Winter 2021 - Portland

Interior of Congregation Ahavath Achim in Portland, OR

Our Community in the Pacific Northwest has a lot of exciting new programs and events coming up! At Congregation Ahavath Achim, we recently completed a major renovation of our synagogue and new Sephardic Community Center, turning it into a beautiful space for services, events, educational programs, and of course cooking delicious borekas and biscochos! Our community, originally founded 110 years ago by Jews from the Island of Rhodes and what is today Turkey, is looking towards the future with new and innovative ways to engage the next generation of Sephardic Portland.

We’ve partnered with the Oregon Jewish Museum to document the important impacts our community has had on Jewish life in the city, and are proud of our growing partnership as a member synagogue of the Sephardic Brotherhood. We still conduct our weekly Shabbat services with traditional Sephardic tunes and hazzanut, including special Ladino readings like Bendicho Su Nombre and Non Komo Muestro Dio. We have a lot of exciting programs coming up this spring, including our Sephardic Film Festival Series (postponed from January due to the COVID-19 Omicron Surge) that will feature a special talk from Marcia Haddad Ikonomopoulos, Museum Director of Kehila Kedosha Janina in New York, a Sephardic Shabbaton in partnership with the Sephardic Brotherhood, and a new Young Professionals Happy hour to engage our younger members.