Mothers Circle grads celebrate with tour of Jewish Portland

By JEWISH REVIEW

article created on: 2009-00-25T00:00:00

Participants in the Portland Mothers Circle toured Jewish Portland June 14 as the culminating activity in a nine-month program to introduce mothers of other religions raising Jewish children to the local Jewish community.

The Portland Mothers Circle is part of a program developed nationally by The Jewish Outreach Institute to serve the 100,000 or more mothers of other religious backgrounds raising Jewish children within the context of intermarriage or a committed relationship.

Locally, the Mothers Circle is coordinated by Congregation Neveh Shalom in partnership with Congregations Beth Israel, Shaarie Torah and Havurah Shalom, and the Mittleman Jewish Community Center and the Oregon Board of Rabbis. It is funded by an Innovation Impact Grant from the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland and the Oregon Jewish Community Foundation and its Youth Foundation.

The Mothers Circle has several components: Mothers Circle The Course, The National Mothers Circle Listserve, family-friendly drop-in events and access to the Mothers Circle National Rabbi who is available to answers any questions.

Mothers Circle The Course is the most transformative of the offerings, and requires a commitment of eight to nine months. Eighteen women signed up locally last fall for the inaugural offering of the course in Portland. Sixteen of these women—ranging from those engaged to be married to those with pre-teen children and everything in between—completed the program, attending sessions two Sundays per month, facilitated by veteran Jewish educator and life coach, Lois Shenker, and coordinated by Neveh Shalom program coordinator, Caron Blau Rothstein.

The program culminated with the June 14 tour of Jewish Portland, led by Carolyn Weinstein, a longtime Portland resident and consummate Jewish communal volunteer. The women and their spouses and extended family visited Jewish communal institutions and resources.

Over the course they had the opportunity to meet professionals and volunteers with these and other Jewish communal services. The tour provided the final piece of the puzzle to further demystify the Jewish community for participants.

A second cohort of the Portland Mothers Circle will be starting in September. For more information, contact Caron Rothstein, Portland@TheMothersCircle.org or 503-246-8831 ext. 139.