Other items in today’s column include
*Asian-Americans victims of hate crimes, hate speech
*Political bytes
*Jews in Sports
*Recommended reading
SAN DIEGO — With Mother’s Day coming this Sunday, May 10, we thought we’d solicit from readers some favorite memories and photos of your Jewish mothers. Eileen Wingard was kind enough to help us launch this feature with a recollection about her mother, Rose Schiff, z”l. As you will read, Eileen incorporated into her recollection two other areas of interest for this publication: Judaica collections and San Diego Jewish community reflections on Israel.
Eileen, who reviews arts performances for San Diego Jewish World, relates that her “first trip to Israel was in the summer of 1952, under the auspices of the Jewish Agency Summer Institute. It was four years after the declaration of Israel Independence and three years after Operation Magic Carpet, when 50,000 Yemenite Jews were brought to Israel, to escape Yemeni oppression. Many of the Yemenite Jews were silversmiths and fine embroiderers. This was an area where the Muslims in Yemen were not engaged. The Yemenite Jews brought their skills to Israel. A large number of Yemenite Jewish artisans were employed by the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design.
“From my first trip, I brought home the blouse, two scarves and the pin pictured here. When my mother, Rose Schiff, visited Israel, over two decades later, she also brought home Yemenite embroidered items such as the dress she is wearing in the photo at right
“On subsequent trips, I purchased additional Yemenite crafts and now have a collection which includes two dresses and three blouses inherited from my mother, one jacket, a pair of earrings, two square tablecloths, two challah covers, a pair of candle sticks, a wine goblet and sugar tongs, all created with the delicate filligree and geometrical designs of the Yemenite Jews.
“The clothing is wearable art that I usually reserve for Shabbat, Jewish holidays and Jewish simchas. These hand-crafted collectors items are now mostly found in antique shops in Israel.
While we are on the topic of Mother’s Day, the Yiddish Arts and Academic Association of North America, based here in San Diego, plans to celebrate on line from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Magefye Khasene (Plague Wedding) fundraiser
This year, celebrate Mother’s Day with us – not with a cliché Mother’s Day Champagne Brunch, but with a Mageyfe Khasene (plague wedding) featuring famous Yiddish artists and academics such as Michael Steinlauf, Psoy Korolenko, Yale Strom, Elizabeth Schwartz, Polina Shepherd, Mikhl Yashinsky, Alicia Svigals, Anna Rozenfeld, Lea Rosenfeld, Rafi Caplan, Amelia Gleser, and Tanja Yakovleva!
Jana Masurkiewicz Meisarosh, founder of the organization, explains, “We are raising money to hire more Yiddishists in order to transform our small organization into a House of Yiddishland, to operate both locally in San Diego and internationally.” To reserve a Zoom spot at the donation-funded celebration, contact her via this email.
Asian-Americans victims of hate speech, hate crimes
A recent webcast session moderated by Jason Paguio, president of the Asian Business Association of San Diego, posed questions to San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan and Hate Crimes Prosecutor Leonard Trinh about which the Jewish community can easily be empathetic. For example, what should someone do if they witness a hate crime? Stephen responded that unless there is an immediate threat to someone’s life, the witness should keep a safe distance, and make detailed observations to get as much information as possible. What car did the perpetrator get into? What was the license plate number? If words were spoken, what exactly was said? The precision with which the words are reported can make a difference between whether something is classified as “hate speech,” which is protected under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and a “threat,” which can be prosecuted. After gathering the information, the witness should next either call the police or sheriff (depending on the jurisdiction) or the District Attorney’s hot line at (619) 515-8805 or both.
Trinh said hate crimes in San Diego County against Asian Americans are a relatively new phenomenon, but statewide they typically average between 3-4 percent of the hate crimes reported annually. Stephan said that hate crimes against African-American males have the most occurrences in San Diego County, with crimes against gay men and against Jews alternating in second and third place from year to year. Trinh said if there is a finding that a crime was motivated by hate, it can result in a stiffer sentence against the perpetrator. For example, vandalism that might ordinarily be treated as a misdemeanor would be upgraded to a felony if it can be proven that it was a hate crime, intended to strike out not only against the individual but against that individual’s community. If the vandalism already was considered a felony, because of the value of the property destroyed, the hate crime enhancement could add up to three years to a perpetrator’s sentence. Asked if there is a statute of limitations on hate crimes, Trinh responded that for misdemeanors it is one year, for a felony three years, but that if that felony is murder, there is no statute of limitations
Stephan said even if a witnessed incident does not rise in itself to the level of a hate crime — say for example, it is constitutionally protected hate speech — by documenting it, the witness can help law enforcement compile a record of that individual’s actions, which taken together, may help to show that hate was the motivation for another crime.
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Political bytes
*Congresswoman Susan Davis, D-San Diego, is dissatisfied with the rules and regulations Education Secretary Betsy DuVos set out for how schools should investigate allegations of sexual misconduct among students. While DeVos says the new regulations respect the rights both of the alleged victim and the accused, Davis says: “The Department’s current focus should be on helping our struggling schools, students, and teachers during this pandemic, not making it more difficult for survivors to seek justice. It had an opportunity to align its ruling with where the majority of schools believe their actions reflect robust accountability. They missed by a mile. The Department can expect a speedy backlash.”
*San Diego City Councilwoman Barbara Bry, a candidate for mayor, messages: ” The Mayor has proposed cutting hours at libraries and recreation centers. The amount of the proposed cuts is about $6 million, equal to one year’s rent for 101 Ash Street, the vacant office building that the City Council purchased prior to my election.” The building is vacant because of an asbestos problem.
*Terra Lawson-Remer, a candidate for the 3rd district seat of the County Board of Supervisors, says to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and the uncertainty of when everyone can go back to work, three steps must be taken by San Diego County: 1) Radically Expand testing by a multiple of 14 to 213,632 tests per week; 2) Exponentially scale-up contact tracing by hiring more people to follow up on persons who may have been in contact with Covid-19 patients. Right now the county has 120 such employees; Remer-Lawson says 1,800 are needed. 3) Protect workers with paid sick leave and personal protection equipment (PPE).
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Photo by Lior Mizrahi
Jews in Sports
Zack Test of San Diego has been named as head coach for the Open Men’s Rugby Team for the 21st Maccabiah to be held in Israel in 2022. David Rudzinsky, a resident of Reading, Massachusetts who is serving as Overall Rugby Chair for the 21st Maccabiah, said that Test will “lead us as we defend our Gold Medal in Israel,” adding “He always played with grit, toughness and passion and now Zack brings that competitive spirit and deep knowledge of the game to coaching.” A competitor at the Olympics and Rugby World Championship levels, Test’s on-field career ended in 2017 after suffering a serious brain injury during a USA test match versus Uruguay. Test had served as head coach of San Diego State University’s 7’s team, and currently serves as attack and backs coach for Major League Rugby’s (MLR) San Diego Legion. Qualified Jewish rugby players who would like to compete in the 21st Maccabiah games may apply via this website.
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Recommended reading
*Jack Rosen, president of the American Jewish Congress, says in the New York Daily News that critics are overreacting to New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio’s poorly-worded tweet in which he warned the “Jewish community” that those who refuse to practice social distancing could be arrested. Rosen said DeBlasio is a friend of the Jews.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com