(Column 25, March 10, 2011)
Compiled by Donald H. Harrison
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San Diego and Israel
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Audrey Jacobs, co-founder and co-chair of the San Diego Israel Coalition and Director of School Advancement of Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School has been awarded a 2011 Nahum Goldmann felllowship. She reports that the 1 ½ week-long summer program held in different countries each year provides an intensive experience of Jewish learning, living and leadership for young men and women from around the world between the ages of 25-40 who show serious interest in Jewish life and demonstrate a potential for individual growth and communal leadership.
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Bruce Kesler of Encinitas passes on a graphic look from NGO-Monitor at the so-called BDS campaign run by the Israel haters. The campaign advocates boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel. http://www.ngo-monitor.org/bds/
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Going through some old photos, longtime community activist Dr. Norman Mann found one of himself working as a volunteer dentist in a clinic in Sderot, the Israeli city on the Gaza border that is surrounded by the villages of Sha’ar Hanegev, partnership region to the Jewish Federation of San Diego County.
(column 25, March 10, 2011)
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Fans of the old San Diego Jewish Press-Heritage (our predecessor publication) will be delighted to know that the visiting Israeli professor at San Diego State University, Oren Meyers, is the son of the Heritage’s late columnist, Nechemia Meyers. Under auspices of SDSU’s Jewish Studies Department he will be delivering a series of four lectures in the North County. Here’s the lineup: 6 p.m., Wednesday, April 6, “The Shaping of Israeli Memory of the Holocaust” at the Encinitas Community Library with a repeat of that lecture at 4:15 p.m., Wednesday, April 20, at the Student Union of Cal State San Marcos. Another lecture, “Israeli Media: Past and Present” will be delivered at 1 p.m., Sunday, April 17, at the Vista Branch of the San Diego County Library. At 6 p.m., Wednesday, May 4, Meyers will discuss his father’s life and work, at the San Marcos branch of the county library.
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Rabbi Michael Satz, assistant rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel, will tell the Men’s Club of his congregation about contemporary religion in Israel, at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 16. Call 858-535-1111 ext 3800 for more information or to reserve for buffet deli dinner.
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San Diego Jewish Organizations
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Beth Jacob Congregation is planning a “wild west” Purim party, with petting zoo, pony rides, and congregants dressed in boots and ten-gallon hats, all in the effort to have “a galloping, runaway Purim celebration and feast,” according to Rand Levin, the congregation’s president. The fun begins at 4 p.m., Sunday, March 20. Tickets will go for $18 for adult members, and $25 for non members, and for children $12 and #15.
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Alan Friedman, director of Camp Mountain Chai, reports that planning committee members Ed Samiljan, David Bark, Todd Kobernick, Jim Lewis, Dan Schwimmer, and Buddy Voit have been busy thinking up activities for the June 3-5 Men’s Getaway Weekend. Among breakout sessions planned: krav maga, politics, Texas Hold’em 101, yoga, cocktail party, and wine tasting — and that’s when the guys are not doing sports, ropes course and a clibming tower, hiking in the San Bernardino Hills or enjoying an evening of comedy. https://registration.campbrain.com/Portal/Login.aspx?H=CampMountainChai&G=380
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Donna Ostrower has been named chief development officer of the new Jewish Philanthropy Center of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County, which will handle the Federation’s annual campaign as well as special fundraising efforts. Ostrower has an extensive background in fundraising work, having serviced as executive director of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Greater Los Angeles Chapter; Zone Director for the Jewish National Fund; Executive Director for the American Jewish Committee of Houston and Miami, and Associate Director of Development with the Anti-Defamation League. {phot}
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One in Seven, a documentary video created by students at Carlsbad High School to explore issues of hunger, will be screened in five locations between March 17 and April 14, with panel discussions following each screening. Jewish Family Service has announced the schedule of free screenings as follows: 6 p.m., Thursdays, March 17 and March 31, Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center; Thursday, April 7, 12:35 p.m. at the JFS College Avenue Older Adult Center in the social hall of Beth Jacob Congregation; 10:30 a.m, Sunday, April 10, at Servapalooza Restaurant at the NTC Promenade (formerly Naval Training Center), and 6 p.m., Thursday, April 14, at St. Paul’s Cathedral, 2728 Sixth Avenue, near Balboa Park.
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Melanie Rubin, director of senior activities at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, recently was pleased to learn that the hobby of finding Jewish-themed license plates is spreading. Long a feature of San Diego Jewish World, Jewish license plate spotting has now spread to Hadassah of Southern California. May their roads be filled with great finds!
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Children and principal Nestor Suarez from Cabrillo Elementary School will attend the dedication of Louis Rose Point at 10 a.m., Thursday, March 24, to hear such speakers at City Councilman Kevin Faulconer, former Mayor Dick Murphy, and School Board Member Scott Barnett talk about the man who founded Roseville in 1869, Jewish pioneer Louis Rose. The ceremony, cosponsored by the Louis Rose Society for the Preservation of Jewish History and the Jewish Federation of San Diego County, not only will dedicate the Point at Womble Road and the boat channel at the former Naval Training Center. It also is expected to inaugurate a sister school relationship between Cabrillo Elementary School and a school in Rose’s small town of birth, Neuhaus-an-der Oste.
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The San Diego Center for Jewish Culture has announced its programming for the San Diego Jewish Music series. At 7 p.m., Wednesday, March 23, flutist Raffaele Trevisani and cellist Julian Schwartz will offer a combination performance at the Lawrence Family JCC. At 2 p.m., Sunday, March 27, Aaron Kula’s Klezmer Company Orchestra will perform at the Belly Up tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach. Finally, at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., Sunday, April 3, 11 Jewish choirs with a total of 200 singers, will perform in concert at the Lawrence Family JCC. Ticket information: www.sdcjc.org
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Estelle Workman at Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School will continue through today’s (Thursday, March 10) end of business to take orders for Mishloach Manot — Purim Gift Baskets via the website www.happypurim.com . The basets will be personally delivered to your designated recipients throughout San Diego.
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Tifereth Israel Synagogue will pay final homage to a Torah scroll that is no longer useable the morning of Sunday, April 4. A news brief from the Conservative Congregation explains: “Our congregation will have a rare opportunity to participate in a special chesed shel emet. As a community, we will bury a Torah scroll that is no longer repairable. In truth, burying the Torah is our act of reciprocity for the many years this scroll has helped to connect us to the Holy One and to one another. This ceremony is called Hagnazat Torah, or the hiding away of a Torah. The entire congregation is invited to share this experience. Our Abraham Ratner Torah School students will take part, as well. Special learning sessions, for adults and children, will take place at Tifereth Israel. Following, we will caravan to Home of Peace cemetery for a graveside ceremony. More details, as well as transportation information, are on our website and in the Shofar. Be sure to sign up for the learning sessions you wish to participate in during the morning.”
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The Waters of Eden/ San Diego Community Mikvah cosponsors with Temple Solel Sisterhood a Rosh Chodesh Gathering on Monday, April 4 at Temple Solel. The evening will include a prayer celebration; a dream board art project led by Cheryl Price, who says no talent is necessary; text study with Rabbi Lenore Bohm, and music led by Mary Marshall. RSVP: info@watersofedensd.org
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Jews in the General Community
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The Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce has awarded its 2011 Brilliance in Business Award to Partnerships With Industry, a group that helps find jobs for workers with developmental and other disabilities. Among those accepting the award for the company was its President/ CEO Mark Berger.
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Although he has been laid up for weeks at the Veterans Administration Hospital with gall bladder and related problems, Sy Brenner is still keeping busy promoting his book, The Night I Got Killed, which is about his experiences as a captured Jewish American soldier working in a medical clinic in a prisoner of war camp in Germany. Interviewed March 8 by Inez Bracy of the internet show “Living Smart & Well,” Brenner despite his ailments retained his sense of humor and story-telling ability during the interview. “I think humor s one of the greatest things you can have in life,” he said. He told the story of having to amputate the toe of a fellow POW—and then making him smile by instructing him: “No soccer for two weeks!”
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Ian Campbell, general director of the San Diego Opera, has included Salome in the 2012 season’s lineup, an opera with a story that never fails to attract controversy in that it mixes religion and sex. It is the story of a beautiful stepdaughter of King Herod, who falls in love with John the Baptist, and when he resists her, she utilizes her feminine wiles and dance of the seven veils to persuade Herod to bring John’s head to her on a platter. The Christian-themed opera, set in ancient Judea, includes five Jews who argue about the nature of God. The Richard Strauss opera was based on a play by Oscar Wilde. Salome will be portrayed by Lise Lindstrom, who last was seen by local audiences in Turandot.
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Jerry Levens and his daughter Kelly Levens (respectively son and granddaughter of the late Rabbi Monroe Levens of Tifereth Israel Synagogue) are helping to raise funds for the National Alliance on Mental Illness in conjunction with an April 16 walk. Kelly hopes to raise at least $1,000 through sponsorships. Those wanting to help may do so via the Alliance’s website
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Choreographer John Malashock is joining forces with video artist Tara Knight, avant-cellist Zoe Keating, and fashion designer Zandra Rhodes to produce The Floating World, a multi-disciplinary stage presentation that will premiere in April and help to raise funds for the San Diego Museum of Art.
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Dana Quittner, who handles government relations for the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District, is writing emails-and hopes that others will too–to legislators and the governor supporting the placement on the ballot of a proposition leaving certain taxes in place that otherwise would have expired. Unless the taxes are continued, the state budget will have to be slashed with dramatic impact on schools at all levels, including the community colleges. A vote is expected in the Legislature as early as today (Thursday, March 10)
Bruce Reznik, formerly director of San Diego Coastkeeper, is one of the five members of the County of San Diego’s Redistricting Advisory Committee charged with making recommendations on how the five supervisorial districts should be realigned. The group had its organizational meeting Feb. 23rd.
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Harrison, editor of San Diego Jewish World, may be reached at donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com “A Bissel This, A Bissel That” runs on Mondays and Thursdays. Click here to review previous columns.