Other items in today’s column include:
*Political bytes
“Thoughts at Yom Kippur
*Lighter side
SAN DIEGO — In its capacity as a journalistic watchdog, The Voice of San Diego has been turning up numerous campaign reporting violations and some possible ethical problems as well for Kelvin Barrios, a candidate for San Diego City Council seeking to succeed Georgette Gomez, on whose staff he worked for a time. The problems are quite serious, and we are glad that The Voice of San Diego has brought them to light. Conflict of interest allegations and failure to report contributions in a timely manner militate against Barrios’ candidacy. He needs to get his own house in order before he can become a steward of the people’s.
Luckily for the voters, Sean Elo-Rivera, a trustee of the San Diego Community College District, is also a candidate in the 9th Council District, which Gomez is vacating to run for Congress. Recently, a fellow community college trustee, Bernie Rhinerson, who like Elo is a member of our local Jewish community, wrote an opinion piece for San Diego Jewish World telling why he favored Elo for election to the City Council.
In that OpEd piece, Rhinerson wrote: “Sean’s strong commitment to social justice and ‘opportunity for all’ (his campaign slogan) have guided his work on the Community College Board. During the last two years, I have worked closely with Sean on the Board’s sub committee to develop our annual Board goals. Sean has been a real leader helping to infuse social and racial justice goals into our Board’s policy goals and has also strongly supported making environmental justice and climate action a priority for our District. Sean has uplifted student voices and input, always is seeking student involvement and comment on all of our Board actions. Throughout all of his work as a Board trustee, what has impressed me the most is Sean’s strong sense of ethics, honesty and transparency, character traits that are essential for good governance and which will serve him and the community well when he is elected to the City Council.”
On the basis of these two articles, it’s clear that Elo is the better choice for the city council seat. For that reason, as the editor and co-publisher of San Diego Jewish World, I’ve decided that this publication’s endorsement should go to Elo. We urge our readers to strongly consider voting for him.
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Political bytes
53rd CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT — San Diego City Council President Georgette Gomez writes it’s okay to be sad — especially about the recent deaths of U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia) and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It’s also to be afraid, Gomez said, “with Donald Trump rushing a new Supreme Court justice, with no end in sight for the coronavirus pandemic, with so much uncertainty ahead.” However, the congressional candidate, messaged: “What’s not okay is giving up. Losing hope. We can’t give up. …”
SAN DIEGO MAYOR’S RACE — Based on fundraising reports, Todd Gloria is expressing confidence that he will be able to defeat fellow Democrat Barbara Bry in the mayoral race. His campaign writes: ” In the last reporting period, Gloria raised a whopping $456,425 with $671,470 cash on-hand. Bry raised $358,789 with $222,293 in cash on-hand. Importantly, after all outstanding debts are paid, Gloria holds onto $552,113 in available funds while Bry has only $97,301. This signals Bry’s rapidly sinking campaign and being essentially broke by political campaign standards just 39 days from Election Day.”
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Thoughts at Yom Kippur
*Rabbi Devorah Marcus of Temple Emanu-El writes: “Gmar Chatimah Tovah! My we all be sealed for goodness in the Book of Life! This phrase with which we greet each other during the Yamim Nora’im (The Days of Awe) between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur have always been a little challenging. When we say it to each other, we are reminded that even when we do everything right, for some of us, for some of the people who we love, this year will be the last. It is truly an upsetting reality to be asked to face. But, as is so often the case with our beautiful tradition, a surface reading is misleading and we must dive deeper to understand the beauty of the saying and its meaning. With this phrase we are asked to face the reality that life is precious and all-too-fleeting. We are asked to realize the preciousness of each and every moment and not to take a single minute of our lives for granted. We are reminded that we do not know when our final hour will come and so our job is to live each day like it might be our last; to live each day with deep gratitude, intentional joy, and a decision to find the blessing in the difficulty, to find the blessing in the beauty, and to find the blessing in the mundane…”
*Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort of Chabad of La Costa writes: “The days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are called Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, often translated as ‘The 10 Days of Repentance,’ but the truth is that the Hebrew word teshuvah is better translated as ‘return’ rather than ‘repentance.’ While emphasis on repenting for our past misdeeds is indeed laudable, the primary focus must be on repairing our relationship with G-d. That’s what ‘return’ means. Throughout the year we may have strayed, our relationship with G-d may have taken a hit, but during these 10 days we have the opportunity to return to our true selves. This is even more so on Yom Kippur itself, the day that the essence of our souls is revealed. More than mere repentance, and even more than returning, we discover that we never really left. Despite everything we may have done, the deepest part of us—our G-dly essence—was never affected; and we discover that on Yom Kippur. …’
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Lighter side
This stretch of U.S. Highway 101 north of Los Angeles is named after the Chumash people, who are indigenous to that part of California. Their tribal name is pronounced Chew-mash. However, anyone familiar with transliterated Hebrew, might pronounce Chumash as Hu-Mash, which is another name for the Five Books of the Torah. So, here’s one sign that honors two great peoples.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com