In this Newsletter:
Upcoming PJA Events:
Welcome to the PJA Alumni E-Newsletter! We are happy to connect with all of you on a bi-monthly basis. Our hope is to facilitate the building of a stronger PJA alumni community network, to share your lives and work with others, and of course, to keep you updated about current events at PJA.
Community grows and strengthens when we all participate. Please share your story with us! Share this email with other alumni and their families! We want to celebrate and learn from our alumni, of whom we are all so proud. Alumni Profile Laura Newman Eckstein Class of 2008 Today, Laura is the Judaica Digital Humanities Coordinator at the University of Pennsylvania! She is also part of an amazing project, The Scribes of the Cairo Geniza. University of Pennsylvania, along with Jewish Theological Seminary and University of Cambridge, are sharing this amazing project with others online. "The Cairo Geniza is a corpus of sacred and everyday texts--including everyday documents like personal letters and legal contracts--preserved in the Geniza of the Ben Ezra synagogue in Fustat (old Cairo)." To learn more about this amazing project that Laura is a part of, click here. Laura filled us in about what she has been up to. The information has been edited for brevity.
This job was a perfect match. I work with the Penn Libraries' Judaica collection, where I create tools for the public to engage with the collection in creative and interesting ways that enhance learning. The tools I create are purposefully replicable, so they can be used by anyone for free in their own work.
My interests include Early American Jewish History, Digital Humanities, Maps and Cartography, and Material Culture. I love my job, it gives me opportunities to learn new things with each project we take on. Outside of work, I am passionate about politics, social justice work, and environmental causes.
There are two teachers that I remember at PJA as having a direct impact: Harriet and Mr. Minato. Though they taught different subjects, both shared a spark of creativity that transferred into the way they ran their classrooms and lessons. Had I not had them as teachers, I don't know whether I'd be in the field I'm in today."
Thank you Laura! What amazing work you do, and it is inspiring to see you combine all of your passions in your work. Please keep us posted! If you have not stepped into PJA over the last two years, you are in for some big surprises - a Makerspace room, a new music studio, a real working kitchen for our student cooks, a garden outside to support learning, and the Learning Commons! We've taken down the walls of our library, and created an open, collaborative work space for students and faculty, with two small conference rooms, an area for digital learning, and of course, books. The Beit Knesset is now the Beit Midrash, housing our Judaic and reference collections, new seating and an interactive SMART board.
Our thanks to the following foundations and people who helped to make this happen: a generous foundation grant; the Simon/Fuss family; Lee and Becky Holzman; the Norman family, Jason Zidell and family; Tony and Priscilla Kostiner; and the Hilde Jacobs Family Fund.
Mazal Tov! Graduations, new jobs, marriages, babies - we love to share your wonderful milestones with our community. Here are a few events that happened over the summer.
Molly O'Glasser, Class of 2002, married Charles Kuransky, in Portland, Oregon
Aviva Stampfer, Class of 2003 married Blake Luley in Portland Oregon.
Rivkah Horowitz, Class of 2004, married Shawn Connors in Portland, Maine! (pictured, with Ilyana and Mara Rosenberg, Class of 2004.)
Arlo Mullin, Class of 2005, married Hannah Crum in Portland Oregon.
Ayala Sherman, Class of 2006 married Brian Parker in Portland Oregon. Jaclyn Katz-Rubinchik, (now Dziesietnik) Class of 2004, has a new baby! Welcome Arielle Maya Dziesietnik! Ways to Engage Our first PDX Business Breakfast! Jay, Charlene and Jason Zidell will discuss their plan to move from Barges to Buildings.
Wednesday, October 25 | 7:00 - 9:00 am Register: oregonjcc.org/pdxbiz | View Invitation
The PJA Annual Auction is Sunday, December 10th! It's all about the 80's! Portland Jewish Academy |