October 26, 2020
SAN DIEGO — I’ve decided to change the name of my column from “Our Shtetl San Diego County” to “Jewish News from San Diego and Beyond.” The reason probably is self-evident. While much of the news that affects our readers occurs in San Diego, important stories with a bearing on our lives also come from other places as well, including Washington D.C., New York, Sacramento, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv, to name just a few. So the new column name allows me to be more inclusive in my coverage.
Let’s start on a light note. The Aleph website noted a “Chai” charm for sale on the Internet. However, the seller apparently didn’t know that “Chet” and “Yud” together spell the Hebrew word for “life,” so put an imaginative interpretation on what the pendant represented. According to the advertisement, the charm was a “vintage Navajo moose.” Thanks to Ben Dishman for forwarding the article to us.
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The Jewish Insider recently has taken in-depth looks at two congressional races in San Diego County: The 50th CD race pitting Republican Darrell Issa against Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar, and the 53rd CD featuring two Democrats, Sara Jacobs versus Georgette Gomez. In both cases, the articles by Matthew Kassel focus on the candidates’ positions relative to Israel.
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Philanthropists Joan & Irwin Jacobs on Nov. 19 will be presented a new honor created by UC San Diego. It’s called “The Lifetime Legacy Award,” which University Chancellor Pradeep P. Khosla says will b granted “only on the rarest occasions to exceptional campus visionaries. it is considered one of the highest and most prestigious honors bestowed.
“The Jacobs family’s generosity, collaboration and partnership with UC San Diego is unmatched,” Khosla continued. “Their commitment to UC San Diego has impacted a broad spectrum of programs and initiatives throughout our enterprise, including UC San Diego Health, engineering, and arts and humanities. Their involvement has shaped tens-of-thousands of UC San Diego students, innovators and practitioners, and helped improve the lives of countless patients and people throughout our greater community.”
Another member of the local Jewish community, Elaine Galinson, along with Florida =-based philanthropists Herbert & Nicole Wertheim will be among a select group of UC San Diego funders who will be honored with a Chancellor’s Medal, with the other recipients being Rebecca Moores andGary and Mary West.
Galinson, according to UC San Diego, has been a “loyal champion” of the campus since 1979. “Elaine Galinson has demonstrated a commitment to civil discourse, social justice and the importance of education. In 2019, she pledged $5 million in grants to endow the Galinson/Glickman Campus Civility Program, created in partnership with the National Conflict Resolution Center and to provide for two classrooms. Her involvement on campus spans from a lifetime membership in Chancellor’s Associates; leadership on the UC San Diego Foundation Board of Trustees, including Chair; and contributions to ArtPower and the Stuart Collection. A passionate community leader, she has also served on the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee national board, the San Diego Jewish Community Foundation Board’s executive committee and as past chair of the San Diego Jewish Women’s Foundation. Further, Galinson is San Diego’s former chief of protocol and was honored by the Salvation Army as a woman of distinction.”
About the Wertheims, UC San Diego commented: “Herbert and Nicole Wertheim are passionate philanthropists, having supported numerous programs in education, research and the arts in their work directing the Wertheim Family Foundation. In 2018, they pledged $25 million to UC San Diego as a lead gift to establish the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science. This contribution ushered in a new era of public health research, education and advances. The school’s initiatives promote healthier populations on a local, national and global scale because of the university’s increased focus on public health. Dr. Herbert Wertheim is an engineer, optometrist, researcher, entrepreneur, and founder of Brain Power Incorporated, the world’s largest manufacturer of ophthalmic instruments and chemicals, whose enduring discoveries and contributions in eye care and other scientific fields have touched millions. Nicole Wertheim is a dedicated patron of arts, community, education and health.”
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Benett Hurtado, shown in the large photo above, carried a Torah right into the pages of the 2020 calendar of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ). The photo was taken at Temple Beth Shalom, where her maternal grandmother, Arlene LaGary, serves as the congregation’s president.
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Former Port Commissioner Laurie Black is very publicly backing Assemblyman Todd Gloria over City Councilwoman Barbara Bry in the San Diego mayoral race. In an OpEd for Times of San Diego, Black criticizes what Bry calls her pro-neighborhood stance as being typical of a 20th century “Not in My Back Yard (NIMBY)” way of thinking.
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Sandra Scheller, coordinator of the Project RUTH exhibit on the Holocaust at the Chula Vista Public Library, continues to present videos bearing on the subject matter. One video features classical guitarist Pepe Romero discussing his father’s survival during the Spanish Civil War, which was a forerunner of World War II. In the video, they also discuss the role of the arts in the Holocaust. In another video, Scheller interviews Dr. Edith Eger, author of The Choice and The Gift. Scheller relates that on the day of the interview, “I had no camera man so Mayor Mary Salas (of Chula Vista) ran my camera. She also did the introduction.” Mayor Salas is more used to being in front of the camera than behind it, but she did a good job as a videographer.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com