Judaism Unbound Episode 419: Jewish Portal-Makers – Eleyna Fugman
Eleyna Fugman is a Jewish community-builder focused on populations that have been historically marginalized. She is the co-founder of the leadership development organization, TischPDX, and the alternative grassroots Jewish community, The Alberta Shul, both based on the Eastside of Portland, Oregon. She joins Lex Rofeberg and Dan Libenson for a conversation about crafting Jewish community outside of the mainstream as a tikkun (a healing process) for organized Judaism.
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[1] Listen to last week’s episode, Episode 418: Prophetic Judaism – Nate DeGroot, to hear about another organization innovating the Jewish future.
[2] Fugman refers to a Brandeis population study which indicates a 30% uptick in growth in the Portland Jewish community over the past 10 years. Lex later cites the study to point to the significant number of non-Zionist Jews in the area.
[3] Fugman speaks about her experience at Dyke Shabbat, a Jewish prayer group for queer women in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1980s. Read this oral history from the Jewish Women’s Archive to hear more about Fugman’s journey in this and other Bay Area spaces.
[4] Fugman credits her summer at the Encampment for Citizenship, a multi-faith, multigenerational leadership program, with opening her eyes to systemic oppression.
[5] While speaking to the value of learning with someone with similar identities as you, Fugman shouts out the queer yeshiva, Svara. Learn more about the organization via our episode with its founder, Benay Lappe, Episode 56: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva – Benay Lappe. For more of our episodes with Lappe, see:
[6] Lex mentions two past episodes featuring other leaders aiming to engage Jews outside of legacy institutions: Episode 20: Jewish Without Walls – Beth Finger and Episode 111: Unaffiliated Affiliation – Debbie Bravo.
[7] Fugman mentions the Alberta Shul, the small shul with ties to TischPDX.
[8] Fugman describes how one cohort member developed a Jewish yoga curriculum, called Heart Shaped Yoga. She also refers to another cohort member who developed a Portland-based version of Let My People Sing (check out our episode with them, Episode 367: Let My People Sing – Levine, Russell, Seigle).
