Obama Extends Israel Embassy Waiver Parents Denied Custody in Nazi-Naming Case

Obama extends Israel
embassy waiver
President Barack Obama extended a waiver for an addi-
tional six months that delays moving the U.S. Embassy in
Israel to Jerusalem.
Obamas waiver, issued June 1, follows in the footsteps of
predecessors Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who also
extended the waiver every six months since a law was
passed in 1995 mandating moving the embassy from Tel
Aviv to Jerusalem. Presidents are permitted to delay the
move on national security grounds.
Some Jewish groups have pushed for the United States
to move the embassy as a way to bolster Israeli claims to
the city. Those favoring the use of the waiver say that mov-
ing the embassy would anger the Arab world and put the
United States in the position of taking sides on an issue
that should be settled in peace talks.
Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate,
has privately told Jewish leaders he would not commit to
moving the embassy as president. jta
New Yorks annual Israel
parade draws big crowds
Sen. Charles Schumer, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg were among the
dignitaries who marched in the June 3 Celebrate Israel Parade.
They joined tens of thousands of marchers who parad-
ed up the citys Fifth Avenue amid a sea of blue-and-white
Israeli flags. The parade, now in its 48th year, is the coun-
trys biggest annual show of support for Israel. Marchers
included Jewish day school contingents, the Chai Riders
motorcycle club and non-Jewish marching bands. Israeli
consuls and government officials also marched.
The parade was preceded by a four-mile Celebrate Israel
run through Central Park. jta
Parents denied custody
in Nazi-naming case
A New Jersey couple who gave their children names linked
to Nazism cannot have custody of their children, a judge
ruled.
Heath and Deborah Campbells children have been in state
custody for the past three years, since a local supermarket
refused to print Adolf Hitler Campbells full name on a cake
for his third birthday. The boy, now 6, and sisters JoyceLynn
Aryan Nation Campbell, 5, and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie
Campbell, 4, named after SS head Heinrich Himmler, remain
in state custody. The state also took custody in November of
a newborn boy named Hons, according to UPI.
A Superior Court judge in New Jersey decided last week
that the couple cannot regain custody of the children. A
2010 appeals court ruling said the children were at serious
risk of injury and the parents were unfit to raise them
because of a history of domestic abuse.
The Campbells plan to appeal the ruling. Heath
Campbell told the Star-Ledger newspaper that he would
give up his Nazism to regain custody of the children. jta
Boycott of Israel dooms
college anthology
A planned anthology of Middle Eastern womens writing
will not be completed because of an academic boycott of
Israeli authors work.
The Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of
Texas at Austin had planned to publish an anthology of writ-
ing by Middle Eastern women in honor of Elizabeth Fernea,
a professor emerita at the university who died in 2008, and
who focused on womens issues in the Middle East.
But, according to Inside Higher Ed, one of the antholo-
gys 29 authors said she would withdraw her work from
the anthology unless it excluded the work of two Israeli
writers who also were asked to contribute. When the pub-
lishers refused to exclude the Israelis, a total of 13 authors
withdrew their work from the book which would have
left the book without any Arab contributors. This led the
center to cancel the books publication. jta
Raul Castros daughter calls
for dual prisoner releases
The daughter of Cubas head of state, Raul Castro, said
that jailed American Jewish contractor Alan Gross should
be released in conjunction with the United States release
of the so-called Cuban Five.
In an interview on CNN that aired June 4, Mariela Castro
said: Alan Gross has been granted everything that hes asked
for: He has been able to see his wife, he has been able to have
matrimonial, conjugal visits, and he has been treated with
respect and dignity the way we always treat prisoners in Cuba.
We havent received the same treatment, on the other hand,
for our five prisoners who have very long sentences that are
not right. I think that the six must be released both the five
Cubans and Alan Gross.
The Cuban Five are a group of intelligence officers being
held in the United States for espionage crimes. Gross was
arrested in 2009 and sentenced last year to 15 years on
charges related to his distribution of communications
equipment to the islands small Jewish community.
A number of analysts have said that the Cuban govern-
ment is detaining Gross in order to trade him for the
Cuban Five. jta I
11 www.jweekly.com | June 8, 2012
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the
Us against world:
No wonder I cant
find peace in Israel
Its 3:20 a.m. in Jerusalem, and I cant
sleep. Its not just the jet lag that
hammers me every time I visit Israel. This
time I am worried (some-
thing I do well), and the dis-
quiet has followed me right
to my chamber door.
Im here co-leading the
first cohort of BlueStar
Fellows, a program that
trains Bay Area college stu-
dents in pro-Israel advocacy,
then brings them to Israel as
budding reporters. This is
no frat party tour. Over 10 days, the
seven students in the group will explore
in-depth the thorny security and strate-
gic challenges Israel faces.
Weve been meeting with opinion-
makers, journalists and leaders in the
military, security and political spheres.
The fellows mission: convert what they
see and hear into pro-Israel op-eds, fea-
tures and blogs. In other words, push
back against the mudslide of anti-Israel
misinformation that dominates the
media. Its my students against the
world. And, God help us, its not a pretty
one.
Did you know theres a terror muse-
um in Israel?
The other day we visited the
International Institute for Counter-
Terrorism in Herzliya. Its exhibit con-
sists of captured documents, propagan-
da and, most chillingly, weapons used
by Palestinian terrorists to kill Israelis.
They range from Kassam rockets from
Gaza and seized Iranian-made Grad
missiles, to crude IEDs: soccer balls and
teddy bears hollowed out for bombs.
The posters and videos displayed reveal
the delight (theres no better word for it)
that at least some in Palestinian society
take in murdering Jews. The truth
hurts, said professor Yoram Kahati, an
expert on Islam who works for the insti-
tute.
Many of those Kassams fell on the
southern Israeli city of Sderot. For
years residents there found themselves
waking up with a collective alarm
clock, according to Noam Beidein. He
works in Sderot, located a mile from
the Gaza Strip. The recipient of more
than 13,000 rockets fired since Israel
left Gaza in 2005, Sderot is the bomb
shelter capital of the world. We saw one
in a park, a hardened concrete cylinder
painted to look like a cute, cuddly
caterpillar.
Beidein runs the Sderot
Media Center, a nonprofit
that gives diplomats, jour-
nalists and politicians tours
of the city, showing them
the trauma the terror has
inflicted. Its psychological
warfare, he told us of the
ever-present threat. With
35 killed, thousands
injured, an entire genera-
tion grew up with the rocket reality.
More than a million Israelis live in
range of Hamas rockets. Though Sderot
has undergone a recent upgrade, with
the government spending hundreds of
millions of shekels on building more
and stronger shelters, residents told us
they never feel safe.
Hamas has upgraded, too, with its
rockets now able to strike deeper into
Israel. As we were reminded, more than
200,000 missiles are aimed at Israel
today. And if Iran were to build a
nuclear weapon, as it seems bent on
doing, one expert we met felt certain it
would be used. If Israel ignores the
threat, hellfire will rain down. If Israel
strikes first, hellfire will still rain down.
And so, I worry.
This trip hasnt been entirely depress-
ing. We spent a glorious hour in the
Reuven Rubin Museum, which houses
dozens of canvases by Israels greatest
painter. He landed in Tel Aviv nearly a
century ago, when the area was little
more than huts on sand dunes, a place
about which he said Even the shade is
illuminated.
His masterful canvases so sun-
drenched and lively cheered me, and
reminded me why Jews came here, why
we stay here, why we fight.
The sun is coming up. Outside my
window, seven stories down I see the
beit knesset across the street, the men
draped in tallits, davening. It looks like it
will be a beautiful day in Jerusalem.
But my head aches from yet another
sleepless night. At one point in my
predawn fitfulness, I remembered the
last shot in the 1959 film On the
Beach, after a few submarine-trapped
survivors of a devastating world war
realize there is no one else left on Earth.
In a lifeless city, flapping uselessly in the
wind, is a downed banner that reads,
There is still time, Brother.I
Dan Pine can be reached at dan@jweekly.com.
8
Feelings
Equality
Mad
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t
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v
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Art from the
Jewish Home
Title: The Summer House
Artist: Hirshel Rabinow
Sponsored by:
Richard and Rhoda
Goldman Fund
www.goldmanfund.org
Supporting Jewish Life in the Bay Area Since 1951
rebecca rosen lum
j. correspondent
Impoverished children will
drink clean water, abused
women will be cared for, and
mentally ill youths who have
aged out of the foster-care
system will gain life skills
and guidance thanks in
part to 91 local teens who
raised a record $220,000 for
charity between the end of
2011 and April 2012.
The teens were partici-
pants in the 2011-12 Jewish
Community Teen Found-
ations program. They spent
five months raising money,
and then painstakingly decid-
ing which charities to give
grants to and how much
money would go to each.
The grants were announced during four
regional ceremonies held May 22-29 in
Tiburon, Piedmont, Palo Alto and San
Mateo.
The thing all the groups had in common
was a drive and a passion for giving back to
the community,said Ariel Kurland, the adult
coordinator who oversees the four regional
foundations. These boards [made up entire-
ly of teens] were really motivated. They
I I I LOCAL, 9
Local teen foundations raise
big money for good causes
george altshuler | j. staff
The Oakland As will host their second
annual Jewish Heritage Night on June
19 during a 7:05 p.m. game against the
Los Angeles Dodgers. As of early this
week, the As already had sold more than
1,000 tickets, and the club expects to
double last years total of 650 tickets
sold.
Fans who buy designated tickets will
sit together in the plaza infield section at
the Oakland Coliseum and receive a sou-
venir scarf featuring Hebrew lettering
that phonetically spells out Athletics.
Heritage night ticket holders also will
get a pastrami sandwich and a knish
or a $5 food voucher if they prefer.
More than 15 local Jewish groups
have signed up for packages of 25 or
more tickets, according to Josh
Feinberg, an As account manager.
Three young adults groups
EastBayJews, the Young Adult
Community at Congregation Emanu-
El in San Francisco and East Bay
Moishe House have joined together
to create a young adults section. Their
aim is to have at least 50 people in their
section.
The JCC of Sonoma County plans to
bring a group of 100, some of whom
will be there to support the centers
youth choir when it sings the national
anthem. During the seventh-inning
stretch, Los Gatos Congregation Shir
Hadashs cantor, Devorah Felder-Levy,
will sing God Bless America.
Both the As and the visiting Dodgers
have no Jewish players on their rosters,
according to JewishBaseballNews.com.
This years heritage game will take
place on a free parking night. Tickets are
$26, and the deadline to purchase is
Tuesday, June 12. For more information,
visit www.oaklandathletics.com/jewish.
The San Francisco Giants Jewish her-
itage game this season, the eighth annu-
al, is set for Aug. 14 at AT&T Park
against the Washington Nationals. I
Brisk action on As Jewish heritage tickets
This years souvenir giveaway item
photo/courtesy of jcf
Marin/San Francisco board members Eli
Newbrun-Mintz and Aimee Moses present a
$5,000 check to Michele Brown (right) of
Oakland-based First Place for Youth.
(415) 775-4216 FAX: (415) 775-3322 WWW.TOMMYSJOYNT.COM
1101 GEARY BLVD. AT VAN NESS, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109
OPEN EVERY DAY
BAR 10AM 1: 45AM RESTAURANT 11AM1: 45AM
Discounted Validated Parking at AMC Theater Garage

Grapefruit has been on my
mind since a recent road trip
found me in a citrus grove
farm stand sipping the best
grapefruit juice I ever had. It
was cold, almost slushy, and
refreshingly tart on a hot day.
When I got home, I started
learning more about the fruit
and developing recipes that
took advantage of its unique sweet and
sour flavor. I learned that while the U.S. is
the top grower of grapefruit, Israel is also
an important resource and is the second-
largest exporter of grapefruit in the world.
It was an Israeli scientist who found
that eating a grapefruit
(eshkoliyt in Hebrew) a day
can help lower triglyceride
levels. The researcher, Dr.
Shela Gorinstein, found red
grapefruit most effective.
Grapefruit does interact with
some medications, so you
may want to check with your
doctor before prescribing
yourself a grapefruit.
Specimens of this citrus hybrid once
known as the forbidden fruit vary in
tartness, so adjust sweeteners to taste.
Choose a firm fruit without soft or
brown spots that seems heavy for its size.
Broiled Grapefruit with Apricot-Ginger Topping
Serves 4
2 medium-large red or pink
grapefruit (about 12 oz. each)
1
2 cup apricot preserves
1 tsp. minced, seeded
jalapeo
1 tsp. minced, fresh ginger
1
8 tsp. salt
1
2 tsp. brown sugar, optional
Preheat broiler. Cut each grapefruit in half at its middle. Use grapefruit or paring knife
to loosen around each segment. Put preserves in a small pan with jalapeo, ginger and
salt. Cook over low heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently until preserves have soft-
ened and ingredients are well mixed.
Spoon apricot mixture evenly across top of the four grapefruit halves and spread
so cut surfaces are covered. Sprinkle with brown sugar if desired. Place on broiler-safe
tray and broil, watching closely until top is lightly browned and bubbly, 3-5 minutes.
Pucker up: Tart,
sweet grapefruit
is a citrus wonder
Grilled Chicken with Grapefruit, Fennel and Olives
Serves 4
Marinade
1
4 cup red or pink grapefruit
juice
1
4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1
8 tsp. salt
1
8 tsp. ground black pepper
1
4 tsp. sugar
1
8 tsp. cumin
2 lbs. boneless, skinless
chicken breasts
1 medium-large red or pink
grapefruit (about 12 oz.)
1 tsp. plus 1 Tbs. minced fen-
nel fronds (see note below)
1 cup fennel bulb, cut into

1
4-inch pieces
1
2 cup finely chopped red
onion
2 Tbs. chopped pitted
kalamata olives (about 8)
1
4 tsp. honey or agave
syrup, or to taste
1
8 tsp. salt
1
4 tsp. ground black pepper
1
4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Make the marinade by combining grapefruit juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, sugar and
cumin. Pour over chicken and marinate 1 hour, turning occasionally.
Just before grilling, make the topping: Cut the peel and membrane off grapefruit
and separate sections. Cut sections into 1/4-inch pieces, removing any white mem-
brane or fibrous bits. Combine grapefruit pieces in a bowl with 1 tsp. minced fennel
fronds, fennel bulb pieces, onion, olives, honey, salt, pepper and olive oil. Stir well
and taste, adjusting seasoning if needed.
Heat grill or broiler. Remove chicken from marinade and grill or broil until done,
turning occasionally. Top each portion with a quarter of the grapefruit-fennel-olive
mixture. Sprinkle with remaining minced fennel as a garnish.
Note: Fennel fronds are the extremely thin, bright green leaves growing off the
green stalks attached to the fennel bulb. I
Faith Kramer is a Bay Area food writer. Her columns alternate with those of Louise Fiszer. She
blogs at www.clickblogappetit.com. Contact her at clickblogappetit@gmail.com.
cook
San Franciscos Israel in the Gardens festival on Sunday,
June 10 is one of many large-scale events around the
world celebrating Israeli independence, and with just
cause (in Israel, it is also a day off from work).
But, perhaps more so for Israel than for other coun-
tries, it also is a time to weigh and debate accomplish-
ments and future challenges. Such is the atmosphere for
a relatively young country that is
often under the microscope of the
international community.
So, how has Israel done in its 64
years?
Looking at our domestic situa-
tion, by any objective standard
Israeli democracy is as robust and
pluralistic as any in the world.
Protests and political advocacy,
including very fierce and unpopu-
lar criticism of the government and military, occur on a
daily basis.
Despite more than six decades of war and terrorism,
and threats of annihilation, Israelis enjoy freedom of
expression on par with any modern democracy. And this
vibrant, democratic environment occurs within a society
that works to bring together people from numerous
divergent communities scattered for generations as dias-
poras, many of which do not have traditions of pluralism
and democracy.
To be sure, our society is not perfect like other
nations, we have flaws, particularly in terms of economic
inequalities, and it is our responsibility to correct them.
But the necessary political infrastructure exists to address
those problems.
Israels democratic credentials include a wide-open
electoral process; a free and highly critical press; a vibrant
NGO sector with tens of thousands of political and social
groups across the political spectrum, engaging in intense
debate; as well as the systematic protection of the rights
of minorities to freedom of expression and protest.
In the summer of 2011, mass demonstrations of hun-
dreds of thousands of citizens on socioeconomic issues
were a testament to Israels dynamic civil society and a cul-
ture of advocacy and peaceable protest. Israeli police facil-
itated these activities, blocking off roads and granting per-
mits. The government responded to protestors demands
positively, in the form of a task force to address their
claims.
Additionally, Israeli police forces and government
institutions facilitate what have become annual events:
gay pride parades in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and Eilat;
marches on Human Rights Day; protests by the Islamic
movement, and more.
As a result of these activities, pro-democracy activists
in Egypt, Tunisia, Syria and elsewhere, where thousands
were murdered at the hands of their own governments,
are said to have taken inspiration from the democratic
nature of Israel and its commitment to freedom of
expression.
The Israeli society that fosters this democracy also fos-
ters innovation and creativity at rates disproportional to
I I I ISRAEL, 18
Israel at 64 still a
young, vibrant nation
looking forward
Jason Edelstein, a native of Sacramento, is communi-
cations director of NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem-based research
institution.
When my father, Les, who is Jewish, learned I was chosen
by People magazine as one of Americas most beautiful
women recently, he said, Mazel tov, my ziskeit shayna
maidel! But tell me, when are you
going to be on the cover of the
New Yorker?
My Japanese mothers reaction
was different but similar. Thats
wonderful my little musubi, said
my mom, Sumiko. But couldnt
they have chosen a more flattering
photo in which you look more
Asian?
Oy, miso verklempt!
Its funny any way you look at being Russian-Jewish
and Japanese-Buddhist, and believe me, if I didnt laugh,
I would certainly cry.
Having a sense of humor is my secret to looking not
so shabby and living life to the fullest. I have also given
up guilt, which is not easy for a Japanese Jew who grew up
with double the angst, a buffets share of neuroses and the
pressure to be a perfect intellectual beauty while
never being allowed to take the credit.
In the May 7 issue of People, billed as the
Worlds Most Beautiful People issue, I turned to
page 97 and saw my face under a two-page spread
headlined Real Beauty at Every Age. The women were
arranged by age, from 20 to 59, and there I was the
most beautiful 48-year-old. For some reason, the
spread is not online.
I had entered the contest on a whim, after renewing my
daughter Rosys subscription and subsequently seeing a
notice that People was searching for natural beauties
from coast to coast. I sent in a professional photo, which
People put on a website where people could vote. I was
surprised when People called for some more information
about me, but beyond that, the editors wouldnt reveal
the vote count or the winners. I had to wait until the mag-
azine with Byonce on the cover hit the supermar-
kets at the end of April to see if I had made the cut.
I had already decided on my last birthday that being
considered a beautiful woman might not be the crime of
the century. And as the mother of three daughters, and an
investigative journalist and reporter for nearly two
decades, I was ready for some fun.
Barely a day goes by when I am not asked,
Where do you come from?
As many people who are from a mixed-race
background, I have often tried to belong to one
culture or another, without ever feeling accepted by either.
Life was no piece of sweet kugel growing up in the
1970s as the only half-shiksa in an all-Jewish neighbor-
hood in Los Angeles.
On humid days when I woke up with a Jewfro that even
I I I COMFORTABLE, 18
Comfortable, finally, with being a half-shiksa beauty
Francesca Billerresides in Benicia. A third-generation
Hawaiian of Japanese heritage, she is an investigative journalist
who has contributed to CNN, CBS and the Wall Street Journal.
Local voices welcomed
J
. welcomes your local voice on timely Jewish issues and events
of the day. Submissions will not be returned and are subject to
editing or rejections. Approximate length: 750 words.
e-mail text, not attachments, to editors@jweekly.com
mail to
J
. the Jewish news weekly,
225 Bush St., #1480, San Francisco, CA 94104
opinions
Israel in the Gardens 2007
local
voice
SANFORD
DILLER
Its population has the highest ratio of university degrees in the world.
Its $100-billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors
combined.
It has more museums per capita than any other country.
It produces the world's second highest per capita rate of new books.
Israel produces more scientic papers per capita than any other nation
by a large margin 109 per 10,000 people as well as one of the
highest per capita rates of patents led.
e cell phone was developed in Israel by Motorola, which has its
largest development center in Israel.
Voice mail technology was developed in Israel.
Most of the Windows NT and XP operating systems were developed
by Microso Israel.
Both the Pentium 4 microprocessor and the Centrino processor were
entirely designed, developed, and produced in Israel.
e technology for the AOL Instant Messenger ICQ was developed
by four young Israelis.
Israel has the fourth-largest air force in the world (aer the U.S,
Russia, and China). In addition to a large variety of other aircra,
Israels air force has the largest eet of F-16 aircra outside of
the U.S.
According to industry ocials, Israel designed the airline industrys
most impenetrable ight security. U.S. ocials now look to Israel for
advice on how to handle airborne security threats.
With more than 3,000 high-tech companies and start-ups, Israel has
the highest concentration of high-tech companies in the world outside
of the Silicon Valley. Per capita, Israel has the largest number of biotech
start-ups.
In 2000, Israels per-capita income was over $17,500, exceeding that
of the U.K.
24 percent of Israels workforce holds university degrees, ranking third
in the industrialized world aer the United States and Holland, and
12 percent hold advanced degrees.
Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship and the highest
rate among women and among people over 55 in the world.
Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing
nation on earth. Immigrants (hundreds of thousands from Russia) come
in search of democracy, religious freedom, and economic opportunity.
Israeli medical scientists developed the rst fully computerized,
no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer.
Israelis developed the rst ingestible video camera so small it ts
inside a pill that can view the small intestine from the inside to detect
cancer and digestive disorders.
Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in
the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U.S., 70 in
Japan, and less than 60 in Germany. With over 25% of its work force
employed in technical professions, Israel places rst in this category
as well.
An Israeli company was the rst to develop and install a large-scale
solar-powered and fully functional electricity-generating plant.
Israel is the worlds 100
th
smallest country with less than
one-thousandth of the global population. And yet:
And all of this was accomplished while engaged in war with implacable enemies
that seek Israels destruction, with an economy continuously strained by having
to spend more on its own protection than any other county on earth.
ISRAEL: Small Country,
Big Achievements
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.
J
. | the Jewish news weekly of Northern California 6
Mountain high
Wilderness Torah celebrates Shavuot in the hills of Oakland
T
emanuel maiberg | j. correspondent
The weather forecast that Friday was for rain with a
chance of thunderstorms. Luckily, the worst of it came
and went early in the afternoon, before most people
arrived for Shavuot on the Mountain, a weekend of
camping, praying, learning and community-building
high in the Oakland hills.
The May 25-27 event in Anthony Chabot Regional
Park was organized by Wilderness Torah, a Bay Area non-
profit focused on re-establishing the connection between
Judaism and the environment with guided outdoor expe-
riences.
In addition to Shavuot on the Mountain, Wilderness
Torah organizes Passover in the Desert and Sukkot on the
Farm. The 5-year-old agency also leads bnai mitz-
vah programs for youth, as well as other nature-
based rituals and holiday celebrations.
The sages tell us that we hear Gods voice most
clearly in the wilderness, said one of this years
Shavuot on the Mountain participants, Rachel
Rosenberg, 26. The San Francisco resident read the
weekly parashah, or Torah portion, during the
Saturday morning service.
This notion is all the more apparent when we
have a Torah service outside, a grove of trees as our
shelter and a fallen twig as a yad, she added. A yad
is the pointer used to keep ones place in the Torah
scroll.
Reading Torah outside, as she did on Shabbat in
the Oakland hills, is a very powerful experience,
she said. I felt deeply connected to all of the ances-
tors who have come before us, who have received
revelation and communally wrestled with our tra-
dition.
This was the fourth year for Shavuot on the Mountain,
which used to take place on Mount Tamalpais in Marin
until the number of participants outgrew the campsite.
This years event started on Friday afternoon and lasted
through Sunday, though most of the 175 participants
didnt arrive until Saturday evenings opening ceremony
for Tikkun Leil Shavuot, the all-night text study that is at
the heart of the holiday that celebrates Gods giving of the
Torah to the Jewish people.
By 6 p.m. Friday the skies were clear, and REI and
North Face tents of varying colors and sizes dotted the
tree line at the Bort Meadow campground. As people
arrived, they registered at The Oasis, a makeshift infor-
mation desk consisting of a foldout table, a couple of
camping chairs and a tarp for the roof.
After signing up for a two-hour shift of kitchen duty
(everyone does his or her part at Wilderness Torah
events), attendees received a small wooden disc and a
string. With a Sharpie pen, they made their own
nametags.
The participants varied in age and background, and
while most live in the Bay Area, some came from as far as
New York.
The families who arrived in full formation sported the
best camping gear, with huge tents, coolers and inflatable
mattresses. The younger crowd couples and singles,
gay and straight bonded quickly over music, playing
their guitars and drums together within moments of
meeting each other.
Outside of the ceremonies and the occasional shofar
blast, there was little to identify the crowd as Jewish. With
knitted beanies and ponchos, as opposed to yarmulkes
and tallits, the assembled looked more like a gathering of
hippies than a shul on a mountain.
In many ways, Wilderness Torah could be described as
Judaism meets New Age, matzah meets crunchy granola.
But thats just the reductive pitch. Theres no denying that
Wilderness Torah achieved something so idyllic with
Shavuot on the Mountain, at times you had to pinch
yourself to confirm that what you saw there was real.
On Friday evening, more than 30 participants wel-
comed Shabbat on a clear patch of ground furnished
with large rugs and pillows under a cluster of redwoods.
The service started with acoustic guitars and drums
accompanied by singing and dancing.
The prayerbook photocopies in a plastic folder
included Hebrew prayers with translations, alongside
songs by Bob Marley, Leonard Cohen and George
Harrison. When someone busted out a hula hoop during
the service, no one so much as raised an eyebrow.
After that, things slowed down to a more tradi-
tional pace and the rituals became more familiar. All
present were invited to step up and light a candle as
the final rays of sunshine disappeared beyond the
horizon.
The young children who didnt have the patience
to sit through the service played with balls and
Frisbees, running around in a nearby field.
Every now and then the sound of a jet overhead
broke the spell, punctuating the evenings many
powerful moments.
Zelig Golden, 38, the founding co-director of
Wilderness Torah, says Judaism and the environ-
ment are inseparable because of the ancient tradi-
tions that bind Jews to the land and its fruits, and
also because of the trouble both Judaism and the
Earth face today.
Environmentally were approaching what some
would call a challenge, others a disaster, said
Golden, who used to work as an environmental
lawyer for the Center for Food Safety in San Francisco.
The same is true for Judaism. Only 1.5 percent of the
[U.S.] population is Jewish, and many that make up that
number have a hard time connecting with the Jewish cus-
toms presented to them.
Golden rejected Judaism in early life, then found his
path back through a nonreligious meditation group that
in time led him to Chochmat HaLevs Jewish Renewal
community in Berkeley. Thats where he met Julie Wolk,
35, the other founding co-director of Wilderness Torah,
photos/kayla garelick
Adults and children alike enjoy a learning moment in
Anthony Chabot Regional Park.
Participants enjoy the nice weather during Shavuot on the Mountain.
A
.
ben sales | jta
A landmark vote by the Conservative move-
ments rabbinic committee has established ritu-
als for same-sex wedding ceremonies, affirming
that same-sex marriages have the same sense of
holiness and joy as that expressed in heterosex-
ual marriages.
The May 31 decision by the Committee on
Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative
movements Rabbinical Assembly was several
years in coming, following a 2006 vote by the
committee favor[ing] the establishment of
committed and loving relationships for gay and
lesbian Jews.
But the 2006 responsum declined to specify
rituals for establishing gay and lesbian relation-
ships, calling them complicated and controver-
sial questions that deserve a separate study.
Last weeks position paper, adopted by a vote
of 13-0, with one abstention, fills that void by
outlining two possible marriage ceremonies for
same-sex couples. The papers authors, Rabbis Elliot
Dorff, Daniel Nevins and Avram Reisner, also were the
authors of the 2006 responsum Homosexuality, Human
Dignity and Halakhah, which declared gays eligible for
rabbinic ordination.
This is the next step in the process of bringing about
the full inclusion of LGBT Jews, said Rabbi Aaron
Weininger, the first openly gay student admitted to the
rabbinical school at the Conservative movements Jewish
Theological Seminary. He was ordained this month.
Rabbi Menachem Creditor of Berkeleys Congregation
Netivot Shalom has been performing same-sex marriages
since 2002 four years before the movement permitted
them. He said that Jewish law is flexible, and should
respond to changes within the Jewish community.
Modern halachah has always seen the Torah as its cen-
ter, but not any one meaning as the final interpretation,
said Creditor. There is a growing understanding [among]
Conservative Jews that our responsibility is to steward our
community with clarity. Conservative Judaism believes
halachah changes when it must.
The new position paper acknowledges that same-sex
intimate relationships are comprehensively banned by
classical rabbinic law, or halachah.
The biblical prohibition against homosexual intimacy
appears twice in Leviticus. A man who lies with a male as
with a woman, the two have committed an abomination,
says Leviticus 20:13. They shall be put to death; their
blood is upon them.
For observant gay and lesbian Jews who would other-
wise be condemned to a life of celibacy or secrecy, the
Conservative movements decision said, their human dig-
nity requires suspension of the rabbinic level prohibitions.
Dorff, Nevins and Reisner proposed two possible cere-
monies that incorporate what they deem to be the four key
elements of a Jewish wedding welcoming the couple,
symbols of celebration, a document of covenant and bless-
ings thanking God.
One ceremony hews closely to the traditional Jewish
wedding, making changes in the language and the bless-
ings based on the couples gender and sexuality.
The other departs from that ceremony, with three
blessings, for example, instead of the traditional
seven.
The Conservative decision did not call same-
sex marriages kiddushin, the traditional Jewish
legal term for marriage, because that act of con-
secration is nonegalitarian and gender-specific.
In the traditional kiddushin ceremony, a pair of
blessings is recited and the bridegroom gives his
bride a ring, proclaiming that he is marrying his
bride according to the laws of Moses and Israel.
Such a ceremony would be inappropriate for
same-sex ceremonies, the Conservative rabbis
suggested in their position paper. They also noted
that the use of kiddushin opens the door to
divorce disputes in which husbands may deny
their wife religious writs of divorce, or gets
something that has been the source of great suf-
fering in many Jewish communities.
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, who heads the
LGBT Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in New
York, said these new guidelines represent a major
step forward in Conservative Judaisms sensitivity toward
the LGBT community.
We cant be held hostage to the radical right wing of the
Jewish world, said Kleinbaum, who was ordained by the
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. The Conservative
movement is rejecting religion based on bigotry.
While the 2006 decision to ordain gay and lesbian rabbis
and accept gay couples was controversial, even Rabbi Joel
Roth, who resigned from the law committee in the wake of
that decision, called this latest responsum a very fine thing.
The fact that they created the ceremony is five or six
years overdue, he said. In the Conservative movement as
it exists, the classical position [of forbidding gay relations]
is considered non-normative.
The Reform movements Central Conference of
American Rabbis endorsed Jewish gay marriage in the late
1990s while acknowledging the right of rabbis to choose
whether or not to officiate at same-sex ceremonies. The
Orthodox movement does not allow gay marriage. I
J
Conservative rabbis OK rituals for same-sex weddings
photo/alison yin photography
Rabbi Menachem Creditor officiates at wedding of former
Berkeley residents Margee Churchon (right) and Kate
Smallenburg on May 29, 2011 in Oakland.
Feinstein accepts J Street
endorsement
Incumbent Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein has
accepted the endorsement of J Streets political action
committee.
Feinstein, 78, who is seen as a mainstream pro-Israel
politician, joined three other Senate candidates who
have received a JStreetPAC endorsement for the 2012
election cycle: Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Rep.
Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Rep. Martin Heinrich
(D-N.M.).
The JStreetPAC last week also endorsed 49 House
incumbents and eight House challengers.
Of the 61 total endorsements, 14 are candidates from
California, including Reps. Barbara Lee (D-East Bay)
and Jackie Speier (D-Peninsula), who, along with several
other congresswomen, went on a J Streetsponsored trip
to Israel and the West Bank in February.
JStreetPAC endorsed several other House candidates
from the greater Bay Area: Rep. Mike Honda (D-Silicon
Valley), Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-San Mateo County), Rep.
Sam Farr (D-Salinas), Rep. John Garamendi (D-Contra
Costa County), Rep. Mike Thompson (D-North Bay),
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Santa Clara County) and Rep.
George Miller (D-Contra Costa County).
As of early this week, only five House candidates
none from Northern California had accepted the
JStreetPAC endorsement.
Feinstein, who is Jewish, has consistently backed assis-
tance for Israel, but in some areas she has departed from
pro-Israel orthodoxy. She sponsored legislation in 2006
that would ban the sale of cluster bombs to countries
that would use them in highly populated areas, which
likely would have included Israel.
The legislation was defeated after a strong lobbying
effort by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
In 2010, Feinstein drafted a letter to Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton in which she emphasized that
for too long Israels expansion of settlements in the
West Bank and east Jerusalem undermined confidence.
Senator Feinstein joins a long and growing list of
American politicians who recognize that there is signifi-
cant political support to be found from Americans who
support Israel and deeply believe that American and
Israeli interests would be better served through active
American diplomacy to achieve two states, J Street
President Jeremy Ben-Ami said in a statement. This is a
sea change in American politics when it comes to Israel
and the Middle East. jta
Poll shows strong
Jewish support for
labor, higher taxes
A poll showed American Jews strongly favor tax increases
for the wealthy and tend to back labor in disputes with
management.
The poll, released May 31 by the Workmens Circle,
showed 65 percent of respondents favored raising taxes
on those who earn more than $200,000 a year and 61
percent tend to side with the union when they hear of a
strike against a large company.
A similar number, 62 percent, perceived a major
threat from the power of financial institutions and
banks.
The Workmens Circle, in commissioning the poll,
sought to assess Jewish views on labor, taxes and jobs
because such questions have been absent in recent years
from a number of other high-profile polls of Jewish
Americans.
The Jewish labor rights group, established in 1900, is
seeking to re-assume a higher profile in the Jewish com-
munity.
The poll of 1,000 American Jews was conducted
online. jta I
.
rebecca rosen lum
j. correspondent
Getting through high school is hard
enough for many teenagers. But two Bay
Area Jewish high school graduates faced
and overcame particularly daunting
challenges.
For one, the challenge was moving to an
unfamiliar country to build a new life with
few resources; for the other, it was sur-
mounting prejudice against his nontradi-
tional family. Both say their Jewish high
schools Hebrew Academy and Jewish
Community High School of the Bay
helped them come into their own.
Born in Russia, Vitaly Morozov moved to
the United States with his mother when he
was 6. His parents had divorced when he
was 5.
Settling in San Francisco, where a rela-
tive lived, they had few options. The rela-
tive found them a studio apartment, where
they stayed for a year and a half; Morozov
and his mother moved three more times
over the next six years.
We didnt have much, Morozov said.
In our second [apartment], there was a
boy my age. That was a warm welcome.
Surrounded by Russian-speaking family
and neighbors, language wasnt an issue
until he started school. At the Hebrew
Academy, he went straight into the
English as a second language class. It
took him all of a month to catch up with
his peers.
He said he found a second home at
Hebrew Academy. Were very close, he
said. Its like developing another family,
especially because 90 percent of the stu-
dents are Russian. They understand you
and you understand them.
All that is true, said Rabbi Pinchas
Lipner, the schools dean. But Morozov
brings something special to the table.
Teachers call it brilliance.
The fact is the kids as a group are very
bright and highly motivated, Lipner
said. We are very structured. We expect
good behavior. And he is very nice. He is
No. 1 in his class among some very, very,
very bright kids. We are very, very proud
of him.
His junior year was especially hard,
although the average two to three hours of
work he put in each night might sound
light considering his level of achievement.
Now 18, Morozov is his class valedictori-
an, bound for UCLA in the fall where he
might study business economics.
While he was developing his own tal-
ents, his mother carved out a career as a
social worker, also teaching Russian part
time. Morozov was astonished when she
drove home in a new 2012 car, unaware
that she had been quietly building her
financial profile.
Im very proud of her, he said.
When he was in the eighth grade, Morozov
and his mother had the chance to revisit his
childhood home: Rzhev, a city of 60,000,
called the first town on the Volga River.
It was amazing, he said. I was wor-
ried it would be really awkward, but it was
great.
Elijah Jatovsky, 18, did not grow up a
world away, but rather in San Francisco,
where he split his time between the homes
of his lesbian mother and his gay father,
who had agreed to partner so they could
have a much-wanted child.
Jatovsky celebrated his bar mitzvah at
Congregation Shaar Zahav in San
Francisco. He and his mother, a nurse
practitioner and researcher, also spent six
months on a kibbutz.
My four years at Jewish Community
High School were incredibly formative,
said the graduating senior, who is headed
to Georgetown University in the fall, where
he will major in politics or economics. I
came from a middle school where I felt
very insecure. I didnt know much about
who I am.
Over the past four years, Jatovsky grew
into a natural role as student body presi-
dent and a thoughtful, caring and com-
mitted leader, in the words of college
adviser Geoff Smith.
Jatovsky credits the schools nurturing
for that growth and for imbuing him with
the confidence to pursue and win a coveted
position as a congressional page for House
minority leader Nancy Pelosi.
During his time in Washington, he was
confronted by bias against homosexuality.
Many of his fellow pages expressed blatant
homophobia. One joked that he would be
the first in line with a shotgun if the nation
elected a gay president.
At first, I would stomp out of the room,
grumbling about how backward these
pages were, Jatovsky said. But he knew
that changing opinion requires changing
hearts as well as minds, and that can only
be done with respectful communication.
One night, as the pages gathered for a
gabfest, he posed the question: Isnt the
fight to overcome homophobia the same as
the struggle for civil rights, or the move-
ment to gain equality for women?
They said, this is different, because gay
people have a choice. I asked, what about
their children? They said, well, they are
probably immoral, too. [But] we had
become friends, and they knew I was not
an immoral person. So I asked them, what
if I told you my parents were gay?
On their last night in Washington, the
pages wrote notes to each other. One who
had been the most outspokenly homopho-
bic wrote, You changed my views of San
Francisco. They may be liberals, but they
are OK peeps.
The statement enjoys a prominent place
I I I TWO, 24
J
Two local grads from different worlds come out on top
Vitaly Morozov Elijah Jatovsky
a salute to graduates
Bay Area College Funding
NED BOGIE
Call for Bay Area Workshops/
Team Parent Association Fundraisers
1.800.492.4117
www.mycollegeinfo.com
www.americancollegefoundation.org
CERTIFIED COLLEGE ADVISOR
Th8006h J0LY 1
800k Xh|8|T|0h
San Francisco Public Library
Chinatown, Him Mark Lai Branch,
1135 Powell St., SF, FREE
Th8006h J0LY 1
800k Xh|8|T|0h
San Francisco Public Library
Main Campus, 100 Larkin St.,
SF, FREE
Th8006h J0LY 1
Xh|8|T|0h
"w|ogs oI the Phoeo|x:
0r. Feog Shao ho aod the
8esc0e oI A0str|ao Jews,
1938-1940", The Chinese
Historical Society of America,
965 Clay St., SF, FREE
J0h 12
|S8AL| F0Lk 0Ah0|h6
with dance instructor
Karina Niederman, FREE
10am: (with Tai Chi groups)
Portsmouth Square,
733 Kearny St., SF
3:30pm: San Francisco Public
Library Chinatown, Him Mark Lai
Branch, 1135 Powell St., SF
J0h 14
ST08YTLL|h6 T|N
|h h6L|Sh
2pm: "L|ke Yo0 L|ke Ne" a
childrens book in Hebrew
and Chinese, San Francisco
Public Library Chinatown,
Him Mark Lai Branch,
1135 Powell St., SF, FREE
PAhL 0|S00SS|0h
6pm: "0r|v|og Towards the
F0t0re: |srae|, 0h|oa,
aod |ectr|c Veh|c|es",
Mountain View.
Please RSVP to
economic@sf.mfa.gov.il
J0h 18
Xh|8|T|0hlL0T08
6pm: Opening of the exhibit
"Jews oI ka|Ieog" with a
lecture by Cynthia Zeiden,
The Jewish Community
Center of San Francisco,
3200 California St., SF, FREE
Exhibition dates:
June 18 Aug 31
J0h 26
F|LN S08h|h6
4:30pm: 0shp|z|o" S
Israeli movie with Chinese
subtitles, San Francisco Public
Library Chinatown, Him Mark
Lai Branch, 1135 Powell St.,
SF, FREE
J0h 27
F|LN S08h|h6l00N0Y
8pm: Opening night of the
|srae| 0h|oa F||m Fest|va| with
the screening of the movie
hood|e"
10pm: Standup comedian
JeII App|eba0m, Great Star
Theater Chinatown,
630 Jackson St., SF ($8/$10)
J0h 28
F|LN S08h|h6
7pm: "Port oI Last 8esort",
Great Star Theater Chinatown,
630 Jackson St., SF
9pm: "wo A| h| Nommy"
(I love you Mommy) and
"Starr|og 0av|d", Great Star
Theater Chinatown,
630 Jackson St., SF ($8/$10)
lsraelChInaSF.ccm
Time for Tony kvelling
The Tony Awards, recognizing excellence in Broadway theater, are
being presented (on tape delay) at 8 p.m. Sunday, June 10 on CBS.
The large number of Jewish nominees prevents me from giving much
bio detail. Check TonyAwards.com and other sources for more info.
Here are the Jewish nominees and related people in all but the
technical categories: Best play: Other Desert Cities by Jon Robin
Baitz, 50, and Peter and the Starcatcher by Rick Elice, 55. Best
musical: Leap of Faith by Alan Menken, 62 (music), and Glenn
Slater, 44 (lyrics); Newsies by Menken (music) and Jack Feldman
(lyrics); and Nice Work If You Can Get It, which weaves a new plot
around classic songs by the late Ira and George Gershwin.
Best revival of a play: Death of a Salesman by the late Arthur
Miller. Best revival of a musical: Follies by Stephen Sondheim, 82
(words/music); and Porgy and Bess by the Gershwin brothers. Best
original score written for the theater: Bonnie &
Clyde by Frank Wildhorn, 55 (music), and Don
Black, 74 (lyrics); Newsies (see above); and
Peter and the Starcatcher, lyrics by Elice. Best
book of a musical: Newsies by Harvey Fierstein,
59.
Best leading actress in a play: Linda Lavin, 74,
The Lyons, a play about a Jewish family (penned
by Nicky Silver, 52). Best featured actress in a play:
Judith Light, 63, Other Desert Cities. Best leading
actor in a musical: Danny Burstein, 47, Follies.
Best featured actor in a play: Andrew Garfield, 28,
Death of a Salesman, and Jeremy Shamos, 42, Clybourne Park.
Best featured actress in a musical: Judy Kaye, 63, Nice Work If You
Can Get It. Best featured actor in a musical: Josh Young, 31, Jesus
Christ Superstar.
A few notes of interest: Black, a British landsman, has been penning
hit lyrics since the 60s; his tunes include the Oscar-winning Born
Free. Garfield is also a Brit (with an American mother) who next
month stars in the reboot of the Spider-Man movie franchise. Last
year, Playbill asked Slater about his religious background because he
wrote the lyrics for Sister Act, the mega-hit musical about nuns. He
replied: Im Jewish. This is a show about nuns in which two of the
book writers and the composer [Menken] and the lyricist and the
director were all Jewish. [Laughs.] So we bring a slightly skewed
point of view. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is very likely to win the Tony
for best actor (Willy Loman in Salesman). On May 18, the New York
Times ran an in-depth article Is Willy Loman Jewish? that addressed
this longstanding question.
A trio of proud mothers
Last month, former Berkeleyite Andy Samberg, 33, was a hit as
Harvards commencement speaker, offering hilarious tongue-in-cheek
advice. It remains to be seen if his new film, Thats My Boy, will add
to his laurels and end the cold streak of the films co-star, Adam
Sandler, 45. (It opens Friday, June 15.) Sandler
plays Donald Berger, who fathered a son he named
Han Solo Berger (Samberg), when he was a teen.
Berger raises Han, alone, until Hans 18th birthday.
Then Han, who renames himself Todd Peterson,
goes off and Berger loses touch with him. A big tax
bill motivates Berger to find Todd and try to hit
him up for a loan.
The Berkeley Unified School District has been the
beneficiary of Sambergs real-life largesse. In
January, he and his Berkeley-raised buddies in the
comedy group Lonely Island (Akiva Schaefer, 34,
and Jorma Taccone) put together a complicated swap deal that saw
Doritos donate $250,000 to the district. Out of his own pocket,
Samberg donated $15,000 to Berkeleys John Muir Elementary School
and, last month, Lonely Island donated $10,000 of the $15,000 needed
for wiring a scoreboard at Berkeley Highs new Derby Field. The Daily
Cal reports that the mothers of all three guys will be on hand for the
fields groundbreaking ceremony. I
Linda Lavin
Columnist Nate Bloom, an Oaklander, can be reached at middleoftheroad1@aol.com.
Andy
Samberg
noted, but nothing this
comprehensive.
As for Mads Jewish back-
story, Farago couples it with
the bigger story of comics in
America. If you remove the
Jewish creators from the
American comic book
industry, it doesnt exist, he
says. The language in Mad
often had Yiddish.
That showed up in the
occasional Yiddishism
from shmuck to shmen-
drik that slipped in
between the lines.
Contemporary comic
book artist Al Gordon
took in the exhibit one
recent Friday, admiring
various panels and expressing his
indebtedness to Mad. Hes still reading
it, though it has gone from a monthly to
bimonthly and now accepts ads.
Im a total pervert because of Mad,
Gordon says. From issue one, its not just
funny, its sick. It was the stuff you laughed
at as a kid and the stuff
your mom laughed at
when you walked away.
Gordon grew up the son
of a Jewish immigrant
who stowed away on a
boat sailing to New York a
century ago. He grew up in a
Yiddish-speaking home, but
like many first-generation
Americans, he turned his
back on the shtetl world of
his parents and embraced
American culture.
That included comics
and Mad magazine.
Mort Drucker is the
best caricaturist who ever
lived, he proclaims of the
Mad artist who mocked
the television shows of the
60s and 70s. Jack Davis
was the greatest inker who
ever lived.
Most of Mads old guard
has died, with the excep-
tion of Al Jaffee, the Lithuanian Jewish
genius who created the back-page fold-
in cartoons. At 91, hes still on the job
after 57 years. Serious people my age are
dead, he once quipped.
For the unserious, the Mad exhibit will
be up on the walls of the Cartoon Art
Museum until the end of
summer.
Says Farago, Ive worked
on 100 shows, but this
might be my best one. Its a
real labor of love. I
James Warholas
painting appeared
on a Mad paperback
in the 1980s.
60 Years of Mad,
through Sept. 16. Cartoon Art
Museum, 655 Mission St., S.F.
www.cartoonart.org
J
ews
.
J
Who moved my
Torah passage?
Rethinking perfect
In our Torah scrolls, two verses in this
weeks portion are surrounded at each
end by an upside-down letter nun: When
the Ark was to set out, Moses
would say: Advance, Adonai!
May Your enemies be scat-
tered, and may Your foes flee
before you! And when it halt-
ed, he would say, Return,
Adonai, You are Israels myri-
ads of thousands! (Numbers
10:3536).
The special significance of
this short passage already was
debated in the Talmud: The Holy One,
Blessed be, made marks on this passage,
above and below (Shabbat 115b). The
inverted nun is the remnant of a very old
tradition indicating that this small sec-
tion of Torah is not quite right.
Sifrei, a rabbinic commentary from the
time of the Talmud, specifically said there
were dots above and below each letter in
this passage. By the second century, the
tradition of treating this passage in a spe-
cial way was firmly established, but no
one knew why!
Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi (second century)
taught that these two verses were a book
of the Torah unto themselves. He suggest-
ed that the Book of Numbers should be
divided into three individual books: the
first 10 chapters, these two verses, and the
balance of the book. These three, together
with the Torahs other four, would consti-
tute a seven-volume Torah. This view was
supported by the biblical verse Wisdom
has built her house, She has hewn her
seven pillars (Proverbs 9:1).
Wisdom commonly was understood
to be a reference to Torah; thus, if wisdom
had seven pillars, how did these correlate
to just five books? So the rabbi renumbered
the books of the Torah and counted seven.
What was so distinctive about these
verses that merited their consideration as
an entirely separate book? Rabbi Yehuda
doesnt say. Some ancient commentators
suggest that these verses are all that sur-
vives from a now-lost book of prophetic
teachings of Eldad and Medad, two
unauthorized prophets mentioned in this
weeks portion.
More intriguing is an explanation
brought forward in the Talmud: The
Holy One placed marks above and below
this passage to indicate that it is out of
place. Its as if God realized that the
Torah still needed some editing, and
highlighted this passage for later revision,
but never got around to it.
The very idea that the
Torah is a less-than-perfect
document, however, contra-
dicts much of what our tra-
dition teaches. Personally, I
love the verses at the end of
the Torah service, which
include: Gods Torah is per-
fect, reviving the soul; Gods
teaching is sure, making wise
the simple (Psalm 19:8).
The psalmists words are true, if we
understand Torah in its fullest and richest
meaning. The Talmuds observation
This section is out of place is an invi-
tation to engage in a careful and lovingly
critical reading of the Torah. The self-
reflective and self-critical stance is one of
the most distinguishing and wonderful
aspects of our tradition.
Our reading of sacred scripture is not
troubled by the realization that some-
thing appears out of place; this aware-
ness is the opening to a creative
midrashic reading or, in other places, the
wrestling that is at the core of our identity
as the descendants of Jacob.
In his wonderful People of the Book,
Moshe Halbertal persuasively argues that
a core moment in Judaism is the transfer-
ence of authority from the Torahs divine
inspiration to rabbinic interpretation.
There are several talmudic legends in
which God declines to answer legal ques-
tions posed by Moses successors; when
Joshua tries to learn what he once heard
and has since forgotten, the reply quotes
the Torah (Deuteronomy 30:1112):
This Instruction which I enjoin upon
you this day is not beyond reach. It is
not in the heavens (Temura 16a).
The Torahs perfection, its complete-
ness and value, are found not in the scroll
itself, just as in ourselves and our world
there are things that are out of place. All
the same, we ground ourselves in Torah
in its words, in its interpretations and
in our continuing wrestling with its
teachings as understood by prior genera-
tions, by the interpretative communities
that we are part of and by our own ever-
emerging understanding. We come to
realize that in the pre-messianic world in
which we live, even that which is most
perfect remains incomplete and in need
of tikkun. I
Behaalotcha
Numbers 8:112:16
Zechariah 2:144:7
Rabbi Yoel Kahn is the senior rabbi at Reform Congregation Beth El of Berkeley. He can be
reached at rabbikahn@bethelberkeley.org.
lifecycles
bnai mitzvah
Alissa Bernstein Daughter of Marcella and Stuart Bernstein, Saturday, June 9 at
Congregation Kol Emeth in Palo Alto.
Carolyn Cheng Daughter of Sara Reinganum and Joseph Cheng, Saturday, June 9
at Temple Isaiah in Lafayette.
Zoe Cheng Daughter of Sara Reinganum and Joseph Cheng, Saturday, June 9 at
Temple Isaiah in Lafayette.
Brenna Connolly Daughter of Hannah Klein and Sean Connolly, Saturday, June 9
at Peninsula Temple Sholom in Burlingame.
Hannah Elisofon Daughter of Masako and David Elisofon, Saturday, June 9 at
Congregation Beth Jacob in Redwood City.
Joanna Falla Daughter of Charlotte and Kerry Falla, Saturday, June 9 at
Congregation Etz Chayim in Palo Alto.
Emma Gersho Daughter of Morna and Brian Gersho, Saturday, June 9 at Beth
Chaim Congregation in Danville.
Alexander Hutton Son of Carolyn and Ron Hutton, Saturday, June 9 at Temple
Sinai in Oakland.
Sarah Magen Daughter of Jodi Magen and Burt Magen, Saturday, June 9 at
Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco.
Levi Myers Son of Deborah Lewis and Marty Myers, Saturday, June 9 at
Congregation Netivot Shalom in Berkeley.
Daniel Pascal Son of Danna Gillette-Pascal and Steven Pascal, Saturday, June 9 at
Temple Beth Abraham in Oakland.
Samantha Pearlstein Daughter of Sharon and Robert Pearlstein, Saturday, June
9 at Congregation Beth Emek in Pleasanton.
Ryan Sacks Son of Martin Sacks, Saturday, June 9 at Congregation Kol Shofar in
Tiburon.
Rachel Sims Daughter of Susan and Kenneth Sims, Saturday, June 9 at
Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills.
Adam Stein Son of Toni and Dan Stein, Saturday, June 9 at Congregation Beth El in
Berkeley.
Ethan Strull Son of Deborah and William Strull, Saturday, June 9 at Congregation
Rodef Sholom in San Rafael.
Nieves WinslowDaughter of Elizabeth Jimenez-Winslow and Jeffrey Winslow,
Saturday, June 9 at Congregation Bnai Tikvah in Walnut Creek.
Ben Yurovitsky Son of Anna Leyderman and Michael Yurovitsky, Saturday, June 9
at Peninsula Sinai Congregation in Foster City.
Ashley Biden, the daughter of Vice President
Joe Biden, married a Jewish doctor on June
2 in Delaware.
Ashley Biden, 30, and
Howard Krein, 45, were mar-
ried in an interfaith Jewish-
Catholic ceremony at the
Biden familys church. Biden
and Krein reportedly dated
for a year before they became
engaged in September.
Biden is a social worker.
Krein is an ear, nose and throat specialist at
Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia.
Were happy to welcome Howard into
our family, and we wish them all the best in
their new life together, said a statement from
the vice president and his wife, Jill, issued
after the wedding.
The Rev. David F. Murphy,
a Roman Catholic priest, offi-
ciated at St. Joseph on the
Brandywine Church in Green-
ville, Del., with Rabbi Joseph
Foreman assisting, the New
York Times reported.
The couple will reside in
Philadelphia.
Hallie Biden, married to the vice presi-
dents son, Beau, is also Jewish. jta I
Bidens daughter marries Jewish doctor
births
Richard and Marika Sine announce the birth of their
second son, Elliot Haloa Sine, 9 lbs. 2 oz., on June
1st, 2012. His brother Jonah, 3, and his grandparents,
Robert Sine and Marcy Hamilton and Georgia and
David McCauley, are delighted to welcome him to the
family.
.
J
The Bay Area finally has its first Jewish
food truck. The Old World Food Truck, a
venture that started last year as a pop-up
restaurant, began rolling May 10 under
the direction of owner and chef Kenny
Hockert, who has been taking the truck
out a couple of times per week.
Things are going good, but its been
hectic, an exhausted but energized
Hockert told me last week. This is the
first business Ive ever started, and there
are so many things you cant plan for. We
are learning as we go.
On Thursday, June 14, the truck will
begin its first regular gig: lunch every
other Thursday at the Mission Dispatch
street food pod, at 18th and Bryant
streets in San
Francisco. Hockert
also is anticipating
appearances at the
new SoMa StrEat
Food Park (the citys
first permanent pod,
with 10 trucks daily,
for lunch and dinner,
at Division and 11th
streets).
But more than just hitting the streets,
Hockert wants to make inroads into the
Jewish community.
Part of my vision and goal is to inte-
grate the business at different Jewish cul-
tural events, said Hockert, a New York
native and trained chef. I really want to
be part of the community.
The Old World Food Truck sells main-
ly pierogies, Reubens, knishes and chick-
en schnitzel sandwiches. Hockert esti-
mates that for a typical lunch, he makes
70-80 sandwiches, along with 30 orders
of pierogies.
Other items include carrot and poppy
seed slaw, celery soda, and borscht and
pickles. All his doughs are made from
scratch. Sometimes there is matzah bark
(smothered in caramel, chocolate, toast-
ed almonds and sea salt) or house-made
potato chips infused with horseradish. Is
it any surprise that Hockert advertised
recently on Craigslist for more cooks?
Im still cooking most of the food
myself, he said. But I havent pulled
back. Im going on with the schedule.
Hockert said hed love to partner with
some or all of the other new Jewish food
entrepreneurs on a breakfast or a brunch
or even a big Jewish food festival.
Theres enough of us now that we
should all grow the market together, he
said.
Old World Food Truck
@OldWorldtruck on Twitter, Old World Food Truck
on Facebook, www.oldworldfoodtruck.com
NEW BAGEL SPOT: Not all of the
kosher food news coming from the
South Peninsula last week was sad news.
Two days before the upscale Kitchen
Table ceased operations in Mountain
View, a new kosher food spot opened in
East Palo Alto.
Well, maybe new isnt the right
word, because Izzys Brooklyn Bagels
has been around for 16 years. But now
the certified kosher establishment has
a second location, at 2220 University
Ave., on the east side of Highway 101
near Ikea. The grand opening was
June 1.
Its a good location for us because of
the rent [cheaper than Palo Alto] and
its on the route to and from the
Dumbarton Bridge, said Maria Arzate,
Izzys manager for 12 years. Plus, we
were looking for a place where we could
do more production.
The new spot has about 33 percent
more space than the Izzys at 477 S.
California Ave. in Palo Alto.
The parve menu will be the same as
the original, with one exception. In def-
erence to the neighborhood, Were
going to try a more Mexican type of
hummus, Arzate said. Something more
spicy, for the area.
Izzys Brooklyn Bagels No. 2
2220-B University Ave., East Palo Alto
6 a.m.-3 p.m.; closed on Shabbat
(650) 322-5700 www.izzysbrooklynbagels.com
PASTRAMI IN NAPA: A Jewish deli
food truck called Pastranomy made its
debut May 17 in downtown Napa. Unlike
most bottom-up food truck endeavors,
this is the pet project of Michael Dellar, co-
founder, president and CEO of the $50
million, 14-restaurant Lark Creek restau-
rant group, and some of his friends the
pastrami boys, he calls them.
This has nothing to do with my restau-
rants, Dellar told me. This is a special lit-
tle deal, not to make money, but because I
love deli. However, the debut revealed that
the operation needs some fine-tuning, and
appearance No. 2 still hasnt occurred. It
should happen by the end of June. Keep
tabs at www.pastranomy.com.
SHABBIS DINNERS: Wise Sons Deli,
which usually closes at 3 p.m., is trying out
its first dinner service, with an initial test run
Friday, June 8. Co-owners Leo Beckerman
and Evan Bloom are billing it as a shabbis
dinner (their spelling), but there will be no
rituals or blessings; people will order off a
special menu planned in part by a guest chef.
The first one is Thomas Martinez, formerly
of Mission Beach Caf, and some of the
offerings will be kreplach stuffed with purple
potato and shlishkes (potato dumplings, a
Hungarian Jewish favorite) dusted with
challah panko and morel mushrooms.
Reservations needed. Visit www.wisesons-
deli.com for more info.
A HAPPY GHETTO: The JCC of the
East Bay is launching a summer food
series at 7:30 p.m. June 28 with a panel
discussion about Berkeleys Gourmet
Ghetto. Adam Cohen, the manager of the
Off the Grid food truck gatherings, will
be one of the panelists, along with reps
from the JCCs North Berkeley neighbors
(tentatively): Sauls Deli, the Cheese
Board Collective, the Juice Bar Collective
and the Local Butcher Shop. The Old
World Food Truck might cater, but if
not, there still will be food to nosh on, an
organizer said. Visit www.jcceastbay.org
for updates and for details on the series
other two events. I
Hardly Strictly Bagels runs the second
Friday of each month. For more frequent Jewish
food news, follow @andytheohr on Twitter. Send hot
tips and out-of-the-way finds to andy@jweekly.com.
Old World Food Truck
hardly strictly bagels
Levys Bagels & Co. is coming to Alameda, but not
until August at the earliest. The longtime San Ramon spot
has been owned for 11 years by Sam Kuav (whom many
assume is Jewish, but is actually Cambodian). Kuav is
working through the permit process for location No. 2, in
a good foot-traffic spot on Webster Street in Alameda next
to a Starbucks Beautys Bagel Shop on Telegraph
Avenue in Oakland has put up some lighting and the
counter is done, but co-owner Blake Joffe said mid-July
when asked about an opening date As the result of a
customer survey, Peets Coffee & Tea is now selling
bagels at most Northern California locations. They are
baked fresh daily by local vendors, but be forewarned:
Most Peets dont have a toaster, only one or two types are
available, your choice of spreads is regular cream cheese or
nothing and the bagel I tried was not boiled (and not
very good) Wise Sons Deli was featured on KRON-
TV last month on Dine & Dish. See the 2-minute piece
at www.kron.com/Reporters/wisesons.aspx. Surprisingly,
the KQED-TV show Check Please, Bay Area hasnt con-
tacted the boys yet, but the spotlight keeps finding them,
such as the deli winning SF Weeklys readers poll for best
new restaurant of 2012 After a fun and engaging debut
last month, Kehilla Community Synagogues Pop-Up
Shabbat is back. All are invited to the short outdoor
service at 6 p.m. Friday, June 8 near the Bites Off
Broadway food truck gathering, 365 45th St., Oakland.
Dinner is on your own at the trucks, of course The
inaugural Israel China Cultural Festival thats run-
ning through June in San Francisco is going to conclude
July 2 with a unique event: a Chinese-style banquet inspired
by foods one would find in Israel, such as hummus, falafel,
shakshouka and couscous. Visit www.israelchinasf.com
With all thats going on with food locally, Israel in the
Gardens (page 2) should be a veritable Israeli and Jewish
food orgy. So why are there only two stands where you can
get lunch? Vendors are dissuaded by a regulation that pro-
hibits cooking on the Yerba Buena Gardens grounds; they
have to prepare cooked food early in the day, or somewhere
near the festival, and cart it in. Things sit in a tent for hours
and you cant provide a quality product, one former vendor
told me. We tried a steamer once and it was a disaster. I
Leftovers
Hundreds of Bay Area food
trucks now one is Jewish
.
Yair Jerry Eisenberg
Yair Jerry Eisenberg passed away at
Stanford University Medical Center on May 27,
2012, of complications from heart disease. Yair
is survived by daughters Beth Pennay of
Fremont, California and Rebecca Eisenberg of
Ann Arbor, Michigan, sons-in-law Robert
Pennay and Judah Garber, grandsons Solomon
Garber and Jacob Garber, step-grandsons
Anthony Pennay and Christopher Pennay, and
Shlomit Eisenberg Barzilai and Shai Eisenberg,
both of Tel Aviv, the children of his recently
deceased brother Amnon Eisenberg.
Born on August 19, 1928 in Jerusalem, Israel,
Yair led an exciting life. He was a proud son of
the State of Israel. His parents, Shlomo and Yafa
Eisenberg, came to Jerusalem from Poland to
build a Jewish state. Shlomo was general secre-
tary of the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem during
Yairs childhood, and their home was a gather-
ing place for visiting dignitaries and philanthro-
pists who joined the causes of providing a
homeland for the Jewish people and rescuing
Jews during and after World War II.
After graduating from the Gymnasia Rehavia
in Jerusalem in 1946, Yair spent a year of full-
time military service. Formally he served in the
British Palestine Frontier force, but his alle-
giance was to the Palmach, which was then
still an underground military organization dedi-
cated to establishing the State of Israel. He
traveled to the United States to begin his col-
lege education at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology in the fall of 1947. He had to
take his freshman year final exams early
because he was called back home for the War
of Independence. Yair fought bravely and nar-
rowly avoided death in the battle of Beit
Hanoun, Operation Ten Plagues. He stayed in
Israel to continue his engineering studies at
Haifa Technion for two years before returning
to MIT, where he completed his BS in civil
engineering in 1952.
During his senior year at MIT, Yair met his
future wife, Marjorie Bragdon. They were mar-
ried in October 1952 and thereafter settled in
Reading, Massachusetts with their two daugh-
ters. In 1962, they moved to the Palo Alto
area, where Yair resided for 50 years.
Yair had an illustrious career as a civil engi-
neer designing major public works, including
over 40 years with the consulting engineering
firm of Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade and
Douglas. Among his many accomplishments,
he designed underground stations for rapid
transit systems throughout the United States.
He played a central role in the design of the
Bay Area Rapid Transit system from inception
to completion. He was an expert in the design
of underground structures in seismically active
regions. In addition to rapid transit systems,
he designed tunnels and sewage outfall proj-
ects throughout the world.
Yair was an avid traveler who continued
exploring the world with Marjorie in retirement.
He spoke multiple languages and loved to
address people in their native language, even if
he knew only a few words. He was an excellent
photographer who leaves behind a rich photo-
graphic archive of scenic places, exotic animals,
and friends from around the world. He was also
an avid reader with passionate interests in his-
tory and politics. He enjoyed engaging his
friends in lively discussions of world affairs.
After the death of Marjorie in 2007, Yair
became involved in many activities at the Jewish
Community Center in Palo Alto. He also regularly
attended Torah study at Temple Beth Am, Current
Events at Little House in Menlo Park, and weekly
forums of the Humanist Community of Silicon
Valley. He formed many close friendships and had
an active social and intellectual life until the end.
His sweetness, generosity, intelligence, and
sense of humor touched many lives, and his
memory is a blessing to his family and to the
many people who loved him.
A memorial service is scheduled for Sunday,
June 10 at 2 p.m. in the Freidenrich
Conference Center, 4th Floor, Jewish
Community Center, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto,
California. Donations can be made in his name
to the American Heart Association, the
American Jewish World Service, or the
Oshman Family Jewish Community Center.
Audrey Joan Misrack
A native and lifelong resident of San Francisco,
Audrey passed away peacefully at home on May
17, 2012 at age 88. She was the daughter of
Frank and Florence Berman and sister of the
late Frank Berman, Jr. Audrey was a graduate of
George Washington High School and was happily
married for 52 years to the late Dr. Maury L.
Misrack. She was a devoted and beloved mother,
grandmother, and great-grandmother.
Audrey loved travel and football, especially
the San Francisco 49ers and the Cal Bears.
She spent many decades enjoying these activi-
ties with her husband and family. In addition,
Audrey was an active member of the
Congregation Emanu-El Sisterhood Board and
a longtime volunteer for Mount Zion Hospital
in the Orthopedic Clinic.
Audrey is survived by her children, Marilee
Fenn (Arthur), Linda OConnor (John), and Terri
Klein; by her grandchildren, John, Scott (Tara),
Sarah, Lisa (Jeff), Adam, and Rachel; and by
her great granddaughter, Juliette.
Private services were held. Donations may
be made in her memory to either the Elizabeth
S. & Alvin I. Fine Museum Fund of Congregation
Emanu-El or to the San Francisco Food Bank.
Marilyn Weisberg
In San Francisco at age 79. Marilyn was born
in Omaha, Nebraska, to Max and Esther
Kaplan. Marilyn received her B.A. from
Northwestern University. In June 1955, she
married Raymond Weisberg and moved to San
Francisco. She was active in many organiza-
tions and in Democratic politics. She served as
the President of the Jewish Family and
J
obituaries
III from 33
Kingsolver. Dave Barry played guitar with the group and
introduced Goldmark to his brother, whom she married in
June 2009.
Goldmarks first husband, guitarist Joe Goldmark, was
Jewish, and they gave their son, Tony, a Jewish education
even though the boy opted to cut a record instead of having
a bar mitzvah, a choice his parents offered.
Every year, Sam and Kathi would host rambunctious Passover
seders, filled with friends, family and, of course, kazoos. We got
serious when we needed to, we laughed, we feasted, Barry
recalls. It was a big deal to the people who came, and to Kathi.
Barry, who is not Jewish, says hell have to keep the tradi-
tion going, which will be hard without his beloved wife. But
Ill have a team of Jews to help me, he notes.
Last November, Goldmark got the job at the Oshman
Family JCC. She spent four months there before going on
sick leave. Fellow staff members donated their sick days so
she could stay on the payroll, Barry says, and dedicated the
weekly Shabbat Shmooze to her memory after she died.
Thats a lot of love, Barry notes. The JCC was so gener-
ous to Kathi and to me.
The generosity worked both ways, Sels says. She became
part of our family very quickly. She made you feel anything
was possible and it was!
Goldmarks last effort at the JCC was to organize Litquake,
a half-day celebration of local Jewish writers scheduled for
Aug. 26. Sels called it Goldmarks legacy at the JCC and said
the day will be dedicated to her memory. The Remainders
final concert will take place June 23 at the Anaheim
Convention Center, marking the groups 20th anniversary.
Goldmark died as she had lived, surrounded by those who
loved her. And, at the last, she smiled and whispered the
word made famous in Citizen Kane Rosebud.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by their three
children, Tony Goldmark, Daniel Barry and Laura Barry; her
mother, Betty Kamen; and her brothers, Michael and Paul
Kamen. A service is planned June 25 at Congregation Sherith
Israel in San Francisco. I
Goldmark, a creative whirlwind, created a legacy at Oshman Family JCC
deaths
danielle fleischman | jta
In her final months as a political science
major at the University of Pittsburgh,
Susanna Zlotnikov had a positive outlook
about landing a job.
But as the months passed and her net-
work of contacts led only to dead ends,
Zlotnikov decided she needed a backup.
Instead of spending the summer after her
graduation sending out more rsums,
Zlotnikov took a pair of internships and
moved to Israel.
It worked out well: She was hired to work
full time in Israel as grants coordinator with
Save a Childs Heart, an Israeli-based human-
itarian organization that provides cardiac sur-
gery for children from the developing world.
With the U.S. job market still uncertain, a
growing number of college graduates are
turning to Israel-based programs to bridge
their educational and professional careers.
In many cases, these young American Jews
are drawn to the programs not out of
Zionist sensibilities but because theyre
looking for workplace experience or seek-
ing a way to do something Jewish. Some are
even finding jobs in Israel and staying.
After losing a job in Hollywood, Jessica
Fass decided to go on a Birthright Israel trip
and then stayed in the country for an extra
month. Upon returning to the United
States, Fass experienced culture shock and
kept thinking about returning to Israel. She
decided to do an internship through WUJS
Israel Hadassah, which helps college gradu-
ates locate opportunities in Israel. It
seemed like the perfect time to go, she said.
Within six months, Fass had found a full-
time job in Israel working in marketing for
a company in Tel Aviv. Fass said she was
surprised to find how much more willing
Israelis were to take a chance on a new hire.
I dont think that would have happened
in the States because I had no experience in
marketing, she said.
Organizations that bring Jewish youth to
Israel are trying to capitalize on the bleak
job prospects for college graduates in the
United States. Programs that offer intern-
ships in Israel say they have seen a spike in
applicants since the recession hit in 2008.
I remember in 2008 when our numbers
skyrocketed, said Amy Gross, program
recruiter at WUJS Israel Hadassah. Its
mostly recent college graduates because
they have trouble finding a job, but they
want to experience Israel as well.
WUJS (World Union of Jewish Students)
offers five-month internships in Israel.
Participants also enjoy Hebrew classes twice
a week, immersion in Israeli culture and
weekly trips to explore the country.
Masa Israel, which helps place diaspora
Jews in long-term Israel programs, created
a program called A Better Stimulus Plan
targeted at recent college graduates looking
for internship opportunities in Israel while
they wait out the economic troubles in the
U.S. Avi Rubel, Masas North American
director, says about 1,800 participants are
having post-college internship experiences
double the rate of recent years.
Jesse Zryb, who graduated from Tulane
University with a masters degree in archi-
tecture, decided to sign up for Masa after a
job he had been promised disappeared.
Through Masa, he was hired as an intern at
Stav Architects just outside Tel Aviv.
Zryb says he thinks the 4-month pro-
gram made him more attractive to poten-
tial employers back home: After finishing
it, he was hired as a designer at a fabric
design firm in New York. I
Job-seeking U.S. college
grads find opportunity in Israel
CONGRATULATION8!
AEPi Graduating Class
UC Davis Chi Delta Chapter
Deer Valley High School, Antioch
Hazcl 1ov Fmily Cccil
Best wishes from Ned Bogie
Liberty High School, Brentwood
Hazcl 1ov Frica \citch
.
There is a lot of handwringing these days about whether
the rising costs of Jewish day schools are sustainable. The
discussion has been about money, but this misses the
point: The largest costs of day school tuition are not finan-
cial but moral, and the key to solving the financial dilem-
ma is to address the moral problem.
Parents take second jobs, or work
longer hours, that deprive them of
almost all weekday contact with
their children.
Nearly half of households are
transformedfrom community
contributors to charity recipients.
Children aspiring to intellectual,
creative or service work, such as
teaching, are told that these are not
options because they will not pro-
duce enough money for a committed Jewish lifestyle.
Many of the moral challenges come not from the
amount that families must pay but from the system
that determines the amount. Under the current finan-
cial-aid system, families have no guarantee of how they
will be affected by tuition hikes or whether the school
will take account of a job loss or extra income from a
second job. Unable to plan, and chronically dependent
on the decisions of others, they are deprived of eco-
nomic dignity.
Furthermore, financial-aid applications require families
to state their expenses in often humiliating detail, so that
an anonymous committee can sit in judgment.
Yes, the price of poverty is often loss of privacy and dig-
nity. But these are evils; they must be minimized. The cur-
rent system maximizes these evils by forcing otherwise
self-supporting, even wealthy families to apply for charity
because full tuition is unaffordable even for many house-
holds earning more than $200,000 per year.
A model like that of the Solomon Schechter Day School
of Greater Boston offers great potential. Put simply, heres
how it might work: Basic tuition is a fixed percentage of
gross income set at approximately the percentage that the
current financial aid process tends to charge middle-income
families. High-income families can choose to pay a fixed
amount, approximately what is now called full tuition, in
order to lower their tuition, and families unable to pay the
fixed percentage could, as now, apply for financial aid.
This model corrects many current deficiencies:
It makes the tuition-setting process transparent and pre-
dictable for many more families.
It moves many middle-class families off the charity rolls
and minimizes the schools intrusion into their affairs.
It defines day school education as a public good to be
communally supported instead of an individual good pri-
vately purchased.
It makes clear that the rich, even when they pay the max-
imum tuition, are assessed a lower percentage of their
income than the middle class.
Families that now avoid day school because of the
uncertainties and indignities of the financial aid process
may now enroll. Wealthier families may donate signifi-
cantly more when they see their tuition payments as
reflecting a discount. Administrators will have a much
clearer sense of revenues, and the school community will
be more accountable for designing the school so that it
remains within the financial ambit of its constituency. I
Rabbi Aryeh Klapper is dean of the Center for Modern
Torah Leadership and teaches rabbinic literature at Gann Academy
in Waltham, Mass. This article was first published by Jewish Ideas
Daily (www.jewishideasdaily.com) and is reprinted with permission.
J
A financially and morally sustainable model for day school tuition
Two local grads from different worlds come out on top
III from 20
on Jatovskys wall a tribute, he says, to
respectful communication.
He is infused with a real idealism and
optimism, said his dad, Ron Lezell, a
financial consultant and former regional
vice president of the World Union for
Progressive Judaism.
As part of his senior project, Jatovsky
created NatCon (NationalConnect.org),
which pairs schools across the country
to connect students and ensure that
this generation and future leaders know
how to communicate with those who
are different or with whom they may
disagree.
He is one of the most politically aware
students in the school, said Smith.
Jatovsky said he is just so grateful that I
spent the last four years at JCHS.
The minute you walk through the door,
there is a tangible feeling, you can breathe
in the encouragement people feel for you.
It supports a kids passions. I
Deer Valley High School, Antioch
/.
Dozier-Libbey Medical High School, Antioch
Hazcl 1ov Fthan Hahoncy
J
.
What the Almighty
requires of us
The two-state solution is an Israeli fantasy based on the
illusion that if we give the Arabs half our land, theyll
allow us to keep the other half. This illusion persists
despite explicit P.A. declarations that the creation of a
Palestinian state would not end the conflict with Israel,
but intensify it. Their insistence that millions of Arabs
must have the right to return to Israel even after the cre-
ation of their own state proves theyre not interested in
peace.
Also, the very idea of carving a separate Arab state out
of the Land of Israel is a betrayal of 4,000 years of Jewish
history. The Hebrew nation was founded on belief in the
supremacy of God and the truth of His covenant. As long
as we adhere faithfully to what the Almighty requires of
us, we have nothing to fear from the nations. But when
we reject His commands, and instead place our trust in
baseless and godless ideologies, the nations scorn us and
were unable to stand up to them.
The time has come for Israel to restore its connection
to its source, take possession of the Promised Land, stop
negotiating with its enemies and start defeating them.
Martin Wasserman | Sunnyvale
Use BDS against P.A.
The complaint about the Bureau of Jewish Education
banning speakers who advocate BDS is ironic (Panel on
Jewish activism will go on, but not at BJE, May 18).
Those advocates themselves attempt to bypass the dem-
ocratic process and force their agenda on Israel.
But weakening Israel by BDS will not bring peace. As a
matter of fact, it makes more sense to use BDS against the
Palestinian Authority, to force them to comply with pre-
vious agreements and refrain from illegal, oppressive poli-
cies: glorifying terrorists; teaching hatred of Jews in
schools, media, sermons; refusing Israels repeated
requests to negotiate; paying families of suicide bombers
and of terrorist prisoners; persecuting, arresting, tortur-
ing, killing critics of the P.A., and more.
Will someone please explain to me why all adverse
criticism and demands for concessions are directed at
Israel and none against the P.A.?
Lawrence Weiswasser | Vacaville
Descent into hell
Reader Sarah Goldwasser is shocked that Muslim chil-
dren are taught Jew hatred, in Canada no less ( Keep an
open mind, letters, June 1). What planet is she on?
Palestinian TV routinely spews forth such venomous
trash, daily. Name one Muslim country, just one, that
publicly condemns Irans incessant call to finish Hitlers
work. There are, of course, notable individual exceptions
in the Muslim world. Sadly, their numbers are anemic
and the voices are drowned. Forget not those Germans
who opposed the Nazis, as we in the West merrily and
mindlessly descend into Islamic and Shariah hell.
Mike Levine | Moraga
Out of harms way
I would like to thank Peter A. Joseph for his well-written
op-ed (U.S. moderates must reclaim Israel debate from
fringes, May 11). He presented a calm discussion on this
complex and divisive subject.
Yet it missed a critical point why U.S. Jewry, or Jews
in general, find it necessary to debate and judge Israels
policies and actions.
Is this due to the Jewish teachings of tikkun olam
(which commands us to correct and improve the
world around us) intersecting with Kol Yisrael arevim
zeh la-zeh (which implies that all Jews are responsible
for one another) while trying to balance both with
Hillels If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
One can get into a lengthy philosophical debate, yet I
can only offer a prosaic observation: Some people, well
educated, typically in the public eye, for whatever reason,
feel obligated to appoint themselves as judges and prose-
cutors.
Then they offer a scorching criticism of Israels policies
and actions, advocating courses of actions that are con-
trary, if not harmful, to Israelis well-being and demo-
nizing its leaders. All that while living comfortably 8,000
miles away and out of harms way.
Sam Liron | Foster City
Putting teens hands on the purse strings in the right way
edit
letters
letters policy
j. welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must not
exceed 200 words and must be dated and signed with
current address and daytime telephone number. j. also
reserves the right to edit letters. The deadline is noon
Monday for any given weeks publication. Email letters
to letters@jweekly.comor mail to j., 225 Bush St., Suite
1480, S.F., CA 94104.
Many parents dont like to talk to their kids about money.
They might re-examine that policy after reading our story
on page 3 this week about a local program that puts teens
in charge of raising and distributing thousands of dollars
in charitable funding, a program that gives young people a
real sense of social and financial responsibility.
The Jewish Community Teen Foundation, a 9-year-old
program of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federa-
tion and Endowment Fund, creates boards of teenagers
in four Bay Area regions. The teens spend five months
raising money on their own and then deciding,
collectively, how to divvy up the funds among scores of
worthy recipients.
This year, despite the lingering recession, the four
regions together raised more money than ever before
$220,000 in all.
Much of that money was handed over to local agencies,
to help create jobs in East Oakland and provide services to
mentally disturbed youth, among other causes. Some went
to Darfur to help refugee children; some to the Congo, to
aid survivors of sexual violence; some to Israel, to support
an after-school program for low-income kids in Jaffa.
Thats all great. And $220,000 is real money, that will
help real people.
But the true significance of the program is what it does
for the young Jews who take part in the four regional
boards. It teaches them that they, too, have the power to
change things, the power to make some peoples lives just
a little bit better. It teaches them how to manage money,
how to fundraise, how to evaluate proposals and how to
work as a group to accomplish big goals all crucial skills
that will serve them well throughout their lives.
Heres what one young participant said: My biggest
takeaway was seeing how a single, passionate person can
really make a difference.
What a terrific lesson. I
.
eetta prince-gibson | jta
When violent riots against African migrant workers
erupted in south Tel Aviv recently, a mob attacked
Hanania Wanda, a Jew of Ethiopian origin, mistaking
him for a Sudanese migrant worker.
Wanda is my friend, said Elias Inbram, 38, a
social activist in the Ethiopian community and a for-
mer member of the Israeli diplomatic corps who
served as spokesman for the embassy in South Africa.
I knew I had to react somehow.
Based on his stated belief that to white people, all
blacks look the same, Inbram posited, I, an Israeli
Jew who is black, or anyone in my family, or anyone
in my community, could be attacked, too.
That moved him to stencil Caution: I am not
an infiltrator from Africa onto a brightly colored
T-shirt. He then drew in by hand, in the upper left
corner, the unmistakable yellow Jude patch from
the Nazi era.
Last week, he posted a picture of himself wearing
the shirt on Facebook. It already has gained thou-
sands of likes.
I want to force people here to think of the racism
and hatred in Israeli society, said Inbram, who holds a
masters degree in law and is interning before applying for
the bar.
The wave of violence in Israel against African migrant
workers and asylum seekers, in which nearly a dozen Jews
of Ethiopian origin also have been attacked in the past few
weeks, has forced many Ethiopian Jews to deal with race in
a way they have until now mostly avoided. Some said it has
forced upon them a new consciousness and political
awareness.
I have a law degree and a masters degree. I served in
the army, Inbram said. Another friend of mine who was
beaten up is a Ph.D. candidate. Were Israeli citizens. But
none of that matters. Ever since we came, the state has
treated us as if we should say thank you for anything we
receive, as if we have no rights as Jews and Israelis. But now
we are afraid because in the eyes of whites, we are first of
all blacks.
The violence has forced the Ethiopian community to
come to some difficult, but mature, realizations, said
Shula Molla, 40, a Jerusalem educator who chairs the Israel
Association for Ethiopian Jewry, a leading advocacy group.
Until now, some community leaders have tried to avoid
talking about systemic racism. They tried to explain away
racist incidents; some even blamed the community that
were not progressive enough, that we havent adapted
quickly enough.
Inbram said he feels no particular affinity or common-
ality with the migrant workers. He said he hesitated
before adding the Nazi badge to his shirt. But then he
thought: We Jews and Israelis are very quick to condemn
anti-Semitic attacks, like the ones in France [last week-
end]. But the same thing is happening in our own coun-
try. We should be doing some serious soul-searching.
Molla is particularly critical of Israeli leaders.
I dont expect the residents of Tel Aviv to rise above
themselves, but I do expect our leaders to rise above
their own racism, and to lead, she said. Instead, they
are fanning the worst form of racism.
She noted that Miri Regev, a Kadima member of
Knesset, compared the Africans to cancer while
Interior Minister Eli Yishai of Shas accused them of
spreading disease and raping women.
With political leaders granting legitimacy to the vio-
lence, she says she has felt a change in how some
strangers treat her.
On the bus, people turn to me and speak in English,
because they assume that I am a migrant. The security
checks at malls and movie theaters arent the same as
they are for white Jews, because Im considered suspi-
cious. Its getting harder to stop a cab, Molla said.
Pointing to recent events in Israel, she said the situation
is likely to get worse.
Last year, in Tsfat, the rabbis called on residents not to
rent to Arabs, she said. Our political leaders were quiet
and soon after, in Kiryat Malachi, apartment owners signed
an agreement not to rent or sell to Jews from Ethiopia.
Its bad enough that an uneducated, deprived mob has
taken to racial violence, but what is really terrible is that
political leaders have legitimized it, she said. And now
that its been legitimized, the racial violence will spread
against all blacks and that includes me, my children
all Jews from the Ethiopian community. I
J
Ethiopians, taken for migrant workers, feel racisms sting
photo/jta
Elias Inbram wears a shirt he made that features a
yellow star and reads Caution: I am not an
infiltrator from Africa.
mideast
Israeli security
inspects email of
some Arab visitors
Israel has begun inspecting emails of some
Arab visitors and expelling those visitors
who are deemed a threat to the country.
Israeli airport security officials are ask-
ing these visitors to log on to their email
accounts so officials may conduct a secu-
rity search for any incriminating activi-
ties. The inspections have targeted Arab
visitors in an effort to root out any indi-
viduals with histories of pro-Palestinian
activism.
At least three Arab-American women
have been expelled in recent weeks after
their email accounts were searched.
Israel has become increasingly strict
following a series of run-ins with interna-
tional activists in recent years, highlighted
by a deadly clash in May 2010 between
Israeli naval commandos and a flotilla
trying to break Israels naval blockade of
the Gaza Strip. Both sides accused the
other of provoking the violence in which
nine Turkish activists were killed.
Since then, Israel has prevented interna-
tional activists from arriving on similar
flotillas as well as a pair of fly-ins by pro-
Palestinian activists. Israeli officials
acknowledge they used social media
accounts, such as Facebook and Twitter, to
identify activists ahead of time and pre-
vent them from boarding flights to Israel.
Emanuel Gross, a law professor at Haifa
University, said such a practice would
seem to be illegal in Israel.
In Israel, you need a search warrant to
go into somebodys computer, he said. Im
skeptical that the security guards asked a
judge first for a warrant, and Im skeptical
that a judge would give it. jta & ap
Illegal migrants
may be detained
up to 3 years
A new Israeli law that allows illegal
migrants to be detained for up to three
years has come into effect.
Israels Population and Immigration
Authority said June 3 that it would begin
enforcing the law, under which anyone who
crosses Israels southern border illegally can
be detained for up to three years and will be
prevented from entering urban areas.
Until now, migrants could be held for
up to 10 days. They then were released
and generally headed to Tel Aviv or Eilat.
The new legislation, which amends a
1954 law, also stipulates that anyone help-
ing migrants or providing them with
shelter could face prison sentences of
between five and 15 years.
About 60,000 migrants are living in
Israel, with more than 2,000 entering the
country every month. jta
Thousands in
Istanbul hold
anti-Israel rally
Thousands of Turks in Istanbul rallied
against Israel on May 31, marking the sec-
ond anniversary of an Israel Defense
Forces interception of the Mavi Marmara
ship, part of a flotilla that claimed to be
carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Israel determined that the flotilla was
violating its blockade of the coastal area,
and found weapons aboard.
The Humanitarian Aid Foundation,
known as IHH and one of the main
groups behind the flotilla, organized last
weeks rally. Israel, the United States and
other nations consider the IHH to be a
terrorist group.
Earlier last week, a Turkish criminal
court accepted indictments against the
four top Israeli commanders who led the
2010 operation.
Turkey and Israel have not had diplo-
matic relations since the incident. jta
Fire at apartment
of Eritrean migrants
called arson
A Jerusalem apartment home to migrant
workers from Eritrea was set on fire.
Ten Eritreans were rescued from the
burning apartment on June 4; four were
injured in the blaze.
An initial investigation by the
Jerusalem Fire Department found that
the fire was the result of arson.
Investigators found on one of the
apartment walls spray-painted graffiti
that read Get out of the neighborhood.
The fire reportedly was set near the
door of the apartment, making it nearly
impossible for the occupants to escape.
More than a month ago, firebombs
were thrown at several apartments in Tel
Aviv that are home to African migrants.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs con-
demned violence against African migrants,
calling the Jerusalem attack a heinous
crime. jta I
.
views
Israel at 64
III from 17
its population. Impressive data on the number of startup com-
panies and agricultural and high-tech inventions is widely
known. An exhibit last year at Jerusalems Bloomfield Science
Museum highlighted 45 of Israels best inventions from
surgical robots that conduct highly accurate, state-of-the-
art spine surgery with less need for radiation, to a unique
internal pipe generator that supplies electricity for water mon-
itoring and control systems in remote areas and sites without
accessibility to electricity.
And culture continues to flourish. Festivals showcasing
art, theater, music and other creativity occur on an almost
weekly basis in cities throughout the country. Israeli films
have been nominated for Oscars four out of the last five
years.
At 64, Israel has accomplished more than most countries.
The story too often is politicized. But at its core, Israels success
story is about the ingathering of exiles, the rebirth of a lan-
guage, innovation, determination, and building a country
from the land up.
In short, Israel is not just doing well Israel is thriving. The
ensuing celebration is well deserved. I
III from 17
Art Garfunkel would be envious of, I was voted president of the
debate team and taken seriously by ultra-liberal teachers when
I made incoherent arguments about capitalism being more
empathetic than socialism.
But on days when the Southern California weather was dry
and my hair was oh-so-Japanese-straight and shiny, I was
quite popular with the suc-
cessful Jewish boys on the
playground you know,
the ones who were already
accepted to med school or
had produced their first
film by age 8. On those
days, I came home with
Twinkies and Ho-Hos
from their lunch bags. I am
sure their Jewish mothers
curse me to this day.
I remember Japanese
girls in high school telling
me I was not one of them
because I was not pure.
And to this day I am not
accepted by many Jews, as
my mother is not Jewish. I
have even received cruel
emails in response to my
published work about how I have no right to call myself a Jew.
So in a big way, being accepted and considered beautiful by
People has turned out to be a pretty good thing for this
Japanese-Jewish princess who finally feels she owns that title.
And its better than when I was asked to be Lox Beauty
Queen of the Month by a local deli owner when I was 16. Lets
just way that I ate pretty well for 30 days and 30 nights.
The question I am now most often asked is What is your
beauty and anti-aging secret?
My answer is, Laugh about yourself and life, embrace your
real age without acting like it, perform as many mitzvahs as you
can, and appreciate your family and whatever culture you hap-
pen to be blessed with. I
J
photo/michael soo photography
The photo that Francesca
Biller submitted with her
entry to People magazine
Jewish values must guide moral
response to Israels migrant issue
Israel is founded on two counter and often contrary
Jewish narratives. One speaks about the continuity of
Jewish values, and the other the Jewish value of conti-
nuity.
The first narrative is highly attuned both to the
moral ideals expressed in the biblical injunction to
remember that we were slaves
in the land of Egypt, and to our
duty to leverage our past suffer-
ing by creating a society com-
mitted to the highest level of
sensitivity to others.
As a people who majored in
statelessness and oppression, we
are obligated as a Jewish society
to feel a deep sense of kinship
with and responsibility toward
those in a similar predicament. Under this narrative,
the notion of limiting access to African refugees, or
limiting our responsibility to them, is morally incon-
ceivable, aesthetically reprehensible and a sin to our
collective memories.
The second narrative looks at our history, suffering
and precarious existence over the centuries, embraces
life and survival, and sees the
necessary response as Jewish
sovereignty and a commitment
to its viability. The survival of
the Jewish people is a value and
a priority, both for the individ-
ual and the society as a whole. A
policy toward African refugees
that does not support or enhance
this value is perceived as con-
trary to the raison detre of
the state and a sin to Jewish
memory.
These two narratives have cre-
ated a split within Israeli society
at its extremes and an untenable
policy at its center. At the politi-
cal poles, individuals have
aligned themselves with either
one of the narratives, advocating
for a limitless refugee policy, or
seeing every refugee as a threat to
the Jewishness of Israel.
Most Israelis, however, find
both narratives compelling and
recognize that the Jewishness of
Israel is dependent on an amal-
gamation of the two.
The tragedy and failure of Israel in its policies toward
refugees is founded on the way these narratives have
been joined. Instead of attempting to integrate the two,
in modern Israel each narrative dominates its own dis-
tinct arena.
The first narrative, the continuity of Jewish values, is
dominant when it comes to accepting African refugees
into the state. The fact that no significant resources had
been allocated to closing off our southern border prior
to the increased security threat from the Sinai Desert
indicates the unpopularity of denying access to indi-
viduals escaping persecution.
The second narrative, however, dominates Israeli
consciousness and policy when it comes to the treat-
ment of these individuals once they become refugees
within our borders. Once here, mainstream Israeli soci-
ety generally is unconcerned for them or their needs
and ceases to see them, except when one of them com-
mits a crime.
In reality, we are still separating the two instead of
integrating them. The Jewish value of continuity obli-
gates us at the entry point to Israel, and the continuity
of Jewish values obligates us after they have arrived at
our doors.
As a co-signer of the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating
to the Status of Refugees, we cannot allow the value of
Jewish continuity to cause us to shirk our responsibili-
ty or be deaf to the needs of others. As a strong and suc-
cessful country with a clear and sustainable Jewish
majority, we have the ability to assimilate thousands of
individuals a year without weakening our national
identity.
Given Israels size and the value of Jewish national
continuity, however, this number is not unlimited. We
need to determine a realistic policy that recognizes our
responsibility as Jews and our responsibility to the
Jewish people. Once this policy is in place, the doors to
Israel must not be limited to the treacherous terrain of
the Sinai but must be open to those in need through
our embassies throughout the world.
More significant, the number of refugees must be
determined by our economic and social ability to pro-
vide these new citizens with a good life, commensu-
rate with our values as Jews and the economic oppor-
tunities and social safety net provided by the State of
Israel.
With Zionism, the Jewish people have entered into
the arena of political sovereignty with all of its gifts,
challenges and opportunities. We need to defend our
borders and defend our national identity. We must also
make sure, however, that we do not create a state whose
border policies are Jewish but where life within those
borders is not conducted with the highest standards of
Jewish moral principle. I
Rabbi Donniel Hartmanis president of the
Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.
Comfortable with
her beauty
photo/ap-ariel schalit
Israeli police detain a protester on May 23 in South Tel Aviv
after hundreds rally against the flow of African migrants
into Israel.
who also couldnt relate to the traditions she was
raised on.
For Sukkot 2007, Golden, Wolk and a handful
of other members of Chochmat HaLev organ-
ized a camping trip to Sacramento Valleys
Eatwell Farm, their community supported agri-
culture (CSA) affiliate.
Only a few dozen friends attended that first
Sukkot on the Farm; 250 people showed up for
last years celebration. Today hundreds of people
take part in the groups festivals and ongoing
programs.
The Jewish Wilderness Quest, featuring three
days and nights of solitude and fasting in Death
Valley, is undoubtedly the groups most chal-
lenging ritual experience. (The next one takes
place in October.) But Passover in the Desert, a
five-day journey to Panamint Valley near Death
Valley National Park, is also not for the faint-
hearted, although 130 showed up this spring.
Devorah Herman of Marin wanted to go, but
admitted it was too much of a commitment for
her. Shavuot on the Mountain is a little bit
more manageable, she said.
Saturday evening, Golden stood in the mead-
ow and blew his shofar, heralding the com-
mencement of the Shavuot holiday.
All our prophets had their epiphanies in
nature, Golden told the crowd of 175 assembled
in a huge circle, explaining that if they wished to
receive their own revelation they must venture
into the wilderness, as well. Revelation is not a
lightning bolt that fills your head with wisdom
all at once. Its when you look at a blade of grass
and say, Thats amazing. When you see the
specks of green in someones eyes.
After music and dancing, the crowd was invit-
ed to grab at the ends of the colorful ribbons
that hung from the Omer Pole and wrap them
around it, 49 ribbons in total representing the
days between the Exodus from Egypt and the
giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai.
A popular adage among attendees was that
Wilderness Torah is the Jewish Burning Man:
Both festivals aim at establishing a village com-
munity a tribe in nature.
The comradeship began days prior to the
event with an online spreadsheet, where people
posted their contact information and arranged
carpools for the windy, 15-minute drive from
Highway 13 up Redwood Road.
At the campground, an outdoor kitchen was
set up. It was managed by a small, dedicated
staff, but its operation depended upon the work-
exchange attendees and everyone else who put
in their two hours.
Theyre the heart of this community,
Golden said of the cooking crew, even if the veg-
etables that slowly cooked overnight in one of
the fire pits unfortunately mixed in with some
inedible weeds and didnt turn out that great,
as Wolk reluctantly admitted.
Strong connections were made during the
chores, as people chopped vegetables and
washed dishes in tubs two sets, of course, to
keep kosher.
Scott Fischer, 31, of Fairfax, said he enjoyed
the weekend. I was touched by the depth of the
community and how open people are with each
other, he said. There seemed to always be fasci-
nating conversation taking place all around me.
I particularly enjoyed the Shabbat service. Its a
stark contrast to the formal benches I am used to
sitting in.
Wilderness Torah makes a concerted effort to
accommodate families.
The many kids who populated the
Childrens Village, a kind of day care where
they were entertained and educated while their
parents attended other activities, seemed to
have as much fun as the adults. Even if they did-
nt internalize the messages in the various cere-
monies, they still seemed to enjoy playing out-
doors for a whole weekend not an Angry
Bird in sight.
Wolk and Golden said that this intergenera-
tional aspect is as integral to Wilderness Torah as
is the connection to the environment. During
two of the services, Sarai Shapiro, Wilderness
Torahs program coordinator, held hands with
the children and made a point of addressing
them as those who will carry on our traditions.
However, the kids were sound asleep during
the nightlong marathon of classes and activities,
the tikkun that followed the opening Shavuot
celebration.
At 10 p.m. Golden led a small group discus-
sion about Shavuot as its mentioned in the
Torah and secondary texts.
It was very cold and windy, and the pages blew
in the wind as people read by flashlight. And yet,
all 10 participants huddled in the small circle
were thoroughly engaged in the conversation,
offering a wide range of perspectives, from mys-
tical to Christian to the zodiac.
Toward the end of the session, Golden
explained how he negotiated the contradiction
between the written Torah, and his own person-
al torah, the set of beliefs that guide him through
life.
The Torah is a mirror, and the stories it con-
tains help us see into our deepest truths, Zelig
said. Whether we read a story that inspires us or
a story that disturbs us, the Torah can guide us
to refine our personal values and understand
how we want to best walk in the world.
The long night of Tikkun Leil Shavuot was
filled with discussions and activities, including
some with the eye-catching titles of Come Not
Near a Woman: Gender, Gender Segregation,
Purity, and Revelation, A Queers Eye View of
the Scene at Sinai and Expanding Identity to
Embody Unity: The Art of Remembering (How
to make Love to G-d).
Not far away from Goldens circle was Rabbi
Daniel Lev leading a workshop called Shema
Between the Sheets: Spiritual Intimacy at
Bedtime.
Just a handful of attendees were up for the
fireside Midnight Ritual, and even fewer made
it to the 5 a.m. Shacharit service. By 8 a.m. most
people were asleep in their tents, a few brave
souls under the open skies. Even Golden and
Wolk werent in sight, perhaps finally allowing
themselves a few hours of sleep.
The two were very pleased with this years
Shavuot on the Mountain, and expect only bet-
ter for Wilderness Torahs future.
Whats really exciting is that were being
approached from people all over, Golden said.
We get requests from Australia, the U.K.,
Canada, Israel. We want to take what were doing
here and spread it across the Jewish world. I
Rebecca Elswit and Neshama Redstone chopping
vegetables
Chef Baruch Schwadron in the makeshift kitchen
Blessing the challah
Reaching for the divine
.
chloe schildhause | j. correspondent
The little orange feline with the sly smile and bandage on
her forehead is a natural leader. She always knows what she
wants off the restaurant menu, and is usually the one to
pick the restaurant. Shes a bit bossy sometimes. But she is
good-natured. She loves to host tea parties. Her favorite
color is purple. She enjoys eating
toasted almond cookies with warm
milk.
Cat is one in a series of plush dolls
created by Nina Rappaport Rowan
of San Anselmo. Called Kimochis
Japanese for feelings the
stuffed animals are made by the San
Rafaelbased Plushy Feely Corp.,
which Rappaport Rowan founded
in 2008.
She wanted to produce the dolls,
she said, to do something mean-
ingful for this world, what could be
described as tikkun olam.
More than cute and cuddly com-
panions, the eight dolls are learning
tools that help children understand
and communicate about emotions,
and they have been embraced by
educational and therapeutic com-
munities around the world.
Each doll is accompanied by three
small plush feelings that help chil-
dren learn how to discuss their feel-
ings and moods. Thats why
Rappaport Rowan calls them toys with a purpose.
We all need to learn to be better communicators, she
said.
During the development process, she knew she had
something special on her hands when she brought some
Kimochis to a classroom at the Osher Marin JCC in San
Rafael, where her son, Nathan, now 6, was attending pre-
school. The experience was awesome, she said.
The original concept for the toys designed by award-
winning childrens book illustrator Hanako Wakiyama
was simply to provide a way for parents to talk with their
children about feelings. A main source of inspiration was
Rappaport Rowans bubbe. She was from Russia and was
one of the most emotionally intelligent and caring people
Ive ever known, she said.
Another influence was growing up Jewish in Long
Island, N.Y. We are such a familial- and community-dri-
ven people, and its all about social and emotional intelli-
gence, Rappaport Rowan said.
Shortly after being introduced, Kimochis took off. A
curriculum on how to use the toys in a classroom setting
was created and is now used in some 300 schools in the
United States. It is also being implemented in
Australia, South Korea, Eastern Europe and soon
England. Four picture books
have been developed, with more
in the pipeline.
Rappaport Rowan, according to
LadiesWhoLaunch.com, is a
leader in the field of computer-
generated imagery, more com-
monly known in the movie indus-
try as CGI. She was the producer
of Bunny, a seven-minute film
that won the Academy Award for
best animated short in 1998. The
New York Times called it a
humorous and sentimental story
about an old rabbits battle with a
moth [and] journey into a
wondrous new realm.
After that, she went on to execu-
tive produce Despicable Me, a
2011 animated feature that had a
$56 million opening weekend in
the United States and was
voiced by Steve Carell,
Jason Segel and other big
stars.
Hilary Friedland,
the director of LuluCo, the exclusive distrib-
utor of Kimochis in Australia, called
Rappaport Rowan a nice Jewish girl with a
punch.
Shes extremely quiet and humble,
but driven by tikkun olam,
Friedland added. What she has
achieved in the past five years is
quite extraordinary.
Available in eight countries,
Kimochis have been adopted by child
psychologists, hospitals with sick or
abused children, and special education
teachers whose students have signifi-
cant communication challenges.
One important advocate for Kimochis
has been psychotherapist John Gottman,
author of Raising
an Emotionally Intell-
igent Child. Gottman
sees parents as emotion coaches
who are responsible for their childrens emotional under-
standing and growth. Emotional and social intelligence are
believed to contribute to ones overall success and well-
being.
The toys are designed to promote such emotional and
social intelligence. Each of the dolls has a different person-
ality and comes with three emotions such as happy,
brave, scared, friendly, hurt or uncomfortable in a little
pouch.
Each Kimochi character has a flaw, or challenge, it needs
to work on such as feeling left out. Cloud gets a little
moody and temperamental. Bug is afraid of change and
can be a worry-wart. Bella Rose is sweet and sensitive but
can have trouble expressing how she feels. Other dolls are
named Huggtopus, Lovey Dove, Clover and Hero.
The qualities that each character has, we all
have, Rappaport Rowan said. Sometimes one can
be a bit more pronounced than another when
the kids recognize the challenges and personal-
ities in themselves, then they are more likely
to gravitate toward a particular character.
The Plushy Feely CEO noted that the
Kimochis curriculum has to be
somewhat customized for [each] cul-
ture, but, she added, everyone has
feelings; everyone has to communi-
cate.
She sees the toys eventually being in
every country in the world. No doubt
in my mind, she said.
Its all about teaching kids the
foundations for social and emo-
tional intelligence and teaching
them through this playful way of
identifying feelings and expressing
feelings. I
J
Jewish girl with a punch creates
educational toys with a pouch
bay area
Nina Rappaport Rowan with
son Nathan
Bug is thoughtful, cautious
and afraid of change.
Cloud is
unpredictable
and has a hard
time controlling
his emotions.
Federations pre-festival plan: awards and one-liners
Roselyne Swig
III from 2
a fellowship at the BJE. She also
teaches first-graders at Temple Beth
Abraham in Oakland.
Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award
for Excellence in Jewish
Education: Tamar Rabinowitz,
who teaches the Tanach at the Jewish
Community High School of the Bay.
The South Africa native attended
Hebrew University and was part of
the first cohort of the Educators
Program at Pardes Institute in
Jerusalem. She also teaches at Emanu-
El and for Kevah, a pluralistic net-
work of self-organized Torah study
groups.
Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Young
Leadership Award: Tanya
Kaminsky Bernstein, the president of
the federations Young Adult Division.
Born in Ukraine and raised in
Pittsburgh, she previously served as
the YAD campaign chair, organizing
the YAD delegation to Super Sunday.
Robert Sinton Extraordinary
Leader Award: Roselyne Swig,
who served as president of the Jewish
Community Federation and
Endowment Fund from 1992 to 1994.
Swig previously worked for or con-
tributed to a wide range of organiza-
tions, including JCF, AIPAC, Jewish
Vocational Service, the International
Womens Forum, United Jewish
Appeal, NPR Foundation, Partners
Ending Domestic Abuse, Mills
College and KQED.
Israel in Our Hearts Award:
Akiva Tor, the outgoing Consul
General of Israel for the Pacific
Northwest region. Tor has held the
post since 2008, working out of the
consulate in San Francisco but show-
ing up at myriad events all over the
Bay Area. He will receive this special
honor about seven weeks before his
term officially ends July 31. I
.
judy lash balint
jointmedia news service
jerusalem | A quiet revolution is tak-
ing place in the Israeli education system.
When the next school year begins in
September, a third stream of state-
approved schools will join the existing
secular (mamlachti) and religious (mam-
lachti dati) school systems that have
defined Israeli education since the found-
ing of the state.
According to Rabbi Michael Melchior,
founder of Meitarim, the Network for
Jewish Democratic Education, Knesset
approval in February to implement a
comprehensive State Pluralistic Education
System will encourage students from both
observant and secular backgrounds to
study together, with a curriculum based
on Jewish values of tolerance, Jewish peo-
plehood and humanism.
The newly approved stream,
which will be known as mam-
lachti meshalev (integrated and
pluralistic) is the culmination of
years of effort on the part of
Meitarim and a task force led by
Melchior, as well as leaders from
the Tali and Keshet independent
schools.
Melchior first raised the idea
in the Knesset more than 12
years ago. Meitarim began with
its first school in 1999 in
Modiin and now has more
than 50 schools with 5,000 stu-
dents throughout the country.
With Knesset approval, the
Israeli government has now
committed to assisting in the transition of
30 schools from the state secular and reli-
gious education systems to the new plu-
ralistic model by September. By the 2013
school year, Melchior expects to bring an
additional 60 pluralistic schools into the
system.
We could easily become the leading
educational stream in the not-too-distant
future, he asserts. According to the new
law, any public school can become a plu-
ralistic, integrated school and join the new
stream if at least 70 percent of the parents
and 50 percent of the teachers are in favor.
Melchior, a former deputy education
minister and chair of the Knessets educa-
tion committee from 2005 to 2009, calls
the current state of Israeli education
deeply tragic and says it has served to
reinforce the divisions in Israeli society.
Many secular Israelis have grown up
without an understanding that theyre
part of Judaism, that Judaism is theirs
they think it belongs only to the reli-
gious, he says.
So, you can be a postgraduate from
Hebrew University who knows less of
Jewish concepts than someone in kinder-
garten in a Reform school in Cincinnati.
Melchior decries the fact that Israeli
students are segregated into schools by
religious observance. What has hap-
pened in the religious sector is a Judaism
that has become more and more narrow
something confined to the ritual
realm, a limited interpretation of the
Torah, he said. Many areas of human-
ism, social responsibility, social justice,
relating to non-Jews, secular Jews or the
environment, what Zionism is about, all
these are missing, because these ideas
have been confined to only part of the
population.
He posits the Meitarim system as a
seam between the two worlds.
Back in the 1970s, Melchiors father,
Rabbi Marcus Melchior, was invited to
make aliyah from Denmark to introduce
Jewish studies as a main subject into the
secular school system. It was vetoed by
the religious parties who didnt want it;
they wanted to have the monopoly,
Melchior says. The scheme did not suc-
ceed, he says, because it was imported
rather than emerging naturally from
within Israeli society.
Now, Melchior believes, many young
Israelis are seeking a more meaningful
engagement with Judaism, albeit not nec-
essarily in traditional ways, and the new
pluralistic school system will provide an
avenue for their involvement.
On a practical level, Meitarim will con-
tinue supporting existing schools within
the Meitarim network, help open new
schools that can later apply to officially
become state pluralistic schools, and sup-
port the government by providing
teacher training and curriculum devel-
opment.
Meitarims main backers in the U.S.
include the Andrea and Charles Bronfman
Philanthropies, the Crown Family Fund,
the Harold and Edith Everett Foundation
and the Schusterman Foundation. I
J
New schools in Israel bridge
old religious-secular divide
Many secular Israelis
have grown up without
an understanding that
theyre part of Judaism,
that Judaism is theirs
they think it belongs
only to the religious.
Rabbi Michael Melchior
Childrens Services Agency, and on the San
Francisco Library Commission. At the time of
her death, she was serving on the board of the
San Francisco chapter of the New Israel Fund.
Marilyn is survived by her husband,
Raymond, her children, Dvora Weisberg and
Neal Scheindlin and Adam Weisberg and
Rachel Brodie, and her grandchildren, Micah,
Noah, Sophia and Ariella. She was prede-
ceased by her parents and her three siblings.
Services were held Friday, June 1, 2012.
Contributions in Marilyns memory may be
made to the New Israel Fund, Mazon, or the
Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles.
Sinai Memorial Chapel
Louis Zamvil
Louis Zamvil, M.D., of Palo Alto, passed away
peacefully at his home on May 29th at the age of
89. Louis was born to Orthodox Jewish parents
in Brooklyn on February 21, 1923. He spent his
childhood in New York, where he met his future
wife, Stella Savage. After completion of high
school, he attended City College of New York.
During World War
II, he was drafted into
the Army and sent to
Stanford, where he
completed his
Bachelor of Arts
degree, Phi Beta
Kappa. While Louis
intended to become
an engineer, his supe-
rior officer instructed
him to take the medical school entrance exam.
Alphabetically, he was then assigned to medical
school at the University of Oregon, and gradu-
ated Alpha Omega Alpha in 1949.
His residency training in Pediatrics at
Stanford was interrupted from 1951-1953 when
he served in the Army as a Captain and physi-
cian in Korea. There he started an orphanage.
After discharge, he completed his residency
at Stanford and entered pediatric practice in
Palo Alto. He was Clinical Professor of
Pediatrics at Stanford, teaching residents and
medical students on the hospital ward service
until his retirement in 2003. He was recognized
by Stanford physicians and the medical com-
munity in the Bay Area for his excellent diag-
nostic skills and sound clinical judgment. His
patients appreciated his willingness to make
house calls at any time he was needed day
or night.
Louis was a Leader in the Jewish
Community, where he co-founded
Congregations Beth Am and Kol Emeth and
served as President of the Jewish Community
Center. He is survived by his wife of sixty-
eight years, three children, Kenneth of
Penngrove, CA, Linda of Stowe, VT and Scott
of Palo Alto, eight grandchildren and eight
great-grandchildren. Donations can be made
in his memory to Lucile Packard Childrens
Hospital at Stanford, CA.
Sinai Memorial Chapel
Serving the Entire
Jewish Community
415-459-2500
170 North San Pedro Rd.
San Rafael, CA 94903
Congregation Rodef Sholom
A non-profit Jewish cemetery
serving the East Bay community
For Appointments & Information:
925.962.3636
3415 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette, CA 94549
Managed by Sinai Memorial Chapel
1100 Bear Creek Road, Briones, 94553 925.228.3636
III from 33
will feel his presence for generations.
He was a steady hand in an uncertain time
for the [JCC] and a very strong leader in
terms of stepping up to make the new cam-
pus, with the JCC as its crown jewel, a reality,
said Samuel Salkin, executive director of Sinai
Memorial Chapel and former CEO of the
S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation.
In an unpublished 2004 interview with
Hbert, Joffe related how he migrated from
the tech community to the Jewish communi-
ty: He was inspired by a 2002 Jewish National
Fund conference in New York, where he
heard Rabbi Irving Yitz Greenberg speak
about personal missions. When he was asked
to become president of the JCC, it was for a
reason, he said to bring together the
Jewish, Russian, Israeli and American com-
munities in Silicon Valley.
He wanted to bring the Israeli community
and the American Jewish community in Silicon
Valley together. Hbert said. If you look at
the programs, you will see his vision is being
fulfilled. There are more Israelis coming to the
JCC than anyone thought was possible.I
Joffe left his mark in Palo Alto
.
J
. | the Jewish news weekly of
Northern California 30
art
wednesday/20
Reception. Photojournalists Rachael Strecher and Josh
Berer discuss their exhibit The Last Jews of Yemen.
Includes display and lecture by Yemeni jeweler Yehuda
Tassa on Tradition and History of Yemenite Jewelry. At
Oshman Family JCC, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto. 5:30
p.m. Free. www.paloaltojcc.org.
I I I For more art, see
ONGOING, 31
music
friday/8
Voca People. Musical comedy ensemble from Israel
performs. At Marines Memorial Theater, 609 Sutter St.,
S.F. Through June 17. Times vary. $35-$75. www.marines-
memorialtheatre.com . Also June 10 at Israel in the
Gardens, Yerba Buena Gardens, Howard and Mission
streets. 1:45 p.m. Free. www.jewishfed.org/event/iig2012.
Kabbalah. Band from France performs danceable
music in Yiddish, French, English and Russian. With
klezmer band the Red Hot Chachkas. At Ashkenaz,
1317 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley. 8 p.m. $12-$15.
www.ashkenaz.com. Also June 10 at Moes Alley,
1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. 8 p.m. $10-$15.
www.moesalley.com.
friday/15
Composer and clarinetist Aaron Novik and ensem-
ble. Performing selections from new album exploring
Jewish mysticism. At Contemporary Jewish Museum,
736 Mission St., S.F. 3 p.m. Included with admission.
www.thecjm.org.
sunday/17
Jewish Folk Chorus of San Francisco. Groups 86th
annual concert features Yiddish, Ladino, Hebrew and
Russian songs. At Jewish Community High School,
1835 Ellis St., S.F. 3:30 p.m. $6-$12.
www.jewishfolkchorussf.org.
on stage
thursday/21
Storytelling. Porchlight presents a night of storytelling
inspired by California Dreaming exhibit at
Contemporary Jewish Museum. At the museum, 736
Mission St., S.F. 7 p.m. $15 (includes museum admission).
www.thecjm.org.
film, tv & radio
saturday/9
Holyland Hardball. Screening of a light documentary
on a baseball league in Israel. At Congregation Beth
Israel Judea, 625 Brotherhood Way, S.F. 7 p.m. Free.
www.bij.org.
thursday/14
Freilach. Jewish music and cultural radio show for
the Russian River area. KGGV 95.1 FM. 8 p.m.
Broken Wings. Israeli film about a widowed mother
and her children struggling to function after their loss. At
BJE Jewish Community Library, 1835 Ellis St., S.F. 7 p.m.
Free. www.bjesf.org/events.htm.
lectures &
workshops
saturday/9
Book talk with Marty Brounstein. Author discusses
Two Among the Righteous Few: A Story of Courage in
the Holocaust. At Orinda Books, 276 Village Square,
Orinda. 2 p.m. Free. (925) 254-7606.
sunday/10
Film and discussion. Screening of documentary
Watershed about the Colorado River followed by a dis-
cussion with three of the films producers, including
Congregation Beth Shalom Rabbi Lee Bycel and Jamie
Redford. At Congregation Beth Shalom, 1455 Elm St.,
Napa. 4 p.m. $20 for nonmembers. www.cbsnapa.org.
Creating a Modern Ketubah. Rabbi Tsvi Bar-David
and Dr. Haya Rubin discuss how to create a contempo-
rary marriage contract. At Congregation Etz Chayim, 4161
Alma St., Palo Alto. 1 p.m. $85-$100.
tsvi.bardavid@gmail.com.
tuesday/12
The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty. Israeli
American behavioral economics professor Dan Ariely of
Duke University discusses dishonesty and cheating. At
Oshman Family JCC, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto. 7:30
p.m. $10-$15. www.paloaltojcc.org.
The King Fisher. Talk about fish and kosher laws by
Orthodox Union Rabbi Chaim Goldberg. At Bar Yochai
Sephardic Minyan, 1030 Astoria Drive, Sunnyvale. 7:15
p.m. Free. (408) 375-7770. Also June 13 at Chabad of the
East Bay, 2730 Telegraph Ave, Berkeley. 8:30 p.m. Free.
(510) 812-7000.
Shmooze with Nadia Kalman. Appearance by author
of The Cosmopolitans, a novel about culture clashes,
weddings and family life among Russian Jewish immi-
grants in New Jersey. At Addison-Penzak JCC, 14855
Oka Road, Los Gatos. 7 p.m. Free.
www.siliconvalleyjcc.org/events.
wednesday/13
Israel Consulate update. Consul General Akiva Tor
gives quarterly update on current events in Israel and
moderates open discussion for young adults. At Jewish
Community Federation, 121 Steuart St., S.F. 6:30 p.m. Free.
www.jewishfed.org.
thursday/14
Mystical aromatherapy. Workshop with Israeli author
Avraham Sand. At Afikomen Judaica, 3042 Claremont
Ave., Berkeley. 6:30 p.m. Free. www.afikomen.com.
Driving Toward the Future: Israel, China, and
Electric Vehicles. Panel discussion. At Fenwick
& West law firm, 801 California St., Mountain View.
Part of Israel China Cultural Festival. 6 p.m. Register with
Yelena Giderman at economic@sf.mfa.gov.il.
www.israelchinasf.com.
Young Jewish Professionals Network. Networking
and talk by S.F. Supervisor Scott Wiener. At Infusion
Lounge, 124 Ellis St., S.F. 6:30 p.m. $10.
www.emanuelsf.org.
saturday/16
Book talk by Michael Cooper. Author discusses
Foxes in the Vineyard, his novel about a son
searching for his archaeologist father on the eve of the
Israeli War of Independence. At Orinda Books,
276 Village Square, Orinda. 1 p.m. Free.
www.orindabooks.com (See story, 26)
sunday/17
The Real Story of Exodus 1947. Riva Gambert of the
Jewish Federation of the East Bay separates fact from
fiction in Leon Uris novel Exodus. At Afikomen Judaica,
3042 Claremont, Ave., Berkeley. With lox and bagel
brunch. 10:45 a.m. $5, free for students. (510) 655-1977.
wednesday/20
The Thriving Sustainable Food Industry.
Discussion with Joey Altman, TV food host; Neal
Gottlieb, founder of Three Twins Ice Cream; and Adrian
Hoffman, culinary director of Lark Creek Restaurant
Group, about Jewish organizations leading the way in
the food industry. At Sedgwick, 333 Bush St., S.F. 6 p.m.
$25-$60. www.jewishfed.org.
Get thee to the Gardens
In case you missed the pull-out supplement and cover story
last week, and you didnt catch the page 2 story this week
(we understand some people like to read j. like a holy book,
from back to front), this is your final notice: Israel in the
Gardens, the community festival that this year celebrates
Israels 64th birthday, takes place Sunday, June 10 at Yerba
Buena Gardens. You wont want to miss the day of world-
class performances, music, dance and kids activities and
that old festival favorite, bumping into old friends.
11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, June 10 at Yerba Buena Gardens,
Howard and Mission streets, S.F. Free.
www.jewishfed.org/event/iig2012
North African
beauties
Israeli photographer Nelli Sheffer traveled
through Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia to
capture something that reflects the diversi-
ty and richness of the region its beauti-
ful and local food. This week, following the
Osher Marin JCCs annual meeting, Sheffer
will be on hand at an artists reception for
his exhibit Harissa, Honey and Hyssop,
which is on display at the JCC until Sept. 3.
8:30 p.m. Monday, June 11
at Osher Marin JCC,
200 N. San Pedro Road, San Rafael.
Free. www.marinjcc.org
photo/dan pine
Israel in the
Gardens 2010
photo/nelli sheffer
Dates drying in the village of Midas, Tunisia (2003)
bay area
S
.
Some 15,000 people are expected to attend
Israel in the Gardens this Sunday, which
will make the June 10 festival Northern
Californias largest Jewish community
gathering of the year, according to Amit
Caspi, the events project coordinator.
We are proud of that responsibility,
Caspi said. This is not just a celebration
of Israel, but of the whole Jewish commu-
nity here. We hope people will come out
and see what we are talking about.
Caspi, who works for the S.F.-based
Israel Center, estimated about 12,000 peo-
ple attended last year, despite less-than-
stellar weather (it rained much of the
week before the event).
The Israel Center, run under the aus-
pices of the S.F.-based Jewish Community
Federation, coordinates Israel in the
Gardens. The San Francisco gathering,
now in its 12th year, is set for 11 a.m.-5
p.m. Sunday, June 10 at Yerba Buena
Gardens, 4th and Mission streets. The
annual after-party for those 21 and older
runs from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Cellar,
685 Sutter St.
The day is anchored by a strong enter-
tainment lineup, with three major Israeli
acts set to perform Voca People at 1:45
p.m., Efrat Gosh and the Peatot at 2 p.m.
and Balkan Beat Box at 3 p.m.
Throughout the day, attendees
can shop at the shuk, where 21
artists will display their wares,
and shmooze with representa-
tives from 55 Jewish organiza-
tions and agencies.
Another highlight will be a set
of roundtable community con-
versations, which will seek to
replicate on a smaller scale
the epic Night of 1,000 Tables held
last September in Tel Aviv. Israeli Danny
Gal, who helped organize that event, in
which 5,000 Israelis sat down peacefully
after a summer of protests to discuss the
countrys social and economic issues, is
helping to organize the San Francisco
version.
The invitation is to come speak about
what it means to belong to the local
Jewish community, Gal told j. We plan
to have people answer, then switch tables,
allowing [them] to meet as many [people]
as possible. That way we access the collec-
tive wisdom of the group, to identify the
main issues in the Jewish community.
The plan is to set up 10 tables in Yerba
Buena Gardens and hold three 45-minute
dialogue sessions: starting at 12:30 p.m., 2
p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Gal hopes as many as
150 people will take part.
Teens and kids will have separate enter-
tainment spots with age-appropriate
music and workshops, and short films will
be shown at the nearby Contemporary
Jewish Museum from noon to 4 p.m. At 1
p.m., there will be a walk to commemorate
Hadassahs centennial that will include
members of the U.C. Berkeley Marching
Band. The band will return for an encore
performance at 2:45 p.m.
Things kick off at 11 a.m. with bands
from Brandeis Hillel Day Schools two
campuses, the Jewish Community High
Schools Jew Man Group, and a rock band
and the three-student rap group 99
Llamas from Contra Costa Jewish Day
School. And if thats not enough to put
people in the right frame of mind, at
11:30 a.m. there will be a yoga session.
As for food, Caspi said four vendors
will offer menus that include falafel,
borekas, Italian ices and gluten-free
matzah. Kosher food, including hot dogs,
will available from a catering company
called Kosher Affairs.
The Flying Falafel, a food vendor based
in Sunnyvale, will make its sixth straight
Israel in the Gardens appearance. Owner
Assaf Pashut, a U.C. Berkeley grad, says
working the festival presents some chal-
lenges such as restrictions that mean
he and his staff must cook their falafel at a
kitchen a few blocks away and then hustle
it over to festival grounds but he antic-
ipates big crowds once again.
I dont want people to be waiting too
long, he said. Were going to have eight
lines. I
J
Israel in the Gardens 2007 celebration at Yerba Buena Gardens
emma silvers | j. staff
Its not quite The Tonight Show, but on Sunday, June 10,
those being recognized by the S.F.-based Jewish
Community Federation for their outstanding work in
Jewish education and leadership will be getting some seri-
ous star treatment.
The JCFs annual meeting set to hit the stage at the
AMC Metreon 16 cinema in downtown San Francisco the
morning of Israel in the Gardens will shake things up
with a new, comedy-infused, talk show-style format for its
award ceremony and speeches. The years theme is The
Power of Community.
Fred Raker, the event emcee, is a writer and comedian
who came up in New York Citys standup scene, some-
times sharing billing with Jerry Seinfeld or Paul Reiser.
After moving to Los Angeles, he wrote for the ABC late-
night series Fridays, which featured Michael Richards
and Larry David before they were mega big-time, Raker
said with a laugh.
Life as a San Francisco resident has been a bit tamer for
the former staff writer on The Tonight Show Starring
Johnny Carson. He performs a seasonal one-man show
titled It Could Have Been a Wonderful Life, and he works
on advertising campaigns and on scripts for corporate
training videos all very funny, of course.
At the annual meeting, Raker (who is married to
Katherine Tick, the federations director of leadership devel-
opment) will be interviewing award winners and federation
officials, and throwing in a few comedy bits. A game show
style trivia contest pitting officials against teen award win-
ners will cap off the morning.
Here are this years winners, starting with the four cate-
gories of Helen Diller Family Awards for Excellence in
Jewish Education.
Early Childhood Education: Hadara Graubart,
who teaches the extended day program at Congregation
Beth Sholom Family Preschool in San Francisco.
Previously a staff writer at Tablet, the online Jewish maga-
zine, Graubart comes from eight generations of Jewish
community work.
Congregation or Community School: Ariana
Estoque, director of adolescent education at Congregation
Emanu-El in San Francisco. The San Francisco native is an
alumna of the Bureau of Jewish Educations Shofar
Fellowship for teen educators; the Jewish service learning
manual she co-authored won an award from the Union for
Reform Judaism.
Jewish Day School: Jaclyn Guzman, a history
instructor at Kehillah Jewish High School in Palo Alto
since 2008. The Fremont resident credits her professors of
Jewish history at U.C. Santa Cruz and the Jewish commu-
nity there for fostering her passion for teaching history.
Informal Education: Zephira Derblich-Milea, who
has coordinated Love Shouldnt Hurt, Shalom Bayits
healthy relationships education and dating violence pre-
vention program for Jewish youth. In 2007 she was awarded
IIIFEDERATIONS, 8
Federations pre-festival plan: awards and one-liners
The winners of this years Helen Diller
Family Awards for Excellence in Jewish
Education are (clockwise from top left)
Hadara Graubart, Ariana Estoque, Jaclyn
Guzman and Zephira Derblich-Milea.
For a complete festival schedule, visit
www.jewishfed.org
Thousands ready
to party at annual
celebration of Israel
.
ron kampeas | jta
The so-called kishkes issue what does the pres-
ident deep down, really feel about Israel is now
being addressed at the highest level by the man
himself.
On May 29, President Barack Obama dropped
in on a White House meeting of lay and rabbini-
cal leaders of Conservative Judaism and Jack
Lew, the presidents chief of staff. During his 20
minutes at the hourlong meeting, Obama
emphasized his affection for Judaism and Israel,
and like Vice President Joe Biden in a similar
meeting May 21 with national Jewish leaders, his
frustration with perceptions that he is cool
toward the Jewish state.
The tone, coupled with blitzes of Jewish commu-
nities by Democratic leaders in recent months, rein-
forces the impression that the partys leadership is
unsettled by Republican inroads into what for
decades has been a Democratic base constituency.
The presidential visit was said to be informal,
although the group of Jewish leaders knew a drop-
by was likely. So when Obama walked into the
Roosevelt Room, Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, the executive vice
president of the Conservative movements Rabbinical
Assembly, was ready with the traditional blessing for heads
of state.
The account of what happened next is based on detailed
notes by a person in attendance and confirmed by broader
descriptions by other attendees.
Obama opened by describing what he said was the
overlap between his priorities and those of the Jewish
community, both domestically and abroad.
His first question was from Arnold Eisen, the chan-
cellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, who asked
about the role of religious leaders in the public sphere.
Obama responded by speaking about the need to be
part of a community, and he paraphrased a talmudic
injunction about Jews being responsible for one anoth-
er, applying it to Americans.
Rabbi Steven Wernick, the executive vice president of the
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, then asked the
president how the rabbis could push back against percep-
tions that he was hiding his true feelings about Israel.
Jack always tells me Ill get asked the kishkes question,
he said, referring to Lew, who is an Orthodox Jew, and
using the Yiddish term for guts.
Obama said the question dated back to 2008 and for
him was a bizarre reversal: Until then, he said, during his
rise as a state politician in Illinois and then as U.S. senator,
he had been depicted by some on the left as a stooge for
Israel because of his close friendship with Jews and others
in the pro-Israel community.
The president blamed several elements for the reversal:
the reluctance among some Jews to credit someone with
the middle name Hussein, and the son of a Muslim, with
being pro-Israel; the quirk of history of a center-left gov-
ernment in the U.S. overlapping with a center-right gov-
ernment in Israel, and the resulting perception that
Obama was pressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
too hard to shut down settlement expansion; and the fact
that the Republicans seized these elements to advance a
narrative that he was unfavorable to Israel.
Obama made clear that he resented the narrative,
calling it unfounded. He said his support for Israel
was evident not just during his administration
through enhanced security assistance, but also dur-
ing his days in the Senate. He also told the group
that he read deeply about Judaism and probably
knew more about it than any previous president.
Obama then noted that no one questions the pro-
Israel bona fides of Mitt Romney, the all-but-certain
Republican presidential nominee; Sen. Mitch
McConnell (R-Ky.), the Senate minority leader; or
Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), the speaker of the
House.
Matt Brooks, the director of the Republican
Jewish Coalition, said Obamas complaints were
disingenuous, noting that until this year a number
of Democrats had complained about the presidents
approach to Israel, particularly his call to use the
1967 lines as the basis for negotiating the future bor-
ders of a Palestinian state.
On the eve of his re-election, hes engaging in a
charm offensive with the Jewish community and has
turned down some of the rhetoric, Brooks said.
But I dont believe he has changed his fundamental
policies in any regard.
Those at the meeting said they were impressed by
Obamas remarks.
He talked very passionately about his personal sense of
commitment to the values that are reflected in the U.S.-
Israel relationship and the feelings he shares with the
American Jewish community for Israel, said Rabbi Jack
Moline, the spiritual leader of the Agudas Achim
Congregation in Alexandria, Va., and the Rabbinical
Assemblys director of public policy.
Moline arranged the meeting between Lew and the
Conservative leaders.
In a blog post on the JTS website, Eisen said Obamas
quest for Jewish approval was a positive.
He clearly cares what the Jews of America think of
him, Eisen wrote. This has to be a good thing for us and
for Israel; I believe it is also a good thing for America. I
Zach Silberman of the Washington Jewish Week contributed
to this report.
J
Obama answers kishkes questions from Jewish leaders
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photo/the white house
President Obama at a May 31 White House reception
for Jewish American Heritage Month.
III from 3
chose organizations that matched their mis-
sion statements.
At the regional ceremonies, it was revealed
that the North Peninsula group had raised
$68,000, the South Peninsula group $66,000,
Marin/San Francisco $49,000 and the East
Bay $37,000. Recession or not, the teens
brought in more than the previous high of
$204,000 raised in 2007-08.
The program, in its ninth year, is spon-
sored by the S.F.-based Jewish Community
Federation and Endowment Fund, and
over the years, its 500-plus participants
have generated more than $1 million for
philanthropic causes.
One of this years participants, Rebecca
Dollinger, said the program was a real eye-
opener. It showed me that I have to con-
tinue helping the world and doing
tzedakah, and there will always be others to
help me, said Dollinger, a student at the
Jewish Community High School of the Bay
in San Francisco.
During a November 2011 retreat, the
teens wrote a mission statement that
focused on helping at-risk youth. Then
they started fundraising, mostly via face-to-
face conversations with potential donors.
Weve found that to be the most effective
strategy, Kurland said.
At the end of April, each of the four
regions met and decided how to divvy up
the money raised. In the end, the teens
learned not only about tzedakah and
fundraising, but also about leadership,
consensus building and strategic planning.
In the future I will know how to make
tough decisions, especially involving money,
said Emily Perman, a student at Tamalpais
High School in Mill Valley. Consensus is one
of the most important skills to have in life.
Many of the grantees were local. For
example, the teens decided to give $10,000
to Youth UpRising of East Oakland to help
with the creation of jobs and job-training
programs. They also gave $10,000 to the
Fred Finch Youth Centers Coolidge Court
Program in Oakland, which provides
housing support services for young adults
with mental health disabilities, many of
whom grew up in the foster-care system.
The teens also gave more than $9,000 to
help school some 700 Darfuri refugee chil-
dren. A gift of $7,500 will help children of
low-income families in Jaffa get computer
training. Other grants will help impover-
ished children in Vietnam and survivors of
sexual violence in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo.
My biggest takeaway was seeing how a
single, passionate person can really make a
difference, said Matt Friend, a student at
Redwood High School in Larkspur.
To sign up for the 2012-13 program, visit
www.jewishfed.org/teens. I
Local teen foundations raise record amount for charities
correction
The June 1 article Local migrs help HIAS
tell its many stories incorrectly stated that
Sergey Brin wrote an essay in the New York
Times titled Were it not for HIAS, there
might be no Google. That was actually the
first sentence of a N.Y. Times piece about
Brin, who co-founded Google, making a $1
million donation to HIAS.
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thursday/21
Jews, Gender, Dress-up and Drag. Film clips and
discussion about Jewish gender through pop culture
examples. At JCC East Bay, Oakland branch,
5811 Racine St. 7:30 p.m. $6-$8. www.jcceastbay.org.
benefits & events
sunday/10
Israel in the Gardens after-party. Drinks and
mingling for young adults. At the Cellar,
685 Sutter St., S.F. 5:30 p.m. Free first drink.
www.jewishfed.org/event/iig2012.
Jewish Youth for Community Action gala.
Monologist Josh Kornbluth appears on behalf of the
social justice nonprofit for youth. At Kehilla
Community Synagogue, 1300 Grand Ave., Piedmont. 5
p.m. $10-$50. www.jyca-justice.org.
tuesday/12
Israeli folk dancing. With instructor Karina
Niederman. Part of Israel China Cultural Festival.
With Tai Chi groups at Portsmouth Square, 733
Kearny St., S.F. 10 a.m. Also at S.F. Public Library
Chinatown branch, 1135 Powell St., S.F. 3:30 p.m. Free.
wednesday/13
Meet and greet. With Jews Next Dor young adult
group. At Coconuts Caribbean, 642 Ramona St., Palo
Alto. 7 p.m. $10. www.cbdyag.wordpress.com.
Jewish LGBTQ monthly mixer. Drinks and
shmoozing. At the LookOut, 3600 16th St., S.F. 6:30 p.m.
Free admission. www. jewishlgbtnetwork.com.
thursday/14
Childrens story time. Like You, Like Me,
bilingual book in Hebrew and Chinese about a
young boy in Israel wondering if there is a boy in
China like him. Story time in English. Part of Israel
China Cultural Festival. At S.F. Public Library
Chinatown branch, 1135 Powell St., S.F. 2 p.m. Free.
sunday/17
June pool party. Jews Next Dor young adults
group hosts a pool party and potluck. At a private
home in Belmont, location upon RSVP to
JewsNextDor@beth-david.org. 2 p.m.
www. cbdyag.wordpress.com.
monday/18
Blue Monday. Cocktails and shmoozing to
benefit the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation.
At Roe, 651 Howard St., S.F. 6 p.m. $10, JCF donors of
$18 or more free. www.jewishfed.org.
tuesday/19
As Jewish Heritage Night. Group seating
section, giveaway scarf, Jewish food.
Oakland As vs. L.A. Dodgers. At Oakland Coliseum,
7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland. 7:05 p.m. $26.
www.oaklandathletics.com/jewish.
(See story, 3)
wednesday/20
Float Night. Pool party for all ages. At Addison-
Penzak JCC, 14855 Oka Road, Los Gatos. 5 p.m.
$5-$8, free for children 4 and younger.
www.siliconvalleyjcc.org.
spiritual & holidays
friday/8
Shabbat Hop. Study sessions, service, dinner
and socializing for young adults. At Congregation
Beth Am, 26790 Arastradero Road, Los Altos Hills.
5 p.m. Free. www.betham.org.
sunday/10
Panim El Panim (Face to Face). Group and
solitary prayer and reflection in nature. At
Redwood Regional Park, Pine Hills Drive and
Skyline Boulevard, Oakland. 7:45 a.m. to 6 p.m.
$36. www.wildernesstorah.org.
friday/15
Kabbalat Shabbat summer barbecue. Lunch
followed by entertainment for adults ages 55 and
older. At Addison-Penzak JCC, 14855 Oka Road,
Los Gatos. 12 p.m. $5-$7.50. www.siliconvalleyjcc.org.
saturday/16
Havdallah bonfire. Wilderness Torah and Urban
Adamah host Havdallah celebration and music jam.
At Urban Adamah, 1050 Parker St., Berkeley. 8 p.m.
$10-$25. www. urbanadamah.org.
Members of the same tribe?
What do American Jews and Israeli Jews have in common, and how are
they different? In keeping with Jewish tradition, the two groups might start
by agreeing to have a lengthy discussion on the question, followed by a
nosh. But Jewish Circle Productions is taking a different approach through
a style of interactive performance called playback theater. In Same Am,
Different Language, audience members will tell stories that the actors and
musicians will then perform through improvisation, aiming to weave the
two Jewish narratives together.
8 p.m. Saturday, June 16 at Live Oak Theater,
1301 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley.
$17-$20. www.jewishcircleproductions.com
The connection
to Kaifeng
When the Vatican sent missionaries in the early
17th century to investigate a small group of Jews in Kaifeng,
China, they discovered that the community used the exact same
Torah as one being used throughout Europe. Today, the Kaifeng
Jewish community is mostly assimilated and few members
remain anywhere from an estimated few dozen to a few hun-
dred but the group has a rich history spanning from the sev-
enth century Tang Dynasty. As part of the Israel China Cultural
Festival, the JCC of San Francisco will host an exhibit about the
Kaifeng Jews that kicks off with an opening lecture by Cynthia
Zelden, executive producer of the documentary Safe Haven in
China: The Untold History of the Jews.
6 p.m. Monday, June 18 at JCC of San Francisco, 3200
California St., S.F. Free. www.israelchinasf.com
save the date
S.F. Jewish Film Festival July 19-Aug. 6
Carmel Jewish Food Festival Aug. 26
jewish calendar
June 8, 2012
Sivan 18, 5772
Light candles at 8:12 p.m.
Shabbat ends at 9:18 p.m.
June 15, 2012
Sivan 25, 5772
Light candles at 8:15 p.m.
Shabbat ends at 9:21 p.m.
calendar submissions
Send information about your Jewish event in Northern
Californiatoevents@jweekly.com. The deadline is 12 p.m.
Friday the week before any given weeks publication.
The 1919 conference of Kaifeng Jews shows members
of the Zhao, Ai, Li and Shi clans, with the women in
bound feet.
ongoing
june 8 - june 21
photo/shai ziv
Jewish Circle Productions Same Am,
Different Language
art
An American Experience: Growing Up Jewish in
America. Exhibit displays heritage of residents and family
members of the Reutlinger Community for Jewish Living.
Through July 29. At the Jewish Heritage Museum,
4000 Camino Tassajara, Danville. www.rcjl.org.
Book exhibition. Bestselling Israeli books translated into
Chinese and English. On display and to borrow. Through July 1.
At S.F. Public Library Chinatown branch, 1135 Powell St., S.F.
Also at Main Library, 100 Larkin St., S.F. www.israelchinasf.com.
California Dreaming. Multimedia exhibit exploring Jewish
life in the Bay Area from Gold Rush to present. Through Oct. 16.
Do Not Destroy: Trees, Art, and Jewish Thought. Exhibit
that explores tree design, purpose and Jewish thought.
Through Sept. 9. Stanley Saitowitz: Judaica. New
perspectives from the S.F.-based architect. Through Oct. 16.
At Contemporary Jewish Museum, 736 Mission St., S.F.
www.thecjm.org.
The Last Jews of Yemen. Photos and journal entries by
Rachael Strecher and Josh Berer documenting Yemens
Jewish population. Through June 28. Maqama. Photographs
of U.S. by Israeli Bay Area resident Chami Lerner. Through June
29. At Oshman Family JCC, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto.
www.paloaltojcc.org.
More Than Enough: Redefining Excess. Jewish artists
answer When do we need more than enough? Through
Aug. 5. At BJE Jewish Community Library, 1835 Ellis St., S.F.
www.bjesf.org/adults_events.htm.
Sephardic Women of Turkey. Photographs by Audrey Ray
Daniel. At Addison-Penzak JCC, 14855 Oka Road, Los Gatos.
Through Aug. 24. www.siliconvalleyjcc.org/arts or
lisacg@svjcc.org.
Territory. Israeli artist Yigal Ozeris large-scale, photo-realistic
oil paintings pairing women with natural settings. Through June
30. At Jenkins Johnson Gallery, 464 Sutter St., S.F.
www.jenkinsjohnsongallery.com.
Treasures from the Gershwin Archive. Exhibit of memora-
bilia from the trust of Ira and Leonore Gershwin, including music
covers, personal photographs and sketches. Through June 15.
At JCC of San Francisco, 3200 California St., S.F. www.jccsf.org.
Wings of the Phoenix. Exhibit on Chinese diplomat Feng
Shan Ho and his rescue of Austrian Jews during World War II.
Through July 1. At Chinese Historical Society of America, 965
Clay St., S.F. 6 p.m. Free. www.israelchina.com.
German magazine
says Israel equipping
subs with nukes
Israel is equipping submarines built in
Germany with nuclear-tipped cruise mis-
siles, according to Der Spiegel magazine.
The magazine also reported that the
German government has known about
Israels nuclear weapons program for
decades, despite its official denials.
Last month, Israel received from
Germany its fourth Dolphin-class subma-
rine, which is slated to become operational
in 2013. Germany largely has funded
Israels purchase of the submarines.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied
that it has a nuclear weapons program.
The German government recently
signed a contract for the delivery of an
additional vessel, with one-third of the cost
subsidized by Germany. The delivery of the
sub has been conditioned on Israel halting
building in West Bank settlements and
allowing the completion of a sewage treat-
ment plant in Gaza partially financed by
Germany. jta
Report: U.S.,
Israel developed
Stuxnet virus
The U.S. National Security Agency and the
Israeli military jointly developed Stuxnet,
the complex computer virus that destroyed
centrifuges in Iranian nuclear installations,
the New York Times reported.
The cooperation began in the Bush
administration and was accelerated by
the Obama White House, according to
the report, and may have been prompted
in part by an American effort to dis-
suade Israel from launching a preemp-
tive military strike on Iranian nuclear
installations.
The Israel Defense Forces intelligence
unit 8200 worked with the NSA to develop
what Americans called the bug, accord-
ing to the report. To do so, the teams built
replicas of Iranian centrifuges using equip-
ment that had been provided by Libyas
Moammar Gadhafi regime when it
revealed its nuclear program to interna-
tional inspectors in 2003.
After successful tests, spies and unwitting
accomplices with access to the Iranian
plant at Natanz infected computers there
with thumb drives, the newspaper reported.
Many Western countries believe the
Iranians are using what they say is a civil-
ian nuclear energy program to mask an
effort to make nuclear weapons.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmad-
inejad has said Israel should be wiped off
the map. His country has dragged out
negotiations with the International Atomic
Energy Agency for inspections of its sites.
Israeli officials repeatedly have pressed
the United States and other Western coun-
tries to halt the Iranian program and are
widely believed to have prepared military
strike plans against Iranian nuclear sites.
President Barack Obama has said he has
not ruled out any options when it comes to
halting the suspected Iranian weapons
program. jta
Contested
Ulpana buildings
to be moved
Five apartment buildings in the Ulpana
neighborhood of a West Bank settlement
will be relocated under a plan by Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The buildings in Beit El, home to about 30
families, would be moved several hundred
yards to land that is not privately owned by
Palestinians, under the plan Netanyahu pre-
sented to his Cabinet on June 3. The plan to
relocate the actual buildings, instead of raz-
ing them and rebuilding new ones, would
save the government money.
The plan requires the approval of Israeli
Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein.
Israels Supreme Court ruled last
September that the neighborhood should
be razed, siding with a lawsuit filed by
Palestinians who said they owned the land.
As part of the plan, Netanyahu said 10
housing units would be built in the settle-
ment for every one moved. The change
requires the attorney generals approval.
Another part of the plan would require the
state to fight aggressively any future legal
petitions on the issue.
Netanyahu reportedly presented the plan
in an effort to avoid legislation on the issue,
which he said would not help the settle-
ments and other West Bank neighborhoods
facing similar evacuation or destruction.
Our policy is to bolster the settlements
while adhering to the law, Netanyahu
said. jta
Palestinian
assailant stabs
Israeli border guard
An Israeli border guard was stabbed by a
Palestinian assailant near the Cave of the
Patriarchs in Hebron.
The border guard was lightly wounded
in the head during the June 4 attack and
taken to the hospital.
The attack came the day after Israeli air
force planes attacked five sites in the Gaza
Strip in retaliation for the June 1 shooting
death of an Israeli soldier near the security
fence with Gaza.
The IAF attacks targeted what military
spokesmen described as three weapons-
manufacturing facilities in the central
Gaza Strip and two tunnels allegedly used
to attack Israeli military patrols in the area.
The Palestinian news service Maan
reported that Israeli planes struck the
Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza,
wounding seven people, including four
children. The sites targeted by the air force
belong to the Hamas and the Palestinian
Islamic Jihad terror organizations, Israeli
military sources said.
A Palestinian gunman infiltrated the
Israel-Gaza border on June 1, killing a staff
sergeant from Ashkelon. jta I
janet silver ghent
j. correspondent
Born in Russia and educated as an engi-
neer at the TechnionIsrael Institute of
Technology, Alex Joffe took a leap of faith
when he moved to Silicon Valley to start a
company in 1993. But just in case things
didnt work out, he sold his
car for $12,000 so he and his
family would have money in
the bank for return tickets
to Israel.
Fortunately, things worked
out well. MMC Networks,
the network processor com-
pany Joffe founded, went
public in 1997 before merg-
ing with another firm. In
addition, Eyecon Technol-
ogies, a home entertain-
ment software develop-
ment company where he
served as chief technical officer, also
thrived. In all, Joffe registered at least 25
U.S. patents, plus several others over-
seas.
Things also worked out for the Palo Alto
Jewish community, where Joffe helped
spearhead the creation of the 8.6-acre
Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life and
served as president of the old Albert L.
Schultz JCC.
Just as the vision for the new campus
came to fruition with the construction
of the Oshman Family JCC, the Moldaw
Family Residences and a preschool Joffe
and his wife, Ola, and daughter, Tali, relo-
cated to Israel in 2007, returning for the
2009 grand opening and for family visits.
Joffe, 55, died on May 26
in Tel Aviv of cancer, diag-
nosed earlier this year. In
addition to his wife and
daughter, both of Tel Aviv, he
is survived by sons Eitan
(and spouse Danit Ariel) and
Nitay, who live in the Palo
Alto area.
It was a blessing for me
that I was in Israel and able
to see him a few days before
his passing, something I will
treasure for the rest of my
life, said longtime friend
Shelley Hbert, former executive director
for development for the Taube Koret cam-
pus and a Jewish community activist. He
died knowing that his mission and what
he set out to create here was accom-
plished. I can see it every day. Thousands
of people may not know the name Alex
Joffe, but those of us who worked with him
I I I JOFFE, 35
Alex Joffe, 55, helped spearhead
Palo Alto Jewish campus
Alex Joffe
obituaries
sue fishkoff | j. staff
Kathi Kamen Goldmark battled breast
cancer with the same energy and courage
that characterized everything else she did.
On May 24, the vivacious singer-song-
writer, author, radio pro-
ducer and, most lately,
arts and culture director
for the Oshman Family
JCC, succumbed at UCSF
Medical Center, sur-
rounded by friends and
family. Author Amy Tan
and brother-in-law Dave
Barry were at her side;
Maya Angelou and Judy
Collins called to say
goodbye. She was 63.
She was with us such
a short time, but she had such a major
impact on us, says Mimi Sels, the JCCs
marketing director. She was a gentle yet
rollicking spirit a hippie, a rocker, a
book lover, always full of ideas.
Born in 1948 in Brooklyn, N.Y., Goldmark
grew up in what her husband, Sam Barry,
describes as a nonobservant but extremely
Jewish home in Cold Springs Harbor, N.Y.
While her parents inclined toward the
scientific rather than the religious, says
Barry, Kathi was a little different; she
showed a strong interest in world religions
and rituals, and found her way back to a
real interest in her own roots through that.
After college in Ohio, she moved to Los
Angeles in 1974 to join
boyfriend Jimmy Hodder, a
drummer with Steely Dan.
She moved in musical and lit-
erary circles ever after, soon
heading to San Francisco
where she shepherded authors
to and from interviews to sup-
port her real love: singing and
playing country rock.
She spent eight years pro-
ducing the West Coast Live
radio show, wrote several
books and formed her own
record company, but she was best known for
putting together the Rock Bottom
Remainders, an erstwhile band of fellow
author-musicians that has played yearly gigs
since 1992, raising more than $2 million for
charity. With Goldmark at its center, the
Remainders over time boasted the likes of
Tan (keyboards), Stephen King (guitar), Roy
Blount Jr., Mitch Albom and Barbara
I I I GOLDMARK, 34
Kathi Kamen Goldmark
Kathi Kamen Goldmark, 63, creative
whirlwind and country-rock musician
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bay area
sue fishkoff | j. staff
A proclamation to declare June 5 Palestinian
Cultural Day in Alameda County was
pulled off the agenda at the 11th hour this
week by Nate Miley, president of the countys
Board of Supervisors.
The move produced a flurry of ques-
tions and accusations, including the sug-
gestion from pro-Palestinian forces that
Jewish pressure was behind the decision.
There was no pressure from the organ-
ized Jewish community, said Myrna
David, East Bay director for the Jewish
Community Relations Council.
Seth Kaplan, Mileys chief of staff, said
Miley had not seen the proclamation before
it was signed by a staffer. He wasnt aware
of it until we got emails opposed, Kaplan
said, and then he asked to pull it because it
is a controversial international issue beyond
his expertise. Jewish leaders say the emails
were not part of any campaign.
Noting that there are 20,000 Palestinian res-
idents in the county, the proclamation called
for a day to recognize their contributions.
At the June 5 board meeting in Oakland,
where the agenda was to have included the
proclamation, some 20 pro-Palestinian
speakers and three pro-Israel activists
addressed the supervisors.
Among the latter group was Matt White,
campus coordinator for the Israel advoca-
cy group StandWithUs. White said he and
the other pro-Israel speakers did not
oppose the day itself but wanted one word
changed in the proclamation, which noted
that Palestinians profess either a
Christian, Jewish or Muslim faith. White
wanted the word Jewish omitted.
Our argument was, have this day, cele-
brate Palestinian culture, but have it under
the correct definition of Palestinian,
White said. I support their right to cele-
brate Palestinian culture as long as it does
not spill over into anti-Israel propaganda.
Thats the position the Peninsula JCRC
has taken on the Palestinian Cultural Day
thats been held in San Jose for more than 10
years. Karen Stiller, the JCRCs Peninsula
director, says some years it is a celebration of
culture, and some years notably in 2008,
following Israels incursion into Gaza it
devolved into a forum to disparage Israel.
Weve never said dont hold Palestinian
Cultural Day, we just want them to put the
culture back in it, she said. Thats consis-
tently been our message over the years. I
No Palestinian cultural day
for Alameda County
The Northern California and Nevada region of United Synagogue
Youth recently elected its 2012-13 executive board, which includes
(from left) president Sara Rochman and vice presidents Rachel
Steinberg, Noah Lightman, Karina Redding, Aaron Pluemer, Sarah
Poisner and David Herrera. The candles were part of their May 19
installation, with outgoing board members passing the torch to the
new leaders. The ceremony took place in Redwood City immediately
after Havdallah. More than 70 teens from across the region attended
the four-day convention, participating in a range of activities. They
also collected more than 30 pounds of school supplies, which were
donated to an interfaith community that supports homeless families.
The teens also raised $500 for charity. The NorCal/Nevada region is
one of 17 regions in USY, which is part of the United Synagogue of
Conservative Judaism.
USY teens lighting the way
Toulouse massacre
encouraged more
attacks, report says
The March massacre at a Jewish school in
Toulouse triggered an explosion in anti-
Semitic attacks across France, according to
the French Jewish communitys protection
service.
The Service de Protection de la
Communaut Juive, or SPCJ, released a
report June 4 that documented more than
90 anti-Semitic incidents in the 10 days that
followed the March 19 shooting at a Jewish
school in Toulouse that left four dead.
In total, the ministry recorded 148 anti-
Semitic incidents in March and April.
Forty-three of those incidents are classified
as violent.
The SPCJ report was released two days
after a violent anti-Semitic attack on June 2
against three Jews at Villeurbanne, near
Lyon. jta
German Jewish
leaders meet
in Hamburg as
neo-Nazis march
One day after violent clashes erupted at a
neo-Nazi march in Hamburg, Germanys
top Jewish leader urged Germans to
declare their country a fascist-free zone.
Speaking in Hamburg on June 3, Dieter
Graumann, head of the Central Council of
Jews in Germany, said everyone should fol-
low the example of the 10,000 local residents
who held an anti-Nazi rally June 2 under the
slogan Hamburg shows its true colors.
Graumanns remarks capped a week-
end-long gathering of 240 Jews from
around the country, titled One People,
One Community, which coincidentally
occurred on the same weekend as the neo-
Nazi march.
Graumann said the federal courts should
try again to ban the far-right National
Democratic Party of Germany, which has
an estimated 7,000 members but reaches
far more through propaganda. In recent
years, the party has gained enough votes to
earn a few seats in local parliaments, which
qualifies it for taxpayer funding. jta
Australian lawmakers
urge moment of
silence at Olympics
Australias prime minister signed a letter
calling for a moment of silence at the
London Olympics in memory of the 11
Israelis killed at the 1972 Munich
Olympics.
The letter, addressed to the International
Olympic Committee, came in the wake of
committee president Jacques Rogges rejec-
tion of Israels suggestion that the 40th
anniversary of the Munich tragedy should
be recognized during the opening ceremo-
ny of next months Games. Rogge said that
instead he would attend a special service in
London and IOC officials would attend
memorials organized by the Israelis. jta
Jewish celebration
in Rome canceled to
honor quake victims
Roman Jews canceled an outdoor celebra-
tion at Romes main synagogue to honor the
national day of mourning for the victims of
last months earthquakes in northern Italy.
Quakes in the Emilia-Romagna region
on May 20 and May 30 killed at least 24
people and left thousands homeless.
The June 4 celebration in Rome was to
have marked the 68th anniversary of the
1944 reopening of Romes main synagogue
after the citys liberation by allied forces.
The Italian Jewish community said it
was working on plans to aid quake victims,
possibly by opening Jewish summer camp
facilities to young victims and providing
counseling and other medical aid. jta
European governments
urged to protect
Jewish cemeteries
Jewish cemeteries face special risks and
European governments need to act to
ensure their protection, the Council of
Europe affirmed in a resolution.
There are numerous Jewish cemeteries in
Europe, and they need to be protected and pre-
served,read the resolution adopted May 25 by
the council, an international NGO promoting
pan-European cooperation. Jewish cemeteries
are part of the European cultural heritage
[and] probably more at risk than those of
other confessions,it said.
The European office of World Agudath
Israel, a political movement representing
haredi Orthodox Ashkenazi Jews, has iden-
tified 10,529 Jewish cemeteries and 1,859
mass graves across Europe. Agudath Israel
called the resolution, for which it had cam-
paigned, a milestone. jta
New Jewish learning
center in Berlin
A new center for Jewish studies was dedi-
cated in Berlin, and a new center for train-
ing Conservative rabbis and cantors is
expected to open in Germany in 2013.
The Center for Jewish Studies Berlin-
Brandenburg, a joint project of several
Berlin educational institutions, was dedicat-
ed May 30 in Berlin. Its startup funding of
$8.5 million over five years comes from the
German government and will support fel-
lowships and professorships for visiting
scholars.
Meanwhile, the training center for
Conservative rabbis and cantors will open
under the auspices of the Geiger College,
which opened a Reform seminary in 1999.
The Zacharias Frankel European campus of
the Los Angelesbased Ziegler School of
Rabbinic Studies will be the first Conservative
seminary on the European continent.
Its launch underscores the growth in
privately funded training programs for
Jewish teachers and rabbis in Germany,
particularly since the influx of nearly
200,000 Jews from the former Soviet
Union since 1990. jta I
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dan pine | j. staff
For a gap-toothed, dim-witted dork, Alfred E.
Neuman sure influenced a lot of people.
Everyone from Simpsons creator Matt Groening
to film critic Roger Ebert credit Mad magazine with
having a tremendous impact on their careers. Monty
Python member Terry Gilliam called the irreverent
monthly the Bible for me and my whole generation.
With Mad turning 60 this year, San Franciscos
Cartoon Art Museum pays homage with a retrospec-
tive. On display through mid-September, the exhibit
features scores of original sketches, cartoon panels and
magazine cover art (the latter all featuring Alfred the
Great himself).
Take a look at the names of the artists and writers
who put the magazine together, and one cant help
noticing: Most of the Mad brain trust was Jewish.
The usual gang of idiots (as the magazine referred
to them) included founder Harvey Kurtzman, editor
Al Feldstein, artists Mort Drucker, Al Jaffee and
Dave Berg, and writers Larry Siegel and Lou
Silverstone.
These guys lampooned pop culture, politics and
anything that looked like the conventional wisdom of
the times. Long before Bart Simpson started corrupt-
ing the youth of America, Spy vs. Spy and The
Lighter Side of were getting the job done.
It felt naughty, said Michael Capozzola,
who is Jewish and a member of the Cartoon Art
Museum advisory board. It had this degree of
wolfishness and was very of the moment.
It all started for the 40-something Capozzola
on a family vacation to Mystic, Conn., when he
was a mere lad. He saw for sale a copy of Mad
with a Star Trek parody on the cover. My
mom snatched it from me, he recalls, and she
said, Oh, no, no, no!
His fledgling passion for Mad increased when
a neighbor down the street threw out what
Capozzolla calls a metric ton of back issues to
punish his wayward son.
That kids loss was Capozzolas gain. He took
home the discarded magazines and was
hooked.
Today, Capozzollas day job is doing standup
comedy. One of the brightest feathers in his
cap, however, is the writing credit he got in a
2005 issue of Mad for a piece titled Yoga for
Smokers.
Cartoon Art Museum curator Andrew
Farago says he put the exhibit together thanks to
loans from avid collectors. Most of the vintage
drawings were sold off by the late Mad publish-
er William Gaines, who retained ownership.
Weve done other Mad shows, Farago
Sixty years of Mad-ness
Retrospective in S.F. affirms magazine was fueled by boatload of Jewish wit
patricia corrigan | j. correspondent
Indiana Jones, Robert Langdon and Jason Bourne all
would recognize Evan Sinclair the rough-and-
ready hero of Foxes in the Vineyard as one of
their own. In the action-packed work of historical fic-
tion, Sinclair battles Nazis, reconnects with a lost love
and participates in a mystical ritual with the Knights
Templar in Jerusalem in 1948.
The author who created Sinclair is Dr. Michael
Cooper of Lafayette, a pediatric cardiologist at Kaiser
hospitals in Vallejo and Walnut Creek. Foxes in the
Vineyard, his first book, was published in December
after Cooper, 63, won the grand prize at the San
Francisco Writers Conference Indie Publishing
Contest last year. Cooper started writing the book in
the mid-1990s (well before Dan Browns The Da
Vinci Code was published in 2003) and was spurred
on after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.
Within the context of the death of the peace process, I
wanted to create something popular that appealed to peo-
ple but that also had a message, Cooper said in an inter-
view earlier this month. On his blog, Cooper has written
that the novel expresses a longing for a Jerusalem that will
no longer be a point of conflict, but rather a capital of
coexistence.
About those Nazis that go after Sinclair Cooper
describes that part of the book as an alternative history,
an imagined exploration of covert actions of the Third
Reich designed to allow the Nazis to seize Jerusalem.
Cooper said the Nazis in the book serve as metaphor for
mystical religious fanaticism, ultra-nationalism, and mil-
itarism a toxic mixture that continues to infect the
Middle East conflict.
To enhance his storytelling skills, Cooper took several
writing classes and joined a local writing group. Every week
or two wed present a chapter, and having that feedback
from other people has been valuable, he said. Coopers sis-
ter Adrienne Cooper, a renowned Yiddish singer, teacher
and music curator who died Dec. 25, also was a wonderful
resource and editor for him and he dedicated the book to
her.
Scenes from the book that take place in the Old City of
Jerusalem, passages that evoke crowded streets lined with
shops, bakeries and meat sellers, are particularly vivid.
Thats because Cooper, a Berkeley native, moved to
Israel in 1966 after graduating from Oakland High
School. He lived there for 11 years.
Living in Jerusalem from 1966 to 1969, I found
myself enthralled with the quality of life, with the stone,
with the atmosphere of the city, Cooper said.
Jerusalem was much smaller then, a little jewel. It was
pleasant, too, without much animosity. My prose is
informed by that.
Cooper attended Hebrew University and then trans-
ferred to Tel Aviv University Medical School, where he
graduated in 1975. He spent a year as an intern and then
completed a one-year cardiology fellowship in Haifa.
He returned to the U.S. in 1977. Writing this book and
others about Palestine and Israel is a wonderful escape
from work and gives me a sense of joy, said Cooper. He
and his wife, Teri, are members of Congregation Bnai
Shalom in Walnut Creek.
Coopers prior books include two novels that precede the
story told in Foxes in the Vineyard. One, titled The Rabbis
Knight, tells the story of a Templar who apprentices himself
to a rabbi to learn the secrets of Kabbalah. The second is set
in Europe and Palestine in World War I, when colonial pow-
ers redrew the map and created the Middle East as it is
today, Cooper said. He also is working on a mystery.
Twice a year, Cooper makes time to go to the
Palestinian territories on volunteer medical missions,
serving children with heart defects for whom pediatric
specialty care is relatively unavailable.
We are two people on one plot of real estate and we each
deserve a homeland, a two-state solution, Cooper said. I
have a sense that we are so close to peace in Israel, and in
my mind, this needs to happen. We really do need to figure
out how to come together. I
Lafayette authors action-packed novel reimagines Jerusalem
and E.C. Publications, Inc.
Watercolor painting by Jack Davis was published in
Mad magazine in July 1990.
Dr. Michael Cooper will discuss Foxes in the Vineyard at 1 p.m.
June 16, Orinda Books, 276 Village Gate, Orinda; 7 p.m. June 19,
Congregation Ner Tamid, 1250 Quintara St., S.F.; 7 p.m. June 21, Temple
Sinai, 2808 Summit St., Oakland; 7 p.m. July 24 (following 6 p.m. potluck din-
ner), Mount Diablo Peace and Justice Center, 55 Eckley Lane, Walnut Creek.
Foxes in the Vineyard by Michael Cooper
(283 pages, iUniverse, $18.95)
Dr. Michael Cooper examines a child during a pediatric
cardiology mission last year to Ramallah.
J
These jokes have been e-mailed to us by friends and associates who, for the
Lost and found
An elderly Jewish couple is sitting together on an airplane flying to
the Far East. Over the public address system, the captain
announces:
Ladies and gentlemen, I am afraid I have some very bad news.
Our engines have ceased functioning, and this plane will be going
down momentarily. Luckily, I see an island below us that should be
able to accommodate our landing. Unfortunately, this island
appears to be uncharted; I am unable to find it on our maps. So the
odds are that we will never be rescued, and well have to live on the
island for a very long time, if not for the rest of our lives.
The husband turns to his wife and asks, Esther, did we turn off
the stove? and Esther replies, Of course.
Esther, are our life insurance policies paid up?
Of course.
Esther, did we pay our pledge to the Jewish federation?
Oh my God, she exclaims. I forgot to send the check!
Thank heaven! he replies. Theyll find us for sure!
No laughing matter
David meets Arnold at their social club and asks how Abes funeral
went the other day.
It went OK, David, replies Arnold, but at the end of the rabbis
eulogy, I had to try and stop myself from laughing aloud.
Why was that? asks David.
Well, says Arnold, Miriam you know, his wife she was
always telling me how mean a man Abe was. He never had a steady
job and the money he brought home to her wasnt enough for food
and clothing, let alone any vacations. And how he drank heavily
and sometimes stayed out all night gambling. But at the funeral, the
rabbi spoke of how wonderful the deceased was so considerate,
so charitable, so beloved, so thoughtful to others.
Then, when the rabbi had finished, I heard Miriam say to one of
her children, Do me a favor, Charlie, go see whether its your father
in the coffin. I
Creating bedtime
routines helps baby
(and you) sleep
Dear P. and M.: I, too, love Tikkun
Leil Shavuot, and your question
reminds me that in the 5 a.m. wake-
up column on Jan. 6 I promised a fol-
low-up on bedtime battles, so this is the
perfect opportunity. Well cover infants
here and older children in Part 2.
Babies and sleep are in the news with the
conversation about attachment parenting
(see my May 25 column on the topic). I
have no quarrel with the claims about the
emotional benefits of co-sleeping (e.g., the
family bed). But I must note that the
American Academy of Pediatricians rec-
ommends against it due to concerns about
infants being smothered. And I know from
the hundreds of parents I have counseled
that for many it just doesnt work, especial-
ly if both parents go to work the next
morning. Most parents cannot get the
quality of sleep needed to function in the
adult word with its myriad duties if they
sleep with their child.
So, this column is for those who
would like their child to sleep in his or
her own crib/bed.
Your baby is ready for gentle going-
to-sleep training around 3 months. Two
fundamental steps taken now will
become the building blocks of consis-
tent bedtime routines and, later, sleep-
ing through the night.
Help your baby attach to a transition-
al object, something strongly associated
with the soothing of nursing or bottle
and rocking. Get a stuffed animal, make
a shmata (10-by-10-inch baby blanket
edged with satin), or buy a lovey
(found in most baby stores). Have two
identical ones and use them inter-
changeably insurance against losing
the beloved object.
Have your baby clutch the lovey or
shmata whenever she nurses or will like-
ly fall asleep, be it in a stroller, a pack or
car seat. Give her the shmata whenever
she goes into the crib. Within two
weeks, you should observe a condi-
tioned response: soothing/getting sleepy
when the shmata is in her hand.
Some babies attach easily and
intensely; others are lukewarm about it.
If its the latter, the shmata is still very
likely to help with falling asleep. You can
encourage bonding by sleeping with it
at your chest for a week, so it absorbs
your bodys smell. And if its the former,
the relationship will become a deep and
abiding love. Decide now whether you
want your child toting the shmata
everywhere for the next few (or 25)
years, helping him to feel secure wherever
he goes. If not, restrict the shmata to the
crib or bed. There are arguments on
both sides. Whichever way you go, do it
with forethought and consistency.
Once your baby bonds with the
shmata, start putting him in his crib
awake. Stop nursing or feeding two
minutes early, rousing him gently if he
drifts off. Add a routine for going to
sleep between feeding and crib, e.g.,
change his diaper, sing a lullaby (always
the same one), kiss each cheek, say
goodnight to the moon then swiftly
into the crib where the shmata awaits.
If your baby protests many will,
especially if entrenched in falling asleep
in arms/on breast/in a swing soothe
her first with just words, then pat her
tummy or jiggle her a bit. If these fail,
pick her up and rock her. After she calms,
start the routine over from the lullaby.
There is much more to this, but not
enough space to share all of it. Be cre-
ative, but whatever step you consider,
ask yourself: Am I up for doing this for
the next 1,001 nights?
With your going-to-sleep routine set
(a little fussing is OK), you are ready for
the big one: sleeping through the night.
At 7 months and 15 pounds, most babies
can go from bedtime (7 to 8 p.m.) to
early morning without feeding. Every
time your baby wakes, repeat the routine
instead of nursing/bottle.
Easier said than done! This is one of
the hardest things to pull off and stay
sane. I strongly advise getting coaching
and support. I
parenting for the perplexed
Rachel Biale, MSW, is a Berkeley-based
parenting consultant who has been
working with parents of very young
children for more than 25 years.
Send questions through her Facebook
page: Parenting Counseling by Rachel
Biale or via rachelbiale@gmail.com.
We attended a Tikkun Leil Shavuot (all-night Torah study) and realized this should be
our childs any childs favorite Jewish holiday. Forget Purim and Passover; whats
better than staying up all night? At least, our baby seems to think so. We are exhausted!
We need help getting our baby on a reasonable bedtime schedule. P. and M.
in Martinez

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