EJC Daytime Klezmer Jam

Longtime EJC Klez Jammer, Sharon Hennessy has stepped past her role of stalwart accordionist and has organized the next EJC Klezmer Jam. Repertoire and more info here. If you’d like to come please email Sharon.  

“It’s impossible to finish this memoir and not come away with a desire to claim as your own fantastic and near-forgotten expressions such as “Yethrem basal all ras efadi!” (you’re chopping onions on my heart!)” – Jewish Journal

Join fellow seniors (and future seniors) to discuss this life-affirming memoir about resilience, language, and the healing power of our ancestor's music, stories, and recipes.

The daughter of Iraqi Jewish refugees, Samantha grew up surrounded by the noisy, vivid, hot sounds of Judeo-Iraqi Arabic. A language that’s now on the verge of extinction. The realization that she won’t be able to tell her son he’s "living in the days of the aubergines" opens the floodgates. How can she pass on this heritage without passing on the trauma of displacement? Will her son ever love mango pickle? In her search for answers Samantha encounters demon bowls, the perils of kohl, and the unexpected joys of fusion food. As Samantha considers what we lose and keep, she also asks what we might need to let go of to preserve our culture and ourselves.

EJC Reads — our monthly book club for seniors — meets on the 2nd Tuesday of every month from 11am-noon at EJC. Free. No RSVP required. Snacks & drinks provided.

EJC Daytime Klezmer Jam

Longtime EJC Klez Jammer, Sharon Hennessy has stepped past her role of stalwart accordionist and has organized the next EJC Klezmer Jam. Repertoire and more info here. If you’d like to come please email Sharon.  

Enjoy our free monthly concert series with top musicians!

Composer/pianist Ezra Weiss is “a bold, inspired figure in the contemporary jazz arranging scene.” (DownBeat)!

Ezra Weiss composer of Northwest Children's Theater's upcoming world premiere musical The Golem's Gift, performs an afternoon of music featuring songs from the show, Broadway, and jazz. The Portland-based pianist will be joined by an eclectic lineup of acclaimed guest artists and will share insights into The Golem's Gift and the creative process behind bringing a new musical to life.

All ages, free, registration requested, consider donating to EJC programming at checkout.

Pack a lunch or stop by one of the many pods at 24th and Glisan, bring your food in (no pork or shellfish, please), and come and hear the music! Small concerts that are semi-acoustic and always enlivening. All are welcome. What better thing is there to do on a Friday afternoon?!

Composer/pianist Ezra Weiss is “a bold, inspired figure in the contemporary jazz arranging scene.” (DownBeat) He has released seven albums as a bandleader: The Five A.M. Strut (2003), Persephone (2005), Get Happy (2007), The Shirley Horn Suite (2010), Our Path To This Moment (2012), Before You Know It [Live in Portland] (2014), and We Limit Not the Truth of God (2019). All of these albums have received substantial national and international acclaim from the press, and have spent significant time on the JazzWeek Radio Charts.

Additionally, Ezra composed the music for the Portland Jazz Composer’s Ensemble’s multimedia concert and recording, From Maxville To Vanport (2018). He also wrote the big band arrangements for Derek Hines’ recording The Long Journey Home (2017), which led to the formation of the Ezra Weiss Big Band.

Ezra currently leads his own big band and sextet, performing at major jazz festivals and clubs throughout the U.S., including the Catalina Jazz Club in Los Angeles, the Triple Door in Seattle, and numerous week-long engagements at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club in New York City.

His bands have featured such luminaries as saxophonists Antonio Hart, Mark Gross, and Dayna Stephens; trumpeters Michael Philip Mossman, Greg Gisbert, and Farnell Newton; bassists Corcoran Holt, Ameen Saleem, and Curtis Lundy; and drummers Kassa Overall, Steve Williams, and Billy Hart (for whom Ezra also served as arranger), among others. He also co-led the Courtney Bryan/Ezra Weiss Jazz Orchestra in New York City.

Ezra’s compositions and arrangements have been recorded by numerous artists, including Jeff Baker, Stan Bock, Renato Caranto, Derek Hines, Kitchener-Waterloo Big Band Theory, The Leaders, Thara Memory, Farnell Newton, Northwest Children’s Theater, Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble, Sammi, Marcos Varela, and Angie Wells, among others. He has also co-produced recordings for many artists and labels, and his own albums as a leader have been released on the Origin, PJCE, and Umoja record labels.

In musical theatre, Ezra has written music and lyrics to Alice in Wonderland: a Jazz Musical, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, and Cinderella: the New Tap Musical. Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella were each named in the Top 10 Cast Albums of 2009 and 2013 respectively by TalkinBroadway.com. Ezra also recently created and produced the online musical revue Is Everybody Here?, and is currently composing the music to The Golem’s Gift.

Ezra has won the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award three times and has been listed in DownBeat Critics Polls in the Rising Star Arranger category. He holds a Bachelors in Jazz Composition from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a Masters in Jazz Piano Performance from Queens College. His teachers have included Wendell Logan, Neal Creque, and Bruce Barth. He has taught at numerous colleges and universities in Portland, Oregon, where he lives with his wife and two kids.

Come see the Golem's Gift!

Inspired by Jewish folklore, The Golem’s Gift tells the story of a man made of clay who is sent into the world with one impossible mission: repair what is broken. Along the way, he discovers the power of friendship, hope, and small acts of kindness that can change lives in unexpected ways.

Filled with magic, humor, and heart, this unforgettable new musical comes to life through a soaring original score and captivating storytelling.

Originally commissioned by Northwest Children’s Theater in 2020, The Golem’s Gift is a long-awaited world premiere celebrating courage, compassion, and the stories that connect us. Be among the first to experience this remarkable musical during its limited engagement.

Join Shulchan PDX in an all ages High Holiday Hoedown to celebrate the ancient post-Yom Kippur Tradition of dancing and cavorting in the fields! Live music and square dancing!

All ages, $5/person TICKETS HERE

Find out more about Shulchan here

Part of EJC's Sukkot and mini Harvest Fest!

Part of EJC's Sukkot and mini Harvest Fest!

Oregon songpoet and wordsmith musician Brian QTN writes songs with offbeat and touching lyrical observations on the socialography of the human condition. His songs are filled with wordplay and meta-fables that roll off the tongue, folksy jazz melodies with an Alt-Roma blues beat and string popping, wordless guitar stylings. His story-songs are laughable, affable, unforgettable doorways into another realm, and his presentation is comfortable and unpredictable. For this concert he will be playing with local luminaries Courtney Von Drehle, Andrew Alikhanov and more!

All ages Sliding Scale $15-$20 (Ages 6-17 $5, under 5 FREE)

TICKETS HERE

Doors 7PM, Show 7:30

Brian QTN has toured with spirit and whimsy all over these United States for many years, sharing the stage with Big Thief, Adrianne Lenker, Shawn Phillips, Willy Porter, Butch Hancock, Tracy Grammer, Peter Wilde, Steve Fisher, Chris Chandler, and many others.

Brian QTN is a 37-year veteran of the Oregon Country Fair and a 45-year mainstay of the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas.

The media has called him “...the Tom Robbins of folk music" (The Carbondale Flipside); "Playful, energetic and honest." (The Oregonian); "An unclassifiable and irreverent acoustic performer..." (Austin Chronicle); "One of our leading contemporary songsmiths and music makers" (Victory Music Review); "An adept storyteller ...[whose] lyrics run the gamut of personal reflection to commentary on social issues" (Folkwax); "Introspective, satirical, delightfully absurd and always acoustically gentle to the ears..." (Austin Statesman); “Clever. quirky, lyrics that touch on deeper levels of being human...” (Hipfish); "A panoply of anomalous phenomena.” (Jim Larrance, CutUp Sound); and "a melodious punster who brings grins to his listener's lips and vagrant thoughts to their stirred-up minds." (Dave Johnson, Southeast Examiner).

Additional Event Sponsor Congregation Shir Tikvah!

For more than a decade, before and after the attacks of October 7, award-winning journalist Ruth Margalit has chronicled the people who have shaped modern Israel — not only its political leaders, but also the ordinary citizens living in a nation in tension with its democratic ideals. Join her as she talks to The New Yorker’s David Remnick about her new book, In the Belly of the Whale: Portraits from a Fractured Israel.

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A LIVESTREAMED EVENT FROM THE 92ND STREET Y

Free, Consider Donating at checkout

To live in Israel today, Margalit writes, is to be either a whale or a Jonah — trying to make do in the belly of the whale. The profiles in her new collection represent both: outsiders trying to make a life in a system designed against them, and insiders hatching plans and amassing power all while riding the twin waves of populism and jingoism.

Revisiting 10 of her acclaimed pieces from The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine, now as a mother living in Tel Aviv during wartime, Margalit reexamines the texts in light of a transformed society and self, adding new updates and insights to journalistic portraits she has created over the course of a dozen years. In a conversation about the book and the evolving realities of Israeli life — and the role of journalism in illuminating history as it unfolds — Margalit and Remnick discuss the clashing forces that have led to Israel’s current state, just before the elections that will determine its future.

Expect an insightful look into the heart of Israel from two of its most perceptive observers, helping us to better understand the seemingly inscrutable politics of a nation in crisis as it aims to find a new path forward — and find out how Israel’s Jews, Arabs, activists, artists, academics, and politicians are navigating the tensions that define their society.

This program is part of 92NY Recanati-Kaplan Talks.

Community member David Rutiezer invites all singers and their friends to come and sing at EJC at our first ever vocal jazz jam! Paul K Ward on piano! This will be a fun, supportive space to belt out your favorite show tunes, jazz standards, folk songs, or country western songs accompanied by a professional pianist. Bring sheet music in your key or iRealPro charts, or fake charts. Listeners also welcome.

All ages, free, but tip your pianist! Registration Requested.

David Rutiezer sings and plays keyboard and ukulele, has a background in music therapy, has performed in nursing homes, memory care communities, and rehabilitation centers, and released a music album for children, The Kid in Me, in November 2014. He’s performed and taught Israeli and International folk dancing for people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds across the Pacific Northwest.

Paul K Ward

Since a young man, Paul combined his love of music with business, education, and travel, having performed in almost every style but bluegrass, through the United States and into Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. As a music producer, he has arranged, orchestrated, and musically directed reviews, shows, and programming presented in Canada, Australia, and the United States, with performers who have become stars of Broadway, film, and television.

Krav Maga is back! This two hour introduction seminar is being offered in response to a real and present need many in our Jewish community are feeling right now: the desire to be more prepared, informed, and capable in uncertain situations.

Before becoming the system for the IDF, Krav Maga was developed as a Jewish civilian self-defense system, designed to work for people of all sizes, strengths, and physical backgrounds. It emphasizes the simplest, most direct responses that align with natural human reactions under stress of a physical assault, rather than relying on complex techniques or physical dominance.

$36/Person TICKETS HERE

This introduction class is led by Jazzy Green, an expert-level Krav Maga Worldwide instructor trained through the international community’s most direct lineage from the creator of the system. Her teaching focuses on efficiency, realism, and understanding — helping students learn not just what to do, but how to access those skills when adrenaline and fear are present.

This seminar is open to those who want a serious, grounded approach to personal safety, taught with respect for the realities people are navigating right now and that Jews have been navigating throughout history. This is not about fear — it’s about preparedness, connection, and taking care of one another. Expect physicality at your level of ability along with technique practice.

Jazzy is particularly looking for students who have interest in the possibility of continued learning in subsequent classes to the point where they can defend a wide range of assaults from any grab to disarming any weapon.

She will soon be offering teen and young adult classes so bring your teen if you would like to introduce it to them with you.

“So one may walk in peace” - Imi Lichtenfeld, creator of Krav Maga

You are welcome to reach out to her with any questions:

jazzy-green.com

Rey Abolofia: The Jewish Clarinet

An hour of clarinet music by Verdi, Simeon Bellison, Gershwin, Milhaud, and Steve Reich, who turns ninety this month. Five pieces, five worlds — opera, klezmer, the American songbook, French modernism, and minimalism.

All ages. Suggested $18. Children 12 and under free. TICKETS HERE

At the center is Reich's New York Counterpoint, a cornerstone of the modern clarinet repertoire that is almost never heard the way it was built to be heard. Rey plays the live part against ten clarinet parts he recorded himself, played back through speakers set around the room rather than aimed at the audience from a stage. The sound arrives from every direction at once. You don't so much listen to this music as sit inside it.

Rey introduces each piece from the stage: who wrote it, when, why it belongs on a program called The Jewish Clarinet, and how being Jewish shaped the music.

Program

- Verdi, La forza del destino, arranged for clarinet and piano

- Bellison, Four Hebraic Pictures

- Gershwin, three pieces, arranged for clarinet and piano

- Milhaud, Duo concertant

- Reich, New York Counterpoint

Rey Abolofia, clarinet

Lee Melaugh, piano

Cory Johannsen and Yoni Schultz, sound design.

About Rey Abolofia

Rey Abolofia is Principal Clarinet of the Salem Philharmonia Orchestra and bass clarinetist with the Sunnyside Symphony Orchestra. He has performed in recitals across the United States, Europe, and Africa. He studied clarinet at the Eastman School of Music and holds a Master's degree in Music from Portland State University, magna cum laude.

He is also a historian of the music he plays. His graduate and doctoral work centered on musicology — early music, particularly the vocal repertoire of the fifteenth century, and the intersection of music theory and mathematics — and he teaches music history on the faculty of Music Camps at Wallowa Lake. Rey has taught clarinet privately in Portland for twenty-five years. In 2008 he received the Portland State University President's Award for Outstanding Community Engagement, the highest honor conferred by the University President, for his work in public schools, recitals in local nursing homes, and dedication to his students.