JOIN US
In these exceptional times, all Gesher activity takes place virtually. Please follow us at https://www.facebook.com/gesherpdx for upcoming virtual events. You can also reach out directly at gesher@comcast.net
Gesher is dependent on your support to continue building community through the experience of Jewish home life. Your tax-deductible donation allows Gesher to reach unaffiliated Jews in Portland, Oregon, and will, in the future, allow Gesher: A Bridge Home to reach other communities.
TRAIN WITH GESHER
Gesher's rabbis are committed to sharing their wisdom and experience with other communities taking aim at reaching unaffiliated Jews. As Gesher's approach represents a culturally different approach to the culture of elitism and consumerism within Jewish communities, it embodies a real alternative to the current strategic approaches in most Jewish communities. While most Federation budgets have shrunk over the last generation, Portland Oregon's Jewish Federation budget has quadrupled. Where there were once four colleagues and three and half congregations, there are now over thirty. Gesher helped make this growth possible.
Rabbi Gary and Rabbi Laurie are currently available for zoom trainings and guest teaching both for groups and one-on-one coaching sessions. Please contact them at gesher@comcast.net for more information.
BRING GESHER TO YOUR COMMUNITY
For those communities interested in creating an immersive Jewish home to inspire other Jewish homes and to reach unaffiliated Jews, we are willing to share the Portland experience as a model for your community. Of course, this will bring to bear many different resource communities coming to together to change the landscape of approaches to the increasing rates of assimilation and attrition of identity. In a world in which building a house is "relatively" easy, yet making a home is fraught with challenge, Gesher's immersive home approach can fuel the next generation's aim at making "home" work in today's world. Right now any residency must be digital, but we would love to plan for in-person experiences in the future.