Other items in today’s column include:
*Political bytes
* Recommended reading
*In Memoriam
SAN DIEGO — For 21 years, Rabbi Chaim Hollander has served as spiritual leader of Young Israel of San Diego (YISD), a small Orthodox congregation located across Navajo Road from the popular Cowles Mountain trail head. Hollander came to San Diego to teach at Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School (SSDHDS), one of the schools that incoming Rabbi Eddie Rosenberg attended as a child. With the permission of SSDHDS headmaster Rabbi Simcha Weiser, Hollander added the YISD pulpit to his portfolio. On this Wednesday night, Rabbi Hollander delivered on Zoom his final discussion of the upcoming weekly parasha and next Monday night, he will teach his final class also on Zoom.
San Diego Jewish World published a biographical portrait of Rabbi Hollander in 2015, which may be accessed by clicking here. An online gala in honor of Rabbi Hollander and his Rebbetzin Tema Hollander is planned August 30. The congregation also is planning to publish a calendar in his honor.
Come next Shabbat, Rabbi Rosenberg who grew up in San Diego after immigrating from Moscow via Detroit, Michigan, will step in as Young Israel of San Diego’s new rabbi. He attended Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School, Valley Torah High School in Los Angeles, and Patrick Henry High School, located just a few blocks from Young Israel of San Diego. From there he went on to Grossmont Community College, then to the Ohr Someach Yeshiva in Monsey, New York, back to Grossmont Community College and to San Diego State University, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English as well as a teaching credential.
As a teacher, Rabbi Rosenberg taught both in Jewish schools such as Torah High School and SCY High, as well as in secular schools such as Morse High School and Gompers Secondary School. He taught English in both school systems, as well as history and Judaic subjects in the Jewish schools He was ordained by Yeshiva Pirchei Shoshanim in Lakewood, New Jersey, three years ago, following an intensive correspondence course. He has been serving as an assistant to Rabbi Hollander at Young Israel of San Diego.
Rabbi Weiser said while Hebrew Day School has many alumni who went into various branches of the rabbinate — such as becoming Jewish educators — Rosenberg is the first to ascend to a pulpit in San Diego County. “I’m really proud of Rabbi Rosenberg and of Rabbi Hollander,” he said. He explained that when a teacher of Torah so educates a student that the student is himself able to become a teacher, it assures continuity of the Jewish people. Noting that Rosenberg’s family came to San Diego at a time when the Jewish community was making a united effort to absorb Soviet Jewish immigrants, Weiser said that Rabbi Rosenberg’s success also is a credit to the local Jewish community.
In a brief interview, Rosenberg said he does not plan to make major changes in ritual as Hollander’s successor but hopes when the coronavirus pandemic subsides to involve the congregation in more social outreach, such as maintaining a food pantry for people in need. He said he also would like to see more groups working together to learn Torah and Talmud.
Pending the end of the pandemic, no formal installation ceremony is planned for Rabbi Rosenberg, whose family includes his wife Victoria, and children from ages 20 to 7: Basya, Gedalya, Tzivya, Amalya, and Moriya, the latter whose 8th birthday is in a few days. His mother, Raisa Rosenberg, also resides in San Diego.
*
Political bytes
*San Diego City Councilwoman Barbara Bry, a candidate for mayor, says that Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s “Complete Communities” plan is “just a local application of the YIMBY theory of transferring power from our neighborhoods to out-of-town real estate speculators nd developers. ” She added, “Let me be clear. We’ve been making progress to focus higher-density development on transit corridors and in downtown San Diego, where it belongs. But we don’t need to destroy the existing character of San Diego communities to continue the progress.”
*Passage in the House of Representatives of the Fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act on Tuesday was praised by Abby J. Leibman, president and CEO of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, especially its provision to provide a basic needs allowance for military families who are in need of food assistance. Congratulating Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) for inserting the provision into the bill, Leibman said, ““Year after year, day after day, we at MAZON are appalled that enlisted military personnel are unable to feed their families, turning for help to food pantries that operate on or nearly every military base in the U.S. This is all the more important today, as COVID-19 is exacerbating the financial challenges of even more military families who already experience challenges such as high rates of spousal unemployment and frequent and costly moves.” The bill goes next to the Senate Armed Services Committee, chaired by Sen James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma).
*
Recommended reading
*Times of San Diego introduces Rabbi Jason Nevarez, the new senior rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel.
*Marsha Sutton, in a column for The San Diego Union-Tribune, says we all have a responsibility to learn more about the issues facing the LGBTQ+ community.
*Dan Bloom of Chiayi City, Taiwan, is taken with Shmegoogle, a book by Daniel Klein. A ‘shmegoogle” by the way is someone so insignificant that his or her name won’t pop up, even if you do a Google search on it.
*
In memoriam
Geoffrey Bergman, 76, died Tuesday, July 21`, Am Israel Mortuary reported. Graveside funeral services at Greenwood Memorial Park, 4300 Imperial Avenue, San Diego, will be conducted by Rabbi Ian Adler of the Pacific Synagogue at 12 p.m., Friday, July 24.
*
Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com Free obituaries in memory of members of the San Diego County Jewish community are sponsored on San Diego Jewish World by Inland Industries Group LP in memory of long-time San Diego Jewish community leader Marie (Mrs. Gabriel) Berg.