A young mother of seven is on a mission to transform the lives of Jewish teens Five years ago, Meira Spivak made a commitment to develop, expand and enrich Portland NCSY. Today, her goals have been patently realized. Starbucks serves up four times as many coffees at Latte & Learning and the number of JSU clubs has increased from one to seven. Twenty Portland teens are going on NCSY Summer Programs and 70 are attending Shabbat Shebang. The number of miles a teen will walk to synagogue on Shabbos? Five. If Portland’s change since 2006 could be quantified, those would be the telling figures. But to express Portland’s growth in digits would paint an incomplete picture. “It’s incredibly rewarding to see the NCSYers and graduates who are now more committed to leading a strong Jewish lifestyle,” Meira explains. One teen, determined to consume only kosher-for-Passover food in her non–kosher-for-Passover home, bought a box of food from which she ate exclusively. Students whose parents cannot afford to pay for Shabbatons will sell raffle tickets to cover the costs. Teens raised with limited access to Judaism are choosing to learn in Israel and attend YU and Stern, options they did not even consider prior to becoming involved in NCSY. Meira insists that these accomplishments are far from her own. Number one is her husband, Rabbi Chanan Spivak, who “spends so much time on NCSY – advising, Skyping with graduates…he
Teens stand in front of their stretch limo at Portland’s annual Limopalooza.
It is very hard for me to offer you a quotation or tell a story regarding Meira’s effectiveness and devotion to our Jewish high-school-age youth. That requires simplifying and condensing the leadership and devotion of one human being who is larger-than-life, has enough heart for a hundred teenagers (and their parents), is tireless in her work to make Judaism relevant and engaging, maintains a happy home that smells of cinnamon rolls in the mornings, always takes care in her dress and appearance, never rushes a conversation, is continually open to new ideas, reaches across Jewish boundaries that others might view as dividers, juggles competing priorities well and is even willing to fund-raise from new sources as opportunities present. Every word of this is true, without exaggeration, and I could easily add more.” -Marti Rosenthal, Community Member
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