Jacqueline Gordon Oral History Interview

Jacqueline Gordon discusses her involvement in the Jewish community in Corvallis from the mid-1960s on. She talks about her family and what brought them to Corvallis, and then segues into a discussion of the development of several Jewish community organizations that she was involved in or interacted with. She specifically mentions Hadassah, a women’s organization which started just a few years before her family moved to Corvallis. She also describes the Jewish population in Corvallis at the time, mentioning that many of the community members were academics tied to Oregon State University, while others were businessmen or retirees. Another organization active at the time was the Jewish student union at OSU, Hillel. Hillel sponsored a lox and bagel breakfast which students, faculty, and community members were invited to.

Hadassah had monthly meetings and sponsored the Sunday school, and held an annual fundraiser which was initially a latke dinner but evolved into a blintze brunch. The Sunday school relied on volunteer efforts to a large extent, especially in its early days. The parents hosted parties for the students at all the major holidays. There were very few community activities and no community center at the time, so there was no regular religious service. Gordon recalls that many people were not concerned with living a perfectly orthodox life or that they were unable to attend a service regularly. Other families held private services in their own homes. Eventually, Hadassah and Hillel co-sponsored services which were held in the Memorial Union on campus at Oregon State.

Later, the community decided to create a group that would enable men to be involved as well as women. That organization became Beit Am. Beit Am took over some of the responsibilities previously held by Hadassah, including publishing a newsletter which was subsidized by Hadassah, and also taking over the Sunday school. Eventually the group acquired a building to house Beit Am. With the building, they were able to begin hosting weekly services. The Beit Am building eventually changed from a community center to a formal synagogue.

Jacqueline Gordon moved to Corvallis in 1966 when her husband, Louis, began work on his Ph.D. at Oregon State University. Jacqueline was involved with several Jewish community organizations from the time she moved to Corvallis. The principal of the community Sunday school organized by Hadassah, Gordon was later elected as the first president of Beit Am.