An Oral History
of the Jewish Future

A collaboration between Co/Lab: Reimagine Jewish and the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education (OJMCHE)

Please share your Jewish story with us!  Co/Lab and OJMCHE want to connect with you to hear about your Jewish story and your Jewish choices.  Join us for a one hour conversation with the Museum staff and share your thoughts, ideas,  challenges, and hopes for your Jewish life.  Just email Anne Prahl, Curator of Collections at OJMCHE, at curator@ojmche.org, to get started.

Whether you are a non-observant atheist, a traditionalist, a dabbler, a ritual innovator, or “just me,” you are invited to sit down for a recorded interview with a trained facilitator. No judgment (of Jewish guilt).  All stories are welcome. We are especially eager to hear from queer and BIPOC Jews.  

So, sit down to tell your story.  You’ll leave with a digital copy of your interview – and a connection to the Jewish future.

Why this project now? We are document how 21st century Jews are creating the Jewish future. We are living through a time of tremendous changes in American life – and that includes Jewish life. Even as synagogue affiliation declines and Jewish institutions face shifting demographic trends, a new generation of Jews is making its own choices about what it means to live a Jewish life. 

The Oral History of the Jewish Future program has two separate parts.  The first is the individual interviews with Museum staff.  We want your story to be part of history! Please email Anne Prahl at curator@ojmche.org to sign up.  The second is a series of meetings of a cohort of young adults in the Portland Jewish community. These conversations between Rabbi Josh, project Director Megan Harned and the five people in the cohort is an extended exploration of the question “What does it mean to be Jewish in the 21st century?” The conversation is without agenda, expectation or judgment and serves merely to learn from one another.

Cohort conversations are recorded and archived with the Museum. As we document this fertile moment in Jewish life, we are interested in hearing from those who might want to participate in a future cohort.  If that’s you, please contact Rabbi Josh at rabbijosh@colabpdx.org 

Interested in sharing your Jewish story in an interview for this project?  Email Anne Prahl at curator@ojmche.org

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