By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO COUNTY (Wednesday, May 10, 2023)
San Diego City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera has announced that at its Monday, May 22 meeting, the City Council will consider appointments to the new Commission on Police Practices. He stated: “In November 2020, San Diego voters overwhelmingly approved Measure B with a goal of increasing transparency, accountability and trust. Those critical goals have made the implementation process especially important. This must be done right and has been a massive citywide effort requiring collaboration between each branch of city government, city employees, employee unions, and the public. With the legal review of the final steps of the appointment process recently completed, the San Diego City Council will consider appointments to the CPP on May 22, 2023 at 2:00 p.m.”
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Mindi Frankel, executive director of Hebrew Free Loan of San Diego, alerts the community that needy Jewish students who will be going to college next semester may be eligible for $5,000 per year interest-free loans (for up to four years for undergraduates) and $10,000 per year for two years for graduate students. An application form may be accessed here.
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Judi Gottschalk is the incoming chair of the Jewish Women’s Foundation, which will be holding its annual meeting on May 24 at a private home. Featured speaker at the meeting will be Shana Hazan, who was elected last year to the San Diego Unified School Board.
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U.S. Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-San Diego) has been named to President Joe Biden’s 50-member Campaign National Advisory Board. Other Jewish community members who will serve with her include Governors JB Pritzker of Illinois and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania. Fellow Californians include House Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi; Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass; U.S. Reps. Ami Bera, Robert Garcia, and Ro Khanna; U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla; and Los Angeles County supervisor Hilda Solis.
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CALIFORNIA
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) has returned to the Senate in a wheelchair after more than a two-month absence while recuperating from shingles. Democrats have needed the vote of the 89-year-old Feinstein on the Senate Judiciary Committee to approve President Biden’s judicial nominees. The next meeting of that committee is on Thursday. With Feinstein present, Democrats will have an 11-10 edge on that committee. During her absence, several members of the House of Representatives called for her to resign, including Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minnesota). Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) commented: “I’m glad that my friend Dianne is back in the Sente and ready to roll up her sleeves and get to work. After talking with her multiple times over the past few weeks, it’s clear she’s back where she wants to be and ready to deliver for California.”
NATIONAL
Hadassah has promulgated a list of 18 influential American Zionist women. They are Amy Albertson, Mayim Bialik, Shiva Beck, Laura Ben-David, Daniella Greenbaum Davis, Rayna Rose Exelbierd, Rabbi Rachel Marder, Megan Nathan, Zoya Raynes, Tabby Refael, Danielle Rugoff, Ana Sazonov, Emily Schrader, Naava Shafner, Leah Soibel, Margot Stern, Chayaleah Sufrin, and Melissa Weiss. Biographical sketches of all of them may be accessed via this website.
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Actress Mayim Bialik, commenting after the Call Me Kat show was canceled, suggested what might have been the outcome for the main characters in the show: “Kat (her character) and Max (Cheyenne Jackson) live happily ever after, Randi (Kyla Pratt) and Carter (Julian Gant) get married and do the same, and Sheila (Kat’s mother played by Swoosie Kurtz) is forever in everyone’s life bringing joy and wisdom. And Phil (played by the late Leslie Jordan) lives on forever. Thank you for being part of our journey.”|
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Sacha Roytman Dratwa, CEO of the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) said expanding online messaging, particularly on Twitter, referring to houses of Jewish worship as the “Synagogue of Satan” correlates with increasing numbers of attacks on actual synagogues. “Important steps must be taken by both policymakers and social media platforms to enhance the safety of the Jewish community,” he stated.
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Shelley Greenspan, White House liaison to the Jewish community, says a May 16 celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month to be hosted by President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, will be a celebration of “the history of the American Jewish community [which] is so deeply woven into the fabric of American society. That’s everyone from educators, civil-rights leaders, doctors, celebrities, cultural figures, educators, diplomats. We’re really leaning into all the contributions that Jewish Americans have made to this country.”
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Disney CEO Bob Iger, referencing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ongoing dispute with his company, in Disney’s second quarter earnings statement, asked, “Does the state want us to invest more, employ more and pay more taxes or not?” He added that “we’re the largest taxpayer in Central Florida paying over $1.1 billion in state and local taxes last year alone.” Referring to the special district that a board appointed by DeSantis replaced, he commented: “There are about 2000 special districts in Florida, and most were established to foster investment in development. It basically made it easier for us, and others by the way, to do business in Florida. And we built a business that employs, as we’ve said before, over 75,000 people and attracts tens of millions of people to the state. So. while it’s easy to say that the Reedy Creek Special District that was established for us over 50 years ago benefited us, it’s misleading to not also consider how much Disney benefited the state of Florida.”
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Jared Kushner, his wife Ivanka Trump, and her brothers Don Jr. and Eric Trump should be investigated by the House Oversight Committee, according to Kyle Herrig, executive director of the Congressional Integrity Caucus. Referencing that committee’s ongoing investigation into President Biden and his family, Herrig said of the committee’s chairman, Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky): “If Comer actually cared about potential influence peddling and corruption, he would be investigating how Ivanka, Don Jr., Eric and Jared Kushner profited off their time in the White House instead of these baseless political stunts.”
INTERNATIONAL
Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. envoy monitoring antisemitism, commented “I am sickened and heartbroken by the lethal, antisemitic attack targeting the Ghriba synagogue in Djerba [Tunisia] during the Lag B’Omer celebrations, with thousands of Jewish pilgrims in attendance.” Jewish cousins Aviel Hadad of Israel and Benjamin Hadad of France were killed in addition to three members of the Tunisian security service in an attack by a gunman, who also was killed. Tunisian officials said the gunman was likewise a member of the Tunisian security service.
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Beth Sirull, president and CEO of the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego, has sent a report from Israel where she and approximately 50 other Jewish professionals form a subset of San Diego County Jews who are on the Jewish Federation’s Mission to Israel. She said the Jewish professionals “spent time together, built camaraderie, sparked new collaborations, and enhanced existing relationships. We also visited colleagues doing similar work in our sister city, Sha’ar HaNegev. … At the end of the trip, I will be joining a subset of the larger group to tour the United Arab Emirates to visit the rapidly growing Jewish community there, learn about the developing relationship between Israel and the UAE, and experience the groundbreaking interfaith that’s underway.”
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Donald H. Harrison is editor emeritus of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com