By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – An Egyptian-born Muslim who today calls himself a proud Zionist, an Ethiopian-Israeli who taught herself to sing as a way to relieve the stress of rocket attacks on her hometown of Sderot, and an 11-year-old girl whose answer to anti-Semitism was to become a strong supporter of Israel, were among the featured speakers on Sunday evening, October 14, at a StandWithUs gala at the San Diego Marriott Marina. Approximately $100,000 was raised at the dinner in support of StandWithUs’s efforts to educate students from middle school to universities about Israel.
Hussein Aboubakr, the keynote speaker, told of growing up in Cairo, where he was bombarded from childhood with anti-Israel and anti-Jewish propaganda. He said he was taught to believe that Israelis and Jews—between whom he made no distinction—were the devil incarnate. He said he actually dreamed of someday becoming a suicide bomber to someday avenge all the evil deeds he was told the Jews and Israelis had performed against the Arabs. He said that he decided he could become even more effective against the Zionist enemy if he learned the Hebrew language, which was available to him through the Internet. The surprise was that the more he learned about Hebrew, Israel, and the Jewish people, the more he began to question the anti-Semitic dogma with which he was raised. He found that Israelis and Jews were people just like himself, with similar problems and concerns.
Aboubakr’s self-education did not go unnoticed. He came under suspicion of his government, and in fact was arrested and imprisoned on more than one occasion. His family disowned him. The more isolated he became from his country and family, the more determined he became to learn more about Israel and the Jews. Eventually, he was granted asylum in the United States, and today teaches Arabic and Hebrew in Monterey, California. Under StandWithUs auspices, he gives talks across the country about his life and the effects of anti-Semitic propaganda. As a U.S. citizen, he visited Israel last year, describing the experience positively.
Singer Hagit Yaso, the Sderot resident, sang in both English and Hebrew following a video presentation that related that her parents left Ethiopia for the Sudan, where Israeli aircraft secretly flew them to safety in Israel. Her hometown of Sderot lies very close to the Gaza border, and is surrounded by the kibbutzim and moshav that make up the Sha’ar Hanegev municipality, with which the Jewish Federation of San Diego County has a partnership relationship. Constantly under rocket attack from Hamas and other Islamist groups situated within Gaza, Sderot residents have just 15 seconds after the sounding of an air raid siren to find shelter from the rockets. Yaso’s way to cope with this constant terror was to sing, both as a soloist and in choral groups. Recently, she was a winner in a national Israeli talent contest.
Other entertainment at the dinner included The David Kates Orchestra and artists Shayne Tuthill and Tim Hansinger from Artists4Israel, who executed paintings for immediate auction as the crowd looked on during a cocktail reception preceding the dinner.
Rachael Golembesky, 11, told the gathering of some 450 people that when she was younger, relatives unsuccessfully tried to abduct her and a sister to Poland in an effort to prevent her from being raised as a Jew. Since that time, she said, she has experienced other forms of anti-Semitism. Once, at school, her teacher “decided to narrate the story of how Jesus was murdered and then she accused me in front of our whole class of doing it.” On the other hand, Goldembesky was awarded a first place for a speech about Anne Frank that she delivered at a school assembly. In addition to appearing in a video, in which these incidents were related, and being presented a “Star of David” award from the organization, Golembesky served as a table captain at the fundraiser, meaning she encouraged other donors to attend the dinner. She also joined Jonathan Valverde, the founder of Latinos for Israel, in singing Hatikvah, the Israeli National Anthem. Valverde soloed for the preceding singing of The Star-Spangled Banner, the U.S. national anthem.
Other speakers on the packed program include Roz Rothstein, the cofounder and chief executive officer of StandWithUs; Sara Miller, the organization’s San Diego director; emcee Ron Krudo, SWU’s executive director of campus affairs; San Diego Jewish Academy senior Trevor Lyons; and UCLA student Justin Feldman, who showed a video about how Palestinian supporters disrupted a campus event, adding that criminal complaints against the perpetrators are now under study by the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office. Additionally, Craig Dershowitz told of successful efforts to enlist American artists to perform in Israel and also to appear on American college campuses to tell of their art and their experiences.
The overall program was underwritten by Shirley and Harold Pidgeon and Jenny and Julian Josephson. Their contributions and ticket sales were supplemented by a fundraising appeal that was led by Dan Feder, who along with Jaime Feder served as the organization’s Leaders of Tomorrow hosts.
Kosher dinners include entrée choices of vegetarian mushroom risotto; braised short ribs, and grilled breast of chicken. Prior to the dinner the Hamotzi prayer was led by Rabbi Avi Libman of Congregation Beth El and his son, Yonatan, a recent bar mitzvah.
*
Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com