Our Staff & Clergy
For general inquiries, please call the front desk at 503-226-6131.
Rabbi Gary Oren
Rabbi Oren believes that our tradition must be a Torat Hayim – a guide to our real lives. As such, we are always striving to make our tradition relevant in a way that connects our past to the needs of our present. Ordained in 2008 from Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, Rabbi Oren most recently served as Chaplain Resident at Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego, CA. He has held pulpits at Temple Aliyah and Valley Beth Shalom in Southern California. He was also Vice President of Community Engagement at American Jewish University/Dean of the Whizin Center for Continuing Education and on faculty at Zeigler School of Rabbinic Studies. He is blessed to share life with his beautiful wife Allison, and four children: Ya’ara, Kiwi, Lauren, and Nadav and their schnauzer, Tank.
Jemi Kostiner Mansfield
Jemi grew up as a part of Jewish Portland and has served the community professionally for nearly 30 years. From 1992 to 2015, she filled a range of roles at Congregation Beth Israel, including Education and Life Cycle Administrator then Congregational Affairs Director. She took a break from synagogue life in 2015 to work with the senior residents at Cedar Sinai Park as Director of Spiritual Life. In 2019 she returned to all things shul-related when Congregation Shaarie Torah selected her as their Executive Director.
Jemi holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theater from the University of California, Los Angeles, and has appeared in various productions around town. She has been married to her high school sweetheart, Greg, since 1992, and they have two grown sons, Alex and Ben, both of whom live in town.
Linda Harrison-Fintzy
Linda is your go to for making appointments or anything else related to Rabbi Oren, B’nai Mitzvah planning, Kiddush planning for all your simchas, including weddings, bris’ and baby naming, parties, luncheons, memorial services, etc. As Congregational Affairs Coordinator & Clergy Assistant, she supports the Rabbi, the members of our congregation, and the Sisterhood.
A native Portlander who lived in and is deeply connected to Israel, Linda has worked and volunteered within the Portland Jewish community for many years and knows it’s history well. She brings skills in organization, membership relations, problem solving, and event planning to her role.
Linda is also an incredible flutist and has performed many times with her brothers Michael Allen Harrison and Brian Harrison. She is in the orchestra for “Crossing Over, a Musical Haggadah”, and is a member of the award-winning Lake Oswego Millennium Concert Band. She has two children, Sivan (son-in-law, Billy) and Jacob.
Cara Abrams
Originally from Eugene, Cara is a graduate of The Pardes Educators Program, through which she earned a certificate in Advanced Jewish Studies from the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, and an MA in Jewish Education from Hebrew College, Boston, MA, where she was awarded the Professor J.K. Mikliszanski Fund Prize for academic excellence. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BA in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University. Cara has taught elementary and middle school Judaics in community day schools in California, Connecticut, and Washington state, as well as serving as Director of Education at the Kavana Cooperative in Seattle.
A passionate community builder, Cara volunteered to co-chair the 2019 and 2020 Limmud Seattle festivals, leading over 60 active volunteers in year-long organizing and planning. She was awarded the 2019 Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle’s Spitzer Young Leadership Award, recognizing up-and-coming leaders who have demonstrated exceptional commitment in service to the community. Cara served as the inaugural Executive Director for the Eastside Jewish Commons before joining the Shaarie Torah community as Education Director.
Amber Kurson
Amber, originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, grew up on the internet and learned to code websites by age 12. Amber studied Computer Science at Western Carolina University in the Appalachian Mountains for three years before leaving to be part of the Career Israel program. After spending time in Israel’s tech scene working as a web developer at various startups, including the popular air quality company BreezoMeter, she moved back to the States.
Amber ended up in Portland in 2016 after looking at cities close to her brother on the west coast with a strong Jewish community and public transit. She previously worked at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education where she helped develop the marketing department. When not working at CST, she spends her time crocheting for friends and community members; she’s always up to discuss crafts or grab a cup of coffee.
Aleksey Burlay
Maintenance Supervisor Aleksey Burlay has been with Shaarie Torah since 1994. He has seen Shaarie Torah through four Rabbis and even used to live in the building before it was renovated. Aleksey knows how everything works and helps keep our synagogue running smoothly. He cares deeply about the building and the workings of the shul. Shaarie Torah is blessed to have him on board.
Irina Burlay
Irina has been working at Shaarie Torah since 1994. Over those years, she has made thousands of burekas, hundreds of plates of salmon, many pots of soup, and lots of other delicious additions to Kiddush lunch. She has a passion for cooking, running the kitchen and preparing meals for synagogue events, such as Kabbalat Shabbat Dinner, weekly Kiddush lunch, Rosh Hashanah, Passover, and more.