2007 campaign opens with historic exhibit
By Paul Haist
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Each autumn for about the last decade the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland's Gala has marked the official beginning of the Jewish community's annul fund-raising drive.
As the premier event of the federation's Annual Campaign, the gala always has been an elegant banquet at an elegant venue, featuring local and national speakers, a sumptuous meal, music and dancing.
Each year, planners strive to do a better job than they have done before, to make an event that is more informative, more fun and more successful in terms of money raised for important Jewish causes.
The federation gala has been an institution.
But this year, planners have opted for something different.
"We listened to members of the community who have lived the gala in the past. They felt, and we agreed, that we ought to make a change at a high point."
"One of the things people have liked most at the gala was the opportunity to talk with people from across the community, to mingle and meet new people," said Rogoway.
That always occurred during the social hour that preceded the formal banquet. Once the banquet began, people were seated at their table, making mingling more difficult.
This year, that will be different.
This year, instead of the gala, the federation has planned what it calls "Opening Night: Eyewitness to History."
For donors whose annual gift is at least $1,000 to either or both the Annual Campaign and the Israel Emergency Campaign, Opening Night will offer much that the gala offered, but with more mobility for everyone.
"There will be plenty of food, lots to drink and more opportunity to mingle," said Rogoway.
Held on Nov. 9 this year at the Portland Art Center, the event will be catered by Alan Levine and will be fully kosher.
Co-chaired by Lydia and Derek Lipman and
Henry and Gerel Blauer, this year's honorary co-chairs are Harold and Arlene Schnitzer.
The planners' vision is that this and ensuing annual events will be called Opening Night. The second part of the title will change each year.
Lydia Lipman explained what "Eyewitness to History" means at this first-ever Opening Night.
It was her idea to bring David Rubinger to Portland.
In London this spring, she was taken to a photographic exhibit.
"I walked into this room and saw these amazing photographs and I was absolutely bowled over," she said.
The photographs were Rubinger's, an Israeli Time-Life photojournalist who has chronicled the history of the modern Jewish state from its birth until today.
Lipman spent an hour looking at Rubinger's images. She watched a film about the photographer.
"He has seen so much in his life. He's been so involved, not only in the history of Israel and the Middle East, but with significant events in the historical life of the world for the past 50 years," she said.
She met Rubinger at the gallery that first day she saw his photographs.
"I got to speaking with him; he is absolutely charming," said Lipman. "I said, 'They must adore you in the States.' He said, 'Well, actually, I haven't exhibited there."
Rubinger's fate might as well have been sealed at that point.
"So, why don't you come to Portland, Oregon?" asked Lipman.
He said he'd love to.
When Lipman returned to Portland, she met with federation leaders who had asked her "to keep her eyes open for some kind of event to launch the Annual Campaign, something new and different."
The federation leaders liked the idea.
When Rogoway escorted a group of Portlanders to Israel shortly later on a federation mission, they met with Rubinger to finalize the deal.
The exhibit of Rubinger's photographs will premiere in Portland and the United States at the Opening Night event. Rubinger will be present to discuss his life's work in the Middle East.
The exhibit will remain on display and open to all the public through Nov. 26.
Lipman reflected on the importance of Rubinger's images.
"When I looked at the photographs originally, I thought, 'Isn't this an amazing historical documentation.'"
Since she has seen the images of the recent fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, she said she experienced an awakening of sorts.
"It's the same war," she said, referring to the recent fighting and to all of Israel's wars that Rubinger chronicled with his cameras.
Rubinger's pictures "have the same sense of immediacy today as they had then (when they were taken)," said Lipman.
For more information about Opening Night, contact Laurie Rogoway at 503-245-6473.