February 2009 • JEWISH COMMUNITY NEWS • www.jvalley.org
Serving dinners at the Sunnyvale Armory With the arrival of winter comes the opening of the Sunnyvale Armory Cold Weather Shelter. Sheltering over 100 people a night, the shelter is vital for many families. Come help brighten their day! Shir Hadash Social Action Committee members welcome volunteers to serve dinner from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, February 21 and/or Sunday, March 22. For more information and to sign up for any or all dates, call Neil Ehrenberg at (408) 923-8844 or email at Cats2135@ netzero.net. All volunteers will need to have their TB tests completed, as well as some new forms filled out prior to serving dinner.✡
New high school education class at Temple Emanu-El For upper-level high school students (10-12 grades), a new class is being offered this spring. “College Bound: Being Jewish on Campus” will be an open discussion about college life and retaining Jewish identity while at college. This class will be offered weekly on Wednesday evenings, 7:30–8:15 p.m., starting on March 4.The cost is $50 for Temple Emanu-El Members and $100 for nonmembers.✡
JFS launches caregivers group Jewish Family Services is launching a support group for spouses and adult children who are caring for chronically ill/disabled loved ones. The group will meet on the first and third Tuesdays of the month, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. at Jewish Family Service, on the Levy Family Campus. An evening group will meet at Chai House. The group will provide a place for supporting, empathizing and exchanging valuable information in an atmosphere of companionship and care. The cost will be $10 per session with a sliding scale available. Rebecca Resheff, MSW, MA Psyc., and Avital Agam, BSW, will facilitate. For more information please call Avital Agam, (408) 357-7450.✡
Widow & Widowers group to host “Mr. Roadshow” The Widows and Widowers Group will host several speakers over the next three months at the Levy Family Campus, as well a party for widows and widowers on Feb 14. Police officer David Goldfinger will speak on Thursday, February 26 at 1 p.m., offering tips about senior safety in homes and on the street. On Thursday March 26 at 1 p.m. Mr. Herb Kwart will speak about interviewing the two surviving Jewish men to hold Congressional Medals of Honor earned between the Civil and Korean Wars. San Jose Mercury News columnist Gary Richards, also known as “Mr. Roadshow” will speak on Thursday, April 23 at 1 p.m. For more information on these events or the Widows and Widowers group please contact Maxine at (408) 252-0471. ✡
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Local News Two local women shepherd Russian Jewish leaders to the Silicon Valley By Cecily Ruttenberg The last day of January, six young Jewish leaders from the former Soviet Union will step off a plane at the San Francisco airport for a seven-day tour and speaking circuit at local Reform Jewish institutions. The visit is meant to breathe life into the reemerging Russian Jewish community, dormant for many years under Soviet rule. Specifically, the visitors are leaders of the World Union for Progressive Judaism in Russia and Ukraine. The trip is designed to expose them to the strongly developed Reform Jewish institutions in the South Bay Jewish community. “This is a whole rebuilding of Jewish life after a long time of nothing happening,” said Rabbi Melanie Aron of Congregation Shir Hadash. Chabad has a very extensive presence, but these people have been secular for a long time and we feel that without an alternative to Chabad, we will lose many of these young Jews.” The arrival of the FSU visitors, ages 28-38, is due to the hard work and commitment of two local Reform Jewish women, Linda Levenson and Cherie Half. Linda’s involvement culminated from a chance happening some five years ago, when she heard that Rabbi Nellie Shulman would be speaking at her congregation, Shir Hadash, about reemerging Jewish life in the Former Soviet Union. At the urging of friends, and considering her own connections to Russia through her adopted daughter, Levenson decided to go. “She (Rabbi Nellie) was talking about how people were coming out of the walls and wanting to practice Judaism, and if they saw all the resources and Reform Judaism in the U.S., they wouldn’t believe it,” recalls Levenson. “It gave me goose bumps because my son was complaining each Tuesday about, ‘why do I have to go to confirmation class, why why why?’ And here were all these young adults that were dying to do what my son was being handed on a silver platter.” Levenson approached Rabbi Nellie and asked if some of the young leaders in the FSU would like to come to the U.S. and see the Reform institutions. Levenson’s idea was to collect unused air travel miles. Both Rabbi Nellie and Rabbi Aron of Shir Hadash were supportive of the idea. “The first person I called was my mom and she gave me my first set of miles. Then my son’s confirmation class had two bake sales and did a phone bank to get miles donated. We got about ten donated plane tickets.” Twenty miles north at Congregation Beth Am, Cherie Half had been working on the same cause, raising money
Linda Levenson, left, and Cherie Half have worked to support the Reform Jewish movement in Russia.
for a Progressive synagogue in Poltova, Ukraine by hosting craft fairs and house parties. Half’s father immigrated to the United States from Odessa, Russia when he was five years old and she felt a blood tie to the region and a desire to help. “I look at that as if my grandfather hadn’t had the foresight to leave I could be one of those people in Russia trying to find my identity,” said Half. “I see myself in some of these young people coming over.” When Half and Levenson found each other at a Sisterhood event at Shir Hadash, it was a perfect synergy. Together the women coordinated the visit of nine Russian Jews in 2001, and this February the second group will arrive. They organized programing, travel and hospitality logistics. Half recently traveled to the FSU and believes that supporting the emerging Jewish community is critical and successful. She tells about a 25-year-old woman, Alla Mahas, who is the spiritual leader of Poltava, Beth Am’s twin congregation. Alla had a Jewish father and one Jewish grandparent and wanted to know more about her background. She attended seminars sponsored by the World Union, and Netzer camps, and along the way converted to Judaism. She also enrolled in a special World Union Program called Machon, which teaches young people the skills and Jewish knowledge to be a spiri-
tual leader of a congregation. “She is balancing her college career with being the leader of a congregation. She’s doing this because she got a grounding in the summer camps and leadership training and is now looking to becoming a rabbi,” said Half. Both Half and Levenson hope that local congregations might want to “twin” with a Russian congregation, and make regular donations. There is also a critical need at this moment to support the Netzer Camp Program, as there are grave challenges to keeping the camps running at capacity. They are also hopeful local donors might take an interest in the Russian visitors and their emerging synagogues. “They have really basic needs, like furniture, books, computers, even Torahs and prayer books, for their synagogues,” remarks Levenson. The FSU visitors will speak about the Russian Jewish community. They will also tour local Jewish institutions and benefit from training on everything from finance and management to religious education, organized by Half and Levenson, Steve Olson (San Francisco contact) and Rabbi Melanie Aron.✡ For more information on the programming or to get involved in this cause, please contact Linda Levenson at (408) 644-4140 or linda_shatz@hotmail.com or Cherie Half cghalf@comcast.org.