1972 NW Flanders Street, Portland, Oregon 97209 | 503-222-1069
1972 NW Flanders Street, Portland, Oregon 97209 | 503-222-1069
Rabbi Michael Z. Cahana joined our community in July 2006, becoming the 18th Senior Rabbi to serve Congregation Beth Israel in Portland, Oregon. Leading synagogues in the Midwest and the East Coast, Rabbi Cahana has strived to create vibrant and inclusive Jewish communities. Through his leadership and programming, Rabbi Cahana has reached out to unaffiliated Jews, interfaith families, and others who have struggled to find a home in the Jewish community. Rabbi Cahana brings to Congregation Beth Israel his passion for creating a warm, supportive community in which Jewish learning and worship are exciting and engaging.
Cantor Ida Rae Cahana was raised in Pittsburgh, PA, where she made history and the local news at the age of seventeen, when she became the first woman in the area to sing in a synagogue as the cantorial soloist. She completed undergraduate and masters’ degrees in voice from Carnegie-Mellon University and The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and later returned to her cantorial roots, becoming ordained as Cantor by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. She is featured soprano soloist on Transcontinental Music’s 5 CD set of High Holiday music, Yamim Noraim, and on the acclaimed Milken Foundation Archive of American Jewish Music, Naxos label. She has coached and mentored cantorial students as a faculty member at both the Jewish Theological Seminary and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City. Cantor Cahana has appeared on Broadway with Phyllis Newman, as a featured soloist at Alice Tully Hall with Leonard Nimoy, at Merkin Concert Hall with Zalmen Mlotek and the 92nd Street Y with Theodore Bikel. She has also sung at the Barbican Theatre in London in “Vanished Voices” and in a Yiddish art song recital this past December at YIVO, NYC.
Rabbi Rachel Joseph joined Congregation Beth Israel in July of 2012, sharing her passion for, commitment to, and leadership in community building. She is a leader in social and racial justice activism, and in equity and inclusion efforts with the CBI and greater Portland communities. She serves on the boards of Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon, is a member of the National Clergy Advisory Board for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and has previously been on the board of TIVNU, the Jewish Gap Year Program and chair of the Oregon and SW Washington Board of Rabbis.
After 10 years, Cantor Rayna Green is thrilled to be coming home to Portland, Oregon, and rejoining the Congregation Beth Israel family where she was mentored by Cantor Judy Schiff and Cantor Ida Rae Cahana.
Rabbi Emanuel Rose (z”l) served as Congregation Beth Israel’s Senior Rabbi from 1960, until his retirement in 2006. Rabbi Rose (z”l) was born in Jamaica, New York and hails from a family of fifteen generations of Rabbis. He had served as Assistant Rabbi at New York City’s Temple Emanu-El before coming to Portland. His son Rabbi Joshua Rose continues the family tradition and is currently serving as the Senior Rabbi at Congregation Shaarie Torah in Portland, Oregon.
Cantor Judith Blanc Schiff served as Senior Cantor of Congregation Beth Israel since her investiture from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1980 until June 30, 2012. She received her BA in English from the University of California at Los Angeles and a Master of Music in Voice from Manhattan School of Music. As a member of the American Opera Center at the Juilliard School, Cantor Schiff created the character of the Old Lady in the premier of Alan Leichtling’s opera A White Butterfly.
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