Federation's Opening Night draws crowd, raises money

By Paul Haist

"Just like a great big New York happening" was how Lydia Lipman's son Grant described Opening Night: Eyewitness to History, the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland's kickoff event for its annual campaign.
Grant Lipman had come from San Francisco for the elegant affair, a new departure from the federation's traditional annual Gala that marked the start of Jewish Portland's giving season for many years.
Lydia and Derek Lipman and Gerel and Henry Blauer co-chaired the Nov. 9 event at the new Portland Art Center.
Harold and Arlene Schnitzer were this year's honorary chairs.
Commenting on her son's reaction, Lydia Lipman said he knows well how they do these sorts of openings in New York and San Francisco.
"Wow!" was his first remark when he walked in the door and down the red carpet in the entry to the big gallery filled with the historical photographs by celebrated Israeli Time-Life photographer David Rubinger.
The carefully appointed room was teeming with
more than 340 guests served by at least a squad if not a full platoon of black-and-white-clad waiters and waitresses who danced through the crowd bearing trays of sumptuous hors-d'oeuvres, while others of them poured libations at three bars.
The room was artfully elegant with many monumentally towering antique silver vases erupting with long-stemmed red roses.
They stood like silent sentinels in dress uniform beside colossal and now nearly priceless old-growth timbers that are the historic building's skeleton.
"The d?cor committee did a sterling job, creating a very warm and welcoming atmosphere," said Lipman who thought the vertical shmooze—the novel absence of a sit-down banquet in favor of an unending supply of scrumptious, healthful, filling and meticulously kosher finger food—made it possible for guests to interact with many more people than at past affairs.
While the stunning large-format photographs were the main attraction, caterer Allen Levin's buffet in the middle of the room also got a lot of attention.
Lipman had seen the Rubinger exhibit last summer in London and knew right away that she had to bring it to Portland for its North American premiere.
She convinced the federation that the exhibit should be the centerpiece of the 2007 campaign kickoff. Federation agreed and also brought the photographer and his London curator and biographer Ruth Corman.
"I was more than thrilled," said Lipman, who emceed the program that night. "I was so thrilled with the community response, with the warm, warm welcome they gave Rubinger and Corman, how they embraced his work."
And embrace it they did, quite literally. Nearly 40 of Rubinger's images were sold at $700 each. Proceeds were shared among the federation, the photographer and the Portland Art Center.
The opportunity to buy the limited-edition photographs was really just a sideshow to the main event. Opening Night is the federation's premiere event for donors whose combined family gift to the Annual Campaign and/or this year's Israel Emergency Campaign is $1,000 or more.
After the guests gathered in a room adjoining the gallery to hear a dialogue between Rubinger and Portland Art Museum Photography Curator Terry Toedtemeier (see sidebar this page), Lipman reminded everyone of their purpose in being there before she introduced this year's JFGP Annual Campaign Co-chairs Jeff Nudelman and Sharon Weil.
Nudelman spoke first. "Family comes first, look at the pictures on the walls. Are these people your family?" he asked.
He spoke of "a virtual merging of Jewish identity and the idea of family."
He told those present, "We are here solely to take care of our family, something we have been doing for centuries. Tonight it is your turn to continue the tradition."
Nudelman recounted the many ways in which the federation's Annual Campaign helps people of all ages in need—here and around the world.
"We know they are there and need our help," he said.
Weil reminded everyone of the federation's second campaign this year to help Israel cope with the physical and emotional devastation following the August attack on the Jewish state by Hezbollah in Lebanon and the resulting war.
"In August, we came to you to raise money for the Israel Emergency Campaign. Many of you responded generously and we thank you for your support. I said then that we were only going to focus on Israel and their needs. We would come back later and ask you for your campaign pledge for the 2007 campaign," she said.
She paused and then added with emphasis, "We're back!"
In encouraging all present to pledge generously Weil said, "Through David Rubinger's lens, we have witnessed the history of Israel, a history we have helped and are still helping, to write. Tonight each of us has the opportunity to make history by giving our most generous gift."
Reprising her remarks at the beginning of the Israel Emergency Campaign in August when she asked community leaders to show the way by being the first to give, Weil said to the community's leading donors, "We are not going anywhere until each of you has a chance to participate together in strengthening our community. We ask all of you to join us in our commitment."
Nudelman earlier also had adjured those present to act now.
"Tonight is our opportunity to sustain and improve our family. You can change someone's life tonight," he said. "I ask you to seize that opportunity."
The guests at Opening Night did seize the opportunity.
Pledges made that night totaled $361,133, exclusive of the federation's share of revenue from the sale of Rubinger prints. The total pledged includes $349,133 for to the Annual Campaign and $12,000 for the Israel Emergency Campaign.
The Rubinger exhibit remained at the Art Center and open to the public through Nov. 26. The night after the opening there was a reception at the center for the employees of the Union Bank of California, which had stepped forward, as did Azumano Travel, as a presenting sponsor of Opening Night.
On the evening of Nov. 11, Robert and Anne Saxe hosted "a wrap party" where Rubinger and Corman were in attendance.
"It was just like we were in Hollywood, a big thank-you for all the volunteers and federation staffers," said Lipman. "The federation was really outstanding in pulling this together."
A spokeswoman for the Art Center said foot traffic through the Rubinger exhibit averaged between 30 and 50 people per day during their regular Wednesday through Sunday hours. She said a small number of school groups had toured the exhibit with 10-25 students in each group.
On Nov. 21, JFGP Campaign Associate Josh Stein escorted the federation's Young Adults Division at the exhibit.