Other items in today’s column include:
DFEH fines Treo @ Kettner HOA for mezuzah refusal
*Options, Women’s Event for the Jewish Federation of San Diego County,
set for Feb. 2
*Political bytes
SAN DIEGO — The Jewish Historical Society of San Diego, which maintains archives of our community’s history at San Diego State University, has acquired several more collections that will help researchers understand how our local Jewish community developed.
Jewish Family Service donated a collection of historical photos, media clippings and promotional material dating back to the early 20th century, “with the earliest historical materials yet to come,” it was reported by Laurel Schwartz, editor of Toldot, the society’s newsletter. Among documents in the collection are some reflecting on the history of the Drop-In Center on 30th Street, and a later center on Copley Avenue that was named for Harry W. and Florence Roe Berman, parents of Ralph Berman. One photo in the collection shows the late Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal of Tifereth Israel Synagogue playing his accordion at the Berman Building.
Other reported acquisitions include:
*The Kalb/ Nadler Collection that documents Jewish activities of Charles and Jerri Kalb and their daughter Ellie Nadler and son-in-law Harry Nadler. Members of these related families were active in such organizations as the Women’s Plea for Human Rights in the Soviet Union, Men’s and Women’s B’nai B’rith, and the Anti-Defamation League. Participating in the Plea for Soviet Jewry with Ellie Nadler were such well-known San Diegans as then mayor (later governor) Pete Wilson, then police chief (later sheriff) Bill Kolender, and Rabbi Aaron Gold of Tifereth Israel Synagogue.
*More than thirty digitized copies of the SAJAC Reporter, donated by Pamela Nathan, president of the South African Jewish American Community, starting with the first issue in 1987.
*Additions to the Rabbi Morton Cohn Collection from Mort Cohn Jr., son of the rabbi who had been spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Israel and later Temple Emanu-El. The additions include the senior Cohn’s World War II scrapbook and letters he wrote as a young rabbi traveling in the southern part of the United States.
People with collections or documents they may wish to donate may contact Laurel Schwartz via her email or by phoning the society at (619) 232-5888.
*
Treo @ Kettner HOA agrees to pay $40,000 in mezuzah case
The state’s Fair Employment and Housing Department (DFEH) negotiated a $40,000 settlement with the homeowners association at the Treo @ Kettner Homeowners Association in response to a complaint that it refused to permit a Jewish homeowner to display a mezuzah on the doorpost of her home.
According to DFEH spokesperson Fahizah Alim, the HOA’s covenants, conditions and restrictions had forbidden such displays, and as part of the settlement, the HOA will change its CC&R’s for the 326-unit complex, which is bounded by India and Kettner Streets and A& B Avenues in the Columbia District bordering Little Italy.
“A rule prohibiting the display of a mezuzah effectively makes that housing unavailable for many observant Jews,” commented DFEH Director Kevin Kish. “For that reason, DFEH interprets California fair housing law to require landlords and HOAs to permit residents to display mezuzot outside of their home.”
The HOA and the unnamed complainant engaged in a voluntary mediation session heard by Leonid M. Zilberman, a volunteer mediator, according to Alim.
*
Options, Women’s Event for the Jewish Federation of San Diego County, set for Feb. 2
Comedy writer, author and philanthropist Carol Leifer will be the featured speaker at Options, the Women’s Event, beginning at 10 a.m. , Sunday, Feb. 2, at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines. If past is prelude to the future, then at least 600 women will be in attendance.
Leifer has won four Emmy nominations for her comedy writing on such television shows as Seinfeld, The Larry Sanders Show, and Saturday Night Live. The Seinfeld character Elaine Benes, was partially based on her. Leifer’s books include When You Lie About Your Age, The Terrorists Win and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Crying.
Chairing the Options event will be Lisa Pearl and Marie Raftery. Tickets are $50. They may be purchased via this website.
*
Political bytes
*San Diego City Council members Barbara Bry and Jennifer Campbell, who are both Jewish and who both represent beach communities, voted in the 5-4 majority in a preliminary vote to ban motorized scooters on boardwalks. Council members Monica Montgomery, Vivian Moreno and Mark Kersey joined in the majority. Voting against the proposal were City Council President Georgette Gomez, and Councilmembers Chris Ward, Chris Cate, and Scott Sherman. Bry, a Democrat, and Sherman, a Republican, are both candidates for mayor. Gomez, a Democrat, and Ward, a Democrat, are running respectively in the 53rd Congressional District and the 78th Assembly District. A final vote on the motorized scooter issue is expected in January. Bry on Monday was reelected as president pro tempore of the City Council to preside whenever Gomez is absent.
*Terra Lawson-Remer, a candidate in the 3rd District County Supervisorial race, says “Polling shows that when people hear about the candidates in this race, they prefer me 4:1.” She goes on to say, “With [incumbent] Kristin Gaspar acting like Donald Trump’s personal representative in San Diego, we desperately need to flip this district from red [Republican] to blue (Domocrat].
*Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, D-Michigan, will speak in San Diego County on Saturday, but for security reasons, the address is being kept secret, according to an article in Times of San Diego. Initially, the evening talk had been planned at Westview High School in Poway, but it was cancelled because of a scheduling conflict for maintenance, according to school officials. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which is sponsoring the talk by the Palestinian-American congresswoman, said it has found another venue, but is revealing it only to people who register for the $65-per-persson appearance that also will feature Tom Wong, a UC San Diego political scientist who is running in the 53rd Congressional District. Tlaib’s upcoming speech had been the subject of a protest by the Freedom of Conscience Fund, which said scheduling Tlaib, a well-known critic of Israel, in Poway was hurtful to residents of that city, who last Passover had endured the shock of a gunman’s attack on Chabad of Poway.
*State Senator Brian Jones, R-Santee, who is a candidate in the 50th Congressional District, wants to change voter registration procedures at the Department of Motor Vehicles. He says, “In what is a clear example of mission creep, the DMV has over the last few years been required by the supermajority Democrat-controlled Legislature, Secretary of State, and Governor’s Office to register to vote all customers seeking DMV services. This mandated focus on voter registration has caused wait times at DMV to skyrocket, the DMV’s budget to balloon unnecessarily, invited tampering with voter records, and caused the DMV’s mission of issuing driver’s licenses and registering vehicles to be neglected.” Instead of DMV automatically asking voters if they wish to be registered to vote, Jones supports legislation that would require the potential voter to ask first for such service.
*
Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be reached via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com
Pingback: Jewish Historical Society obtains new collections | B'nai B'rith Budapest Páholy