Portland and Passaic, N.J., Become Sister Communities

By KAPLAN TUTTLEBAUM

Portland and Passaic, N.J., may be on opposite sides of the country, but a new “sister communities” program is proving they have lots in common.

Whether it was celebrating Shabbat with song and study-and food, of course -or hiking up a steep trail in the Gorge the following day, it was a weekend for sharing experiences, renewing old connections and celebrating Jewish community.

“It was inspiring,” said Rabbi Menachem Spira of Passaic,” who flew to Portland with six young couples from his congregation, Bais Medrash Zichron Eliezer. “You had so much to share with us-the warmth in the community, the unity despite the diversity. It was beautiful.”

The weekend was the first step toward fostering a “sister-community” relationship between the Passaic congregation and Congregation Kesser Israel and the Portland Kollel, so that each can learn from the other about successes, challenges and opportunities.

“This was a tremendous opportunity to foster personal relationships among people in the two communities, and to encourage each other,” said Kesser Israel’s Rabbi Kenneth Brodkin. He noted that both congregations are similar in size, though the Passaic congregation was just a few years old and Kesser will celebrate its centennial in 2012.

Torah U’Mesorah and its Partners in Torah program, both national organizations involved in education and outreach, sponsored the May 8-10 Shabbaton, “Bridging Communities Across America.” Torah U’Mesorah was instrumental in the founding of the Portland Kollel and continues to collaborate with it and with Kesser Israel, which in the past received several grants from the organization.

“Torah U’Mesorah continues to be eager to assist the community on various fronts,” said Rabbi Samuel Klein, publications director of Torah U’Mesorah and a participant in the Shabbaton.

The weekend was the first in what is hoped will be an ongoing exchange, with representatives of the Portland community traveling to Passaic for a Shabbaton sometime within the next six months, annual exchanges thereafter, and additional joint programs.

One initiative that has taken off already is a “Partners in Torah” effort, which pairs Portland and Passaic residents who agree to study a Jewish text once a week by telephone. Next spring, the Portland and Passaic partners will meet again in Portland for a “siyum,” or celebration of their study.

“It can be any text the two people agree on,” Rabbi Brodkin noted. “A tractate of Talmud, a section of Chumash or Tanach, or an English work.”

“It’s a great opportunity to explore something in depth,” he added, “and it’s also a way for us to further develop the ’sister community’ concept.”

Tuvia Berzow, who volunteered to be the coordinator for the Portland community, already has a dozen Portlanders lined up with study partners in Passaic. The program is open to everyone in the greater Portland community, not just members of Kesser or supporters of the Kollel. And there is no charge-even the phone calls are free.

For more information, or to sign up, contact jberzow@comcast.net, or contact the Portland Kollel, 503-245-5420.

To help encourage people to participate, Rabbi Chanan Spivak is planning a series of classes to teach beginners how to learn Talmud in the original Aramaic. He’s calling the class “The ABCs of Talmudic Hevrusa Study,” and welcomes inquiries at the Kollel office, or by email: rcs@portlandkollel.org.

The weekend also had more poignant and more personal moments, especially for Rochel Spira, Rabbi Spira’s wife, whose grandparents, Holocaust survivors Barry and the late Lydia Brown, had lived in Portland and been active in Kesser Israel, Hillel Academy and other organizations from 1951 to the mid-1970s.

“I never knew that much about my grandparents’ time in Portland,” said Spira, who grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and who was making her first visit to Portland. “It’s amazing to understand what an impact they had.”

Barry Brown had been president of Kesser Israel from 1967 until his family moved east, Rochel Spira was delighted to receive copies of newspaper articles featuring her grandparents, a restored 1970s videotape interview with them, and a siddur that had been donated to Kesser in honor of their 40th wedding anniversary in 1986.

“I really feel that a divine providence was involved in this visit,” she said, explaining that Torah U’Mesorah and Partners in Torah did not know of her family’s Portland connection, nor that her husband had been a study partner of the Portland Kollel’s Rabbi Tzvi Fischer.

“My grandparents had planted roots here so long ago, and yet I could see that nothing they put in, that anyone builds, ever disappears,” she said. “When you plant seeds, they continue and continue.”