Other items in today’s column include:
*Political bytes
SAN DIEGO – Seated in a sukkah on her second day on the job, Karen Parry introduced herself to a Zoom audience as the new director of Hillel of San Diego.
Among her priorities, she said, will be to monitor the activities of anti-Israel activists on local college campuses, and “to support a free and democratic state for our homeland.” Additionally, she said, Hillel will “provide a space for students to grapple with the problems of Israel.”
“With all its complications and nuances, it still is our home and has a right to exist,” Parry said. “Israel is complicated and within the Jewish community, there are diverse opinions.”
Parry, who grew up in San Diego, graduated from UCSD, went on Birthright, studied at a Jewish seminary, and later obtained a master’s degree at New York University prior to returning to San Diego where she worked at the Lawrence Family JCC and later as an director of education at Temple Adat Shalom in Poway. Eventually, she moved on to Seattle, becoming development director at the JCC there. Many active members of the San Diego Jewish community were positive influences on her career trajectory, she said.
Hillel, itself, helped start her on the journey, Parry said. When she was an undergraduate, it provided her with a “safe space” to be Jewish and to do Jewish.
Parry likened Hillel to the open tent in which the Patriarch Abraham welcomed three strangers. She said Hillel similarly should welcome Jewish students, impacting both their presents and their future.
In Seattle, she said, she participated in collaborative projects among Jewish agencies, adding that she looks forward to similar collaborations in San Diego County.
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Political bytes
*Sara Jacobs, a candidate in the 53rd Congressional District, released her tax returns for the last three years. Last year alone, she paid over $1 million in federal income taxes, according to a detailed story by Ken Stone of Times of San Diego.
*Now This, an online magazine highlighting the changing face of America, has featured Todd Gloria,among other candidates around the nation, would would achieve an important first. If elected as mayor of San Diego, Now This reported in its headline, Gloria “will be first openly gay mayor of San Diego & San Diego’s first mayor of color.”
*Mailboxes are beginning to be inundated with election flyers. On Friday, I received one from Sara Jacobs, ruing that “eight children die from gun violence each day in America,” and adding that she “won’t be pressured by the gun lobby.” An attack piece, from a group called “Neighbors for Housing Solutions Supporting Todd Gloria for San Diego Mayor 2020” called Barbara Bry, who is a Democrat, “the Republican choice for mayor,” and alleged that she was an ally of President Trump, opposes renter protections, and has opposed efforts to mitigate climate change. A mailer from people advocating State Prop. 15 said the measure will close “big corporate loopholes,” provide money for local schools and communities, protect homeowners and renters, cut taxes for every small business, and “require richest corporations to pay their share.” Another mailer, favoring State Prop. 22, which would undo AB5, contends that “by 4-to-1, rideshare and food delivery drivers prefer working as independent contractors.” And that was just one day’s mail! Pity the mail carrier as the volume of these advertisement ramps up the closer we get to Nov. 3 election day!
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com