Jewish Book Month is an annual event dedicated to the celebration of Jewish books. It's observed during the month before Chanukah.

This year Portland’s Jewish Book selection is Alice Hoffman’s The Marriage of Opposites. The novel is evocative historical fiction based on the 19th century Jewish community in St. Thomas and the family of the artist Camille Pissarro, called the father of impressionism. The Jews who first settled in St. Thomas in the 1600s, when the island belonged to Denmark, descended from Sephardim who had fled the Inquisition.

Havurah Shalom is co-sponsoring one of Portland’s community-wide events designed to augment The Marriage of Opposites. On Wednesday, Nov. 16, at 7:00 pm, Havurah will team up with the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education and the Institute for Judaic Studies to present the film, A Kippah in the Caribbean. It is a lively Dutch documentary (with English subtitles), suitable for teens and adults. For more information about the movie night at Havurah, please contact Ruth Feldman at ruth@ruthmike.com.

The following are all of the month’s events listed on the Portland Jewish Book Celebration bookmark, which you can find at Havurah and other locations:

• Ahava Reads - A discussion of The Marriage of Opposites onTuesday, Nov. 8, 6:30 – 8:30 pm at the MJCC, 7829 SW Capitol Hwy.
• Pageturners - A discussion of the novel onTuesday, Nov. 8, 6:30 – 8:30 pm at the Hillsdale Library, 1525 SW Sunset Blvd.
• Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean - Story telling onSunday, Nov. 13, 10:30 am, at Mirabella Tower, 3550 SW Bond Ave. Ron Silver and Eric Kimmel will tell salty tales of the Jewish pirates who found revenge as they raised havoc in the Spanish New World.
• Pissarro, Pinot & Palette: Impressionism & Beyond – Art discussion and painting instruction session onTuesday, Nov. 15, 7:00 – 9:30 pm, at the MJCC. Jeffery Hall, an accomplished, local artist, will talk about his work and how it related to The Marriage of Opposites, and lead a painting instruction session.
• A Kippah in the Caribbean (2015 movie in Dutch with English subtitles) – Movie onWednesday, Nov. 16, at 7:00 pm, at Havurah Shalom. Explore the culture of Caribbean Jews from Portugal, The Netherlands, and Brazil, to Curacao, Suriname, Aruba and the island of Saint Eustatius.

For more information, visit oregonjcc.org/book.