Volume 50, Issue 2

Despite controversy surrounding Ashland’s production of “My Name is Rachel Corrie,” two sold-out performances Aug. 30 and 31 raised $1,400 for the foundation in her name.

The first project completed through Neveh Shalom’s capital campaign, a 155-space mausoleum at Ahavai Shalom cemetery, was “dedicated by the family of Emery Zidell Sept. 16, 2007.”

Sharon Margolin Ungerleider, the founding president, board member and guiding light of Oregon Hillel at the University of Oregon for the past 15 years, will be honored at a community-wide dinner Sunday, Oct. 7, at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center.

As a high school senior, Vanessa Van Petten wrote a book designed to get parents and teenagers talking. Her 2007 graduation from Emory University coincided with the book’s publication. Now Van Petten is working with teens and parents around the country through seminars and lectures. She will be in Portland Oct. 8 and 9 to talk to parents one night and teens the next.

Irshad Manji offers hope to non-Muslims who, in the maelstrom of religious violence arising from radical Islam today, have been overwhelmed by a frightening darkness that seems to be enveloping the world and in which it is a challenge to trust others not like oneself.

WASHINGTON (JTA)—In the aftermath of her son Ari’s murder by an Arab gunman on the Brooklyn Bridge in 1994, Devorah Halberstam was introduced to a federal judge for the Southern District of New York with a longstanding interest in terrorism-related issues.

JERUSALEM (JTA)—With Israel still refusing to discuss the apparent airstrike two weeks ago against Syria, observers have begun to suggest that a major event may have taken place.

Sinai Family Home Services opened its doors Aug. 23 to fill a niche in care for seniors who want to remain in the place they call home.
   

ROSEMONT, Ill. (JTA)—The delegates trickling into the massive convention center chatted, renewed acquaintances, greeted each other with traditional Muslim blessings and largely ignored the endless words of welcome from the podium. Until the rabbi spoke.

Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel will not avoid prison. The German Federal High Court confirmed on Sept. 17 that it has upheld the 68-year-old Zundel’s five-year prison sentence.

An Oct. 8 “Ask a Teenage Author” workshop for parents will be the first in a series of programs that the Women’s Philanthropy Committee of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland and the Mittleman Jewish Community Center have teamed up to bring to the community.

Under new chair Dr. Larry Veltman, the Maimonides Society kicked off the new year with a September Soiree at the home of Lydia and Derek Lipman.
   

Two Portland teenagers have decided to defer college for a year to participate in Kivunim: New Directions, a year-long program for high school graduates based in Jerusalem that includes extensive field trips around the globe.

“If you examine the track record of the PLO, there should be no illusion about its impact on the welfare of Israel and on the national security interests of the U.S.,” said Yoram Ettinger, former Israeli ambassador and embassy liaison to the U.S. Congress, who spoke Sept. 6 at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center, the guest of two conservative pro-Israel groups.

Temple Emek Shalom in Ashland will host author, lecturer, archivist and political consultant John Rothmann for two evenings of education and discussion on United States-Israel relations on Oct. 1 and 2 at 7:30 p.m.

As a graduate student 10 years ago, Linda Maizels helped lay the foundation for a Judaic studies program at Oregon’s largest university; now she has returned to serve as community outreach coordinator for what has grown into the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies at Portland State University.

After a year on Broadway performing for three hours, eight times a week as the star of “Wicked,” Shoshana Bean said she is pleased to have time to return to her hometown to perform for—and schmooze with—guests at the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland’s campaign kickoff event.
   

Whether she’s belly dancing, drumming or teaching movement and music, Lara Triback is connecting herself and others with Judaism.

LOS ANGELES (JTA)—Most Germans today will acknowledge the wartime atrocities of Hitler’s Waffen SS units, but many insist that the Wehrmacht or regular army soldiers fought and behaved honorably.

Portland poet Willa Schneberg, winner of the Oregon Book Award and author of three poetry collections, will read her poems Oct. 9 at the Library of Congreges in Washington, D.C.

In late July, the Bush administration announced its intention to sell Saudi Arabia $20 billion in state-of-the-art weaponry. The proposed package, which reportedly includes upgrades to the kingdom’s fighter jets, new naval vessels, and devices that convert conventional missiles into accurate “smart” munitions, is part of a U.S. strategy to counter Iran and secure Saudi cooperation in efforts to restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

WASHINGTON (JTA)—Covering Israel, its relationship with the United States and the influential lobby that straddles the two often requires the basic skills and instincts of a cub reporter on the neighborhood beat.
   

Tamar Boussi’s Sept. 5 election as president of the Portland Chapter of Hadassah has generated enthusiasm and hope for an invigorated chapter and a return to core Zionist roots.

Peres hosts Madonna
    JERUSALEM (JTA)— Madonna, who was in Israel for Rosh Hashanah with fellow Kabbalah devotees, traveled secretly to the capital Sept. 15 for an audience with Shimon Peres, the Israeli president.

MOSCOW (JTA)—A trail of racist killings has heightened ethnic tensions as Russia gears up for the fall political season.

LOS ANGELES (JTA)—The roller coaster saga of the hiring, firing and rehiring of a prominent liberal legal scholar has further strained relations between the Jewish community and the leadershi

JERUSALEM (JTA)—As Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas inch toward a U.S.-sponsored peace conference, persistent violence on the ground has kept Israeli-Palestinian tensions high.