Co/Lab: Reimagine Jewish and Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education are working together on an important new project documenting the changes in Jewish life in Portland, called “An Oral History of the Jewish Future.”
Rabbi Josh Rose, who started Co/Lab: Reimagine Jewish in 2021, says the project’s name reflects that something remarkable is happening in Jewish life today. “We’re seeing a renaissance in Jewish life in Portland and across the country. Two things are happening. First, creative new secular Jewish organizations are opening doors to Jewish meaning through arts and culture or social justice. Second, younger Jews are carving out new paths to Jewish identification and community building. They’re doing it independently, often outside legacy Jewish institutions. We’re living through a very creative and historically important period in Jewish life.”
With that in mind, Co/Lab and OJMCHE are coming together to document conversations with some of those in the Portland area whose creativity and initiative are creating new possibilities in Jewish life. Using the model of OJMCHE’s ongoing Oral History project, Museum Curator of Collections Anne LeVant Prahl will coordinate interviews of these younger Jewish community members. Among those already signed up to be interviewed is someone who manages a “Meetup” group called MOTs (for “members of the tribe”) which stages gatherings for aged 30-50 something Jews across the city, and the head of an emerging group committed to “lowering the barriers to Jewish community and education based on identity, politics, class or dis/ability.
“OJMCHE has an oral history collection with over 1000 interviews. Collectively, they tell the story of Jewish life in Oregon from its beginning in 1848 through today,” said Anne LeVant Prahl. “Traditionally, an oral history project focuses on the oldest members of a community – those with the longest story to tell. What makes this project exciting is that we are catching Jewish lives mid-action, without knowing where how their stories will turn out.”
The interviews are conducted via Zoom and take approximately 60-90 minutes. To schedule an interview, contact Anne LeVant Prahl at curator@ojmche.org.