INSIDE Israel & landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, z"l – page 2 Halprin's Fountains at OJMCHE – page 3 Aug. 4, 2021 / Av 26, 5781 Volume 56, Issue 17 Intro to Judaism goes hybrid – page 3 Awaken – Rosh Hashanah is near Song of The High Holidays start “early” on our Gre- Miriam gorian calendar this year; the Hebrew month of Elul begins Aug. 9, Selichot is Aug. 28 and Rosh honors Hashanah begins at sundown Sept. 6. volunteers The Jewish Federation of Greater Portland (final group) hosts the online community calendar for com- – page 4 munity members to easily access information on meaningful ways to prepare for and observe this year’s High Holidays. Congregations and New Faces at JFCS, other Jewish organizations are invited to share programs and services around Selichot, Rosh Ahavath Achim, Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret Neveh Shalom – page 6 and Simchat Torah on the community calendar. The sound of the shofar, such as this blast by (Submit events and services for the fall hagim at Beth Israel Education Director Ben Sandler, Jobs Board: CSP, www.jewishportland.org/submit.) awakens us from our spiritual slumber so we can Shaarie Torah – page 7 Community members can check out virtual, hy- reflect and repent as the new year approaches. brid and in-person classes, programs and services Photo courtesy of the Oregon Jewish Museum Young adults invited at jewishportland.org/highholidays and Center for Holocaust Education. to rooftop do – page 7 Read more about Elul, forgiveness and the High Holidays: Page 9 An early look at Rebooted by COVID: A new series holiday With the world happenings in flux, many – page 7 organizations and businesses are moving forward What's the scoop on into our new Ben & Jerry's – page 8 world in fresh ways. How have Chaplain's Corner: the pandemic’s Take time to forgive challenges and – page 9 lessons changed the way they Obituaries: Jeser, Israeli Folk Dancers are happy to return to in-person dancing on wood floors. approach the Café Shalom, above, is just one of several returning options in Portland. future? Khodorovskiy, Zaltsman – page 10 Options have expanded for Israeli folk dancers BY DEBORAH MOON and with Café Shalom on Southwest 17th on HIGH HOLIDAYS As dancers rejoice over the return of indoor, Thursday. Sunday sessions are set to return to in-person dancing, opinions differ on whether the Fulton Park Community Center on Sunday Sept. 7-8: Rosh Hashanah Zoom will continue to serve the global Israeli evenings sometime this month. Outdoor danc- Sept. 16: Yom Kippur dance community that arose during pandemic ing, which began in October, at the Multnomah restrictions. Arts Center on Sunday afternoons draws crowds Sept. 21-27: Sukkot Last week, Portland dancers could dance in- for a beginners’ class, open dancing and partner Sept. 28-29: Shemini Atzeret doors at Leedy Grange on Monday, at the Mit- dancing. & Simchat Torah tleman Jewish Community Center on Wednesday See ISRAELI FOLK DANCING, page 5 Kenneth Helphand sketches a landscape, Drawing by Lawrence Halprin, z"l. View from Goldman Promenade looking toward the a common practice of one of the 20th cen- Haas Promenade. The Haas Promenade overlooking Jerusalem is likely one of Halprin’s tury’s great landscape architects Lawrence most visited designs in Israel, with most tour groups stopping there for the magnificent view Halprin, z”l. Kenneth is considered one of of the Old City, the Dome of the Rock, Mount Scopus, the modern sections of Jerusalem the foremost authorities on Halprin’s work. and the desert beyond. (Courtesy Bruce Levin). Portland fountain designer Halprin's Israel fame BY DEBORAH MOON During his first sabbatical from the Uni- ning, national parks and was an influential Landscape architect Lawrence Halprin versity of Oregon in 1980-81, Kenneth member of Mayor Teddy Kollek’s Jerusa- (1916-2009) is renowned for his iconic taught design studio and the history of lem Committee. His design projects, all in projects in the United States: the Port- landscape architecture at the Technion in Jerusalem, include: the Hadassah Medical land Fountains, Freeway Park, Ghirardelli Haifa, Israel. During that year and many Center, the Israel Museum and the Ben Ye- Square, Sea Ranch and the Franklin Dela- subsequent visits, he visited many of Hal- huda Mall. His most significant work is the no Roosevelt Memorial. Yet he also made prin’s designs in Israel. A dozen years later, Haas Promenade (with Shlomo Aronson) crucial contributions to the landscape of the Israeli Association of Landscape Ar- and the Rhoda Goldman Promenade (with Israel, which played a large role in forming chitects invited him to write what became Bruce Levin). Halprin’s values and vision. Dreaming Gardens: Landscape Archi- In a phone interview, Kenneth discussed Halprin lived in pre-state Israel as a teen- tecture and the Making of Modern Israel. Halprin’s work in Israel and Portland. ager, helped found a kibbutz in the 1930s He is also the author of Lawrence Halprin “The clear intention in virtually all his and maintained a relationship with the land (part of the Masters of Modern Landscape design work is how do you engage people and people throughout his life. Design Series). in the landscape? A multi-sensory experi- Kenneth Helphand, the guest curator of But when the Landscape Journal asked ence people see, feel, touch and hear,” says the current exhibit of Halprin’s Portland him to write “Halprin in Israel” for the Kenneth. “The intention in Portland is to Fountains (see next page), says that Halprin journal’s 2012 special issue devoted to engage people in the fountains, in the wa- credits that formative experience, especial- Halprin, Kenneth took a deeper dive. He ter, in the sensory experience that kind of ly on the kibbutz, with creating his values of perused all of Halprin’s 167 notebooks in microclimate creates. … They are inspired community working together and people’s the Lawrence Halprin Collection, The Ar- by mountain landscapes – originally the knowledge and respect for the land. chitectural Archives, University of Penn- Sierras and certainly the Cascades – (and) “Halprin’s ties to Israel are especially no- sylvania. Kenneth searched the notebooks trying to get a sense of that into the city.” table,” says Judy Margles, director of Or- for sketches and notes about Israel before While his design for Portland’s "Open egon Jewish Museum and Center for Ho- writing the in-depth, 20-page article. The Space Sequence" revolves around water, in locaust Education. “When I look at photos article includes Kenneth’s photographs of Israel Halprin uses water sparingly. of Ein Hashofet, the kibbutz that he helped Halprin’s projects and several sketches and “You shouldn’t have something like that found in the 1930s and one that I lived on notes from Halprin. in Israel, because water is so scarce,” says for a summer when I was 14, I see the in- “Israel and Jerusalem have affected my Kenneth. “If you are going to use water, fluence of its landscape on his projects, es- life ever since – my value systems and my you need to … use water in very prudent pecially the Haas Promenade in Jerusalem attitudes have been deeply influenced. I ways” – a single jet to create the sounds of and Sea Ranch in California. I’m grateful have been deeply swayed by Israelis’ rev- water or a fountain modeled on the village to curator Kenny Helphand for noting this erence for the land,” wrote Halprin in 1981 fountains where villagers would get their important aspect of Halprin’s work and in notebook 122. water. providing us with a deeper understanding The article abstract notes: In Israel, Hal- He notes in his article for the Landscape of what inspired him.” prin advised on national landscape plan- Continued on next page 2 Jewish Review Aug. 4, 2021 Historic Intro to Judaism class goes hybrid BY DEBORAH MOON er record-breaking term for enrollment,” in the Stampfer Chapel at Congregation This fall’s 18-week Introduction to Juda- she adds. “I am preparing to offer classes Neveh Shalom. Rabbi Mel Young will ism class taught by members of The Ore- in person while still retaining the Zoom teach The Hebrew Calendar on Aug. 26 gon Board of Rabbis will be offered as a option for those who need it. It’s going to and The High Holy Days: History and hybrid class for the first time. The format take extra equipment to bring the Zoom Observance on Sept. 2. Rabbi Mel retired offers the best of both worlds – in-per- option to in-person classes, as we meet at in 2010 after 36 years as a public-school son connections and a virtual option that different synagogue locations each week. educator in southern California and then eliminates geographic and transportation Of course, I’m keeping an eye on the news earned his master of rabbinic studies and barriers. and feel prepared to return to virtual class- received ordination at the Academy for Normally held at rotating Portland area es only should we return to lockdown (God Jewish Religion, California, in 2017. He synagogues, the class shifted to Zoom on forbid!).” and his wife, Linda, relocated to Portland March 19, 2020, to finish the spring semes- The collaboratively taught class has a long in March 2019. He taught the Hebrew Cal- ter when the governor issued stay-home history in Portland. In the 1960s, Orthodox endar session in January 2020 but did not orders in response to COVID. The class Rabbi Yonah Geller, z”l, of Congregation teach while the program was all virtual. was held virtually for the fall 2020 and Shaarie Torah, Conservative Rabbi Josh- Rabbi Mel says he looks forward to the spring 2021 terms – and enrollment soared.