Items in today’s column include
*State creates fund to protect at risk non-profit institutions such as synagogues
*What our children/ grandchildren are reading
*Jewish War Veterans to honor returning active duty service members
*Political bytes
*Coming Our Way
State creates fund to protect at risk non-profit institutions such as synagogues
SAN DIEGO – Legislation by Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel to create a $15 million state fund to protect at risk non-profit institutions such as synagogues has been signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom. The legislation was drafted after the attack on Chabad of Poway on the last day of Passover earlier this year in which Lori Gilbert Kaye was murdered and three other people, including Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, were wounded.
Under terms of the legislation, at risk institutions could apply for grants for up to $200,000 to improve their physical security. “In a world where hate crimes and anti-semitism are on the rise, we need more than thoughts and prayers to keep us safe,” according to Gabriel, a San Fernando Valley Democrat who is the vice-chair of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus. “This new law will provide critical resources to protect vulnerable communities and sends a powerful message that California stands firmly with those targeted by hate.
The legislation, AB 1548, passed the Legislature with bipartisan support and was supported by a broad coalition that includes LGBTQ, Jewish, Muslim, and Catholic organizations.
“As a sponsor of AB 1584, the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California is grateful to Governor Newsom for his leadership on the California Nonprofit Security Grant Program and his commitment to funding the program in his 2019 budget,” said Julie Zeisler, Executive Director of the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California (JPAC). “We thank Governor Newsom for signing AB 1548 into law to codify the California Nonprofit Security Grant Program and ensure that nonprofits at risk of a hate crime have the security that they need to serve their communities.”
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What our children/ grandchildren are reading
The PJ Library sends a book with Jewish content for children each month to families who sign up for the service.
Two recent offerings were A Hat for Mrs. Goldman: A Story About Knitting and Love written by Michelle Edwards and illustrated by G. Brian Karas, and Saturdays are Special” written by Chris Barash and illustrated by Abigail Marble.
In A Hat for Mrs. Goldman, little Sophie is impressed how Mrs. Goldman knits hats for many people, ranging from babies to senior adults, so that their keppies (heads) won’t get cold in winter. Mrs. Goldman is so kind, she gives away her own hats, often going without one in the dead of winter.
Sophie, who doesn’t like knitting, but likes making pom poms, decides she’ll knit a hat for Mrs. Goldman. Because she drops stitches in the process, the hat is filled with holes. But then Sophie has an inspiration. She knits red pom poms into the holes, providing Mrs. Goldman with a hat that looks like one of her favorite rose bushes. Kindness begets kindness!
In Saturdays are Special, a little girl’s family enjoys, but doesn’t work, in the backyard garden; they attend Shabbat services, and later, they play and read together, and even take naps together in a hammock. When three stars come out in the evening sky, they have a Havdalah service, in which the little girl has a special role. She gets to extinguish the braided candle in the cup of wine.
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Jewish War Veterans to honor returning active duty service members
Allen R. Miliefsky, commander of Post 185 of the Jewish War Veterans of the USA, says his unit will barbecue hot dogs and hamburgers for lunch for approximately 550 service members, many of them returning from deployment, on October 15 at the USO building at Lindbergh Field. “Sometimes this is their first American meal since being deployed,” he noted. Other gifts may have to be curtailed. “Usually we go out to the various supermarkets such as Vons, Albertsons, and others,” Miliefsky explained. “They normally give us $25 to $50 gift cards to be used at their markets to purchase food. This year … Vons has reduced the amount they give to worthwhile activities to the point that we are not on their list. We are still short approximately $350 to host this event.” Anyone who wishes to help out may make a tax-exempt donation to the Jewish War Veterans. at Post Office Box 881171, San Diego, California 92168-1171. The group’s tax exempt 501c3 number is 52-0798339.
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Political bytes
San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Michael Smolens reports that District Attorney Summer Stephan has switched her voter registration from Republican to independent, part of a trend of moderates leaving the GOP. Previously San Diego City Councilman Mark Kersey became an independent, and Assemblyman Brian Maienschein became a Democrat. In her 2018 election contest against challenger Genevieve Jones-Wright, Stephan hit hard on the fact that Jones-Wright was receiving financial support from multi-millionaire George Soros, who has been backing progressive candidates throughout the United States. Stephan’s anti-Soros TV ads were denounced by some as anti-Semitic. Stephan told Smolens that quite to the contrary she has many Jewish supporters and works closely on immigration issues with Jewish Family Service. … City Councilman Chris Ward, hoping to step up to the Assembly seat that Todd Gloria gives up in his quest to be mayor of San Diego, has been endorsed by United Nurses Associations of California / Union of Healthcare Professionals, and the Association of California State Supervisors. He says he is the frontrunner to win the endorsement of the Democratic State Party over such other Democrats as Sarah Davis and Micah Perlin.
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Coming Our Way
Jana Mazurkiewicz Meisarosh, promoting what she describes as a Yiddish Halloween gathering Saturday, Nov. 2, describes the event colorfully: “Have you wanted to try something untraditional for Halloween? Have you ever imagined ghouls in your gribnes? Hellions in your helzel? Chernobogs in your cholent? Tsuchigumos in your tzimmes? If so, or if you wish it were so, then join us for a Yiddish Ḥalloween! Our Yiddish Ḥaloween evening will feature presentations of classical creatures such as Dybbuks, Golems, Bobe Yakhne, and other frighteningly fiendish phantasms of Yiddish folk culture.” More information is available via the Yiddish Academic and Arts Association of North America (YAAANA) Facebook page.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com