JFGP connects newcomers

By Polina Olsen

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Are you new to Portland or ready for a life transition? Time to make new friends, develop new interests or take old ones to another level? You always belong in your own community, and Jewish Federation of Greater Portland will help you find the right spot.

Take Jennifer Josephberg, a recent Bard College graduate and newcomer to Portland. With parents active in the Jewish Federation of Virginia Beach—“they volunteer tirelessly”—Josephberg knew JFGP would get her started in her new town.

Sure enough, last year’s Super Sunday phonathon had plenty of volunteers her own age who shared JJ’s interest in music. “I’ve seen well over 2,000 concerts,” Josephberg says. “Reggae, hip-hop, jam bands—I like it all.”
   
Today, Josephberg lives in NW Portland with her friend Ariel Stein and two dogs. A busy production assistant for Bonga Media, she looks forward to “being pulled in and involved with the JFGP. That’s what Jews do best,” says Josephberg. “They come together and hang out without even knowing each other—as though they’ve known each other forever. They just get moving.”

   
Across town, Drs. George and Dena Draisin have settled into their Eastmoreland home.
   
“We moved to Portland five years ago after 17 years in Kansas City,” he says. Tonight, Drasin is on-call for his diagnostic radiology practice and his wife, a child psychiatrist, is out of town.
   
“We came to join a son and because we like the community,” Draisin explains. And, the JFGP Maimonides Society made it easy to fit in and make friends.
   
Maimonides, a JFGP special interest group, connects Jewish community healthcare professionals. Other groups include the Blue Knot for high-tech professionals, the Women’s Philanthropy Committee, the Young Adult Division and Solomon’s Legacy. All provide a chance to meet peers, a forum for interesting discussions and a vehicle for helping the community. For instance, Solomon’s Legacy also provides Portland attorneys a mechanism for delivering pro-bono legal services to federation agencies.
   
Now on the Maimonides Steering Committee, Draisin helps arrange functions and speakers.
   
“I brought in Robert J. Lifton,” he says, referring to the National Book Award winner for “Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima.”
     
In addition to Maimonides, the couple has joined Neveh Shalom and regularly enjoy “going to the downstairs minyan. It’s a beautiful little room and a wonderful group of people,” Drasin says.
   
So, is there anything the Drasins wish for in Portland?
   
“Well,” Draisin says after a long pause, “I’d like to see a really good bagel. But we have the Yiddish Hour,” he adds, referring to the KBOO FM program. “How many cities can say that?”