The Jewish Review Podcast

On this episode, host Rockne Roll chats with Eric Stern of Portland's Eastside Jewish Commons about Jewish music and the upcoming Portland Jewish Music Festival. They discuss the history of klezmer, the plethora of Jewish musical traditions beyond klezmer and how musical genres influence one another. Get tickets for the 2026 Portland Jewish Music Festival online at ejcpdx.org/pjmf26. Register for...

On this episode, Jewish Federation of Greater Portland Director of Jewish Life and Learning (and Friend of the Podcast) Dr. Yosef Rosen talks about the basic elements of a Passover Seder, the history of the practice and how to make this tradition your own. Today's episode is adapted from Dr. Rosen's 2015 "How to Host a Passover Seder," available in full at youtube.com/watch?v=Gf1qLhWZDjk.

On this episode, host Rockne Roll concludes the Art of Judaism series with Portland mixed-media artist and Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education Acquisitions Committee member Jennifer Rabin. They talk about her journey into art, the museum's Collecting Forward initiative to support local artists and take another shot at defining "What is Jewish art?" Learn more about OJMCHE's Col...

On this episode, host Rockne Roll continues the conversation around contemporary Jewish art with Art/Lab founder and director Shoshana Gugenheim Kedem. They discuss Art/Lab's founding, the world of its alumni and take another run at trying to define Jewish art. Learn more at artlabpdx.org . Check out more about contemporary Jewish art in Portland at northwestjewishartists.org and ojmche.org . Cont...

On this episode, host Rockne Roll talks with Eddy Shuldman, Portland glass artist and co-founder of ORA: Northwest Jewish Artists about art and Judaism. They discuss her own artistic journey, how her work is inspired by her practice of Judaism, and how Jewish art is defined. Learn more about ORA at https://www.northwestjewishartists.org

On this episode, host Rockne Roll talks to Portland native, Hebrew University study abroad student and Press Service of Israel intern Ezra Cohen about his experiences living in and reporting on Israel. They discuss the challenges Cohen's efforts to study in Israel faced and how day-to-day life in the Jewish state differs from how it's perceived. Roll also chats with Arielle Goranson of Dignity Gro...

On this episode, host Rockne Roll selects a collection of favorite clips from The Jewish Review Podcast's first 50 episodes. From Challah to Chabad to community building, from Portland to Ethiopia, there's something for everyone in this sound sampler of the show's first two-plus years, The Jewish Review wants to hear from you! Complete the first-ever Jewish Review Reader Survey and help guide the...

In this episode, host Rockne Roll talks with Susan Greenberg and Kennedy Pate of Jewish Family & Child Service in Portland, Ore about how food insecurity affects Portland's Jewish community. They discuss the evolution of what food insecurity looks like, how it's being addressed, and the ways that issues like the ones JFCS focuses on intersect. Read about how JFCS, the Jewish Federation of Grea...

On this episode, host Rockne Roll chats with Portland Ben Gurion Society Advisory Council members Whitney Kagan and Jeremy Greenberg about young adult leadership in Jewish communities. They discuss what the Ben Gurion Society is, their thoughts on the future of Jewish life and why putting their time, energy and money into Jewish community has been so richly rewarding. Learn more about NextGen enga...

On this episode, host Rockne Roll speaks with Dr. Dean Bell of the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership about the challenges of community building in Jewish life. They discuss how polarization has affected efforts to create community across divides and what history can show us about this work. They also discuss looking at resilience as a developable skill and a tool for dealing wit...

On the Season Three Premiere, host Rockne Roll chats with Noam Schlanger of Dror Israel, an education nonprofit with projects throughout Israel. They discuss how the ceasefire and the return of hostages has affected Israeli society, how political polarization makes societal cohesion increasingly challenging and how Dror Israel's work has been affected - and continues to be affected - by the challe...

On this special episode for the Jewish High Holy Days, host Rockne Roll visits with Rabbis Elizabeth Dunsker and Sara Abrams of Congregation Kol Ami in Vancouver, Wash. and Temple Beth Tikvah in Bend, Ore., respectively, about what makes Jewish life in their communities special and what's on their minds coming into the holiday season. Roll also speaks with Rabbi David Wolpe of Los Angeles, who rec...

On the Season Two Finale, host Rockne Roll speaks with Ahava Northwest co-founders Beni Henig and Whitney Jacobson on the history of Jewish matchmaking and the realities of modern Jewish dating. They discuss frustrations with dating apps, why dating in a Jewish context can be so complicated and ways to navigate those challenges. They also explore the holiday celebrating Jewish love, Tu B'Av. Learn...

On this episode, host Rockne Roll chats with Portland City Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney, the lone Jewish member of Portland's recently-enlarged city council. They discuss how the changes brought on by the city's revised charter have gone, how her career in policy informs her outlook on her Judaism and whether all politics are still local. Roll also talks with Randy Kessler, the Northwest...

In this final installment of a series of conversations with departing Portland clergy, host Rockne Roll visits Rabbi Ariel Stone of Congregation Shir Tikvah. They discuss the journey of founding the synagogue, the delight Rabbi Stone still finds in Torah study and her new summer hobby of llama-packing. Apply for the eighth cohort of PDX Pathways by Friday, July 11 at https://jewishportland.org/our...

In the second of a series of interviews with departing longtime Portland clergy, host Rockne Roll welcomes Congregation Beth Israel Senior Cantor Ida Rae Cahana. They discuss the foundational role Jewish music has played in her life, the moments that have made her time at Beth Israel memorable, and what sets Jewish life in Portland apart.

On this first of a series of "exit interviews" for departing senior clergy in Portland, host Rockne Roll welcomes outgoing Congregation Neveh Shalom Senior Rabbi David Kosak. They discuss what brought Rabbi Kosak to Portland, the importance of serving the homeless and how inclusion has been a hallmark of his rabbinate.

On this episode, host Rockne Roll welcomes Mindy Zeitzer, the outgoing chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland's Board of Directors. They discuss how much goes into being the volunteer chair of a community organization, the advice she’d go back and give herself when she took on this role and how her experiences in nursing education have impacted her outlook on her Judaism. Register for...

On this episode, host Rockne Roll speaks with Anouk Cohen and Ben Luria, Portland high school students who are participating in the inaugural Portland cohort of the Student to Student program. They talk about their experiences sharing their Jewish experiences with other students, many of whom have no prior experience with even meeting Jews, and what they hope to gain from the process. Additionally...

On this episode, the name for which includes a Hebrew phrase which translates to "from generation to generation," host Rockne Roll talks with Sue Wendel, Debbi Montrose and Naomi Derner - all are descendants of Holocaust survivors. Each discusses their experience growing up in a survivor family, the idea of generational trauma and how the after effects of the Holocaust still show up in their lives...

On this Passover episode, host Rockne Roll talks with Noah Jacob, a luminary of Portland's Jewish culinary scene, about the makings of a top-tier seder dinner. They discuss how traditional seder dinner entrees came about, how to liven up the holiday meal and the secrets of the perfect roast chicken. Dr. Yosef Rosen also stops by to talk about how and - and why - to make your own matzah this year a...

On this episode, host Rockne Roll first speaks with Danielle Frandina, a curriculum developer at Facing History and Ourselves, about Facing History’s approach to teaching about contemporary antisemitism and how parents can get involved supporting their students. Later, Roll connects with Celia Janoff and Reuben Cohen from the Oregon Jewish Community Youth Foundation about why philanthropy can also...

On this episode, host Rockne Roll talks with Jewish Federation of Greater Portland Volunteer Coordinator Merit Pinker. They discuss the centrality of volunteerism to both Jewish values and to Pinker's own personal experience, as well as some new opportunities to volunteer within the Jewish community here in Portland. Want to get involved? Complete the Federation's Volunteer Interest Form to get st...

On this episode, host Rockne Roll talks with Arielle Goranson, the chair of Portland's chapter of Dignity Grows, a national Jewish organization working to alleviate period poverty. They discuss what period poverty is, what volunteering at one of Dignity Grows' packing parties is like, and why this problem is a Jewish issue. Learn more about Dignity Grows' work in Portland at jewishportland.org/dig...

On this episode, host Rockne Roll talks with Pamela Barkley and Rabbi Daniel Brenner at Moving Traditions, a non-profit focused on improving Jewish teen wellbeing, about the challenges facing today's teenagers. They discuss how the reverberations of the COVID pandemic are still being felt, how big a stressor antisemitism is for today's Jewish teens, and what they need from the adults in their live...