Rabbi Yitzhak Husbands-Hankin has served as Rabbi at Temple Beth Israel in Eugene, Oregon, since 1995 and became its Senior Rabbi in 2003. Prior to that he served as Cantor beginning in 1975, then took on increasing responsibilities over the years as Religious School Director and Assistant Rabbi.

Rabbi Yitzhak was ordained as Baal Tefillah by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach z'l, received his cantorial commission from the Cantors' Assembly of the United Synagogue of America, and was ordained as a rabbi by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. He is the past chair of the Committee for Ethical Kashrut of OHALA: The Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal, an affiliate member of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, a member of Rabbis for Human Rights-North America, an associate of CLAL- National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, a Hevraya member in the Institute for Jewish Spirituality-Rabbinic Leadership program, and is a member of the rabbinic cabinet of J-Street and of the Oregon Board of Rabbis.

Rabbi Yitzhak has a strong interest in social activism and interfaith dialogue which inform his rabbinic leadership. As a progressive Zionist, he has a particular passion for deepening his personal connection with Israel through his frequent travels there and his co-leadership of tours with his life partner Shonna Husbands-Hankin. Together they have introduced many community members to the beauty and challenges of Israel. He is currently teaching a course at TBI, “Engaging Israel: Foundations for a New Relationship”, developed by the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.

Rabbi Yitzhak brings his love of music to our community through beautiful melodies and songs shared at services, weddings, holidays and special occasions. He is a composer of Jewish liturgical music, a cellist and guitarist. His liturgical music is sung at synagogues throughout the country, in Europe and Israel. He has several recordings to his credit and is currently compiling a songbook of his compositions.

Rabbi Yitzhak is married to Shonna Husbands-Hankin a highly regarded Judaica artist and a certified Jewish Spiritual Director. They are the parents of two adult daughters, Talya and Shira.

Rabbi Joey Wolf has been with Havurah Shalom for the past 25 years. During that time he has engaged with others in a non-rabbi-centered community to deepen the appreciation for the study of sacred texts and intentional, wise action in the political sphere. 

Rabbi Joey has served on the national board of Rabbis for Human Rights – North America and is currently a member of the Rabbinic Cabinet of J-Street.  Other affiliations include Americans for Peace Now, and the advancement of Muslim/Arab- Jewish dialogue here in Portland.  Over the past forty years, he has participated in numerous trips to Israel and has lived there for two years.  A few years ago, he led a service and learning delegation to Uganda under the auspices of American Jewish World Service, and was a founding board member of Black Parent Initiative in Portland.  

Originally from Boston, Rabbi Wolf graduated from Brandeis University and was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.  In 2005, he received an honorary Doctorate of Divinity from the same institution.  He is married to attorney Lisa Rackner and has four children, Simeon, Sarah, Amelia and Gavriella. 

The expression of gender differs according to space and time.  Throughout the Diaspora, Jewish gender ideals have often varied from those of the majority host culture. This variance in gender role expectations was particularly acute among European Jewish immigrants to North America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  As this Jewish community acculturated, the interplay between Jewish gender expression and the norms of (Christian) secular society produced a literature and politic of particularly Jewish gender policing and resistance that is still with us today.

Description: The talk will cover the immigration patterns into British Columbia's two most populous cities - Vancouver and Victoria - and the subsequent composition of those communities, which in the context of the Pacific Northwest are relatively small Jewish communities. By examining Jewish history in this region, the challenges of documenting a small community's history will be discussed.

Simon Goldenberg is a longtime member with his family of Havurah Shalom in Portland, Oregon.  He is a fourth-year student at the University of British Columbia currently pursuing a major in First Nations Studies and English Literature. During his third-year, Simon enrolled in a BC history course that offered the opportunity to research Jewish history in Vancouver. His term paper focused on the Jewish immigration patterns into Vancouver pre-WWII and the challenges of documenting the history of a minority community. He expanded and restructured this paper independently over the summer in order to submit it to the The Scribe, an annual journal on BC Jewish history, which plans to publish the essay in February 2012.

Jews in North Africa have deep connections to the places that define their local experiences. As elsewhere, Morocco is a place of Jewish attachment at numerous levels: historical, political, national, and religious. Dr. Kosansky will discuss the ways in which both Jews and Muslims continue to experience Morocco as a Jewish place in the context of global transformations that alternatively reinforce and threaten this geographical identity.