish residents of the town.  read more »

KXL Newsradio 750 in Portland has moved two rabbis’ Jewish talk show from the night-owl slot to Saturday afternoon.  read more »

Amica Sydney Glasgow Dorfman was born June 25 to parents Emily Glasgow and Craig Dorfman of Boston. Grandparents are Lesley and Bob Glasgow of Portland and Judy and Joel Dorfman of Somerset, N.J.  read more »

They started by reading the Parsha of Balak, then got out their notebooks and pens. This month, the P’nai Or Writing Group met at Lyssa Anolik’s light-filled Hillsdale home, around the wooden dining-room table and glasses of passion-flavored iced tea.  read more »

I agree with Eric Liebman that animals, humans, and the environment would be better off if “the meat industry did collapse and meat consumption per capita was drastically reduced” (A vegetarian take on illegal immigration, July 1).  read more »

Ovarian cancer research will reap the benefits when a member of the Rose City Rollers takes to the air.

On Aug. 2 a member of the Rose City Rollers will pilot a “flying roller skate with wings," the same day as the fourth annual Sherie Hildreth Ovarian Cancer Foundation Empowerment Run and Walk.  read more »

As of the end of the fiscal year June 30, $4,329,000 had been pledged to the 2008 Annual Campaign of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland. That is a 4.5 percent increase over the $4,143,237 raised in 2007.  read more »

"This is our generation’s Birmingham … a return to the heartfelt connections of the Civil Rights era where we are called to ground zero to make policies to prevent this from happening again,” said Portlander Celeste Carey after returning from New Orleans to learn about and aid that city’s rebuilding effort.  read more »

Kosher restaurants are enjoying a real boom and the non-observant no longer have to feel that they are missing out on a good meal when they go out to dine with their observant friends.  read more »

Tyler Rogoway has been going to Nick’s Famous Coney Island on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard since he was a very young boy.  read more »

Joshua Nelson, billed as the world’s greatest Jewish gospel singer, will perform at Opening Night Nov. 9.  read more »

The July 15 edition of the Jewish Review is the first edition produced
under one roof—editorial and advertising—in some 14 years.  read more »

NEW YORK (JTA)—Diaspora Jews are stepping up pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to intervene in a dispute in Israel over conversions to Judaism.  read more »

Music education in our public schools is often so watered down or altogether missing that the general public is rarely trained to listen patiently and intelligently to meaningful music.  read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA)—For Jewish organizational leaders, last week's unusual U.S.-Iran encounter was a moment to put up or shut up.  read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA)—An Arab construction worker rampaged through the streets of Jerusalem in a bulldozer July 22.  read more »

NEW YORK (JTA)—Sudan's president may soon be the target of an arrest warrant for the killings in Darfur.  read more »

SDEROT, Israel (JTA)—During his stops in Jordan and Israel, presidential contender Barack Obama stressed both his backing for tough Israeli security measures and his commitment to advancing the peace process.  read more »

SDEROT, Israel (JTA)—At the New Age Beauty Salon in a run-down strip mall here, the manicurist and hairdresser swap opinions of Barack Obama.  read more »