Take the kids camping while you explore Berdichevsky

By Deborah Moon Seldner

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The Aug. 25-27 Great Jewish Book Weekend is what Rabbi Joshua Stampfer hopes will become the first of many regional Jewish cultural events at the Stampfer Center in Olympia, Wash.
The weekend will feature discussions and lectures and by Portland State University Judaic Studies Assistant Professor Michael Weingrad relating to "Miriam," a modern Jewish classic by M.Y. Berdichevsky. Concurrent children's programming will enable parents to attend lectures while their children are entertained on the grounds of Camp Solomon Schechter, located at the Stampfer Center.
Weingrad describes "Miriam" as "a portrait of eastern European Jewry that isn't filtered through rose-colored lenses and 'Fiddler-on-the-Roof' nostalgia, but churning and alive."
"I chose Miriam because it's a chance to introduce even avid readers to a fascinating book by a major Jewish author whom they likely haven't yet had the pleasure of discovering," said Weingrad. "In Berdichevsky, we really have what he called the tear or the rip in the heart. That is, the modern Jewish experience of being fully at home neither in tradition nor in the secular world. He writes about this poignantly. And the spiritual unrest he describes is still with us today."
The literary weekend is similar to the "House of the Book" adult education literary programs at Brandeis Camp in California, said Stampfer, who is founder of the Institute for Judaic Studies, which is organizing the event.

The event is being billed as "a weekend with a great work of Jewish literature and a scholar as your guide."
Weingrad said it is an opportunity "to relax and enjoy the pleasure of exploring a great book in a community of readers."
Institute President Barb Schwartz said that the entire Northwest Jewish community is invited to the event.
Schwartz called Weingrad "an incredible local resource."
Stampfer said it was a "no-brainer" to ask Weingrad to lead the literary weekend.
"His special field is literature," said Stampfer. "He is bright and personable and entertaining."
At PSU, Weingrad teaches courses in modern Jewish literature, history and culture. He received degrees from Yale and the University of Washington and has held research and teaching fellowships in Jewish Studies at Harvard, the University of Leeds in England and Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Stampfer said that in addition to inviting the entire region to the literary weekend, he especially has invited smaller Jewish communities to send representatives to discuss the possibility of creating a Northwest Council of Jewish Culture and Education. He said the regional council would be an expanded version of the IJS, whereby communities could plan adult educational and cultural opportunities.
Stampfer said he would like to see planning to bring Jewish film festivals, scholars-in-residence and artists-in-residence to many communities in Oregon and Southwest Washington, including Vancouver, Tacoma and Olympia.
"Now there are quite a few significant Jewish communities in Oregon," said Stampfer, noting Bend and Ashland have joined Salem and Eugene in that regard.
Stampfer said he also hopes that more cultural events such as concerts can be held at the Stampfer Center since it is located conveniently for Portland, Seattle and Vancouver.
Stampfer said that several years ago the board of Camp Solomon Schechter designated the property on which the camp sits as the Stampfer Center "in recognition of my role there." Camp Solomon Schechter and the Institute for Judaic Studies are just two of many Jewish organizations that Stampfer has founded.