Portland Jewish Academy

Inspired by the courage and leadership of Miriam, these incredible women are shaping the future of our community! 🎶✡️👏

We are bursting with pride for the amazing PJA parents and grandparents who were honored at the annual Song of Miriam Awards Brunch, presented by the Jewish Women’s Round Table! Since 1993, this beautiful tradition has celebrated women across Oregon and SW Washington for their volunteerism, dedication to Jewish life, and living out our shared values.

This year, we are thrilled to recognize five remarkable women from our very own community: Michelle Kashinsky, Jaimie Harper, Arielle Goranson, Pauline Goldstein, and Shoshannah Freilich. These phenomenal leaders serve as shining examples of kehillah (community) for our younger generations, inspiring our students and community members every single day with their tireless dedication and passion.

Swipe to see these wonderful PJA parents and grandparents together! Thank you for everything you do, and a huge Mazel Tov to all of this year's honorees! 🥂✨

Campfire stories and coastal adventures! 🌊🌲🏕️

School might be out for the summer, but the connections and memories from this past year stick with us. Our 6th-grade class headed to Camp Westwind back in April, for three days of bonding and outdoor learning. From kayaking and exploring intertidal zones to challenge courses and community service, the days were packed with action. The best part? Watching the students cook meals for each other and share silly stories around the campfire. We are so proud of the community they are building!

The school year is over, but our PJA pride never takes a vacation! ☀️✈️

Whether you’re heading to summer camp, relaxing at the beach, exploring a new city, or enjoying adventures right here in Portland, we want to come along for the ride!

Here is how you can share the fun with us this summer:
👕 Pack your gear: Toss your favorite PJA t-shirt into your suitcase or backpack.
📸 Snap a photo: Take a picture showing off your PJA shirt and your summer smiles.
📱 Share the love: Post your photos on Instagram or Facebook using the hashtag and tag us directly .proud !

We can’t wait to see how our incredible students, families, and faculty/staff are spending their break. Have a wonderful, fun, and safe summer, everyone!

Another Year in the books at PJA💗📖🗝️

What a beautiful and emotional last day of school at PJA! The morning kicked off with our cherished Key Ceremony, where we sang arm in arm one last time and got to bid a final farewell to the newest Alumni Class. Since then, the final signatures have been added to yearbooks, endless hugs have been given, and many games have been played. We are going to miss the laughter and joy our students bring to these halls every single day, but we are so proud of everything they’ve accomplished this year. Wishing our entire PJA community an absolutely incredible, safe, and fun-filled summer break!

Check out this week's Spotlight!

Read about the Class of 2026, and how they celebrated their middle school graduation with heartfelt reflections and a very special PJA tradition in which faculty held a tallit above their heads in a meaningful, full-circle blessing.

Celebrating the Class of 2026! The Class of 2026 celebrated graduation with heartfelt reflections as PJA faculty held a traditional tallit above their heads in a meaningful, full-circle blessing.

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for our wonderful 2nd Grade Fairytale Picnic yesterday! 🧺☀️🌱

It was pure joy seeing our students share the fractured fairy tales they wrote this spring, cleverly changing classic elements to make the stories funny and modern. They also loved hosting their families to play the custom board games they built in Hebrew and Jewish Studies to showcase their knowledge of Israel. We also celebrated the amazing culmination of their year-long wheat project, where students finally tasted the delicious challah rolls they baked using flour from the very wheat they planted back in September. The pride and joy on their faces was the perfect celebration of a truly successful school year filled with deep, hands-on learning.

Our 8th graders completely blew us away with their D'rashot! 🎤📖✨

As the school year wrapped up, these dedicated students took the stage before an audience of middle school peers, teachers, and families to beautifully tie their individual capstone projects to meaningful Jewish texts. Each graduate articulated their deep capstone process, shared their immense pride in the tangible impact they have made on our community, and expressed heartfelt gratitude to their families and mentors. Looking back at these final weeks of school, seeing their confidence, eloquence, and passion on full display was a truly unforgettable highlight of the year.

Our 3rd graders brought the city to the classroom today at their incredible Portland Experience showcase! 🗺️🌹🏙️

Students took a deep dive into our fair city, researching and designing brilliant "must-see" travel brochures alongside beautifully crafted architectural bridges. They also put their hearts into creating custom card games that beautifully reflect their personal connections to Portland’s vibrant Jewish institutions. It was the perfect, meaningful culmination of a school year filled to the brim with curiosity, creativity, and community exploration.

Mazel tov to the incredible PJA Class of 2026! 🎓🐲

Our hearts are full after a beautiful evening celebrating our 8th graders as they shared touching reflections on friendship, what community truly means, and the teachers who shaped their journey. Alongside inspiring words of advice and encouragement from our PJA family, who reminded them they will always have a home in these halls, students presented parting gifts to their teachers, as well as a beautiful pomegranate tree for the school garden to bear fruit for future generations. Watching our graduates speak with such confidence and grace was a powerful reminder of how much they have grown as individuals, and we could not be prouder to welcome them to the PJA Alumni family!

Big hearts and beautiful B’nai Mitzvah projects! ❤️ 📜

Our incredible PJA students, Esther and Allie, have recently completed their B’nai Mitzvah projects. These two put kindness into action to support patients and families at OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital.

Esther raised an amazing $2,420 and collected 15 Lego sets and 10 stuffed animals for the Doernbecher Child Life Program to bring joy and play to kids in the hospital. Allie raised a fantastic $1,800 and donated 177 books to the Doernbecher NICU Reach Out and Read Program, fostering a love of reading from the very start.

Thank you both for embodying our values and showing us what community truly looks like!