San Diego Jewish World to vacation Dec. 19-Jan 8

Other items in today’s column include:
* Hanukkah Fire Safety
* Fundraising
* Political bytes
* Coming our way

By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO – Everyone needs a vacation, even people who run daily websites.  Accordingly, my wife and co-publisher, Nancy Harrison, and I plan to take a three-week breather from this exciting and enjoyable task of putting out San Diego Jewish World.  We will suspend publication after our report is filed on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019, and will resume publication on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020.

While we won’t be publishing any new stories during that period, our archive, which now numbers over 33,000 items will remain accessible via the writers and subject indexes that can be found in strips paralleling the masthead at the top of the page.

Our community directory, with addresses, websites and phone numbers for Jewish organizations, will remain available to you, as will our community calendar on which we provide information about upcoming events in the San Diego Jewish community.  If your synagogue or Jewish organization has events you would like listed, please send us the details between now and December 18^.  We will do our best to have them listed before the vacation period begins.

In case anyone’s wondering, family members who will be housesitting during our vacation period are big fans of our pet dog, Benji, and we know both the dog and our home will be well taken care of.  This time of year is typically a slow time for news as many people, just like us, like to take vacations. December 18 happens to be a special day for Nancy and me: we met that day at a dance at UCLA’s International Student Center in 1966!

I expect to share some vacation-related Jewish stories when we resume publication.

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Hanukkah Fire Safety
Cathi L. Marx, the safety and security committee chair at Temple Emanu-El, offers these tips for fire safety during Hanukkah, in the temple’s monthly bulletin:

“Hanukkah is the season for cooking with oil and for lighting candles, not the best combination for fire safety. These tips may help save a life:
* No matter how beautiful your child’s or grandchild’s “arts and crafts” menorah may be, please do not use it. These menorahs may not be suitable for lighting and may burn when used.
*Be sure to place the menorah on a sturdy surface made of non-flammable metal such as marble, glass or metal. Also make sure pets cannot reach the menorah. ·
*Never place the menorah near or under flammable material such as papers, curtains or books.
* Do not walk around while holding a lit candle. ·
*Keep matches, oil and lit candles away from children and out of their reach.
*Never leave a lit menorah unattended. ·
*Supervise any child who lights a menorah.

“Let’s speak about cooking with oil:
*When frying, keep children away from the stove. Some people create a three-foot safety zone around the stove when the latkes are frying. Remember that oil tends to splatter.
*In the event of a large grease flame or grease fire, do not use water to put it out! Smother the flames with damp towels.

“If someone gets burned:
*Immediately move them away from the flames and heat source.
* If the clothes catch fire, roll them on the ground and smother out the flames with a blanket or towel. ·
*Do not pull off the clothing that has stuck to the injured skin. Instead, cut the clothing around the injured area. ·
*Pour tepid water on the injury for at least five minutes. Never use cold water or creams.
* Call 911 immediately.”
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Fundraising
Jewish Family Service of San Diego reports that a donor has offered a 3:1 match for anyone who contributes to the social service agency on Giving Tuesday, Dec. 3.  That means your donated dollar turns into $4 for JFS, according to Mike Stern, JFS’s senior director of marketing.

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Political bytes
*San Diego County has 47 Superior Court judges, whose terms of office are for six years before they must face reelection.  In this upcoming election, there will be contests for four of these seats.  Office No. 18 is an open seat, and the competitors are Roberta Taylor Winston, a corporate defense attorney who specialty included defending against insurance fraud, and CJ Mody, a deputy district attorney.  Winston has a fundraiser planned from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 5, at Peterson Reporting, 530 B Street, San Diego.  On her campaign website, she notes: “There are no campaign contribution limits for judicial campaigns.  The sky is the limit!”  Reservations may be made via this website.   Among Winston’s endorsers are Sherman Spitz, an Orange County partner in the Berger Kahn law firm for which Winston is the managing partner in San Diego; retired Superior Court Judge Joel Pressman; attorney Fred Schenk, and Assemblyman Brian Maienschein.  She also has endorsements from Run Women Run, the San Diego Democratic Party, and the International Association of Special Investigation Units.

*In her monthly Toni Times bulletin, California State Senate President pro tem Toni Atkins salutes retiring Congresswoman Susan Davis, who “has been a champion for LGBTQ service members.”

*Assemblyman Todd Gloria, a former city councilmember, has one Filipino grandparent so by descent is 25 percent  Filipino;  City Councilman Chris Cate has one Filipino parent, so by descent is 50 percent Filipino;  and Noli Zosa, a candidate in the 7^th Council District, has two Filipino parents, so is by descent is 100 percent Filipino.  One might say that Filipino community candidates for the City Council  have been advancing bit by bit, percentage by percentage.

*While the political rivalry between Democratic presidential hopefuls Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg has been civil, relations between their respective climate change advisors is another matter  According to a story in today’s San Diego Union Tribune by Joshua Emerson Smith, David Victor, a UC San Diego professor, who has advised Buttigieg has drawn fire after contending that Sanders’ Green New Deal “can’t work in the real world” because to bring it about Sanders would not only have to win the presidency but also command heavy majorities in the Congress, including a filibuster-proof U.S. Senate.  Stanford professor Mark Jacobson, who advises Sanders, dismisses Victor as “a shill for the fossil fuel industry,” noting that oil companies have financed some of Victor’s research.  Victor says oil companies must be made part of the solution to climate change.  Jacobson says, to the contrary, the U.S. can lower energy costs to consumers by providing clean solar and wind power to the electrical grid, with 80 percent clean energy achievable by 2020 and 100 percent by 2050.

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Coming our way
*Temple Emanu-El, 6299 Capri Drive, hosts a vigil for the “700,000 Americans killed or injured by guns since the Sandy Hook shooting tragedy” at 7 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 14.  “Through music and words we will give voice to all victims and survivors and pledge to End Gun Violence in America.”

*Rabbi Rafi Andrusier of Chabad of East County will preside over a “gelt drop” during which chocolate gelt coins will be dropped from the ladder of a Heartland Rescue Firefighters truck at a ceremony beginning at 4 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 22 at 200 Civic Center Way, El Cajon.  In addition there will be a menorah lighting, music and dancing, kids fun zone, raffle, Chanukah refreshments, local dignitaries, an opportunity to honor “our local heroes in uniform,” and the showcasing of “the world’s largest dreidel.”

*Rabbis Devorah Marcus and Benj Fried  along with song leader Marshall Voit will be on hand for a “Hanukkah Hootenanny and Latke Cook-Off following 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 27, Erev Shabbat services at Temple Emanu-El, 6299 Capri Drive.  “We will begin by lighting the outdoor hanukiyyah before the service.  After the service with the Shabbat Band, we’ll nosh on latkes and sufganiyot.  Bring your best latkes on an oven safe tray to put in the Temple oven to heat, long with your recipes to share with the congregation.  We will provide the sour cream and apple sauce. Prizes will be awarded.”

*Rabbi Deborah Prinz, former spiritual leader of Temple Adat Shalom, will be doing double duty on the lecture circuit in San Diego County. At 7 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 12, she will address an audience at the Lawrence Family JCC, 4126 Executive Drive, La Jolla about Jews on the chocolate trail, coinciding with the JCC’s exhibition “Semi[te] Sweet: On Jews at Chocolate” which runs through Jan. 31.  On Tuesday, Jan. 14.  At 2 p.m., she will share similar stories with residents of  Seacrest Village in Encinitas,  Rabbi prinz is the author of On the Chocolate Trail, available via this Amazon website.

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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com