SAN DIEGO (Press Release) — Over 750 members of San Diego’s Jewish community came together last Saturday night at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront to celebrate community, peoplehood and the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County. “Celebrate Seventy-Five” focused on honoring Federation’s past, celebrating the present and strengthening the future.
The fundraising event was chaired by Claire & David Ellman, Sylvia & David Geffen, Ashley & Ryan Stone and Laura & Brian Tauber. Honorees included such Jewish community leaders as Murray Galinson, Herb Solomon, Jan Tuttleman and Gary Jacobs. A complete list and the evening’s commemorative book can be found on the Jewish Federation website at www.jewishinsandiego.com.
Assemblyman Marty Block was a guest and in the true spirit of multi-tasking, gathered up Representative Bob Filner and Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher who were attending another event in the same hotel to come by and pay their respects to the past presidents.
A historic video featuring a collage of images from past years opened the evening. The 5 minute film, produced by Passage Productions, included many faces familiar to the audience. A link to the video can be found here.
The event featured a keynote address by Avraham Infeld, president emeritus of Hillel International Infeld’s address focused on the importance of education and Israel to Jewish identity.
The evening was kicked off by Jan Tuttleman, Board Chair, who spoke about the deep roots our Jewish community has here in San Diego. She noted that in 1936, gas cost 10 cents, ground was broken on the racetrack at Del Mar and Franklin Delano Roosevelt had just been reelected in a more innocent pre-war United States. Tuttleman’s remarks lent a patina of nostalgia to set the evening’s tone.
The night juxtaposed past with present as former presidents of both Federation and Federation Women’s Philanthropy were honored for their service. Each past president was named by former Board Chair and past President Andrea Oster and presented with a medal to wear throughout the night. Milton Roberts, 97, a past president and key figure in erasing La Jolla’s anti-Semitic real estate practices in 1957, received momentous applause in recognition of his status as the oldest living Federation leader.
Steve Morris, current CEO of Federation, honored former Executive Vice President Steve Abramson for his twenty-five years of service to San Diego’s Jewish community. While presenting a Kiddush cup, Morris pointed out Steve’s crucial leadership during a transformative phase of San Diego’s Jewish history. David Geffen, vice president of Federation’s Annual Campaign, addressed the need for unity in the Jewish world and Federation’s focus on partnership to ensure a vibrant future for the next generation. Geffen also announced that the Annual Campaign had surpassed the 3 million dollar mark.
Three speakers, representing three Stories of Love and Hope, helped illustrate Federation’s work in the areas of Israel, young adults and rescue and relief. First up was Itzik Yarkoni, Israel Fellow at UC Irvine. Yarkoni is an Israeli who chose to live in Israel’s Negev region after his compulsory service in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Speaking about his choice to live in Sha’ar HaNegev (San Diego Federation’s “Partner Region”), rather than safer environs in Tel Aviv, Yarkoni spoke about his desire to live like the early Halutzim (pioneers). While in Sha’ar HaNegev Yarkoni decided to teach Jewish culture and Hebrew to students at the Ibim student village. “My biggest accomplishment was to receive a phone call from a former student from Ethiopia, calling to let me know that they are now serving in the IDF and now feel that they are part of Israeli society“ he said. Earlier in the evening Jan Tuttleman had noted the thirteen-year anniversary of Ibim’s relationship with Federation.
Yarkoni added that he has decided, upon returning to Israel, to build a home in Sha’ar HeNegev – helping to fulfill David Ben Gurion’s often stated belief that the future of Israel lies in the Negev.
Next was Brad Slavin, Chair of Federation’s “Shabbat Connections” program (facilitated by Federation’s Young Adult Division or YAD). Slavin stated that YAD is a “key component in the creation of an exciting and dynamic community for San Diego’s young Jewish adults. With just one full time staff member and a dedicated group of volunteers, the Young Adult Division is able to host over 350 events a year, or nearly one a day.” Its programming includes food drives, fundraising, networking, softball and Jewish dating – an important component of any “next generation” strategy.
Shabbat Connections itself is a potluck dinner hosted by 5 to 6 YAD volunteers who open up their homes to about 500 young adults a year. In Slavin’s words “Shabbat Connections is the perfect mix of Judaism and socializing.” He also expressed the importance of YAD as a conduit as for effective leadership in San Diego’s Jewish future.
Lastly, Claire Ellman, event co-chair, spoke about Federation’s rescue and relief operations. “We know how appallingly dangerous it can be when people sit on the sidelines of history and do nothing while their fellow humans suffer in anonymity. Each time a child puts a penny into a tzedakah box, or charity box…it is an acknowledgement that the lesson has been heeded: when people are in need, we must act. “
Noting her personal memories of June 6, 1967 when she and other volunteers sorted donated valuables to help fund essential items to support Israel during the Six Day War, Ellman stated that Federation’s unique role is its ability to respond, along with its partners, “instantly, no questions asked,” in a crisis situation. She cited examples of San Diego’s effective response to crisis situations including: Operations Moses, Solomon, Promise and Exodus, the Yom Kippur War, the Israel Emergency Campaigns, Hurricane Katrina, the Haitian earthquake, and the catastrophic fires at home and in Israel.
The stirring keynote address was given by Avraham Infeld. After wishing the crowd shavua tov (literally “good week”- the traditional post Shabbat greeting), Infeld began by calling “Jewish peoplehood” the Raison D’Etre of the Federation movement saying that the purpose of Federation is to “ensure the continued significant renaissance of the Jewish people.”
Infeld humorously recalled that the largest day school in his native Johannesburg began because he “turned six,” noting that, at the time, he was its first, and only, student. Striking a more serious tone, he said that each of us has the responsibility, as a member of the Jewish people, to “connect the past to the future.”
He then recalled that that Jews first came to an apartheid era South Africa in which everything was based on ethnic identity: “we knew we were Jews because we were not Zulu, and we were not Hutu and we were not Boers and we were not Englishmen, we were different from the others…because of our sense of community and being a people.” This contrasted sharply with his arrival in the U.S. when he was astonished at the sight of a billboard sponsored by the Council of Protestants, Catholics and Jews. Infeld noted that such an occurrence would have been unheard of in South Africa, a nation obsessed with ethnicity, where it was clear that Judaism differs from other major religions because “being Jewish is being a member of a people (with a common) land, language, heritage.”
He told the story of Chase Manhattan Bank and its motto “you have a friend at Chase Manhattan.” Later, Discount Bank of Israel opened its first branch in New York with the slogan, “you may have a friend at Chase Manhattan, but we are mishpocha (family).” Saying that they “hit the nail on the head,” Infeld used this story to illustrate his belief that when it comes down to it, the unique thing about the Jewish people is that we are all family.
The evening ended with dancing and music by Laguna’s “The Trip.”
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Preceding provided by the Jewish Federation of San Diego County