SAN DIEGO (SDJW) – Rabbi Arthur “Zucky” Zuckerman, who from 1997 to 2004 served as the senior rabbi at Congregation Beth Am in San Diego, began a quick return visit to San Diego on Wednesday, Jan. 17. While here, he will collect money from a private fundraiser organized by money manager Bernard Surovsky for distribution to a variety of causes in Israel.
Zuckerman’s last trip to Israel was in October. On that occasion, he visited an IDF reserve unit near the Lebanese border, which had no trucks to move around the reservists’ gear. He promptly contributed $2,000 for the unit to purchase a trailer for hauling its equipment.
The rabbi, who is semi-retired and living in Mesquite, Nevada, was picked up at San Diego International Airport by Ben Dishman, a former Beth Am congregant who in the interim had moved south to the San Carlos neighborhood of San Diego and joined Tifereth Israel Synagogue, where he now serves as president of the congregation’s Men’s Club. Dishman brought Zuckerman to D.Z. Akin’s where the rabbi ordered his favorite kasha varnishkes and a take-home order of prune hamantaschen for his wife, Simi, whom he’ll see over the weekend in Mesquite before flying from San Francisco to Tel Aviv.
In Mesquite, the rabbi often is called upon to deliver invocations at public meetings, serve as a chaplain to first responder services, and perform life cycle ceremonies. At one recent civil wedding, the groom was Catholic, the bride a Jehovah’s Witness, and Zuckerman was the Jewish officiant. “Sounds like the beginning of a joke,” a well-wisher commented from the audience.
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Rabbi Eric Ertel of the San Diego Jewish Experience, which has a strong presence at UC San Diego, says that since Oct. 7, “Jewish life on campus no longer feels safe nor welcome. Students no longer wear their Jewish stars or Chai necklaces proudly. They have been made to feel like they are ‘less’ than everyone and are now afraid to appear outwardly Jewish. Students have been stripped of their right to feel free and supported in practicing their religion. SAJE is working harder than ever to educate the students about their national history and provide them with the necessary tools to be strong supporters for the state of Israel and feel safe being openly Jewish on campus.” Here is a link to a fundraising video, featuring Jewish students at UC San Diego.
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Jana Mazurkiewicz Meisarosh, the founder of the Yiddishland store and cultural center in downtown La Jolla, said on Wednesday that she is just $500 short of raising sufficient rent money for the month of February, meaning she may not have to vacate the store at 1128 Wall Street at the end of this month. She has been hoping to move Yiddishland to a place with behind-or-above-the-store living quarters so that she and her husband Edward Meisarosh need to pay only one rent, not two, as they campaign to spread the Yiddish language and culture. A crew from Polish television (TVN) will be visiting Yiddishland at the end of this month, and Jana says she is pleased that filming won’t have to be done amid packing boxes. Yiddishland has a Go Fund Me campaign on the Internet. Jana also reports, “we are planning to organize an investors’ meeting at Yiddishland in February. This could be a game-changer for our future.”
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Susan Lapidus, director of the Murray Galinson San Diego-Israel Initiative, advises that her organization in cooperation with Tel Aviv University (TAU) will present a Zoom panel discussion “From Pre to Post October 7th: What’s Next for Israel, the Palestinians, and the Middle East.” Panelists, who will speak from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 24, include Ali al-Awar of the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Planning; Lior Handelman-Baavur, a TAU researcher in Iranian studies; Brandon Friedman, research director at TAU’s Moshe Dayan Center; and Dr. Amos Nadan, the incoming director of the Moshe Dayan Center. One may register via this link.
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Gerald Szames, who as a boy hid in graves for two years to hide from the Nazi occupiers of his hometown of Trochenbrod, Poland, will tell his story of survival at 5 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 30, at the Rancho San Diego Library, 11555 Via Rancho San Diego, El Cajon. The library is the home of the Remember Us the Holocaust exhibit curated by Sandra Scheller.
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Congratulations to San Diego Police Lieutenant Daniel Meyer, who has been appointed as the department’s public information officer working out of the office of Chief David Nisleit. Meyer succeeds Adam Sharki, who was promoted to captain in command of the central division. Meyer, a 19-year veteran of the police force, will interact with the media at various news events.
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Rabbi Scott Meltzer of Ohr Shalom Synagogue in San Diego wrote an OpEd for today’s San Diego Union-Tribune about all the new years in one’s life – the secular New Year that comes on Jan. 1, personal birthdays and anniversaries, the spiritual new year of Rosh Hashanah, and others. (Tu B’Shvat, the new year of the trees, is just a week away, beginning Wednesday evening, Jan. 24 and ending at sunset Thursday, Jan. 25.) A U-T photo of the rabbi, with his wife Jennifer, and four children reveals that the family dog’s name is “Tchotchke” (Yiddish for toys, trinkets, bric-a-brac). How many of our readers remember a store named Tchotchkes in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego, where various whimsical items were on sale?
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Coastal Roots Farm offers five reasons for attending its Tu B’Shvat Food Forest Festival from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Sunday, Jan. 21, at the Leichtag Commons, 441 Saxony Road, Encinitas: It’s an opportunity to 1) “take part in seeding a healthy future by caring for the trees;” 2) “feel grounded by immersing yourself in nature and physically connecting to the earth through hands-on activities;” 3) dance and play in our unique venue. Enjoy the Kids Zone, live music, libation station, and local vegetarian eats. You just can’t beat an ocean view!” 4) Feed the most vulnerable in our community. Ticket prices are pay-what-you-can and proceeds fund our food distribution program serving low-income seniors and families, Holocaust survivors, active-duty military and veteran families, Latinx families, and indigenous/Native families; and 5) get rooted in community with people of all ages, faiths, and backgrounds. Join us as we connect over shared values. Click this link to register.
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Rabbi Sammy Seid of Ner Tamid Synagogue will lead Beit Midrash study sessions beginning Tuesday, January 30, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., and every last Tuesday of the month thereafter. “Adults and teens are welcomed to participate,” says a notice from the Conservative synagogue at 12348 Casa Avenida in Poway. “No prerequisite language skill needed. All texts provided in English translation along with the original language.” Students will work with a chevrutah (learning partner). One will be matched to students who don’t have one. To register, contact Rabbi Seid via this email.
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Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Diego is offering as “a gift to our 4- and 5-year-olds” a free monthly Gesher Le Torah class beginning at 9 a.m., Sunday, Jan. 28, for “any students entering kindergarten in the 2024/2025 school year. “The class will focus on the origins of the Jewish holidays, learn the values and morals of being Jewish, and the love of a Jewish community,” according to the Conservative synagogue’s newsletter. Subsequent class dates for the two-hour class will be Feb. 25, March 24, April 21, and May 19.
—OBITUARY NOTICE–
Beth Jacob Congregation reports that Baila “Beverly” Marks, the mother of Rabbi Yaakov Marks, has died, and that the rabbi will be sitting shiva at the home of his sister, Carol Vegh, in Lakewood, New Jersey until Monday, Jan. 22. The Orthodox congregation’s notice expressed “sincere condolences to the Marks family during this difficult time. May the family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem and know no more sorrow.”
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SDJW staff report