It's Jewish American Heritage Month!
May is a month of learning, honoring and celebrating. We invite the community to join us in celebrating the diversity of the Oregon Jewish Experience. And we join our Old Town neighbors @jamopdx , @lansuchinesegarden , and @portlandchinatownmuseum in celebrating Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
American Jews are a broad diaspora with unique experiences, perspectives, and histories. People who identify as American Jews even practice their Judaism in many different ways. OJMCHE is here to share and celebrate those experiences with our audiences.
#JAHM #JAHM2026 #aanhpihm
Photos from the OJMCHE archive:
Shira Subotnick leading an interfaith prayer service for Burnside Community
Children prepare for a Neighborhood House outing
Groundbreaking at the JCC
Rose Israel Himmelfarb on bucking Bull
Jewish sports team sponsored by Eastern Outfitting Co.
OJMCHE is pleased share Cara Levine's return to Portland May 18 –24 for a weeklong residency — In This Sand: Seven Days of Collective Care with Cara Levine.
In This Sand invites Portland religious leaders, healers, artists, and activists to utilize Cara Levine’s exhibition Without End as a site for grief processing and embodied healing along with community. The weeklong duration reflects the symbolic period of shiva, or seven days of mourning in the Jewish tradition.
If you have yet to visit Levine's exhibit, please consider joining us for one of these special opportunities. Space is limited and RSVP is required.
Learn more at the link in bio.
Cara Levine's residency is generously supported by Ruth and Gerald Cohen, in memory of Sarah Cohen-Doherty and her passion for Holocaust Education
Close out Jewish American Heritage Month with Jew Oughta Know Part II with Jessica Rehfield, an hour of fun and surprising stories of Jewish-American innovators and influences in popular culture.
Sunday, May 31 @ 2pm
$5 admission, free for members
Tickets at the events calendar link in bio
Cara Levine - Without End: Recent Work on Grief is on view at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education through May 31. Don't miss the Silverlinings Casting Session with Cara Levine on May 18 from 10am-4pm! @cara_levine@ojmche
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Celebrated multidisciplinary artist Cara Levine explores themes of absence, empathy, and equity through a practice encompassing studio-based artmaking, social engagement, and curatorial projects. Levine’s art offers profound emotional resonance, inviting visitors into a contemplative space where loss, memory, and healing converge, and the sense of grief becomes tactile and visible.
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All 3 images: Cara Lavine, Without End: Recent Work on Grief, multidisciplinary
Our gallery will be activated in a whole new way for the closing ceremony for In this Sand: Seven Days of Collective Care. Members of the public are invited to join @cara_levine and ceremonialists from @thelanternpdx for a special closing ritual exploring themes of personal and collective grieving, healing and belonging, and connectivity and care.
The Lantern is an inclusive, intergenerational gathering place that offers connection, grief support, healing, and belonging. Learn more at TheLanternPDX.org.
@cara_levine ’s exhibition will culminate with In This Sand: Seven Days of Collective Care, a week-long series of programs reflecting the symbolic period of Shiva, seven days of mourning in the Jewish Tradition.
Learn more about In This Sand at the events calendar link in bio.
Join us for Jew Oughta Know Part II and close out Jewish American Heritage Month with a bang.
Artist and educator Jessica Rehfield explores surprising Jewish-American influences on American identity, from Harry Houdini to Fran Drescher. Sunday, May 31. at OJMCHE. This engaging session offers a deep dive into cultural touchstones. RSVP and learn more at the events calendar link in bio.
🛟 IN THIS SAND: Seven Days of Collective Care 🏝️
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May 18-24, 2026
@ojmche
Details all on link in bio
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In This Sand: Seven Days of Collective Care is a weeklong series of public and private community events that will take place in the Main Gallery at OJMCHE. In This Sand invites Portland religious leaders, healers, artists, and activists to utilize Cara Levine’s exhibition Without End as a site for grief processing and embodied healing. The weeklong duration reflects the symbolic period of shiva, or seven days of mourning in the Jewish tradition.
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Day 1 + 2: Silverlinings Casting Session with Cara Levine
Day 3: The Circle is Expanding: Creating Climate Grief Poetry with Daniela Naomi Molnar, @daniela_naomi_molnar
Day 4: What Have We Lost? Communal Conversation about Grief, Loss, and Jewish Identity Post-October 7 with Dorit Price-Levine, @dorit__lev
Day 5: A Handful of Sand with Rabbi Sarah Rensin, @rabbisarahr
Day 6: Playing in the Sand with OK YOU, @okyou_org
Day 7: Closing Ceremony with The Lantern, @thelanternpdx
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Can’t wait to see you Portland.
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Space is limited, so be sure to sign up soon for a week of collective care with artist Cara Levine and partners at the Oregon Jewish Museum. Find the link in bio to register for events ranging from sand drawings and poetry to grief support, sound healing, and our own family programming on May 23.
@ojmche@cara_levine
#Grief #MindfulnessForKids #MentalHealthMatters #YouthMentalHealth #creativeactivities
OJMCHE has returned to First Thursday!
Tomorrow, May 7, join Portland's beloved downtown celebration of creativity and community. We're offering free admission 4 – 7pm.
Nosh at food carts, and explore art at our neighbors @p_n_c_a , @froelick_gallery , and @blueskygallerypdx . Our doors are open to all.
See you tomorrow, Portland!
#firstthursdaypdx #pdxart #pdxnightlife #thingstodoinportland @artandaboutpdx@oldtownpdx
OJMCHE is thrilled to have #Portland nonprofit OK YOU offer a free family-friendly program on Saturday May 23, from 11am to 2pm, in our main gallery.
@okyou_org Founder and Director Kathleen Lane, and Kelsey Snook, a designer of participatory spaces, invite kids of all ages and their families to playfully explore grief and big emotions in artist Cara Levine’s Silverlinings sandbox.
The goal: process your emotions through the exhibition “Without End: Recent Work on Grief by Cara Levine.”
This will be a unique and memorable experience.
Every participant leaves with an OK YOU tool kit to help navigate big emotions everyday, outside the museum.
Drop in between 11 and 2 to participate.
@ojmche@cara_levine
#grief #youthmentalhealth #mindfullnessforkids creativeactivities
Explore the history and diversity of the Jewish American experience through literature in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month. From a history of Jews in the comic book industry, to fantasy novels involving dybbuks and golems, we are sure you will find something to add to your reading list.
Find our list of recommended titles, both fiction and non-fiction, for readers of all ages at the events calendar link in our bio.
