San Diego Jewish Journal May 2016 by San Diego Jewish Journal

MAY 2016 l NISAN • IYAR 5776

SENIORS

How exercise, camaraderie and charity canJEWISH help treat ONE the symptoms WOMAN'S SEARCH forofMuslim understanding a mid-life crisis

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CONTENTS

May 2016 Nisan / Iyar 5776

SENIORS:

Meet the dermatologist who began biking as a way to ward off a mid-life crisis. At 61, he's biking up to 300 miles per week. Plus, the incredible story of how the Challenged Athletes Foundation began, and details on the two major bike races that start in San Diego this month.

38 CHARITABLE GIVING: Two local Jewish organizations are half-way through their grants from the Jewish Women's Foundation to provide social opportunities for senior Jewish women. Here's a look at their progress.

50 THEATER: Playwright Aaron Posner talks "Stupid F#$%ing Bird," his unclassifiable meta play created in response to Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull." 8 SDJewishJournal.com l May 2016

SENIORS: When Kensington-resident Ita Sheres was 16, she started her first job...in the office of the first Israeli Prime Minister's Chief of Staff. She reflects on that monumental achievement.

YOM HASHOAH: A personal story explores the lifespan of collective guilt from one German-American's Jewish perspective.

59 Monthly Columns 12 The Starting Line 22 Parenting 24 Israeli Lifestyle 26 Aging 28 Spirituality 81 Advice

34 SENIORS:

AROUND TOWN 18 Our Town 20 The Scene 75 Calendar

48 CHARITABLE GIVING:

IN EVERY ISSUE 14 Mailbag 16 What’s Up Online 66 What’s Goin’ On 68 Diversions 70 News ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: 30 POLITICS:

The race for City Council District 1 continues.

32 SENIORS:

Looking back on what was missed.

Seacrest Village’s nursing home gets million dollar upgrades.

40 SENIORS:

100 and loving it.

42 SENIORS:

Silver Linings and what is a senior move manager anyway? That one time Jewish donors took over La Jolla.

54 YOM HASHOAH:

Memories passed down – a child of one Holocaust survivor remembers her father.

56 YOM HASHOAH:

Japan and the Jewish Colonel who almost prevented WWII.

59 FOOD:

Middle Eastern Roasted Vegetable Rice.

65 OF NOTE:

Hillel’s Campus SuperStar and a record donation.

74 YOM HA'ATZMAUT:

Israel Fest returns to regularly scheduled programming.

Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 9

www.sdjewishjournal.com May 2016 • Nisan/Iyar 5776

PUBLISHERS • Mark Edelstein and Dr. Mark Moss

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF • Natalie Jacobs CREATIVE DIRECTOR • Derek Berghaus ASSISTANT EDITOR • Tina B. Eshel ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR • Eileen Sondak ADVERTISING & OFFICE MANAGER • Ronnie Weisberg

Jeffrey R Liber, CFP® Managing Director-‐ Investments CA Insurance ic #0C28496 Jeffrey R Jeffrey Liber, CRFP® LLiber, CFP® jeffrey.liber@wfadvisors.com

Managing Director-‐ D Investments Managing irector-‐ Investments CA Insurance Lic #0C28496 CA Insurance Lic #0C28496 jeffrey.liber@wfadvisors.com Waddell jeffrey.liber@wfadvisors.com Alissa

AVP -‐ Registered Client Associate CA insurance Lic #0I18483 Jeffrey R Liber, CFP® alissa.waddell@wfadvisors.com Alissa Waddell Alissa WDRaddell Jeffrey Liber, Investments CFP® Managing irector-‐ CA Insurance LD ic irector-‐ #0C28496 AVP -‐ Registered Client Associate AVP -‐ Registered Client Associate Managing Investments jeffrey.liber@wfadvisors.com CA insurance Lic #0I18483 CA insurance Lic #0I18483

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS 12531 igh BBluff luff D rive, STE STE 400 400 12531HHigh Drive, 12531 High luff Drive, STE 400 STE 400 Tori Avey, Betsy Baranov, Linda Bennett, Abby Walker, David 12531 High Bluff Drive, San iego, CCA A B992130 2130 SanDDiego, 858-532-7904 858-‐ 523-‐ 904 858-532-7904 San D7iego, CA 92130 San Diego, CA 92130 Ebenbach, Judith Fein (Senior Travel Correspondent), Michael Fox, 858-‐523-‐858-‐ 7904 523-‐7904

Don Lincoln, CFP®, CIMA®

Amanda Kelly, Brie Stimson, Pat Launer, Sharon Rosen Leib, Andrea Simantov, Jon Schwartz, Marnie McCauley

Senior Vice President-‐ Investments CA IDon nsurance Lic #0821851 Lincoln, CLFP®, CIMA® Don incoln, CFP®, CIMA® don.lincoln@wfadvisors.com 12531 High Bluff Drive, STE 400

Senior ISnvestments 12531 VHice igh PBresident-‐ luff rive, TE 400 Investments Senior VDice President-‐ CA 92130 San Diego, 9San 2130 CA Insurance Lic C#A 0821851 CA Insurance Lic D#iego, 0821851 858-‐523-‐7904 858-‐523-‐7904 Gina Grimmer don.lincoln@wfadvisors.com don.lincoln@wfadvisors.com Registered Client Associate

CA insurance Lic #0178195 Don Lincoln, CFP®, CIMA® Eugenia.grimmer@wfadvisors.com Gina Grimmer Gina rimmer Don GLincoln, CFP®, CIMA® Senior Vice President-‐ Investments CA Registered Insurance LRegistered ic 0821851 C#lient ssociate Client Associate Senior VAice President-‐ Investments don.lincoln@wfadvisors.com CA insurance Lic #0178195 CA insurance Lic #0178195

CA Insurance Lic #0C28496 Insurance Lic #0821851 Investment and Insurance Products: !NOT FDIC Insured !NO Bank GuaranteeCA !MAY Lose Value Eugenia.grimmer@wfadvisors.com alissa.waddell@wfadvisors.com Eugenia.grimmer@wfadvisors.com Wells Fargo alissa.waddell@wfadvisors.com jeffrey.liber@wfadvisors.com don.lincoln@wfadvisors.com Advisors, LLC, Member SIPC, is a registered broker-dealer and a separate non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo &

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EDITORIAL: editor@sdjewishjournal.com ADVERTISING: sales@sdjewishjournal.com CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTIONS: publisher@sdjewishjournal.com Registered Client Associate AVP -‐ Registered Client Associate Wells Fargo Wells Advisors, Member SIPC, is a registered and a separate affiliate of Wells Fargo & Fargo Advisors, LLC, SIPC, is abroker-dealer registered broker-dealer andnon-bank aCA separate non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & insurance Lic #0178195 CA iLLC, nsurance Lic #Member 0I18483 ART DEPARTMENT: art@sdjewishjournal.com Company. Company. Investment alissa.waddell@wfadvisors.com Eugenia.grimmer@wfadvisors.com ©2009 Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC. AllProducts: rights reserved. 88580 –v1 -0312-2590 (e7460) ©2009 Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC. All rights reserved. 88580 -0312-2590 (e7460) and Insurance !NOT FDIC Insured !NO–v1 Bank Guarantee !MAY Lose Value LISTINGS & CALENDAR: calendar@sdjewishjournal.com

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©2009 Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC. All rights reserved. 88580 –v1 -0312-2590 (e7460) Investment and Insurance Products: !NOT FDIC Insured !NO Bank Guarantee !MAY Lose ValueSDJJ is published monthly by San Diego Jewish Journal, LLC. Subscription rate is $24 for one year

(12 issues). Send subscription requests to SDJJ, 5665 Oberlin Drive, Suite 204, San Diego, CA The San Diego Jewish Journal is a free and open forum for the expression of opinions. The opinions expressed herein are solely the opinion of the author and in no way reflect the opinions of the publishers, staff or advertisers. The San Diego Jewish Journal is not responsible for the accuracy of any and all information within advertisements. The San Diego Jewish Journal reserves the right to edit all submitted materials, including press releases, letters to the editor, articles and calendar listings for brevity and clarity. The Journal is not legally responsible for the accuracy of calendar or directory listings, nor is it responsible for possible postponements, cancellations or changes in venue. Manuscripts, letters, documents and photographs sent to the Journal become the physical property of the publication, which is not responsible for the return or loss of such material. All contents ©2016 by San Diego Jewish Journal. The San Diego Jewish Journal is a member of the American Jewish Press Association and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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SUMMER THEATRE CAMP

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AGES 13 – 22 Summer Teen Performance Camps:

THE LARAMIE PROJECT* June 20 – July 1 CABARET July 11 – 22 *At Canyon Crest Academy. To register, go to our website and click ‘Register CCA.’

AGES 13 – 22 Acting with Style July 9 – 23

July 25 – 29 and August 1 – 5

AGES 11 – 15 Tween Summer Camp Intensives

Scene Study July 25 – 29 Improvisation August 1 – 5

Go to our website to see details and to enroll. Questions? Siobhan Sullivan Crews — siobhan@NorthCoastRep.org

To enroll: (858) 481-1055 or NorthCoastRep.org/TheatreSchool

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Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 11

THE STARTING LINE by Natalie Jacobs

EDITOR’S LETTER editor@sdjewishjournal.com

movers&

Making Connections

t may or may not be clear that we follow an editorial calendar here at the Journal. Each month, we organize the magazine by supplement, based mostly on seasonal interest. Since we follow the Hebrew calendar, holidays fall in different months each year so our editorial calendar shifts slightly. This month’s supplements are a mouthful – Seniors, Charitable Giving, Yom Hashoah, and Yom Ha’atzmaut. With an issue as jam-packed as this, it could easily be too much to digest. But the best part of putting this one together was realizing that all the stories have a really interesting domino effect on each other. We start with the Seniors section, where we explore the sometimes-cataclysmic shift that happens for a person – in the case of the cover story, a man at the age of 50 – who enters the senior zone. Dr. Mitchel Goldman, now 61, experienced major life transitions 11 years ago. While men aged 45 to 55 have the highest suicide rates, Goldman found a better way to work himself free from the clutches of depression. He started biking. A lot. The dermatologist now cycles about 300 miles every week, and competes in amateur races around the world. It all started when some friends approached him about a charity ride. Which brings us, somewhat accidentally, to our Charitable Giving section. This story follows the Jewish Women’s Foundation, a giving circle of 80 women who contribute to and grant from a fund housed at the Jewish Community Foundation. They’ve developed a multi-year granting system to support local programs that offer leadership and engagement opportunities for Jewish women and girls. In the current cycle, grants were awarded to Jewish Family Service and the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center to enhance social opportunities for isolated Jewish senior women. Undoubtedly, some of the people who are older 12 SDJewishJournal.com l May 2016

With an issue as jam-packed as this, it could easily be too much to digest. But the best part of putting this one together was realizing that all the stories have a really interesting domino effect on each other. and isolated in San Diego are Holocaust survivors. In fact, Jewish Family Service has received another grant, from the Jewish Federations of North America, to support nearly 65 survivors in the San Diego area. You’ll find those details in the news section. The Yom Hashoah features offer three Holocaust stories from hugely different perspectives. There is an exploration of collective guilt, as told by a German-American Jew-byChoice. Also, a child of survivors examines the stories her father told and how she was reminded of them at various stages in her own life. Then, a look at a quietlyJewish military man who nearly kept the Japanese out of World War II, with the help of a very special Prince. If that’s not enough, there’s still the coverage of this year’s Israel Fest, the beloved local celebration of Yom Ha’atzmaut, or Israel Independence Day. Plus our usual coverage of local theater (warning: this one’s not for the faint of heart). Consider it a choose-your-own-adventure edition. A

Shakers

Heather Wolfson, senior director of community partnerships at Federation, is one of 29 Schusterman Fellows selected for 2016, the second year of the global leadership program. Read about her current project, Israel Fest, on pg. 74.

⦿

Sharyn Goodson returns to Leichtag Foundation, where she was program officer in 2010 before moving over to the Jewish Community Foundation. She started back at Leichtag as director of philanthropic strategy in late March.

⦿

Rabbi Philip Graubart is leaving the pulpit at Congregation Beth El to work with the Shalom Hartman Institute’s west coast initiatives. Find details in the news story on pg. 70.

⦿

Helping reach their

DONORS

PHILANTHROPIC G

From Generation to Generation.. The Jewish Community Foundation is proud to help donors reach their philanthropic goals and build community in San Diego. Here are a few of their stories.

Doing Good!

Glickman-Galinson Family

Chortek Family

We celebrate three generations of the Glickman-Galinson family, whose leadership and philanthropy are outstanding models for our next generation. Joseph Glickman (Chickie, center), his wife Beverly (Birdie, of blessed memory), Elaine Galinson (right) and Laura Galinson (left) are examples of the Jewish value of Chesed - kindness and compassion - in all they have done to enrich our community. Thanks to the generosity of Joseph Glickman, the UCSD Hillel building will be named the Beverly and Joseph Glickman Hillel Center.

Peter (of blessed memory, lower left) and Elaine Chortek (lower right) created the Peter Chortek Leadership Award to foster Jewish communal involvement by recognizing Jewish high school students who are practicing the value of Tikkun Olam, repairing the world. Together with their children, Susan Chortek Weisman and Robert Chortek, they support youth programs with an Endowment for Youth Philanthropy at the Foundation, including the Jewish Teen Foundation program.

Nudelstejer Family

Pidgeon Family

Jessica Nudelstejer indelibly touched the lives of those around her during her 13 years. In her memory, Jessica’s parents, Abraham Nudelstejer and Julie Miller (right), and her sister Alexa (left), established the Jessica Nudelstejer Memorial Fund at the Jewish Community Foundation. Each year on her birthday the family honors her love of computers by recommending a modest grant to Casa de Amparo as a ‘technology partner’. Casa de Amparo is a recognized major force in the treatment and prevention of child abuse and neglect.

This year we commemorate Yom HaShoah, the Day of Remembrance, in May. Harold (right) and Shirley Pidgeon (left) created The Larry Pidgeon Endowment Fund for Holocaust Education at the Jewish Community Foundation to honor and memorialize their son, Larry. The purpose of the fund is to promote opportunities for collaboration and collective learning among Holocaust Education providers and to foster a knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust as a significant historical event.

To support these funds and programs, and any others important to you, please contact: (858) 279-2740 • info@jcfsandiego.org

Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 13

we’re listening let us know what’s on your mind

Send us your comments: editor@sdjewishjournal.com 5665 Oberlin Dr., Ste 204, San Diego, CA 92121

ON THIS MONTH’S COVER This month's cover photo is of Dr. Mitchel Goldman on one of many long-distance bike rides. Read about Goldman and his efforts, along with those of other local bikers, on pg. 36 of this issue.

14 SDJewishJournal.com l May 2016

ANTI-INTERFAITH Dear Editor: I read Judith Fein’s article on the interfaith symposium she organized in New Mexico [“Interfaith Community Affair Hopes to Spread Beyond New Mexico,” April, 2016]. This symposium provided a forum for Muslim women to speak with Jewish women. After living in Israel for six years and studying with Muslim students at an Israeli university and medical school, it is my impression that Ms. Fein is engaging in wishful thinking that this type of forum will promote peace. Rather, I find it to be dangerous to allow Jewish women to convince themselves that because Muslim women are willing to accept their generosity, that in some way, this will facilitate peace. When I was a student at Hadassah Medical School of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, I lived in the student dormitories with Muslims and Jews. I invited some Muslim women to my son's Pidyon Haben (redemption of the first born) ceremony. These friendly Arab acquaintances actually wanted to come to the ceremony but their husbands would not permit it. These same Arab students were studying on scholarship from Hadassah Women’s Organization. Later that same year, I took my regular bus to Hadassah hospital as I did every day from the

student dorms. My bus was blown up that afternoon. Planned and executed by those same Muslim students who lived in the dorms with us. My observation is that the better educated Muslims are potentially the most dangerous. They used the student dormitories to plan their subversive activities. No amount of free college scholarships was the slightest deterrent to their dream of Arab Nationalism in Israel. I might add that the pediatric wing of Hadassah Hospital was almost completely occupied by Arab children, many from neighboring countries. Again, the treatment, and sometimes even their transportation was paid for by Israel and Jewish organizations. As Americans, we desperately want to believe that it is possible to be a devout Muslim and a tolerant person. The role model for Islam is their leader, Muhammed. He was not tolerant of infidels. There is no reason to believe that his adherents should diverge from his example. We will have peace in the middle East when Muslim women provide a forum for Jewish women to speak their mind, provide scholarships for Jewish students to study tuition free in Arab lands, and provide free medical care for needy Jews in their hospitals, just like Hadassah women do for them. Sylvia Rogers San Diego

CORRECTION In the April issue, the editor’s column “Ah, Politics” inaccurately characterized a statement from the Union for Reform Judaism regarding AIPAC’s decision to invite Donald Trump to speak at its policy conference. The Union for Reform Judaism did not condemn AIPAC, rather noted that it respects “completely its decision to invite all the viable candidates for President to speak at its [then] upcoming Policy Conference.” After placing no fault on AIPAC for its invitation, the URJ statement went on to note that “Mr. Trump’s extreme anti-immigrant rhetoric reminds us that our own ancestors’ access to American shores of freedom and promise were once blocked, with deadly consequences” and promised to “find an appropriate and powerful way to make our voices heard.” The SDJJ regrets this error.

They serve our community. We celebrate their service.

Marjorie Morrison, LMFT, LPCC

Max & Rose Schindler

CEO and Founder PSYCHARMOR Institute

Holocaust Survivors/Educators

Congratulations to the 2016 Jewish American Heritage Month Local Heroes. Union Bank and KPBS are honored to recognize these three recipients who serve as a continuous source of inspiration and fill our communities with hope, dreams and possibilities.

To nominate a Local Hero, visit unionbank.com/heroes

whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s up on sdjewishjournal.com

JOE BIDEN, J STREET, AND THE IMPACT OF ISRAEL ON THE UPCOMING ELECTION Vice President Joe Biden addressed a J Street Gala in mid-April. The previous day, the group convened a cadre of politicos for a panel on the impact of the Israel discussion on this election. Before it all, the Democratic debate happened in Brooklyn. Never a dull moment.

100 BIRTHRIGHT FELLOWS DESCENDED ON SAN DIEGO...FOR THE WEATHER Another group of Birthright Fellows gathered for four days of intensive training on education and leadership topics. Organizers chose San Diego for the weather, obviously, and word is they had a fantastic time. Applications for the next round of Birthright Fellows are open now.

SEASONAL AND GLUTEN FREE SOUP: Spring means asparagus, so the markets are overflowing with the stalky veggie. This recipe offers a creamy and delicious way to put those seasonal items to good, gluten-free use.

JEWISH IN TURKEY: A couple weeks before Passover, Benjamin Netanyahu raised the terror alert for Jews in Turkey to the highest level. He urged all Israelis to leave tbe country. It was estimated that some 110,000 Israelis were planning to travel to Turkey for Passover. They were encouraged to change their plans. Hear about all our web exclusives first: Like us on Facebook.com/ sandiegojewishjournal and follow us on Twitter @sdjewishjournal 16 SDJewishJournal.com l May 2016

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TOP L-R: Gala honoree Ben Schulman; The String Angels.

Heart and Soul Gala

our TOWN BY LINDA BENNET AND BETSY BARANOV, PHOTOS COURTESY JFS

Jewish Family Service held itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual Heart and Soul Gala on March 13 with more than 525 guests at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla. A silent auction started the evening, and in total, the social services agency raised $915,000. This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mitzvah Honorees were Claire and David Ellman, Benjamin Schulman, and U.S. Bank. Enjoying the night were Danny Recht, Marc Channick, Marcia Foster Hazan, Malissa Winicki and Paul Hartwell, Alberta Feurzeig, Barbara and Mathew Loonin, Pamela and Edward Carnot, Barbara Bry and Neil Senturia, and Jennifer and Julian Josephson.

Birthdays...

Happy 89th birthday to Char Sultan! Happy 80th birthday to David Kroll! Happy 75th birthday to Beverlee Greene and happy 85th birthday to her husband, Pat Greene! Mazel Tov to Elana and Aaron Berger on the birth of their son Jack Ari! Jenna and Adam Leventhal announce the birth of their daughter, Ava Shellie Leventhal! On March, 22 Maya Esther Gimbel was born to San Diego natives Sarah and Jeremy Gimbel. Two and a half year old Ari has now become a big brother!

Anniversaries...

Beverlee and Pat Greene will also celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in June! Happy 54th anniversary to Ralph and Carol Levy! Happy 55th anniversary to Les and Harriet Niss!

18 SDJewishJournal.com l May 2016

BOTTOM L-R: Gabrielle and Glenn Oratz with Karin Toranto; Logan Marcus, Staci Tiras-Jones, Kira Finkenberg, Danielle Sicklick.

Community Holocaust Commemoration SUNDAY, MAY 1 | 1:30 - 3PM

Lawrence Family JCC JACOBS FAMILY CAMPUS DAVID AND DOROTHEA GARFIELD THEATRE This event is free and open to the public

ADL ∙ San Diego Center for Jewish Culture ∙Jewish Community Foundation ∙ Jewish Family Service ∙ New Life Club ∙ Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, JACOBS FAMILY CAMPUS ∙ San Diego Rabbinical Association ∙ Jewish Federation of San Diego County

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ACTIVITIES

Friendship Circle Walk, Henna Tattoos & Crafts, Face Painting, Entertainment & Games, Israeli Music, Israeli Dancing, Kosher Food, Community Booths

Learn more about upcoming events at

jewishinsandiego.org/events Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 19

the SCENE BY NATALIE JACOBS PHOTOS BY ERIKA THORNES PHOTOGRAPHY

Spring Gala On April 6, the La Jolla Music Society welcomed 131 guests to Coasterra Restaurant on Harbor Island for its annual Spring Gala. Vocalist Storm Large headlined the evening with a performance covering the Great American Songbook. The 16-yearold cellist Paul Maxwell from San Diego Youth Symphony also performed during the festivities. Later, Russian pianist Nikolay Khozyainov gave a surprise performance of an arrangement from Georges Bizet’s opera “Carmen” to the captivated audience. The La Jolla Music Society reports raising “just over” $318,000 from the evening, in support of its artistic and education endeavors.

20 SDJewishJournal.com l March May 2016 2016

Clockwise from top right: Model and David Bennett • Dane Chapin, Hank Nordhoff, Susan Hoehn • Joseph Tsai, Alexandra Tsai, Clara Wu Tsai • Maureen Shiftan, Katherine Chapin.

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Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 21

MUSINGS FROM MAMA

by Sharon Rosen Leib

PARENTING srleib@me.com

New Releases

Getting Involved

o one wants to be the tattletale, the bearer of bad news, the messenger that risks being slayed. Yet sometimes life requires us to leave our cool, detached safety zones (easily inhabited these days by hiding behind computer and cell phone screens) and get involved. As tunedin parents, our kishkes know when a child is flailing, when a soul is being crushed or, worst of all, when a child presents a risk of harm to himself or others. That’s the time to act. When I heard from Oldest Daughter that one of her college classmates was mixing alcohol and Xanax, blacking out at parties and verbally and physically harassing other students, including her, I worried hard. I’ve known this young man since kindergarten. His sweetness and sensitivity made him one of my favorite kids. I remember him as a 5-year-old, looking up at me and asking in his heart-melting, littleboy voice, “Mrs. Leib, can you help me with this math problem?” The news of his troubling behavior hit like a brick. He needed help. I hoped the college would reach out to his parents and/or get him into counseling. Unfortunately, despite mounting evidence over a year’s time that he presented a threat to himself and others, the college did nothing of the kind, citing the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). While FERPA protects college students’ privacy, it also grants campus administrators the discretion to notify parents in emergency situations. If a student spiraling out of control like this isn’t urgent, what is? Instead, the college responded to student complaints lodged against him by forbidding him from interacting with these students and forcing him to move off campus if he wanted to remain in school. Moving him off campus struck me as a half-assed solution that could exacerbate his problems by isolating him. I know his mother and wondered whether she was aware of any of this. Should I tell her? I’m lucky to have a sister and close friends 22 SDJewishJournal.com l May 2016

The college responded to student complaints lodged against him by forbidding him from interacting with these students and forcing him to move off campus if he wanted to remain in school. who are social workers/therapists. They all said the same thing, “Get in touch with her! If he hurts himself or anyone else, you’ll never forgive yourself for not reaching out.” They were right. I had to do something. So I mustered my courage and wrote her a handwritten letter – all compassion, no judgment. I explained if he was one of my kids I’d want to know. I didn’t hear anything for a few days. Then she texted me saying she was grateful to me for contacting her and wanted to know more. After reading her text, I cried tears of relief. When we talked, she said she was unaware of her son’s on-campus behavior or that the college took disciplinary action against him. He’d just been home for spring break and seemed fine. She was shocked. While I felt so sorry to be the bearer of sad news, I rested easier knowing I’d given her some important knowledge, and thus the power to help her son. Even as our children reach young adulthood, they still and always remain our children and it takes a shtetl to watch over them. As the great Talmudic sage Hillel the Elder stated millennia ago, “Whosoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whosoever that saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.” By making the tough call to intervene, we can save souls and maybe even lives. We also model for our children that reaching out with compassion and good intentions may save worlds. A

“Johann Trollman and Romani Resistance to the Nazis”

This book, the newest addition to the shop at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, follows boxing protégé Johann Trollman who fought for Germany even through his own family’s deportation to concentration camps. Eventually, he too would die in a camp.

“The Jewish Food Hero Cookbook: 50 Simple PlantBased Recipes for Your Holiday Meals” Kenden Alfon, who goes by the handle "Jewish Food Hero" on Twitter, is out with her first book, a vegetarian spin on holiday recipes. Too late for Passover, but maybe never too early for High Holidays?

“G-d: An Autobiography, as Told to a Philosopher”

Author Jerry Martin explores the question: if there is one G-d, why are there so many religions? It is a question as old as time. Martin’s book is not a bad place to start in on the answer, even if one doesn’t actually expect to find it.

On the Go

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LOOKS FORWARD TO MEETING HER TWO DEAR FRIENDS FOR LUNCH EVERY TUESDAY

READY TO GET STARTED? All training sessions are one hour in length and held at Jewish Family Service, JOAN & IRWIN JACOBS CAMPUS | Turk Family Center 8804 Balboa Ave., San Diego 92123 May 12, 2:00pm May 24, 10:00am

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Questions? Contact Volunteer Engagement at (858) 637-3050 or learn more at www.jfssd.org/driver

Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 23

LIVING ON THE FRONT PAGE by Andrea Simantov

ISRAELI LIFESTYLE andreasimantov@gmail.com

Arrogance and Acceptance

y husband recently stumbled upon a television series that, land-locked in a shtetl called Jerusalem, I’d never heard of. It offers a shockingly lurid glimpse into insider-trading and government efforts to nab the felons. No one has clean hands and the lines between the good guys and those who want to take over the world is nearly invisible. The dialogue is fast-paced, riveting, clever, snarky and I frequently find myself gasping for air. There are no scenes or characters that relate to “ordinary” life and no female in the show is ever shown choosing between romaine or bibb lettuces for the family picnic. Ruthlessness and conniving are the only qualities that receive meritorious attention; sex in exchange for information or advancement is de rigour. Everyone is beautiful and those who aren’t are cast as boobs, outcasts, losers. Kindness is a honed device, a useful tool when disarming one’s enemy is the desired outcome. Over morning coffee, my husband and I occasionally discuss what has us drawn to this show. After all, I have no connection to the U.S. stock market and I really don’t know what an IRA is. My more pressing concerns remain keeping the electricity and water connected and padding the nest-egg enough for an occasional trip to see the grandchildren. Still, like moths drawn to flame,

24 SDJewishJournal.com l May 2016

we sit glued to the screen to follow the staccatobarbs and one-upmanship with rapt attention. After a night of television viewing, I frequently awaken feeling soiled and unsettled. The seven weeks following Passover are progressing slowly and I’m supposed to be reflecting upon the meaning of Shavuot and receiving our holy Torah. But Hollywood has skewed my hard-fought center. Despite daily prayers and efforts to make this world a better place, those celluloid nights infect my sun-drenched days and I find myself asking, Am I thin enough? Will my children reject the values of my home because I’m poor? Are my sons-in-law slick enough to provide the good life for my girls and grandchildren? Will everyone I love stay faithful to their marriages? Does any of it really matter? Next month we’ll honor the holiday of Shavuot, a celebration of kindness. Jewish kindness – chesed – does not refer to superficial acts that make us feel like big shots for a day; chesed is an often painstakingly-developed characteristic designed to envelop our souls and morph into our DNA. Chesed imbues consciousness and does not sport an endpoint. It is all about being; there are no goal-posts on the field. It occurs to me that it takes a special type of arrogance to expend truck loads of energy in order to beat the system. Indeed, one

would have to believe himself a near-deity who can create and enforce laws of his own creation. Just thinking about this exhausts me, quite like the aforementioned television program. Maintaining such an acute level of vigilance and distrust doesn’t seem to leave much room for loving relationships, exploring G-d’s bounty and, consequently, growing. The holiday of Shavuot is referred to as “the time of the giving of the Torah.” Why isn’t it called “the time of receiving the Torah?” I would surmise that the greatest lessons come from those moments when we give of ourselves and do not wait for reciprocity. Shavuot is a celebration of open-handed, leave-expectations-at-thedoor generosity. We are encouraged to follow the examples of two holy women, Naomi and Ruth, who did not brandish their respective pedigrees but, instead, lived with and loved G-d’s children without referring to a checklist. Meaning no disrespect to Tinseltown’s rainmakers, it behooves us to remember that we were designed to out-think and out-maneuver the best of them by filling our calendars with activities that bring us closer to one-another, devoid of judgement and condemnation. We are all wealthy heirs of chesed and the legacy we leave behind is incalculable. A

The Behavioral Health Committee of Jewish Family Service of San Diego Invites You to Our Annual Luncheon in Support of Behavioral Health Awareness

A Personal Account of Recovery: Facing the truth, gaining strength, and gathering support to survive addiction Featuring William Cope Moyers of Hazelden Betty Ford

Monday, May 23 | 11:30am – 1:30pm Luncheon at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla 3777 La Jolla Village Dr., La Jolla 92122 | Early registration discount before May 9 William Cope Moyers, son of veteran broadcaster and former White House Press Secretary Bill Moyers, went from a life of privilege with a bright career to one of powerless addiction to alcohol and crack cocaine. Moyers’ best-selling memoir, Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption, is the stunning and inspiring true-life account of his substance use and successful recovery. Now as a Vice President at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, Moyers is a national voice, raising awareness of addiction as a powerful illness and recovery as a lifelong pursuit — one that requires the whole family and community to recover together.

Barbara Barsky

Fidelity National Title

Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 25

OLDER, WISER, BETTER by Jon Schwartz

AGING jonaschwartz@hotmail.com

In Search of Technology Tutors

may be a millennial, but I am in no way a technology wiz-kid. I do appreciate that fact that I’ve grown up in a time when learning computer basics, internet navigating, and smart phone is the norm, though. When a new piece of consumer technology breaks through, I basically assume that I’ll be able to pick it up relatively quickly. A touch screen is a touch screen, right? This innate ability is incredibly useful today. Just this weekend, I used my phone for driving directions to a new location. I booked a trip online – flight, hotel, the works. I keep in touch with friends and loved ones multiple times a day, via email and social media. And because of these tools, I believe our society can become more efficient, better informed, and more connected than any other time in human history. More and more, with new technologies, it is younger and younger people who are the early adopters. As the population ages, though, entire generations can easily be left behind in this fast-paced transition. It is incumbent on societies to provide training and resources so that this doesn’t happen. In 2013, the Pew Research Center carried out a few studies that compared American adults, aged 18-64 years, and Americans 65 and older on the use of technologies. The study found that 91 percent of adults in the younger group have and use a cell phone, compared to 77 percent in the older group. Not terrible – but moving on to internet use, a solid 86 percent of younger adults use the internet, compared to 59 percent of the older adults. Usage for smart phone, e-readers, tablets, and the use of social media were all significantly lower for those 65 and older compared to the younger adults. Pew found that the differences in technology use for older adults can be attributed to physical challenges presented with using new technologies. Perhaps vision problems or arthritis discourages people from participation. Another finding was that an older adult may not see the benefits in learning the new technology. Or they may just be intimidated. With this in mind, our community should strive to build coalitions of people 26 SDJewishJournal.com l May 2016

“At one time we might have turned to an older-timer to explain the world. Now we consult Google, and if we have any trouble with the computer, we ask a teenager.” and infrastructures to help mitigate fears and assumptions that older adults have about technology. Technology can help enable an older adult to fulfill a desire that more than 90 percent have expressed a wish to do; age-in-place. Through technology, one may be able to avoid missing a preventative physician’s appointment, even if one can no longer drive, (thanks to ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft). One may be able to better stay socially connected to family, friends and community by creating a social media or Skype account. One may chose to learn new skills by asking Google or YouTube how to do almost anything and everything! Technologies in health, commerce, recreation and travel will continue to expand what is possible. But there is always an operational learning curve. Therefore, I’m calling on all of my young friends or older one’s too who feel proficient in an area of technology, to offer your knowledge and time to an older individual(s) who could benefit from help. In Atul Gawande’s best selling book, “Being Mortal,” he states, “At one time we might have turned to an older-timer to explain the world. Now we consult Google, and if we have any trouble with the computer, we ask a teenager.” While Google does know a lot, we have much to learn from our aging population in terms of empathy, wisdom, compassion, communication and relationships. Take the time to show an older relative or neighbor how to use a piece of technology, I promise it will not only be a great investment for you but for the world too. Imagine, millions upon millions of older adults will soon be connected to technology, thus able to share their talents in the world unlike any time before. A

FYI

Southwestern Artists Association in Balboa Park's Spanish Village will host "Nature Abounds," an art show featuring works by Deanne Tiffany and Susanne Flowers. Drawings, paintings and carvings will explore the theme. The artists will be in Studio 23 May 1-15 from 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. to answer questions and show off their work.

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Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 27

THE ARTIST’S TORAH by David Ebenbach

SPIRITUALITY ebenbach@netzero.com

High Stakes

e begin this month in danger. The first Torah portion we read in May (Aharei Mot) right away reminds us of the death of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, who were consumed by fire when they offered to G-d a strange fire of their own (Lv 10:1-2). We’re told his sons died when they came before G-d (Lv 16:1). The remainder of the month’s Torah readings reinforce this sense that our lives are fraught with opportunities to get the sacred wrong, and we learn about penalties for a wide range of transgressions. Yet two areas of concern get more attention than the rest, and they bear some examination. The first is a series of verses (Lv 17:1-14) concerning the sacrifice and eating of animals, and, during those activities, what we do with the blood of the animal. Specifically, this blood gets used for ritual purposes, but we are forbidden to consume it. Why? Because blood, in the Torah’s analysis, is life. We are being told that a reverent engagement with life can fuel our most profound moments, but we can’t just use it up for mundane purposes, can’t treat it blithely. The other lengthy concern here is uncovering the nakedness of another person. The Torah elaborates an extensive list (Lv 18:6-10) of all the specific people whose nakedness must not be uncovered (father, mother, aunt, grandchild, a mother and her daughter, etc.). This is a metaphor, and it means that these are people with whom we are not supposed to have sex. More deeply, though, the metaphor suggests that this is about inappropriate intimacy. We are supposed to be careful when we might instead be tempted to carelessly expose or reveal another. In these two concerns I see a parallel to the Nadab and Abihu story. Their fire was strange, says the text, and commentators have interpreted “strange” to mean all kinds of things. What binds many of the explanations together is irreverence; the two brothers brought thoughtlessness, carelessness, a lack of appreciation for the situation. This was the strangeness – a fire that had no awe in it, despite the fact that (as they were soon to discover) lives were hanging in the balance. As the rest of this month’s Torah portions teach us, particularly the assertion that blood is life and life is blood, when we approach the most powerful of human experiences, stakes are always very high and thus reverence is always necessary. 28 SDJewishJournal.com l May 2016

As the dance choreographer David Gordon says, “If something has value, if it matters, then you give it its due. You respect it. You get a sense of what it means. You establish a relationship … That doesn’t mean you can’t turn it upside down. You can turn it upside down because you are looking to see if the underbelly is equally interesting and evocative.” This sounds like uncovering nakedness, and we know from Torah that that’s problematic. In fact, it’s probably the other part of where Abihu and Nadab went wrong. They not only brought “strange fire,” but they also brought it too close, as though trying to get an inside view of G-d. Indeed, as painter Mark Rothko wrote (in his typically dense prose), “Like the old ideal of G-d, the abstraction itself in its nakedness is never directly apprehensible to us. As in the case of G-d, we can know its manifestation only through works, which, while never completely revealing the total abstraction in the round, symbolize it by the manifestation of different faces of itself in works of art.” What he means here is that we never see through to the essence of anything – not G-d, not one another – and we shouldn’t arrogantly assume we can. Instead, we engage in the spiritual and the artistic not through exposing but through revealing. We paint, we do acts of loving kindness, we dance, we do tzedakah, we write poems, not in order to leave life naked but to participate in that life in a completely engaged way. And there are dangers (to ourselves and to others) if we miss this wisdom. With stakes so high, we might be tempted to back away from the sacred experience altogether, but we don’t have that option. As G-d says through the Torah, “You shall be holy” (Lv 19:2). This kind of sacred investment is in fact required of us. But we have to invest ourselves in the right way: with an awe and reverence for life, and with a desire not to denude the world but to lift it up. A Editor’s note: It is with much respect and some sadness that I announce this is David Ebenbach’s final column for the San Diego Jewish Journal. He has been writing for us for three years and has chosen to re-focus on other writing opportunities. I hope you’ll join me in wishing him all the best in his next endeavors.

 This

month’s Torah portions May 7: Acharei Mot (Leviticus 16:1-18:30) May 14: Kedoshim (Leviticus 19:1-20:27) May 21: Emor (Leviticus 21:1-24:23) May 28: Behar (Leviticus 25:1-26:2)

VOTE

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In preparation for the 2016 Anniversary Gala

Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School is launching the first ever

53rd Anniversary Gala June 5, 2016

Alumni Video

Contest #iamHebrewDay

Create a short #iamHebrewDay video 30 Seconds or less: - Introduce yourself - State 3 sentences of what you have done since Hebrew Day - End with the sentence “ I AM Hebrew Day!” - Email your video to alumni@ssdhds.org by May 15th

Four winners will be chosen and brought to San Diego to join us for our 53rd Anniversary Gala Dinner and participate in our program!

2016 Gala Honoree: Selwyn Isakow Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 29

PHOTO COURTESY LOUIS RODOLICO

The Race for District 1 continues...

Following interviews with two of the candidates for City Council District 1 published in the April issue, one more candidate, Louis Rodolico, agreed to talk with SDJJ. The remaining two candidates, Bruce Lightner and Kyle Heiskala, were contacted for interviews but did not respond to requests. Congregation Beth Israel will host Barbara Bry, Ray Ellis and Louis Rodolico at its Dinner Forum on May 18 at 6:30 p.m. INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY NATALIE JACOBS

Why did you decide to run for City Council? Louis Rodolico: It looked like some issues weren’t going to be addressed – the Regents Road Bridge and the fire house locations in Univeristy City, specifically. So I decided to jump into the race to make sure these issues were given a fair hearing.

What’s the situation with the Regents Road bridge? LR: Originally there were three roads planned to connect UTC and University City ... that was a total of 12 lanes. ... Individuals living on the Regents Road corridor don’t want the Regents Road because they believe it will lower their property values, it will cause traffic, it will bring maybe crime and all of those elements into their communities. But at the same time, not having Regents Road bridge is a problem because all the traffic now goes down Genessee, there’s a large delay which I estimate puts about 10 million pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere because of the delay. There are also several property owners who live right next to the road that would benefit enormously if the bridge were not built. Some of the properties are very large and could be divided up where additional houses could be built.

You would say that the Regents Road bridge and the fire station in University City are the biggest issues facing District 1? LR: Yeah, and they’re also related. If we had the Regents Road bridge, one central fire house would work. ... My personal opinion is, fire stations need to be close to the center of the action, because the benefits radiate from them. One of the reasons I’m involved in this, I live in East UC and I see the fire stations being built that aren’t going to benefit my community which is another drive for me to get in the race.

How will you champion improved public transit on City Council for District 1? LR: I’m a really big fan of public transit. I was a pro-bono community advocate 20 years ago ... in Philadelphia. I understand how you have to manage individuals in public transit and I think I would be a benefit for the City Council in general.

What do you think of the Convadium petition currently gathering signatures around town? LR: Unfortunately our biggest clients like ComicCon are kind of against it. We kind of have to listen to those managers because they can see what their future is, they can see what they want. I don’t think that the Convadium is going to work, because it goes back to, that’s where we want the innovation center. We’re really good at attracting software engineers ... so to plop a football stadium that’s used four percent of the year and ruin the connection between downtown and the innovation center, I’m completely against it. UTC is having a tough enough time with the new buildings going up – one of the issues is Regents Road bridge, it’s a traffic issue. We’re going to see more and more pressure on high tech technology not to come into UTC because there isn’t any more land available. So the people who are championing an innovation center, I’d like to also see that remain downtown and not be for a stadium. I really think the Chargers should simply stay in Qualcomm.

How are you campaigning in this final month leading up to the primary? LR: My wife’s kind of a software genius and she’s going out and picking up a lot of information and feeding it to me. I’m basically responding as best I can. I’m a little late in the race, I got in Feb. 29 and immediately after I got in, Sherri Lightner’s husband got in the next day, and her employee got involved the next day. ... I was really surprised to see [them] enter immediately, no one had entered for months before I had entered it. I was only the third person running for like two days. A

30 SDJewishJournal.com l May 2016

The University of San Diego is Leading Change. The University of San Diego is proud to have announced the most exciting and ambitious fundraising effort in its 67-year history. Leading Change: The Campaign for USD. This $300 million campaign is already changing every aspect of the student experience. USD students are making a difference through their research, their innovation and their service to others. They are today’s Changemakers and tomorrow’s leaders. They are Leading Change.

The University of San Diego. Leading Change. leadingchange.sandiego.edu Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 31

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The Long Look Back BY PATRICIA GOLDBLATT

recently heard this story of a well-known pediatrician. When he was finally allowed to babysit his first grandkid, he was quickly reminded, “Now if there’s an issue, we’ve left the name of our doctor. Please call her.” So it goes that we, the boomers, feel discredited by our adult children; as if they have miraculously discovered all the whys and wherefores of child rearing, sourly smiling at us tottering dinosaurs whose forays into Dr. Benjamin Spock and Burton L. White were so last century. Sometimes I do wonder how keen and alert I was as a parent through my children’s various stages of growing up. Somehow, my youngest

Did she compose stories of heroines much like limp Victorian consumptives with names like Lavender who succumbed to deadly illnesses? Yes. But did my girl badger me with questions surrounding death and dying or an afterlife? Not that I can recall. Yet, her older sister also relates that she too was on-the-ready should Nazis or murderers invade our house. She tells me there was a sweet spot beneath the stairs that she reasoned would keep her safe. Even 40 years later, my older daughter explains she has an escape plan in her own house, should there be a zombie invasion.

the promise of a milkshake on the way home. Those seedling fears were not to be scattered to the wind but instead planted into my girls’ imaginative heads. Looking back now, I can’t help but think I didn’t hear their words or take their worries, seriously enough. Then I remember the difficulties of being a working mother with three kids aged younger than seven. I was too exhausted to analyze their predictions or even assuage their whispered and spurious concerns. I preferred instead to offer a physical hug or squeeze, a heartfelt nighttime kiss as they finally closed their eyes at the end of a long day. Now of course I think I might have sung out

Now of course I think I might have sung out “Don’t worry! You’re OK.” Or some version of the proverbial soother, “Sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite.” daughter’s main interest came to reside in death. As such, the trajectory of her professional life has revolved around caring for terminally ill children, addressing the needs of military personnel who have risked death and suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, working with the siblings of children who are deceased, and now researching the words of the dying under the guidance of Raymond Moody, who coined the phrase “near death experience.” She says that as a young girl she was always plagued by thoughts of death. But when I recall her growing-up years, replete with childish tantrums, mischievous schemes, and teenage rebellion, I cannot discern any fascination with the morbid. Did she occasionally visit the warmth of our bed when witches visited her or nighttime fears corrupted her sleep? Yes. 32 SDJewishJournal.com l May 2016

My husband blames me for prefacing many sentences with “I’m afraid…” although for me, this phrasing was an amulet, a reverse psychology plea to the universe to keep the demons away. True, I wore my fears as a shield, taunting but not truly expecting the onslaught of horned toads, spotted dragons or masked villains to ravage and tear our family apart, disrupting our life. I, of course, blame my mother, who had real reasons to fear. She once recalled a picnic in Poland, a spring afternoon, a freshly ironed tablecloth set on the grass and the thunder of horses’ hooves as Cossacks approached and her father swept her up beneath his arm and away from danger. She also recalled being kidnapped and refusing to hand over her doll, even though her sister did. From my mother’s true dramas, I segued into Holocaust tales where, I’ll admit, terrible thoughts did creep into my head, even as I nestled safely into a soft chair at the library with

“Don’t worry! You’re OK.” Or some version of the proverbial soother, “Sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite.” Now as I reflect, I think those bed bugs must have possessed laser shooting eyes, green tentacles and the ability to pinch and terrify my pajama’d tots. I thought, overall, we were good parents who provided the necessities for our beloved children. On better days, I feel we even offered the right words of comfort and encouragement. And while that may be true, hearing their own memories reminds me that there were gaps. There were times when the scary stuff seeped through beneath our eyes; places where fears were allowed to grow unnoticed. But my kids did turn out ok, despite their continued concerns about death and all the goriest ways to experience it. And for all the parts I played in that, good and bad, I am grateful. A

This Yom HaAtzma’ut, celebrate red, white, and blue.

Magen David Adom, Israel’s largest and premier emergency medical response agency, has been saving lives since before 1948. And supporters like you provide MDA’s 27,000 paramedics, EMTs, and civilian life guardians — more than 90% of them volunteers — with the training, equipment, and rescue vehicles they need. So as we celebrate Israel’s independence, make a difference in the health, welfare, and security of the Israeli people with your gift to MDA. Please give today. AFMDA Western Region 6505 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450 Los Angeles, CA 90048 Toll-Free: 800.323.2371 western@afmda.org

www.afmda.org

Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 33

PHOTOS BY BOB ROSS

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People Pleasers

Seacrest Village’s Joseph and Dorothy Goldberg Healthcare Center completes renovations BY NATALIE JACOBS

ousing 20 percent of Seacrest Village’s 246-apartment complex in Encinitas is the Jewish home’s newly renovated skilled nursing wing, the Joseph and Dorothy Goldberg Healthcare Center. After two years and $2 million dollars, the 58-bed facility has settled into its fresh look. Resident’s families are greeted in the lobby by a glossy coat of paint and new flooring. New lighting and carpeting, enhanced technology at nursing stations and in resident rooms, and added seating in the synagogue/activity room round out the “person-centered” upgrades. “We wanted to create a more home-like environment,” says Juliet York, the skilled nursing wing’s sole social worker, on a recent tour of the center. “It can be a difficult adjustment,” for both the individual and the families, to go from assisted or independent living into a 24hour care environment. For her part, York serves as the liaison between families and nursing staff, and as an advocate for the residents themselves. She explains that the staff is there to help with “any activities of daily living” and all residents require various levels of care. In fact, there are three separate dining rooms to accommodate different amounts of mealtime assistance. During the renovations, York’s main priority was to notify families that their loved ones would be temporarily relocated while their 34 SDJewishJournal.com l May 2016

rooms received the upgrades. The process was carried out two rooms at a time, which required two rotating rooms to be left open for the duration of the work. York explains that most residents were back in their original, though spruced up, quarters within two days. “Everybody was very pleased,” she says of the residents and their families. As she and I walk through the halls, with her as my guide since I find myself quickly turned around amongst various earth-toned hallways, we run into a husband and wife who have just arrived. York excuses herself from me while she checks in with them. The man apparently comes in often to spend time with his mother. “He’s a good son isn’t he?” his wife asks York. “Yes, the best,” York responds. The resident rooms, which are available in private and semi-private options, will receive one more addition in the coming months. “We’re 98 percent done,” York says. She explains that Seacrest is working to install Skype on all resident televisions to make it easier to be in contact with out of town or hard to reach friends and family. “The renovation provides our residents with a more comfortable and therapeutic home, while allowing our staff to offer the most optimal care,” says Pam Ferris, president and CEO of Seacrest Villages Retirement Communities.

“It can be a difficult adjustment,” for both the individual and the families, to go from assisted or independent living into a 24-hour care environment. Many people’s first experiences with nursing homes are in a rehabilitation capacity for shortterm stays. Seacrest’s Goldberg Healthcare Center does accommodate these needs, for both their own residents and those from out in the community. But this is mostly a long-term care center, with some residents living here for upwards of 15 years. There are 80 employees on the nursing staff alone, which currently includes 46 certified nursing assistants, 10 registered nurses and 19 licensed vocational nurses. A Find more information on the nursing home at seacrestvillage.org.

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Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 35

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Cycle Therapy How sport, social interaction, and charity can help treat the symptoms of a mid-life crisis BY NATALIE JACOBS

hen Dr. Mitchel Goldman turned 50, he was approached by Hal and Jeff Jacobs about a bike ride. At the time, Goldman says he was going through something of a mid-life crisis; divorce, depression. He also says that is not unusual. “Men between the ages of 45 and 55 have the highest suicide rate in the country. For some reason, [by that point in life] if you haven’t reached your ideals, you get incredibly depressed. … We don’t do cries for help, we kill ourselves.” About the same time that the Jacobs brothers contacted Goldman with the pitch to participate in what would come to be known as the QUALCOMM Million Dollar Challenge Ride, Goldman’s friend Harve Meskin had a similar idea. “He said, you know,” Goldman recalls from his dermatology office in UTC, “instead of doing psycho therapy, let’s do cycle therapy.” And so they did. The Million Dollar Challenge Ride is 620 miles from San Francisco to San Diego. Goldman participated in the first one, 11 years ago, and the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) has put on the ride ever since. That first year, and for three years thereafter, the riders, 10 who committed to donate $10,000 each, were raising money for CAF to buy a building for its operations here in San Diego. Jeffrey Essakow is a founding member of the Challenged Athletes Foundation, which expanded after the creation of the Million Dollar Ride, but has existed since 1994. Essakow is a triathlete who has participated in three Iron Man competitions in his lifetime. His first Iron Man was in 1992, where he competed with a friend, Jim MacLaren, who had lost a leg in a motorcycle accident in the 80s. “He did 10 hours and 41 minutes, which is just insanely fast for an amputee,” Essakow says, in awe of his friend, who passed away in 2010. 36 SDJewishJournal.com l May 2016

The next year, 1993, MacLaren was competing in an Orange County event. During the bike portion, a woman wandered onto the closed course. “[She] clipped – of all the thousands of bikers riding – the back of his bike, catapulted him head first into a lamp post and he ended up paralyzed from the neck down.” Stunned and wanting to do something to help in the aftermath of this tragedy, Essakow and two other men who would go on to be the founders of CAF, Rick Kozlowski and Bob Babbit, held a fundraiser – a half-Iron Man to raise $25,000 for a specially designed adaptive vehicle for MacLaren. “There was about 22 of us who did the race, and instead of raising $25,000 we ended up raising $49,000. We bought him a motor vehicle and gave him some money towards his extremely high medical expenses,” Essakow says. They had accomplished their mission, but calls started coming from other challenged athletes. “Insurance doesn’t cover luxury items like a leg,” he says. So the team decided to hold another fundraising half-Iron Man, this time to raise money for four women who had lost legs to birth defects, cancer, or accidents. “Fast forward that 22 years,” Essakow says, “we’ve raised close to $70 million and we’ve probably helped 12,000 people all over the world. Our mission is very simple, we raise money for individuals, we don’t raise money for organizations. We’ve raised money for people who are physically disabled and [who] want to use sport to get back into the game of life.” So CAF buys things like wheelchairs and prosthetic legs or arms, for any sport their athletes choose. The fundraising undoubtedly helps the challenged athletes, but as Dr. Goldman has found, it also helps the riders (some of whom are also challenged athletes).

PHOTOS COURTESY CHALLENGED ATHLETES FOUNDATION/WILL MATTHEWS

“That first year, at age 50 when I did that ride, it was extremely difficult,” Goldman remembers. “And then every year it gets easier and easier.” About four years ago, Goldman increased his long-distance cycling. He commutes to work, 13 miles from Cardiff, with a group of six other men. He’s a member and sponsor of a cycling club called Swami’s, “one of the premiere race clubs in San Diego.” In total, Goldman says he averages about 250 to 300 miles each week. “It’s almost like intense therapy,” he says of his group cycling. “Sometimes, since I’m very competitive, you have to breathe, you can’t talk a lot. But usually before and after, you talk a lot. It’s the number one thing that guys are doing these days – it doesn’t have to be cycling, it can be going to the gym or playing basketball. But it’s important for men to start being more social. It gets rid of this mid-life crisis depression, which is a horrible thing.” As an amateur cyclist, Goldman also goes on annual trips to France to ride different stages of the Tour de France. This year, he will ride Mont Ventoux, the largest mountain in the region, nicknamed the “Beast of Provence,” with his wife who also cycles for Swami’s. “One of my bucket lists is to do, at some time, all of the stages,” he says. “I think I’ve done about 20 stages so far, but there’s probably at least, I would think, 100 or so to do.” This year, for the first of three years, the Tour of California, run by the same organization that does the Tour de France, will start in San Diego. Riders will take off from Mission Beach at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 15 and will tour 106 miles around the county, down to Imperial Beach then out past Jamul, through El Cajon and back to Mission Beach by the late afternoon. “For the first time this year, we’re doing this in association with the Challenged Athletes Foundation,” Goldman says. For his part, Jeffrey Essakow is currently training for the Ride Across America (RAAM), which will take him and his seven relay team members from San Diego to Maryland. This race starts in Oceanside on June 14. Though their competitive races seem daunting to a cycling outsider, both men underscore the accessibility of bike riding for people of all ages and ability levels. “We’ve had people participate in our event down the coast who are as young as 18 and who are as old as 70,” Essakow says. “We’ve had Bill Walton, who has undergone many operations, and he’s done the race probably the last six years in a row. We’ve had sometimes anywhere between 12 and 60 challenged athletes from hand cyclists to amputees to quadriplegics who’ve done the event all the way from San Francisco to San Diego. So there are many purposes [to cycling].” “As everything,” Goldman says, “it takes time to get good, especially if you have a competitive nature, you always want to be better. But the social interaction and the camaraderie and the help from your friends is really important. You can’t discount the social aspect. “If you can believe that at age 61,” he continues, “I’m the happiest I’ve even been in my life. Part of that, of course, is I have a new, incredibly wonderful wife, but cycling is part of it too.” A

Pictured throughout these pages are images from last year's QUALCOMM Million Dollar Ride, the 10th anniversary of the Challenged Athletes Foundation's largest fundraising ride. This year's event takes place in October. Teams have started training now.

Dr. Mitchel Goldman’s sun protection recommendations As a dermatologist, Dr. Goldman encourages his bike clubs and fellow riders to practice safe skin care. Sunscreen: Defense and Repair by Skin Medica “The reason I like it so much is it’s the first and only sunscreen that blocks infrared rays, in addition to UCA and UVB. And it stays on for like, four hours, so it’s great for cycling. Clothing: Arm coolers “[They] keep your arms cool and the fabric alone is an SPF 50.” Vitamins: Heliocare “You don’t become orange, it’s an antioxidant for the skin.”

Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 37

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The Protégé in the Prime Minister’s Office Kensington resident recalls her time in Israel BY SHARON ROSEN LEIB

hat were you doing at age 16? For American teens today, the most likely answer is getting a driver’s license, scouting prom dates, and generally trying to survive high school. When Ita Sheres, a precocious and mature-beyond-her-years young woman, was 16, she was working at the seat of Israeli power. It was 1958 and Yitzhak Navon, who would go on to serve as President of Israel, was Chief of Staff to Israel’s first Prime Minister David BenGurion. Navon hired the nascent Sheres, who was seeking a part-time government job, to be his English translator. Now 74 and a professor emerita from San Diego State University, where she taught Comparative Literature and Judaic Studies, Sheres reflects back on those heady days with a striking combination of senior wisdom and adolescent awe. “Navon was a highly intellectual person. He read Spinoza to me in Spanish, then we translated it into English and discussed philosophy in Hebrew,” Sheres says of her mentor. Through those, and so many more projects, Navon taught Sheres crucial lessons about politics, communication and conciliation. “He was so involved with everything and wanted to know everything. He was adamant about learning many languages so he could understand things from the horse’s mouth,” she says. Sheres’ role was to help Navon make sure he understood what transpired in conversations with

38 SDJewishJournal.com l May 2016

diplomats from the United States. “He was taken with me because my English was fluent and he believed I would be a good liaison between the Prime Minister’s office and representatives from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv,” she says without a trace of hubris. Through Navon, Sheres was among the first to observe the importance of establishing a strong bond with the United States. “He believed in focusing on America as our greatest ally – not the British because of his negative experiences with them during the Mandate. Although, he was still suspicious of the Americans because Truman was not totally in favor of the Jewish state.” Sheres was not particularly interested in politics at the time, yet she became so under Navon’s tutelage. “I had a big responsibility. The affairs of state at that time were critical to Israel’s survival. The nation was constantly at war and the Prime Minister’s office made life-or-death decisions,” she says. Through her four years as his translator, Sheres served as a trusted filter for Navon by assisting his understanding of the American diplomats’ thoughts, and helping to determine ways to enlist their support for Israel’s independence. Working in the office of larger-than-life figure David Ben-Gurion wasn’t all Spinoza and gentile diplomacy. The Prime Minister’s management

“He believed in focusing on America as our greatest ally – not the British because of his negative experiences with them during the Mandate. Although, he was still suspicious of the Americans because Truman was not totally in favor of the Jewish state.” style kept his staff on edge. He believed in using conflict and division to flesh out the best ideas and defense strategies. “Ben-Gurion was a doer,” Sheres recalls. “We knew that without him, Israel would never have come into being.” However, she remembers feeling more comfortable with Navon’s low-key, cooperative style. “Navon’s strength was bringing people together.” A major aspect of her job was being present when Ben-Gurion and Navon met to discuss policy. Navon needed another set of eyes and ears to witness what Ben-Gurion said, to prevent heads from rolling if anything was misinterpreted. After these meetings, Navon and Sheres compared

PHOTOS COURTESY ITA SHERES

Ita Sheres surrounded by her three grandsons.

notes to make sure the record was straight. Sheres says Ben-Gurion’s decision to make Navon, an Ashkenazi Jew from Poland, his righthand man was deliberate. Ben-Gurion knew that if Israel was to survive, the Ashkenazim and Sephardim would have to overcome their divisions. A difficult part of Navon’s job was grappling with cultural biases that made Sephardim feel like second-class citizens in Israel. “He felt these assumptions were unfair and discriminatory. So he took it upon himself to be a super example of what Sephardim could accomplish in an Ashkenazi context,” Sheres says. Sheres herself experienced the subtle Ashkenazi bias against Sephardim in her own life. “If I dated a Sephardi, my parents would suggest I date someone else,” she says. She notes the irony of this prejudice from people who’d fled Poland to avoid anti-Semitism. Sheres credits the scholarship she received to attend a private girls’ school in Jerusalem as the basis for her success. Her parents came to prestate Israel in 1939, one month before the Nazis rounded up their families from small villages outside of Warsaw and sent them to concentration camps where they perished. Both of her parents came from relatively affluent families but arrived in Israel with nothing. Their limited resources could not provide a top-flight education for their brilliant daughter. That didn’t hold Sheres back. She earned a free education at the Evelina De Rothschild

Elementary School for girls in grades 1-8. Founded by the British branch of the Rothschild banking family in 1854, it was the first school for girls in Palestine. “Only 400 girls attended the entire school. We were very close and I was fortunate to have an excellent education,” Sheres says. While at the school, she developed her English language skills to near perfection. Her English fluency quickly proved to be a valuable commodity. As part of Navon’s inner circle, Sheres ranked high on the salary ladder. She earned enough money to pay her own tuition at Hebrew University. “My parents didn’t have to worry about it,” she says with pride. She continued to work in the Prime Minister’s office part-time while pursuing a Bachelor’s degree at Hebrew University. One evening, an American man came to visit Navon. He was so impressed by Sheres that he offered her a job in the University of Wisconsin’s Judaic studies department, on the spot. When she told Navon about the offer, he said, “You’re too much of an intellectual to stay here much longer.” Sheres heeded Navon’s words, left Israel for Wisconsin and went on to earn a Ph.D. in English and American literature while there. Sheres wrote her thesis on the topic of exile and redemption in the work of Jewish American writers Bernard Malamud, Henry Roth and Saul Bellow.

Sheres says Ben-Gurion’s decision to make Navon, an Ashkenazi Jew from Poland, his right-hand man was deliberate.

“I clung to my Jewish connections from day one in Wisconsin and throughout my academic career,” she says. Her recent work focuses on the role of women in the Dead Sea Scrolls. After finishing her degree at Wisconsin, Sheres returned to Israel. She met and married her husband, David, in Haifa. The couple had a son Doug, and shortly thereafter returned to the United States so her husband could pursue a career in laser technology at a Connecticutbased company. From there they moved to the Kensington neighborhood of San Diego where they raised Doug, who now lives in Del Mar with his wife and three sons. David died of cancer 10 years ago. These days, Sheres spends a lot of time with her three grandsons. She describes being a grandma as, “The best role in the world. I get all of the pleasure and none of the problems.” She shakes her head at the highly scheduled, protected lives lead by kids these days. “When I was seven, I went to the bus stop in Jerusalem by myself, got on a bus to Tel Aviv for what was then a three-hour ride. Then I got off the bus in Tel Aviv and walked to my aunt and uncle’s house. No Israeli parent would allow that now,” she says. Ita Sheres’ life story reflects Israeli pragmatism, Jewish intellect and American openness. Both Ben-Gurion and Navon would no doubt continue to be proud of their youngest protégé. A

Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 39

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when Lilyan met Helen BY PAM PRICE

PHOTO BY PAT KRAUSE

hen Lilyan Krako, born in Minneapolis in 1916, officially turned 100 years old on Feb. 21, she was in the midst of helping organize a nostalgic birthday party given by her grandchildren and great grandchildren, now mainly residing in Chicago. It was perfectly organized right down to the last detail, as that’s how Lilyan makes things happen. When Helen Varon, who also resides in Rancho Mirage, Calif., but was born in London in 1925, began planning her 90th birthday last year, her family pitched in, gathering friends and relatives to celebrate the occasion at Helen’s mid-century modern residence. Both birthday celebrations were a hit; Lilyan even received a Presidential birthday greeting from the White House, arranged by her 8-year-old grandson. Both stylish seniors have Rancho Mirage in common, yet the two only met for the first time on March 24 when the photograph for this column was taken. But when they met, it was as if old friends were reminiscing on a shared childhood. Our conversation began with their weddings, and moved on to shared experiences of World War II, then ultimately on favorite spots to dine in the

PHOTO COURTESY LILYAN KRAKO

Sensational Desert seniors relive life's magic moments

Desert, the seasonal home for these Lilyan and Reuben Krako on their wedding day snow birds. in 1938. Lilyan told me her wedding in Minneapolis, in 1936, was a gathering of 420 guests. Pacific, right after the bombing of Hiroshima, “That was practically every Jewish person in Japan. They reunited in Los Angeles in 1946 town,” she smiles. and established jewelry stores in Palos Verde and Lilyan happens to be my cousin, so I brought Rolling Hills, Calif. Her sons now carry on the a family photo to our meeting. It was from June family business. 14, 1924, with an 8-year-old Lilyan sitting in the While looking at Lilyan’s family photo, snapped front row. As our family history unwound, she in 1924 at her uncle’s engagement party, there she told Helen and me stories about when she was first was with bangs and a frilly dress, posing in front introduced to Reuben Krako, who would later of her grandparent’s house in north Minneapolis become her husband, on a trip to Chicago with with 70 other relatives. This was the entire her mother and grandmother in 1936. Lil Marcus Goldman family, many of whom left their villages and ‘Ruby’ were married just two years later. near, Kiev, Russia, to settle in Minneapolis. Helen (Vangrove) Varon lived in Luton, Today, Lilyan and Helen speak of their Bedfordshire, United Kingdom, when she met children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren Master Sgt. Morgan Varon, in 1944. He was with exquisite detail on Bar Mitzvahs, graduations stationed at Abbotts Ripton, a military base and college degrees. nearby. Both women now devote their support to Jewish Helen often attended a weekly dance held at the organizations in the desert and throughout the town’s only hotel. world. Lilyan is committed to the United States “It was during WWII and gas was rationed,” Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, she remembers. D.C., where their 2015 Annual Risa K. Lambert Her parents cautioned her, “don’t dance with Luncheon, honored her daughter and raised $5.9 the Yanks!” She, of course, did exactly million. Lilyan has also been a life long supporter the opposite. of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. It was “love at first sight” or rather Helen established an annual luncheon to love at first dance, Helen recalls with support Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind a smile. He was on a “Liberty Run” located near Tel Aviv. She has choreographed the with limited time, but he found a event every February for the past six years. Helen way to walk Helen back home, five also supports Jewish Federation of the Desert and miles in the snow. She was 18 and Temple Isaiah in Palm Springs. the Sgt. was 27. The following year, While reflecting on decades past, Helen 1944, they married in Luton, in the mentioned her Palm Springs honeymoon in 1946. presence of three rabbis. “Morgan and I stayed in a little hotel over a “It was a two-hour ceremony,” she liquor store. The building is still there, on South remembers, “they had a lot to say!” Palm Canyon. This year would have been our 70th Lilyan (left) with Helen, holding one of Lilyan's Morgan had orders to serve in the anniversary.” A family photos.

40 SDJewishJournal.com l May 2016

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Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 41

Tough Transitions New local company supports seniors during big moves BY TINA B. ESHEL

oving can be nerve-racking. Most people list it as one of the top five most stressful life events, along with the death of a spouse, getting a divorce, losing a job or contracting a major illness. Even if the move is to greener pastures, it’s a disruption and a hassle. For seniors, moving can take on added emotional and physical difficulties. In many cases, people who make big moves later in life are saying a painful goodbye to the family home. That’s a lot of memories and mementos to sort through, says Jami Shapiro of Silver Linings Transitions. There are many tough decisions associated with downsizing from a home to an apartment, nursing home or assisted living facility, she adds. Shapiro, a former realtor, started Silver Linings Transitions one year ago as a senior move management firm. It is now one of more than 900 in the National Assocation of Senior Move Managers (NASMM). “A big part of the challenge is that people don’t even know that the industry exists,” she says of her business. But the NASMM has been around for about 15 years, Shapiro says, and she sees it representing an “enormous industry” in the coming years. “When a senior is having to relocate from [his or her] family home, going through years of belongings can be very stressful. There’s a medical term for this condition … relocation stress syndrome. … Associated with this move is stress on an emotional level, and also some physical stress.” Shapiro characterizes these moves as the most difficult transition a senior person will make in a lifetime. 42 SDJewishJournal.com l May 2016

Senior move managers like Silver Linings Transitions take care of the things in between the client and the movers. On Silver Linings jobs, movers from Reliable Man Movers are brought in to do the heavy lifting. The Silver Linings people do the packing and unpacking. “What distinguishes us from a mover,” Shapiro says, “[is] we transfer the food from the refrigerator. A mover won’t take that. We do it in a very mindful way … cleaning items as we pack them, organize their closets, pantries.” Shapiro chose Reliable Man Movers because they offer enhanced services beyond her specialties, but for an appropriately reasonable fee to her clients. “It’s really good to have that partnership … they deliver the boxes for a one-time delivery fee, and when they leave, they take the boxes and the moving paper, so you aren’t left with a sea of boxes.” The number people Silver Linings uses for a move depends on the job, with the goal to complete the move, which includes packing and unpacking, in one day. When Shapiro is hired to do a move, she goes through a six-point checklist. First, her team assess the space, taking pictures and measurements of the current and future home to determine what furnishings and belongings will fit in the new dwellings. “We take into account how they will be living,” she explains. Next, her team helps the clients sort through possessions. For items that can’t be taken to the new home, Silver Linings guides clients through the process of bequeathing, donating and selling

items. On moving day, the team works with the movers, and they help to unpack, decorate and get comfortable. Shapiro says she tells clients they can go “from stressed to settled” in as little as one day. Right now, Silver Linings is focused on supporting moves in the North County area. Shapiro’s goal is to average two moves per week and expand services to the entire county. For now, she laughs when she says “we’ve done enough work that you can check our references, but not enough that we can afford to mess up.” Silver Linings Transitions charges $2,000$4,000 for senior move management services. Shapiro applies her real estate background where appropriate too – if she works with a senior on the sale of a home, she will discount the comission so that the cost of the move is included in the realtor fees. To meet the team at Silver Linings Transitions and learn more about senior move management services, visit silverliningstransitions.com. A

PHOTOS COURTESY SILVER LININGS TRANSITIONS

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Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 43

Yale Strom’s Chaldean Jazz

The 23rd Annual Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Arts Festival

plus Steve Torok and the Mira Costa College Jazz Collective

MAY 27 - JULY 17, 2016

TWO WEEKS ONLY! JULY 6-17 ON THE LYCEUM STAGE Tickets $20-$89 | sdrep.org / 619-544-1000

15 Annual Klezmer Summit: th

“JewGrass”

MONDAY, JUNE 6, 7:30PM ON THE LYCEUM STAGE Tickets $18 | sdrep.org / 619-544-1000

Klezmer with an Old Timey swing. Yale Strom & Hot Pstromi will be joined by very special guest Hot Tuna’s Barry Mitterhoff and the San Diego Jewish Men’s Choir to perform “Mountain Music” from Klezmer of the Carpathian Ukraine to Old Timey Americana from Appalachia. These two spiritual cultures come from isolated, rural mountain communities, where the greatest form of communication and expression of their lives was their music. Joining Hot Pstromi will be 50 year SD music vet Walt Richards on banjo and mandolin.

TUESDAY, MAY 31, 7:30PM LYCEUM SPACE Yale Strom, one of the world’s premier music ethnologists, presents Chaldean Jazz, exploring traditional music of San Diego’s southern Iraqi refugee community. Yale’s collaboration with San Diego’s Chaldean community was funded by the San Diego Foundation’s Creative Catalyst Program. This program also features the legendary Steve Torok performing jazz interpretations of Yale’s klezmer compositions.

JULY 6 Special Jewish Festival Performance includes post-show reception with Hershey Felder and intimate preview of his newest piece Tchaikovsky, a world premier time-bending story of culture and politics that explores the mystery around some of the greatest music ever composed. Tickets $180.

Tickets: $18 sdrep.org | 619.544.1000

Golda’s Balcony

North County Events

“You will walk out of the theater realizing you’ve barely breathed for the duration of this astonishing musical and theatrical transmigration of souls.” -The Chicago Sun Times

Combining first person narrative, and his own music as well as music that inspired him, Hershey Felder as Leonard Bernstein in MAESTRO is a tale spanning the entire 20th century. Conductor, composer, pianist, author, teacher, librettist, television star…for Leonard Bernstein, boundaries simply did not exist. Directed by Joel Zwick.

Lyceum Events

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Todd Salovey

MAY 27 - JUNE 26 NEW VILLAGE ARTS THEATRE STARRING ROSINA REYNOLDS DIRECTED BY TODD SALOVEY The longest running onewoman show in Broadway history, Golda’s Balcony by William Gibson tells the incredible true story of Golda Meir, Israel’s first female prime minister. One of the most influential people of the twentieth century, Meir rose from Russian immigrant to American schoolteacher to the epicenter of international politics in a career that culminated with the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Tickets $25-$35

619.544.1000 | SDREP.ORG ad_template.indd 44 jfest_jewishjournal_cover SDJewishJournal.com | May 2016 All Pages

newvillagearts.org / 760-433-3245

“Gridlock”

7th Annual Women of Valor

PERFORMING IN LA JOLLA

The Joys and Oys of Language with Richard Lederer

The Unfinished Diary: A Chronicle of Tears BASED ON THE BOOK BY

SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 8:45PM SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 7:00PM TUESDAY, JUNE 7, 7:30PM BY SALOMON MAYA DIRECTED BY PEPE STEPENSKY PRODUCED BY DAVID CHAIR AND

SORE GORDON

PERFORMED (IN ENGLISH) BY

TEATRO PUNTO Y COMA

CHAIM YITZCHOK WOLGELERTNER ADAPTED BY

LEAH SALOVEY

JUNE 8, 7:30PM LYCEUM SPACE LEAH SALOVEY AND TODD SALOVEY

DIRECTED BY TODD SALOVEY AND

ALI VITERBI

A world premier comedy by the theatre company of San Diego’s Mexican Jewish community. Every car houses a different person, a different story, a different life. All Jonah wanted to do was get home to his wife. He didn’t realize that he would meet three strangers, or that they would together navigate the twists and turns one can only find while stuck in gridlock. Co-sponsored by Ken Jewish Community and L’CHAIM magazine.

The Festival once again honors six inspirational San Diego Jewish women and tells the story of their lives, joys, challenges, and accomplishments. With music, poetry and imagery a moving and uplifting tribute to the women of our community.

Tickets: $20-$36 sdrep.org | 619.544.1000

Tickets: $18 donation sdrep.org | 619.544.1000

Alexander Gourevich Songs of Joy and Yearning

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 7:30PM CONGREGATION ADAT YESHURUN

BY ALI VITERBI, REBECCA MYERS,

Proceeds benefit Chesed Home, San Diego Gift Closet, Torah High School and Project Sarah. Additional free performance Wednesday, June 15, 6:30pm at Encinitas Library.

Three Yiddish Divas Get Romantic

TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 7:30PM LYCEUM SPACE Union-Tribune language columnist Richard Lederer, author of Anguished English, will take you on a joy ride through the glories and oddities of our marvelous English language, in which your nose can run and your feet can smell. Along the way, Dr. Lederer will explore the contributions of Yiddish to our cheerfully democratic and hospitable English language. Come prepared to laugh and learn. Tickets: $18 sdrep.org | 619.544.1000

Tickets: $18

Adatyeshurun.org / 858-535-1196

A Jewish Joke

The Blessing of a Broken Heart

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 7:30PM OCEANSIDE MUSEUM OF ART

SUNDAY, MAY 29, 2PM ENCINITAS LIBRARY The Festival’s popular clarinetist returns with a timeless klezmer program of Jewish, Yiddish, and Israeli songs that touch the heart and stir the soul. Trained in the Soviet Union as a classical clarinetist, and a leading musician with Orquesta de Baja, Gourevich’s heartfelt My Yiddische Mama will bring tears, and his klezmer dances will bring you to your feet. Tickets: Free!

sdcl.org/locations_EN.html

The Three Yiddish Divas, Elizabeth Schwartz, Debby Davis, and Kathy Robbins return with songs of love and longing from around the world. Expect beautiful and lively songs from this SD Jewish super-group in the world’s great Romance languages: French, Italian, Spanish and Ladino— and Yiddish!

Tickets: $18

oma-online.org / 760.435.3720

THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 7:30PM CHABAD JEWISH CENTER OF OCEANSIDE/VISTA

JUNE 20TH & 21ST, 7:30PM NORTH COAST REP

BASED ON THE AWARD WINNING BOOK BY

SHERRI MANDELL STARRING LISA ROBINS

ADAPTED AND DIRECTED BY TODD SALOVEY CO-PRODUCED BY

A NEW COMEDY BY

PHIL JONSON AND MARNI FREEDMAN DIRECTED BY DAVID ELLENSTEIN FEATURING PHIL JOHNSON

LOS ANGELES’ JEWISH WOMEN’S THEATRE.

A curmudgeonly Jewish comedy screenwriter from MGM comes up against the Communist blacklist in 1950’s Hollywood. He now has to make the biggest decision of his life. Armed with stories about the great era of Jewish humor, this poignant solo comedy shows one small man facing the tough American events of the mid20th century. Tickets: $25 Regular price/ $20 for North Coast Rep Subscribers northcoastrep.org / 858-481-1055

This special program features one of the most extraordinary recent books about the Holocaust. The author’s extraordinary eyewitness account comes to an abrupt end only months before liberation. Now more than seventy years later, the diary/memoir of Chaim Yitzchok Wolgelernter depicts the resilience and spiritual resistance of Jews during the Holocaust. The evening will include a theatrical staged reading adapted from the book. Co-sponsored by Adat Yeshurun

Following its Los Angeles run, an encore performance in Vista. An American woman seeking adventure and meaning moves to Israel, meets her husband, and becomes a mother. The play, with music and imagery of the holy land, follows her growth of spirit and purpose following a personal loss. Winner of Edgerton New American Play award. Co-sponsored by Chabad of Vista. Tickets: $20-$25

jewishoceanside.com / 760.806.7765

4/22/16 11:23 AM Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 45

||| CHARITABLE GIVING |||

IN SEARCH OF MORE THAN

A FRIENDLY HELLO Jewish Women’s Foundation multi-year grant program supports efforts to provide social opportunities for older Jewish women BY NATALIE JACOBS

“D

uring your working years, you’re being socialized all the time,” says Melanie Rubin, director of senior and adult programs for the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center. “All of a sudden, when you’re retired, you lose a lot of those social connections.” Add to that the financial constraints of a fixed income and transportation issues related to living in San Diego’s sprawl and there is a considerable population of older people who become more and more isolated as they age. “People watch seven hours of tv a day if they’re retired and isolated,” says Hedy Dalin, director of geriatric care management for Jewish Family Service. “The lack of social connection really negatively effects both the mental and physical well-being of an individual,” Brenda Bothel, senior director of aging and wellness services for JFS, adds. The three women are gathered around a cell phone in a hotel room in Washington, D.C. They’re at the Aging in America conference in conjunction with a grant their organizations received from the Jewish Women’s Foundation, a giving circle of 80 members who contribute to and manage a fund established by Jan Tuttleman, z”l, at Jewish Community Foundation. In 2014, both the JCC and JFS received a total of $210,000 from Jewish Women’s Foundation, to be distributed across three years for programs 46 SDJewishJournal.com | May 2016

designed to address the social needs of senior Jewish women. Under the grant, the JCC has developed a technology tutoring program in collaboration with its teen center. Rubin also personally invites women to community events like the Jewish Film Festival and adult education classes. The collaborative relationship between JCC and JFS allows Rubin to utilize JFS’s extensive On the Go ride-sharing network, in addition to offering scholarships for tickets to various events put on by both organizations. At JFS, Dalin and Bothel have used the grant money to expand senior center hours at the College Area center, now housed at Temple Emanu-El, to include Sunday activities with kosher lunch. Their Bikkur Holim friendly visitor volunteer program has expanded under this grant as well. Barbara Bry, outgoing chair of the JWF leadership council, says although JCC and JFS were the only organizations to submit grant proposals, she was excited about the prospect of reaching different geographic areas through the grant – JFS programs are focused in the College Area and JCC programs primarily target UTC. Joyce Axelrod, who will take over as chair in June, echoes the importance of expanded geographic support for these women. Axelrod participated in the focus groups that were convened during the decision-making process and remembers a few striking conversations with some

of the older women who participated. “Some women felt not engaged in the Jewish community because they felt they were too far out,” Axelrod recalls. Despite programs like On the Go, she says, “still some people feel beyond the bounds.” Every few years, Jewish Women’s Foundation chooses a different category of women and girls to support through focused, multi-year grants. Each JWF member aged 40 and older makes a fiveyear commitment to the Foundation for $2,000 each year; members younger than 40 make the same five-year commitment for $1,000 each year. During grant decision years, members host focus groups with the community, including rabbis and leaders of various local organizations, to come up with a short list of needs, or as Bry calls it “a menu of options.” Each member offers a vote and a smaller council of about 10 women make the final decision. The previous JWF grant cycle supported initiatives to enhance leadership opportunities for young girls. The Jewish Family Service program Girls Give Back, which organizes service opportunities and leadership training for teen girls, was developed with funding from that grant. Jewish Family Service’s Project Sarah, for victims of domestic abuse, and the Jewish Single Parents program both received JWF grants in previous years.

PHOTOS COURTESY JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

TOP LEFT: Sharyn Goodson, Amy Hart, Janet Acheatel, Jessica Effress; TOP RIGHT: Becki Etess, Janet Acheatel, Laurie Black, Tamara Moch, Danielle Rugoff, Emily Jennewein; MIDDLE: Ladies enjoying a JCC function supported by JWF; BOTTOM RIGHT: Tana Slomowitz, Barbara Bry, Jane Scher, Linda Braun Leibowitz.

Girls Give Back remains a success story for this specific multi-year form of grant-making from JWF. That program was started with their grant funding, and is now supported by Hadassah and others, with management oversight still provided by JFS. At the halfway point for this grant cycle, both JCC and JFS are still working to find the older women they seek to engage. “Our biggest challenge is actually reaching those isolated individuals,” Brenda Bothel of JFS says from the phone in D.C. She directly addresses the Jewish Journal audience with this request: “If folks would think about their friends and their neighbors that don’t get out much, that they haven’t seen lately – make those phone calls and encourage them to connect with either the JCC or JFS. There’s really no wrong door.” They say some of the women they contact are initially reluctant to share information or agree to get involved, because it’s unusual that someone who is at first a stranger is interested in their personal affairs. “[Some people] don’t want to take us up on the transportation because they feel like ‘oh, you’re going to spend all this money just on me? Don’t pity me, I don’t want to take up all that money,’” JCC’s Rubin paraphrases from her conversations. But, all three grantees report, they’re working to personalize things as much as possible.

“We go out to the homes,” Dalin of JFS says. “Once you’re in the home, it opens doors and people start talking, once they know that someone is reaching out and caring enough to do that, to give them encouragement to do something that sometimes they didn’t want to do.” A separate part of the Jewish Women’s Foundation Jan Tuttleman endowment, about $20,000 annually, is reserved for professional development and community-wide networking and empowerment events. This money was used to bring Rubin, Bothel and Dalin to D.C. for the aging conference. “The plan is to offer general personal development opportunities for women,” Sharyn Goodson, who managed JWF at the Community Foundation for five years, explains. Also under that umbrella, the Foundation hosted its first community-at-large event, entitled “Women and Change” in January of this year, with more than 50 women invited to attend at no cost, since it was underwritten by the endowment. “It took the council some time to figure out how best to use Jan’s bequest,” Goodson says. “Because she was all about leadership and development and personal growth, they really felt this was a good thing to do.” “I love the group,” Bry says of the Jewish

Women’s Foundation. “Being involved in organizations that empower women is very important to me and this is directly impacting Jewish women and girls.” Axelrod notes that there is something special that happens in a conversation between women. “Sometimes, women to women you can expect more honesty and openness,” she says, reflecting on her participation in the focus groups, where older Jewish women were asked to get very personal about things like loneliness and friendship. After two days at the Aging in America conference, Dalin, Bothel and Rubin say they feel reinforced in their efforts with social integration programs. “[We’ve] learned how crucial socialization is,” Dalin says. “We knew it, but seeing the evidence-based practices on this really brought it home that this is something that is not a luxury, it is not a life enhancement program, it’s life or death.” A

Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 47

PHOTOS BY PATRICIA DEL RIO, COURTESY JFN

JEWISH DONORS Take Over San Diego A look at this year’s sold-out Jewish Funders Network conference, by the numbers BY NATALIE JACOBS

he first week in April, nearly 600 Jewish donors and nonprofit representatives from around the world gathered at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines for the annual Jewish Funders Network conference. Organizers report that the event sold out during the early-bird registration period. Many San Diego organizations and individuals – from Leichtag to Jewish Community Foundation and Federation plus Elaine Galinson, Gary Jacobs and Phyllis Epstein – served on the conference committee and sponsored the event in various capacities. The attendance numbers show an expansion in the 26-year-old organization’s reach: • More than 450 funders attended (the remainder were professionals from Federations and Foundations). • 53 percent were independent funders or trustees. • 180 first-time JFN attendees. • 12 percent of funders were from Israel. • Nearly one in 20 funders was from a country other than the U.S. and Israel. Sessions covered the hows and whys of philanthropy, with topics like “becoming a strategic philanthropist,” “doing well by doing good,” and “philanthropy-government collaborations.” But they also touched on political discussions that are increasing the divisions between the broader Jewish community, racial disparities in Israel, and big data in the digital age. Each day included site visits and off-site events at some of San Diego’s most beloved institutions, including High Tech High and Coastal Roots Farm. A

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Collective Guilt A personal exploration BY TINA B. ESHEL

50 SDJewishJournal.com | May 2016

||| YOM HASHOAH |||

“Every citizen is responsible for how he or she is governed. That is political guilt. So if you live under Nazi Germany and don’t do anything, you are politically guilty … by this token, all the Germans were guilty.”

here is a large, grainy photo that you see upon entering the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem. The black and white panorama shows thousands of uniformed men grouped in orderly rows standing in a square facing a stage. The camera looks out from behind the stage, upon which stand military men in headgear, with one man at a podium, unmistakable. The Fuhrer, surrounded by Swastikas, speaks before idolaters and silenced masses. In my mind, I see these carbon copies like they really were, in colors of green and brown with accents of white lines on red armbands. Flags with the same white and red insignia fly on tall poles surrounding the square. The first time I saw the photo at Yad Vashem was May of 2006 on a San Diego community mission to Israel. I cried. I felt shame. I suspected that more than one of my relatives stood among all those soldiers. Through the tears, I was comforted by people whose family members died in concentration camps. All I could say was I’m so sorry, so so sorry. My mother was born in Breslau, Germany, in 1937. When she speaks of her childhood and growing up during the war, her voice creeps with hesitation, resentment, fear and hurt. As I’ve aged, I have come to understand that perhaps, like many Germans who were too young to have participated, my mother sees herself as much the victim as the millions killed by the Nazis. In this, she is not alone, explains Dr. Susanne Hillman, program coordinator of the Holocaust Living History Workshop (HLHW) at UC San Diego library. Born in Switzerland, Hillman obtained her Ph.D. in modern European history, with an emphasis in German-Jewish history, from UCSD. As part of it’s mission, HLHW complements the objective of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute, which “strives to overcome prejudice, intolerance and bigotry through Holocaust education” per its website. San Diego’s HLHW links local educators and students with Holocaust survivors and their families. It maintains a database on videotaped testimonies and offers workshops and presentations to the community. “Confronting Genocide: How Germans Remember their Past,” was a two-part class arranged by the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture, taught by Dr. Hillman this past March. She began the course with an overview of the ways Germans have dealt with an “unmasterable past.” She went on to explore “Holocaust Moments,” defined as social or political “flashpoints in Germany’s troubled relationship with its Nazi past” including the Auschwitz trial, the Goldhagen Debate, and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, among many others.

“Holocaust moments have punctured the history of Germany for the past seven decades, and they continue to do so, they will continue to do so for the foreseeable future,” she says. Hillman defines these collective moments as way stations along the path of wanting to forget and being forced to remember. Through the course, Hillman explained that, like my mother, many Germans saw themselves as victims of the Nazi regime. Through the years and decades since the war, these Germans have grappled with their excrutiating history. Reactions to any specific person’s culpability always vary depending on when and where a person was born, and any relative’s actual involvement with the Nazis. On the topic of “German guilt,” Hillman spent some time introducing participants to the work of Dr. Karl Jaspers (1883-1969), who authored the seminal book, “The Question of German Guilt,” (Fordham University Press, 1947). Jaspers was a German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher. He was married to a Jewish woman and during the war, was nearly sent to a concentration camp for his opinions and his marriage. In his post-WWII work, he described four types of guilt that emerged out of the devastation of Nazi Germany: criminal, political, moral and metaphysical. Jaspers’s view was that criminal guilt is conferred upon individuals, as opposed to groups, for acts that violate unequivocal laws. Courts handle these charges of criminal guilt. On the other hand, citizens bear the burden of political guilt for the deeds of their nation, which means everyone faces consequences. “Every citizen is responsible for how he or she is governed. That is political guilt. So if you live under Nazi Germany and don’t do anything, you are politically guilty … by this token, all the Germans were guilty” Hillman says to describe Jaspers’s view on political guilt. “Moral guilt implies indifference and blindness and tacit support of the regime, and I would say that the vast majority of Germans were morally guilty, because they were bystanders and didn’t do anything about it” she continues. This kind of guilt is personal, internal, and requires conscious atonement. “The last category is a little complicated,” Hillman admits. “From Jaspers’s point of view, we are all metaphysically guilty to some degree or another. Metaphysical guilt implies a lack of absolute solidarity with the human being.” By Jaspers’s account, every person who ever lived is responsible for the horrors that have happened in the past as well as those that will continue to occur. Germany isn’t the only country to have committed Crimes Against Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 51

But my decision to convert 10 years ago didn’t stem from my guilt, nor did it do anything to calm it. Humanity, nor are Jews the only victims. The news today is rife with stories of genocide, violence, rape, and sexual and human trafficking. According to Jaspers, humanity at large should feel guilty for the perpetuation of these horrors. Is there, then, an expiration date on this metaphysical, collective guilt for a person, or a nation? That question was posed by writer and editor Emma Green in an article for The Atlantic in January, 2014. The piece, titled, “Are Today’s Germans Morally Responsible for the Holocaust?” explores Jewish identity and whether people are destined to see themselves as the descendants of victims or oppressors, in review of a book by German-Jewish author Yascha Mounk. Green writes: “In Germany, there’s collective guilt about Jews and the Holocaust; in America, a similar phenomenon shapes discourse around blacks and slavery. Each new generation matures into its role as steward of historical hatreds; although the legacies of genocide and enslavement become refracted through time, young people can’t escape the grievances of prejudices past.” Writing about Germans specifically, Green, Mounk and others point to “philo-Semitism and overt racism as related reactions to the same historical guilt,” citing Germans who convert to Judaism on one hand, and young people who embrace neo-Nazism on the other. The argument that Germans choose Judaism to assuage their Holocaust guilt isn’t new to me, a German-American who converted to Judaism. When I shared my conversion story with Moment Magazine in 2009 as one of a 10-story feature on the topic, some readers wrote comments that marked those assumptions, that my conversion was motivated by guilt. But my decision to convert 10 years ago didn’t stem from my guilt, nor did it do anything to calm it. Conversion is a private journey, made, in fact, more difficult by a German heritage. I still return often to the confusion that rests between my German roots and my Jewish-by-choice identity. 52 SDJewishJournal.com | May 2016

In Hillman’s adult education course, she introduced the term “equalize suffering,” explaining that many Germans internalized their guilt after the war simply because scrutiny was unbelievably hard. This was true particularly, Hillman says, for those who were old enough to have done something during the war, and for the children born after who didn’t want to know what their family members may have done. Years would pass before public discussions on German guilt could be had, Hillman says in her class. German citizens were preoccupied with basic survival and rebuilding. In the years since, those Holocaust Moments, from the Nierenberg Trials to the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, have offered opportunities to begin that deeper moral exploration. Now, 71 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, the discussion of German guilt has grown as complex as the Holocaust itself. Germans have acknowledged their country’s crimes. The world seems to stand in agreement that Europe and the United States waited too long to intervene. And reasonable minds hope that humanity has evolved past the instincts that made such a catastrophe possible. But mass executions and genocides do continue today. So how can we live by the mantra “Never again”? In paraphrasing Jaspers, the German who protested the war, Hillman offers this response: “If you’re not constantly aware every day of your life that there are people suffering in the world, and [if ] you don’t anything to remedy the situation,” you are metaphysically guilty, even though she acknowledges that “most of us can’t live in the awareness” all the time. It is true, we can never forget the past, nor can we blissfully ignore the present. It is also true that Germans can’t be expected to live in an eternal “guilt trip,” as The Atlantic’s Green calls it. We are all guilty, and we are all responsible, not for those who died, but the children yet to be born. We can only confront the painful realities of our ancestry and vow to teach our children a better way. A

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HOPE IS THE SURVIVOR’S KEY

A child of Holocaust survivors remembers her father BY EVA BEIM

ack Beim, of blessed memory, passed then a question – where was Daddy when on Nov. 22, 2015. It was a beautiful he was my age? It was innocent but I sunlit Sunday morning at his home, couldn’t stop the tears, because as soon and he was surrounded by almost all of as I wrote it, I remembered the answer. those who adored and loved him most: At this age, my father was deported from his wife, Adele, his three children, the Plashev camp, the same one portrayed and three of five grandchildren. Two in “Schindler’s List.” Long before the of our dear cousins were there, and film came out, he told us the stories that one said losing him was like losing would later appear in that film. There is a “the father of our entire family.” scene where a vicious Nazi stands on his This kind and loving man was our balcony. For his sport before breakfast, rock from my earliest memories. He he shoots anyone, of any age, who walks always seemed calm, relaxed and full of Jack Beim surrounded by his family. From left to right, by. And after, he would treat his dog grace, even when relaying the horrors son Steven, daughter Eva, grandson Jordan Marc Solomon with such paradoxical kindness. When of Auschwitz. At various moments Battaglia, wife Adele, and daughter Gloria. I watched it sitting next to my father, throughout my life, I became keenly I’ll never forget him quietly saying, “I aware that the stories I heard about remember that dog.” conversations, I could sense that something very the Holocaust – my mother is also a survivor, a terrible had happened to my father, but his quiet He was taken to various concentration camps, “hidden child” from the time she was five to the and dignified tone reassured me that although he including twice to Auschwitz. Upon their first time she was about eight – were different from was shaped by this terror, I didn’t need to worry transport to that death camp, he was with his baby those heard by other children of survivors. about him. I think, as a young child, this was brother, Solomon, and his father. His mother My parents met and married in Los Angeles, important for me to know. and sister had been taken to a different camp; his where my father was a jeweler who had resettled At age 11, in Hebrew School, I had my first next younger brother, Joe, disappeared; his oldest there from New Jersey. As a child in the anti- discussions about the Holocaust outside my brother, David, had already been shot and killed. Semitic Polish town of Krosno, he was only home. These were very different details. “The Six When my father, uncle and grandfather first allowed to attend school through 7th grade. He Million Jews,” including 1.5 million children, the arrived in Auschwitz, he had to watch his father worked for a haberdashery until the war broke out. camps, the trains and the ghettos. The separation, walk into the gas chamber. By 19, my father had I remember noticing the bluish numbers on his starvation and staggering depravation in the told me that his father’s last words were “Do arm, but I didn’t truly give them a close look until camps. Then it became clear. This is why I never something to save him,” as he nudged Solomon just before he passed. There was some instinct in saw pictures of my uncles and grandfather; why toward my father. Despite knowing just a little me that knew they were connected with a deep my father said he would never return to Poland; German, my father was able to convince the Nazis and indescribable pain and I first remember why he later spoke of how he felt more betrayed that Solomon, at 13, was able-bodied and strong, putting the pieces together at the age of 7. by his neighbors than the Nazis themselves; why I even though he looked young. He had recounted It was then I started overhearing bits about had so few cousins. how he told the Nazis that he knew Solomon from “The War.” It was a subject that was sometimes I wrote a poem titled, “The Six Million,” which the neighborhood, not that they were brothers, spoken of when my mother’s parents, who also was published in a local newspaper. At that point, for he already knew the Nazi appetite for tearing survived through hiding in Holland, visited. They I couldn’t stop writing. I was trying to process families apart. would often talk about it in Yiddish or Dutch and the painful new information, to make some There are certain moments when my father’s I remember being moved by the energy behind sense of man’s inhumanity to man, to attempt to story has hit me hard, like it did that day on the the words. I would hover nearby trying to listen, understand mankind. This had not only happened beach; when I have been overwhelmed by the and while I didn’t get the details, I knew it was to some distant ancestors introduced to me in a amount of pain he endured. something “not very good.” My father always told us that although Solomon history book. This was my father’s life. And there By the time I was 9, I grew more curious. I he was, calm and full of grace as he continuously was the youngest, he was the one who kept him asked questions about their histories, their accents taught us lessons of compassion and tolerance. going. He’d always saved a little portion of his food – why were they so different from all my friends’ There was a gorgeous San Diego day when I for my father, who was forced to work in the coal parents? From those simple questions, I began was 19, in college and still writing feverishly. On mines each day. As stoic and calm as my father was hearing the truth about this most significant and the beach, I scribbled in my notebook about my during his Holocaust stories, it was when he spoke horrible part of their early years. During these college friends, my band, interesting studies and of Solomon that he would tear up. The Nazis 54 SDJewishJournal.com | May 2016

PHOTOS COURTESY EVA BEIM

Something for Everyone at North Coast Rep Jack Beim just after the War. eventually did find out that Solomon and my father Jack were siblings, and they took Solomon away just two months before the camps were liberated. When my father went to find him, those who were with Solomon in another part of the camp said he died of starvation and a broken heart, missing my father, his only connection to family. Today, Solomon’s name lives on in my son’s name, a tribute to a man I’ve heard so much about but never had the chance to know. A rare bright spot in my father’s story, he miraculously bumped into his immediate younger brother, my Uncle Joe, on a train platform several months after the war ended. They were both searching for surviving family members, and somehow they found each other. As my siblings and I aged, we asked more questions about the Holocaust and our father’s memories. I’ve only shared a small portion of his journey here. Throughout our lives, with all the stories, his responses never wavered. He spoke with honesty and dignity, and spared us the most horrific details (though we couldn’t help but pick those up from other sources). As he aged, however, tears began to fill his stories earlier and more often. My father’s Jewish name was Jacob, meaning kindness, and it is that title that defined him. Surviving his passing has been one of the most excruciating experiences of my life. Maybe I thought he’d live forever, despite his years, (he turned 94 in the hospital) he was in good shape – he’d worked out two times a week – and maintained a strong mind. Or maybe it was too hard to imagine what life could be like without his calm, steady presence always on my shoulder. It helps to remember the man he was, to tell his stories now, and to make certain my son, Jordan Marc Solomon, and my father’s other grandchildren will continue to spread the light and lessons from my father. Throughout his life, whenever anyone asked Jack Beim how he survived, he would say this: “I had hope. I knew tomorrow was another day, and if I could survive it, then I can hope tomorrow may be the day we are freed.” His loving soul will always be so dearly missed, but I am eternally grateful for the lessons I continue to learn, and hopefully impart to others, from my beautiful father. A Eva Beim is a cofounder of a biotech company; she is a writer, singer/songwriter and journalist. She appreciates any comments at evabeim.com.

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Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 55

||| YOM HASHOAH |||

The Antiquarian and the Creative Writing How one WWII spy made a writer out of Stan Katz BY NATALIE JACOBS

56 SDJewishJournal.com | May 2016

The Secret Alliance to End WWII.” The editing process alone took five years. Sidney Mashbir was Jewish, and very early on in the book, Katz has Mashbir confront that Jewish identity. He’s young and in the Arizona guard, about to embark on a mission to bring the Mexican revolutionary Poncho Villa to a meeting with General John J. Pershing. One of his colleagues says, “Mashbir, is that Jewish?” Mashbir brushes it off, ignoring the question. “His grandfather was very Jewish Orthodox,” Katz explains. “He forced Mashbir’s mother to move from Tucson where there weren’t that many Jews at the time [late 1800s], to New York to marry a Jewish Russian immigrant. They married, they have a very unhappy marriage. They go back to the Southwest, they try to make it work but Mashbir sees this constant conflict between his Jewish parents and his grandfather who is Orthodox. “I have to interpret this,” Katz concludes, from his interviews with Mashbir’s son and other genealogical research. “He got into the military first in 1904. How were Jews treated in our country? How were they seen? Most wouldn’t even be broadcasting that they’re Jewish.” After a series of military starts and stops, in 1942 General Douglas MacArthur tapped Mashbir to lead the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section (ATIS) within the Southwest Pacific Area. This was a group of nearly 5,000 intelligence agents working to investigate Japanese war crimes. Katz pulls out a narrow pamphlet filled with names. It’s a list of all the Japanese enemies identified by ATIS; Mashbir’s personal copy. Katz discovered that Mashbir’s greatest ally in the Japanese government was Emperor Hirohito’s right-hand man, Prince Iyesato Tokugawa. “There was an intimacy between Mashbir and Tokugawa,” Katz says, holding up a greeting card sent to Mashbir from Tokugawa, and flipping to a photo of the two at a “prestigious luncheon” in Japan. “[Mashbir] said Prince Tokugawa was so important that if he hadn’t died, the Japanese would not have allied with the Axis Powers. [Mashbir] said that in his autobiography.” Katz makes the connection that three months after Tokugawa died, in June of 1940, Japan allied with Germany. “What Mashbir and the war in the Pacific taught was there was a rising fanaticism who felt they were superior to other races and other creeds and they were going to take over by force. The story depicts how the counter effort was – here are individuals, statesmen, who are trying to use cultural, art, science, music interchange, student exchanges, all these different means to create bridges between people so as to prevent conflict and not let militant extremists, close-minded, narrow-minded people, take over.” For Katz, the fact that Mashbir himself was ultimately unsuccessful in that effort does not diminish his legacy or the importance of

Stan Katz set up a display table of all the materials collected during the writing process. At the head of the table stood this image of Colonel Sidney Mashbir.

PHOTO BY NATALIE JACOBS

ixteen years ago, Stan Katz had never written a book. The longtime owner of several antiquarian bookstores, Katz knew a lot about books, and had an extensive collection of classics. But he never considered writing one himself, until he heard the story of Colonel Sidney Mashbir. It was 1999 when someone came into one of Katz’s bookstores with a box of photos and documents. “I didn’t have any idea what I was really looking at other than it looked really interesting,” he says from his home office in Oceanside. Katz could immediately gather that the documents were related to intelligence before and during World War II. “My mom was an Auschwitz survivor and so was her sister. I’ve long had an interest in WWII and what was going on and how it came to be. And then all of a sudden I had the papers of a spy who was very integral in winning WWII, I found out.” And so began Stan Katz’s investigation into the life and work of Colonel Mashbir, a little-known historical figure from a dense and complicated time period. To help decipher the personal letters and photos from the box he acquired that day in his bookstore, Katz purchased Mashbir’s autobiography, itself an antiquarian rarity (Mashbir’s son later gave Katz the rights to it). That he had no experience with creative writing didn’t stop Katz from exploring possible ways to use this information, which he immediately felt touched on an important and untold story about a great but mostly forgotten man. Katz spent about a year working on a screenplay, but it didn’t have the “fullness” Katz was looking for. So he settled on an historical novel. But why fictionalize the story if it is so compelling? “First of all,” he says, “when it comes to spies, you never know the whole story. What happened was, over and over again, I was told by [Mashbir’s] son, by others, that history, in a lot of people’s mind, is boring, it doesn’t engage people.” To Katz, this was primarily a spy story. “I would come up with an action-packed espionage novel that’s 70 percent nonfictional in nature, 30 percent fictionalized.” Katz says he tried to remain true to history even in the fictionalized parts, which required research into people and events that branched off from Mashbir himself. Take, for example, Charles Lindbergh. “Whether he spoke to Mashbir or not at certain points,” Katz says, “wasn’t as significant as [the fact that Lindbergh] was leading an isolationist movement in America to prevent us from going into WWII. You’ll understand that Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh were leading a massive effort to keep us out of WWII, regardless of what the Jews were going through.” So instead of a screenplay, in order to explore the depth of not only this figure Mashbir but also the complications of the WWII era, Katz wrote a 500-page novel called “The Emperor and the Spy,

diplomacy. “Mashbir’s insight into the Japanese culture was such that he was able to guide General MacArthur and other leaders, when the war ended, how best to treat occupied Japan and how best to lead it so that it could become the democratic country that we could be allies with. “We went into a country like Iraq,” Katz says, bringing the argument to present day, “without really understanding the culture, the leadership, how to move forward, and the country fell apart into civil war. The same thing could have happened in Japan.” Since publishing “The Emperor and the Spy,” Katz has also completed a 300-page online timeline, which chronicles Mashbir and many of the people he came in contact with throughout his life. That document includes rarely seen photographs of Japanese leaders and members of the U.S. military and general society, from documents that Katz has added to his personal collection throughout the years. One of his goals for the book is to see it used in high school and college courses. “One of these days, it will be used in teaching a very strong message about why the state of Israel happened, how the Holocaust preceded, and about an American Jewish spy who had major impacts in us winning a war. I think he’ll be a household name.” Katz’s next book project will be a biography on Prince Tokugawa. Colonel Sidney Mashbir is buried at Fort Rosecrans in Point Loma. Details on the fictionalized account of his life can be found online at theemperorandthespy.com. A

Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 57

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TORI AVEY

MIDDLE EASTERN ROASTED VEGETABLE RICE

She writes about food history for PBS Food and Parade. com. Follow Tori on Facebook by searching for “Tori Avey” and on Twitter: @toriavey.

IKWTA

PHOTOS BY TORI AVEY

Tori Avey is an awardwinning food writer, recipe developer, and the creator of the popular cooking website toriavey.com.

race yourself for a truly addicting recipe. Since creating this dish it has quickly become a family favorite. It’s not a “quick fix,” but it’s totally worth the effort. The extra step of roasting and caramelizing the eggplant and carrots before adding them to the rice adds lots of depth to the flavor. Chickpeas make this dish a complete protein. I’ve added copious amounts of turmeric, which ups the health-factor and gives it a gorgeous golden hue. The result is a holiday-worthy side dish, or even the centerpiece of a celebratory meatless meal. The word basmati is a combination of Sanskrit words – vas, meaning “aroma” and mayup, meaning “ingrained or present from the beginning.” Together, the words form vasmati, though it is most often pronounced bas-mati. According to a 2002 article published in “The Hindu,” Tavpovan, a village near Rishikesh in the Dehradun area of Uttaranchal, is known for producing basmati rice. There is a story about the famous rice of this area in which a shopkeeper brought the new rice to his home in Punjab. When he cooked it, the scent filled the air and the whole village learned of the arrival of basmati rice. If you’ve ever cooked basmati, you know the aroma I’m talking about – it’s delicious, yet difficult to describe. The

17th century French merchant and traveler Jean Baptiste Travernier did his best to explain it: “All the rice grown in this country possesses a particular quality causing it to be much esteemed. Its grains are half as small as that of common rice, and when it is cooked, snow is not whiter than it is, besides which, it smells like musk and all the nobles of India eat no other. When you wish to make an acceptable present to anyone in Persia, you take him a sack of this rice.” To create this recipe, I borrowed an Iranian cooking method from my fried Farah, which helps rid the basmati of excess starch and makes it super light and fluffy. As the rice cooks, the bottom layer becomes crispy. This delicious, crunchy layer of rice is known as tahdig, the Persian word meaning “bottom of the pot.” Often considered the “prized” part of the rice, the talent of an Iranian cook is often measured by his or her ability to create a quality tahdig. In this recipe, the cooking method results in a sort of “shortcut tahdig.” By heating up the oil prior to adding the rice to the pot, it sizzles and browns the bottom layer. This leads to a tahdig-like crispy bottom, which can be enjoyed in pieces or broken into little crunchy bits and mixed into the rice. Enjoy! Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 59

MIDDLE EASTERN ROASTED VEGETABLE RICE Ingredients: 2 cups white basmati rice 16 oz eggplant, sliced into 1-inch cubes 2 medium carrots, scrubbed and diced into small pieces ¼ cup + 2 tbsp olive oil, divided 1 ¾ cups chickpeas, cooked or canned and drained 1 ½ tsp salt, divided 2 ½ tsp turmeric ½ tsp cumin pinch of black pepper pinch of cayenne pepper ½ cup cilantro, chopped (parsley can be subbed) ¼ cup pine nuts (optional – if nut allergic omit)

You will also need: large 6-8 quart pot, large colander, baking sheet, thin kitchen towel, nonstick cooking oil, wooden spoon Yield: 8 side servings, 4 main servings Total Time: 3 hours 15 minutes Kosher Key: Pareve Rinse and sort the rice for a minute in the colander with cold water. Pour the rice into a medium mixing bowl and cover it with 2 inches of cold water. Let the rice soak for at least 30 minutes, up to 3 hours. Place a rack in the middle of your oven and heat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray baking sheet with nonstick cooking oil spray or brush lightly with olive oil. Spread out the eggplant cubes and diced carrots out on the baking sheet. Drizzle evenly with 2 tbsp olive oil, sprinkle with ½ tsp of salt, and use clean hands to toss the vegetables, coating them lightly. Roast vegetables for 10 minutes. Stir the vegetables with a wooden spoon, then continue to roast for 15-20 minutes longer until the vegetables are tender and some pieces are caramelizing. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Drain the rice in a colander and rinse again with cold water, shake out the excess water. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a 5 quart pot. Pour in the rice and 1 tsp salt. Stir. Bring the water back to a boil. Let the mixture simmer uncovered on medium for 5-8 minutes, or until water fully absorbs. Stir the rice periodically during cooking, and make sure you’re careful not to cook too long or your rice will begin to stick to the pot. As soon as all the liquid has absorbed, pour the rice into a colander and rinse with lukewarm water, then drain (this step removes excess starch and makes the rice extra fluffy). Rinse and dry the pot and put it back on the stove. To the rice in the colander, add the turmeric, cumin, black pepper, cayenne pepper, fresh chopped cilantro, chickpeas, roasted diced vegetables and pine nuts (if using). Carefully stir these ingredients into the rice in the colander, making sure spices, vegetables and herbs are well mixed throughout the rice. This may take a few minutes. If your colander is on the small side, you may find it easier to mix the rice and other ingredients in a large mixing bowl. I just use the colander to avoid washing an extra dish. Pour ¼ cup olive oil in the bottom of the pot on the stovetop and turn heat to medium. Let the olive oil heat up. Carefully scoop the rice with vegetables out of the colander and into the pot – it should sizzle as you place the bottom layer of rice. Continue to mound the rice on top of the bottom layer, forming a pyramid-shaped mound in the middle of the pot. Make a hole in the center of the rice mound with the handle of a wooden spoon, pushing it almost to the bottom of the pot. Place a thin kitchen towel over the top of the pot, being careful not to let the towel get too close to the heat source. Place the lid tightly over the top of the towel. Reduce heat to low and cook for 30 minutes longer. Fluff rice with a fork and serve hot. Some crispy bits of rice will form at the bottom of the pan. Eat them and enjoy, or stir them into the rice. They’re delicious! A

60 SDJewishJournal.com | May 2016

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Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 61

||| THEATER |||

E H T T A H W

F#$%?!?!?

A provocative riff on “The Seagull” comes to Cygnet Theatre BY PAT LAUNER

hen someone asks the four-year-old daughter of playwright Aaron Posner the name of her father’s play, she shouts, “Stupid Fucking Bird!” She knows to say it only at home. Posner’s very personal response to Chekhov’s “The Seagull” has a very deliberate title. “I figure that anyone who’s offended by the title won’t come see the show,” he says. That’s probably wise, since F-bombs fall like bird droppings in the play, which also has sexual content and a bit of nudity. So you’ve been warned. But for adventurous theater-goers, familiar with Chekhov or not, this will be a riot. The play is not only hilarious but thought-provoking, inspired and inspiring. “This is a very personal play for me,” Posner says. “I’m talking, ad nauseum perhaps, about everything I’ve been thinking about for the 30 years of my life I’ve spent in professional theater. I’m looking at what’s flawed, what’s broken, where the hope and problems lie. “That’s a very Jewish tradition, isn’t it? The things I care most about I’m critical of! Be rigorous with them; demand that they be good … and even better. That’s a Jewish sensibility!” 62 SDJewishJournal.com | May 2016

Posner insists that he “didn’t think too much” when he was writing SFB; it just came pouring out. “I was just responding,” he asserts, “to a play I love and hate.”

THE ORIGINAL BIRD “The Seagull” was the first of the four major plays written by Anton Chekhov (Posner is working on his versions of the others, too: “The Three Sisters,” which he’s calling “No Sisters;” “Uncle Vanya,” which he’s named “Life Sucks (Or the Present Ridiculous)” and still to come, as yet untitled by Posner, “The Cherry Orchard”). “The Seagull” dramatizes the romantic and artistic conflicts among four characters: the muse and budding actress, Nine; the famous story writer Boris Trigorin; the once-famous but fading actress Irina Arkadina; and her son, the avant garde playwright, Konstantin Treplev. Posner’s Americanized version names them Nina, Trig, Emma and Con. The black-clad Masha, ever “in mourning for [her] life,” becomes Mash. As Posner’s laugh-out-loud stage directions describe her name, it’s “pronounced MOSH, like the pit, not like what you do to potatoes.” And Con’s play-within-the-play is named…what else? …“Stupid Fucking Bird.”

PHOTOS COURTESY CYGNET THEATRE

Playwright Aaron Posner

To sum up the convoluted relationships, Emma loves Trig (though she loves herself more); Con loves Nina, Nina loves Trig, Mash loves Con, and Con’s best friend, Dev, loves Mash. As the world-weary, aging doctor, Sorn (a conflation of Chekhov’s Sorin and Dorn), puts it, “So much feeling! ... Do you all feel all the feelings you say you feel?” When Chekhov’s play premiered in 1896, it was a disaster, and he vowed to stop writing plays for good. But after the reins were taken up by acclaimed Moscow Art Theatre director Konstantin Stanislavski two years later, “The Seagull” became an unequivocal success, and has remained so ever since. “I love the play because it’s a spectacular work that asks all the biggest questions: about art, love, family and life,” Posner says. “It’s a seminal, radical piece of dramatic literature. “But, what was once radical has since been imitated by virtually every dramatist in the last hundred years. Any ongoing tv or film story of people’s lives, including even soap operas, owes its form to Chekhov. His work was radical – the beginning of realism. But it’s become cliché and mundane. My impulse is to re-radicalize it, to reimagine it for our own time.” Posner says that it’s “absolutely not necessary” to be familiar with “The Seagull” to appreciate SFB, but knowing the source material can heighten the experience. What Posner has done has been called a reboot, a revamp, a remix, an update, a deconstruction, a reconstruction. None

of these is a precise fit for him. “There isn’t a name yet for exactly what this is,” the affable playwright says. “It’s certainly not a parody or a satire. It’s sort of an adaptation, sort of a re-imagination. This play couldn’t exist without Chekhov, but there’s not a word of his in it. It would be disingenuous to say it’s just ‘a new play.’ In the most pretentious description, I could say I’m doing exactly what Shakespeare did. He took other stories and plays and wrote new plays largely based on them. So, I’m actually stealing from Shakespeare! “That puts me in really good company. I’ve got a genius on either arm – Chekhov on one side, Shakespeare on the other – and in the middle is me, doing the best I can, trying to tell the truth of what I think and feel. There are elements of me in every character in the play.” Would Chekhov, the groundbreaker, like what Posner has done? “I think he would,” Posner asserts. “I’m writing about the same things he was writing about. I find the world absurd as he did. I didn’t set out to write a comedy, any more than he did. And I admit, when I first saw my play performed, it was funnier than I thought.” For more than a century, there’s been heated debate about whether Chekhov’s plays are comedies, as he insisted they were, or dour, oppressive dramas, as most theaters reverentially present them. But that’s another story for another day.

Director Rob Lufty

POSNER PAST AND PRESENT Speaking of reverential adaptations, that is exactly what made Posner’s name, before SFB premiered in 2013, snagged a bunch of awards and became one of the 10 most produced plays in the country this year. North Coast Repertory Theatre has presented three of Posner’s most popular literary adaptations: “The Chosen” and “My Name is Asher Lev” (from the acclaimed Jewish-themed novels by Chaim Potok) and “Who Am I This Time?,” based on stories by Kurt Vonnegut. He’s also dramatized works by Ken Kesey and Mark Twain. But everything is different now with this voracious bite into Chekhov’s masterworks. One captivating aspect of SFB is its meta-theatrics. All his characters know they’re in a play, on a stage, with people watching. Con actually asks the audience for relationship advice. For those who know Chekhov’s play, it’s fascinating to see Posner’s characters following the basic storyline of “The Seagull” while saying everything that no Chekhov character would ever dare to say. “They speak the subtext,” Posner explains. “What people are thinking but typically don’t say.” At one point, Con, the play’s playwright-inresidence, describes his latest creation (SFB) as “full of people just angsting and whining and going on and on endlessly.” Ironic, because some have said those very words about Chekhov’s dramas, and the characters in Posner’s play are doing the same thing. Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 63

“That’s very Jewish,” Posner quips. “Whining and complaining.” In fact, Posner notes that his re-imagination of “Uncle Vanya,” called “Life Sucks,” is “in some ways a kind of Jewish play. The characters feel Jewish. Some are overtly Jewish.” “Life Sucks” premiered in January, 2015 at Theatre J, a Jewish theater company in Washington D.C. As the Washington Post put it, “Posner gives huge and equal bearhugs to Chekhov’s absurd comedy and touching pathos while leaving room to banter with the audience.” This is, of course, also true of SFB, which the L.A. Weekly called “the best Chekhov adaptation in two decades … authentic, selfaware, playful, pathos-filled, unassuming and world-wise.” The Los Angeles Times praised its “galloping adventurousness and an often bracing contemporary wit.” When the play opened at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in D.C., the Washington Post called it “a ripe mashup of mock and awe” that “mines ‘The Seagull’ for classical heft even while giving it the bird.” In their contemplation of love and art, both Chekhov’s Konstantin and Posner’s Con lament the state of theater. “We need new forms, new passion, new ideas!,” Con cries. “Do you have any idea what’s passing itself off as theater these days? We need something REAL. Or what the fuck’s the point?” Posner is giving us something real – his real feelings, his genuine concerns – about theater, life, politicians and other weighty subjects. The play talks about love as a matter of compromise. Not so for Art. “‘Asher Lev’ was all about the absolute need not to compromise in art,” Posner says. “That’s why I kept my title, though when I did, I never thought the play would get done. But my choice not to compromise resulted in my most successful play ever, with some 25 productions this year.” 64 SDJewishJournal.com | May 2016

Actor Ro Boddie After several years and so many productions, Posner no longer travels to see most of his works onstage. But he will attend the San Diego production at Cygnet Theatre. That’s because Posner knows and respects the director, Cygnet Theatre’s associate artistic director Rob Lutfy, who once had a fellowship at the Kennedy Center in D.C., near where Posner lives. Lutfy was assistant director to Posner at Washington’s Folger Theatre four years ago. “We became friends,” says Posner, who is equally active as a director and a writer. He directs seven productions a year (he was the founder and former artistic director of the Arden Theatre in Philadelphia). And he knows quality when he sees it. “Rob is very, very smart and capable,” Posner says. “He became a mentor to me,” says Lutfy, who recently did a spectacular job directing an extremely challenging play, Andrew Bovell’s “When the Rain Stops Falling” at Cygnet Theatre. Lutfy is thrilled to be directing Posner’s play,

and he’s very excited about his multi-cultural cast: Con is played by Ro Boddie, who was excellent as Martin Luther King last year in “Blueprints to Freedom” at the La Jolla Playhouse. As Con’s mother, Emma, beloved former-local, Karole Foreman, returns to her hometown. Nina is portrayed by Rachel Tate, who happens to be Lutfy’s partner, served as a nanny for the Posner family and also played Nina under Posner’s direction of another Chekhov spinoff, Christopher Durang’s “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” at the Arena Stage in Washington. The cast is rounded out by treasured local actors Francis Gercke (Trig), Jacque Wilke (Mash), Walter Murray (Sorn) and Brian Rickel (Dev). Lutfy is well aware that making the central family African American will add new and intriguing layers to the play. “A lot of audience members think of Chekhov as melodrama,” Lutfy says. “Or, they think his work is impenetrable because it’s a hundred years old. Aaron takes the dust off it, so we feel like we know these people, or feel just like they do. This play is so fresh. It helps that I’ve worked with Aaron and I’ve seen his work for years. I know him so well that I know how much of him is in this play!” Amid all the kvetching in SFB, the playwright, Con, even laments his recent spate of success: “It just feels like a setup for a new kind of failure.” Is that the way Posner, the Nice Jewish Boy born in Wisconsin and raised in Oregon, experiences it? No way. “I feel great about the success,” he says. “I’m enjoying every bit of it.” Now, how Jewish is that?” A “Stupid Fucking Bird” runs May 19-June 19 at Cygnet Theatre in Old Town. Advisory: Rated R for suggestive themes, strong language, sexual content and nudity. Tickets ($26-$57) and information are at (619) 337-1525; cygnettheatre.com.

Stars are

This year’s winner, Jazmine Rogers, poses with Hillel donors and its Executive Director Michael Rabkin after the award presentation.

PHOTOS BY MELISSA JACOBS

Born

Second-annual Campus SuperStar event brings down the house at new venue BY NATALIE JACOBS AND LINDA BENNETT

n April 10, San Diego Jewish Journal’s events correspondent Linda Bennett attended the second annual Hillel Campus SuperStar benefit competition hosted this year at the expansive Irwin M. Jacobs Qualcomm Hall in Sorrento Valley. Before the 10 finalists sang their hearts out for a share of $7,500, Elaine Galinson and her daughter Laura were honored, along with Elaine’s father Joseph “Chickie” Glickman, for their ongoing support of the organization. “Hillel is the answer to one of the most important challenges of our time,” Elaine said to the crowd. “At a time when young people are setting patterns for their adult lives, Hillel offers sophisticated, compelling programs to help ensure that the next geneartion embraces and renews the Jewish values and traditions that will guide them as they become leaders of tomorrow.” Elaine and Laura also announced Chickie Glickman’s $5 million naming gift, the largest in Hillel San Diego history, to build a Jewish center for UC San Diego students on Hillel property

at La Jolla Village Drive and Torrey Pines Road. This project, which has been underway for 15 years, is “nearing the end of the City of San Diego review process and will soon be before the City Council for approval,” according to a release sent by Hillel San Diego Executive Director Michael Rabkin following the Campus SuperStar event. Although the event was sponsored by Hillel San Diego, the 10 finalists came from a “diversity of backgrounds” and different area schools including San Diego State, Mira Costa College, Grossmont College, Point Loma Nazerene, UC San Diego, and University of San Diego. At the close of the evening, judges narrowed it down from 10 to three, and the audience voted to determine the winners. Jazmine Rogers, from Mira Costa College took home first place and $5,000; Rachel Rothman from San Diego State University came in second winning $1,500 and Jack French from Point Loma Nazerene finished third and won $1,000.

Among the more than 400 people enjoying the evening, Bennett spotted Barbara and Larry Sherman, Emily and Chris Jennewein, Eric Weisman, Rabbi Marty and Anita Lawson, Stefanie Levine, Silvia and David Geffen, Carol and Ron Fox, Beverly and Len Bernstein, Hollie Bierman, Yoni Breziner, Jerry Goldberg, Karen Helrich, Robert and Susan Lapidus, Amy and Michael Stern, Terri Bignell, Marc Channick, Debbie Broida and Neal Singer, Arthur and Sandra Levinson, Shari Schenk, Jeff Silberman, Steven and Esther Solomon, Herb Solomon, Perla and Jeff Meyers (parents of last year’s winner, Danny Meyers), Charlene Seidle, Dan and Phyllis Epstein, Lynn Schenk, Suzi and Bernie Feldman, Henry Haimsohn, Todd Kobernick, Mary Ann and George Scher, Isabelle and Mel Wasserman, Pauline Foster, eleven year old Rebecca Bronstein and eight year old Jacob Bronstein, Penny and Paul Arenson, Harold and Avrille Copans, John and Kate Kassar, and of course Executive Director Michael Rabkin. A

The 10 finalists from left to right: Dakota Ringer, SDSU; Rachel Rothman, SDSU; Reanne Acasio, UCSD; Matthew Gibson, SDSU; Alexandra Lee, USD; Ala Tiatia, Mira Costa College; Jazmine Rogers, Mira Costa College; Jack Adkins, Grossmont College; Lisa Parente, SDSU; Jack French, PLNU

Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 65

? GOIN '?ON ?? WHAT'S PHOTO COURTESY SAN DIEGO OPERA

PHOTO COURTESY SDNAT

BY EILEEN SONDAK

Anton van Helden, Collection Manager Marine Mammals, Te Papa, Tongarewa.

Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum is showcasing “Whales: Giants of the Deep.” This exciting show, offering an up-close look into the world of the whales, will continue through Sept. 5. The Nat also offers “Fossil Mysteries,” “Water: A California Story,” and “Skulls.”

Museum of Contemporary Art

The Museum of Contemporary Art will continue to showcase “Do Hu Suh” at its downtown location through July 4.

Reuben H. Fleet Science Center

The Reuben H. Fleet Science Center’s “The Art of Science Learning” packs up May 3, while “Zoo in You: The Human Microbiome,” closes on May 8. On May 21, the Fleet will open its new traveling exhibit “Science Fiction, Science Future” which boasts sections that will teach viewers how to move objects with their minds, among other things. The Fleet continues to highlight the IMAX film, “MacGillivray Freeman’s National Parks Adventure,” narrated by Robert Redford, along with “Jerusalem.” Benedict Cumberbatch narrates this excellent piece about one of the most beloved and mysterious cities in the world – and it is unforgettable.

San Diego Museum of Art

“Brush and Ink” – a collection of Asian art – will be ensconced at the San Diego Museum of Art through Sep. 4. “Brueghel to Canaletto” – the Museum’s newest exhibition – will feature European masterpieces, on display through Aug. 2. New this month is “Quilts and Color” from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Beginning May 28, these 19th and 20th century quilts will be on display until Sept. 4.

Mingei International Museum

Mingei International Museum is featuring Asafo Flags from Ghana, through July 10. The museum is also highlighting “MINGEI OF JAPAN: Treasures New and Old” from the collection, through Oct. 2.

66 SDJewishJournal.com l May 2016

"Great Scott" runs at the Opera until May 15.

San Diego Opera

San Diego Opera will introduce local opera buffs to “Great Scott,” a contemporary work starring Kate Aldrich. The libretto revolves around a modern-day woman and opera diva facing a critical time in her life. Jack O’Brien (beloved former director of the Old Globe) will stage this exciting new work at the Civic Theatre May 7-15.

San Diego Symphony

The San Diego Symphony will jazz things up on May 7 with vocalist Gregory Porter and Gilbert Castellanos on trumpet. “Fantastic Variations: Schubert’s Unfinished and Strauss’ Don Quixote” is on tap for May 20-22. The action moves to the Auditorium at TSRI on May 24, when pianist JeanYves Thibaudet performs with the musicians of the San Diego Symphony. “Appalachian Spring: An American Finale” will find Maestro Jahja Ling on the podium at Symphony Hall May 27-29. Along with Copland’s masterwork, the program will include pieces by Bernstein, Gershwin, and Barber.

Mainly Mozart

Mainly Mozart will perform in La Jolla and Carlsbad on May 1. The programs feature six musicians, including the company’s popular pianist Marie McDermott.

Ballet for All

Balletomanes can choose between two dance concerts this month. City Ballet will perform “Romeo and Juliet” at the Spreckels Theater May 6-8, accompanied by a live orchestra. California Ballet will show off “Beyond the Barre” at the Poway Center May 21-22. The program will include act II of “Coppelia.”

La Jolla Music Society

La Jolla Music Society will start off its eclectic musical mix May 4, when the New York Philharmonic takes to Symphony Hall, under Alan Gilbert’s musical direction. Violinist Josef Spacek will perform at the Auditorium at TSRI May 8, followed on May 14 at Sherwood Auditorium with “The Complete Beethoven Piano Trios: Part I.” The second part of the Beethoven program is slated for May 14 at Sherwood. The season will conclude with the witty musicians of “Mozart Group” on May 21 at Sherwood.

Broadway San Diego

Broadway San Diego has snared “Newsies” (a 2012 Tony Award-winning musical) for a run at the Civic May 31-June 5. This rousing crowd-pleaser is high-voltage and effervescent – and the show is definitely family friendly.

San Diego Repertory Theatre

San Diego Rep is featuring “Rapture, Blister, Burn,” a funny and fast-paced examination of feminism. The comedy will remain at the Lyceum Space through May 15. The Jewish Arts Festival begins May 27.

Cygnet Theatre PHOTO COURTESY LA JOLLA MUSIC SOCIETY

Cygnet closes “The Rocky Horror Show” on May 1, but on May 19, Aaron Posner’s “Stupid F#$%ing Bird” (an R-rated “sort of ” adaptation of Chekov’s “The Seagull”) will take over the Old Town Theatre. The hilarious contemporary comedy – by the playwright who wrote “The Chosen” – will stick around through June 19.

Welk Theatre

PHOTO BY AARON RUMLEY

Catch "The Complete Beethoven Piano Trios: Part I" this month at the La Jolla Music Society.

Welk Theatre is reviving the farcical, back-stage antics of “Noises Off ” through May 15. You can opt for a buffet dinner before the fast-paced romp. The Welk also offers “Illusions” starring Anthony Hernandez May 4, 11, and 25.

La Jolla Playhouse

The La Jolla Playhouse is ready to showcase the world premiere of “Hollywood,” a “noir whodunit” set in the old Hollywood of 1922. Based on the true story of an unsolved murder, “Hollywood” was penned by Tony Award-winner Joe DiPietro. It will reside at the Weiss Theatre May 10-June 12.

The Old Globe

The Old Globe will end its Main Stage production of “Rain” on May 1, but following on May 13, is “Camp David,” a play that takes us back to 1978 when three world leaders attempted to negotiate peace in the Middle East. This fascinating play gives audiences a unique perspective on this historic time. You have until June 19 to be a fly on the wall at “Camp David.” The Globe is also bringing the parallel universes of “Constellations” to its White Theatre stage through May 8. On May 28, expect an entirely different theatrical experience to unfold in the Globe’s theater-in-the-round setting. “tokyo fish story” is about a master sushi chef who is losing his customers to newer and flashier restaurants. The show will stay on through June 26.

The cast of "Way Downriver" running now in Solana Beach.

North Coast Repertory Theatre

North Coast Repertory Theatre will continue to show off the West Coast premiere of “Way Downriver: William Faulkner’s Old Man,” through May 8. This adaptation of a short story by Faulkner is a dramatic adventure tale about surviving a harrowing experience. David Ellenstein directs the show.

San Diego Musical Theatre

San Diego Musical Theatre will continue its 10th anniversary season with “42nd Street.” The musical moves into the Spreckels Theatre May 27, where it will reside through June 12. PHOTO BY JIM COX

Lamb’s Players

The Lamb’s world premiere production of “Dinner with Marlene,” which revolves around an actual dinner party with the legendary Marlene Dietrich, will continue to entertain audiences in Coronado through May 29.

Christian Coulson stars as Roland and Victoria Frings as Marianne in Nick Payne’s "Constellations," on now at The Globe.

Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 67

DIVERSIONS By Natalie Jacobs

“Imperial Dreams” When John Boyega found out he landed a huge role in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” he was filming “Imperial Dreams,” an entirely different kind of movie. Written and directed by Malik Vitthal and developed during the filmmaker’s time with the Jerusalem Film Lab, “Imperial Dreams” explores the vicious cycle set off by juvenile incarceration. Boyega plays the film’s main character, Bambi, who returns to his hometown of Watts, Calif., after serving jail time, to take back custody of his young son who has been under the care of a gang-affiliated family member. The film received its world premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival where it won the Audience Award and Vitthal has been touring it around the country for specialty showings ever since. The San Diego Foundation screened it in March as part of their work with system-involved youth. As it follows Bambi through infuriating trips to the DMV and unhelpful meetings with his parole officer, plus the personal struggles of moving beyond a criminal history, “Imperial Dreams” does well to underscore the need for change. A theatrical release is in the works.

“Louder than Bombs” While the much-maligned “Batman v. Superman” can still be seen in some theaters, the actor Jesse Eisenberg (who made headlines for his quirky portrayal of the villain Lex Luthor), can also be seen in a drama now playing an exclusive engagement at Landmark’s Ken Cinema. When his mother, a famous photographer, dies in a car crash, Jonah (Eisenberg’s character) has just had a baby and is struggling with his own transitions from child to parent. He is drawn back to his childhood home, where his brother Conrad (played by newbie Devin Druid) still lives with their father Gene (Gabriel Byrne), to prepare their mother’s photographs for a major retrospective. In the process, they uncover secrets that lead to further investigation of the crash that killed her. “Louder than Bombs” marks the English language debut for the Norwegian director Joachim Trier.

68 SDJewishJournal.com l May 2016

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Congregation Beth El (CBE) in La Jolla is saying goodbye to its senior rabbi of 14 years, Rabbi Philip Graubart. Starting in July, Graubart will join the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America as west coast vice president, where he will be in charge of their adult learning programming for Jewish leaders on the west coast. Rabbi Graubart will continue to live in San Diego while traveling to the Bay Area three days a week.

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“I’ve been a consumer of the Hartman organization ... for 25 years, and more directly for the past 5-6 years,” Graubart said over the phone. “It has had a transformative effect on my teaching, my rabbinate, my understanding of Jewish text, and it’s something I’ve been excited about for a very long time. It gave me new life as a pulpit rabbi while covering topics that are very important – for example, Jewish identity, why do we support Israel, how should we talk about Israel? Hartman gives us an intellectually challenging way to grapple with these issues. “Then a job opened up at a time when I was thinking about a transition in my career. I took the job because I’m looking for some change in my lifestyle and career and also it’s an opportunity with an organization that is doing great work for me and the Jewish American community.” His move marks the continued expansion of Hartman’s North America programs and initiatives on the west coast. CBE will host the Communal Siyyum conversation on May 23 to close out the Hartman Institute’s iEngage program, a collaboration between the Institute and several organizations and synagogues in San Diego. Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman, son of the Institute’s founder, and president of the organization, will speak. Find information and register at shalomhartman. org/sandiego.

Chabad Hebrew Academy to Host Yom Hashoah Program In remembrance of the Holocaust, Scripps Ranch’s Chabad Hebrew Academy will host a program at its campus on May 5. Beginning at 2 p.m., the program features Dr. Edith Eva Eger, a La Jolla resident, native Hungarian and Holocaust survivor. Hailed for her moving accounts of her personal history, Eger is an author, public speaker, and clinical psychologist.

PHOTO COURTESY EDITH EVA EGER

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Redai Tesma, 45, Ethiopian psychologist and Mental Health Officer in the Israel army reserves, was a beneficiary of Operation Moses. Here he holds up photos from his first few years in Israel.

“My father never really shared much about his military service, until he saw his portrait hanging on the wall.” PHOTO COURTESY BEIT HATFUTSOT

Every hero has a story. With tremendous pride, Belmont Village celebrates the service and sacrifice of our resident veterans through American Heroes galleries nationwide. Featuring stunning portraiture and gripping narrative, the galleries depict the unique wartime experiences that forever solidified Belmont Village veterans as heroes of their generation. Always on our minds. Forever in our hearts.

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Thirty-two years ago, there was a concerted effort on the part of Israel to support aliyah of Ethiopian Jewry. Known as “Operation Moses,” from 1977-1984, 8,000 Jews were gradually brought to Israel after they successfully, and secretly, arrived at the Sudanese border. They were fleeing famine on foot, and once they reached the Ethiopia-Sudan RCFE Lic. 374603279, 374603231 border, they were held-over in refugee camps where many died from the harsh conditions. The Israel Defense Forces, along with the U.S. CIA and embassy in Khartoum, arranged for Israeli airplanes to take the Jews by SDJewishJournal_heroesthird_2016.indd 1 groups of 200 to Israel.

4/12/16 9:18 PM

Beit Hatfutsot, the Museum of the Jewish People, in 1984 sent staff photographer Doron Bacher to Ethiopia to document this journey. Beginning this month, Beit Hatfutsot will display an exclusive exhibition of the nearly 10,000 stills and slides taken at that time, at its gallery in Tel Aviv. As a local preview of the exhibition, San Diego philanthropist and private equity executive David Ellman hosted a discussion at his home with one Ethiopian immigrant. At age 10 in 1980, Redai Tesma, now a social worker for the Ministry of Defense, set off with his family on a four-year journey to Sudan. At the event in late March, Tesma told the San Diego group of the moment when he first saw the Israeli jet that airlifted him from Sudan. He also took questions from the audience. Tesma’s is just one of many stories on display in the 18-month exhibit. “Operation Moses” coincides with the grand re-opening of the Spiegel Wing of Beit Hatfutsot. Also opening in the remodeled space is “Forever Young: Celebrating Bob Dylan’s 75th Birthday,” a retrospective exploring the influence that Dylan’s Jewish identity has had on his career.

Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 71

They DelivereD The papers, unTil They maDe The heaDlines...

news Record Federal Funding for Holocaust Survivors Awarded to Local and National Jewish Organizations In February, Jewish Family Service of San Diego (JFS) was selected to receive a grant from the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) to enhance its services for low-income Holocaust survivors in San Diego county. Part of JFNA’s Center for Advancing Holocaust Survivor Care, this two-year, $150,000 grant is part of the $2 million that were allocated in the 2015 Federal budget to support Holocaust survivors living in the United States. On April 7, the long-debated reauthorization of the Older Americans Act passed in the Senate, shortly after it was approved by the House of Representatives. Included in that law is a provision for money to go to programs that support Holocaust survivors. With this new OAA provision, funding for Holocaust survivors has been made law, thus removing the need to advocate for line items in subsequent Federal budgets.

2012 wArd® Tony A

Currently, JFS receives more than $1 million in OAA funding to support its ongoing programs for seniors. That funding is administered through Aging and Independent Services of San Diego County.

! r e n n wBesiT scorereogrAphy

Now that JFNA has established its Center for Advancing Holocaust Survivor Care, it is not yet known if it will administer the additional OAA funds, or if that will continue to be distributed through local governments. Under the JFNA-funded grant, the JFS program Serving Older Suvivors (SOS) expanded to serve at least 63 survivors with regularly scheduled social and cultural activities and home-delivered kosher meals.

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Hadassah to Host Author Maggie Anton Hadassah, in collaboration with Congregation Beth Am, will present “Fifty Shades of Talmud” with author Maggie Anton on June 1. The workshop will cover 50 Talmudic discussions along with thoughts from contemporary thinkers like Mae West and Amy Schumer. The event is modeled after Anton's book “Fifty Shades of Talmud: What the First Rabbis Had to Say About You-KnowWhat.” Cost is $10 and reservations can be made at hadassah.org.

Soille Hebrew Day School

Jacobs Center Presents Master Plan for Public Comment

Pictured above are the Jacobs Center’s properties located around Euclid and Market Avenues in Southeast San Diego. These properties are being considered for development in the Master Plan, which opens for public comment on June 1.

In February, the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation, founded by Dr. Joe and Vi Jacobs, hired national planning and architecture firm BNIM to create a comprehensive Town Center Master Plan for the development of parts of Southeast San Diego. The plan, which opens for public comment June 1, covers the organization’s future developments for the next eight to 10 years. Some recommendations discussed in the plan are: • Residential properties that could include affordable housing units plus units aimed at millennials, families and seniors. • Retail and mixed-use developments. • Spaces that can be used for educational programming. • Public art and “gateways to reinforce community identity.” In January, the Mayor’s office announced its partnership with the Jacobs Center to support this development plan. Noted as “the first of its kind in the San Diego region,” the partnership established a dedicated staff person in the Mayor’s office to expedite the review process for projects in the area and those established from the Master Plan. The Mayor’s office has also committed to helping the Jacobs Center find funding for its projects. A public open house is planned for June 1 at 5:30 p.m. at the Jacobs Center on Euclid Ave. This will kick-off the 30-day public comment period. The Town Center Master Plan and public input will be presented to the Jacobs Center Board for approval in July. Visit jacobscenter.org for more information.

Celebrates our San Diego Community as it Honors Selwyn Isakow at June 5th Gala

On Sunday, June 5, 2016 Selwyn Isakow will be honored by Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School for his leadership and community vision. Having chaired Shabbat San Diego which brought together 15,000 participants, and having introduced Partners In Torah which connects people through the study of text, Mr. Isakow has been a force for the advancement of Jewish life. “Soille Hebrew Day School is all about excellence in education and Jewish studies, which sustains our Jewish community,” noted Selwyn, in accepting Hebrew Day School’s Award for Outstanding Leadership. “I am assisting in raising the profile and understanding of the Hebrew Day School among all segments of the community. Through superior education and character building, its program creates the future leaders that will ensure continuity of our heritage.” In addition to his involvement in strengthening Jewish life, Selwyn is also Founder and Chairman of San Diego Private Bank and The Oxford Investment Group, and is Vice Chairman of the Board of City of Hope, a leading Comprehensive Cancer Center. “We have worked closely with Selwyn and we share such respect for him for making Shabbat San Diego come to fruition under his capable leadership. Calm, diplomatic and with meticulous demeanor he is instrumental to the success of the project,” said Robyn Lichter, a Gala Co-Chair. “We are thrilled to honor Selwyn Isakow and to recognize his role in unifying our community through Shabbat San Diego,” remarked Rabbi Simcha Weiser, Soille Headmaster. “Selwyn could see that by choosing Shabbat as a focus, we can unite San Diego as never before. He worked tirelessly to bring us together, tapping into the deep core of Jewish identity which we all share.” The Hebrew Day Gala co-chairs are: Dan and Emily Einhorn, Ernest Rady and Derek and Robyn Lichter. Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School is the oldest Jewish Day School in San Diego serving preschool through 8th grade. In celebrating its 53rd Anniversary, it is proudly educating the third generation of students, since its founding in 1963. Rabbi Simcha Weiser has led the school as its Headmaster for 35 years, leading a faculty that celebrates the uniqueness of every student. For information about Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School, the Gala on Sunday, June 5th, or to place a message in the Tribute Journal, contact Klara Lapp, klapp@hebrewday.org or 858-279-3300, ext. 105. Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 73

Israel Fest is Back

PHOTO BY ATRUAX PHOTOGRAPHY

||| YOM HA’ATZMAUT |||

Father-son bonding time at a previous Israel Fest event.

After a scaled-down version last year, the popular Israel Independence Day celebration returns to San Diego at a new location BY TINA B. ESHEL

his year, Jewish Federation of San Diego brings back a full-scale celebration of Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day, on Sunday, May 15. Unlike last year’s economized event, the 2016 Israel Fest looks more like the events from three and four years ago, with live entertainment, Israeli dancing and music, kid-friendly activities, interactive games, kosher food, plus the triumphant return of community booths and an Israeli marketplace. The event will be held for the first time at the San Diego Jewish Academy in Carmel Valley, on their main field, from 2-5 p.m. Heather Wolfson, senior director of community partnerships for Federation, credits the Israel Fest committee, whose members are anonymous, for creating the framework for a return to the larger program. Their goal was to answer two questions: “‘why is this day important?’ and, ‘what are the critical components?’ of Israel Fest,” she says from her corner office at Federation headquarters in Kearny Mesa. “This group was really able to help us focus our energy and efforts, and we’re on!” What the committee determined was that Israel Fest San Diego is a much-anticipated event for all ages, an important gathering that connects San Diego’s Jewish community, but specifically its youth, to Israel in a positive way. “I think that this event helps to bring people 74 SDJewishJournal.com l May 2016

out from the wider community for a variety of reasons … Clearly, the event is free and … you can opt-in as you want,” Wolfson says. The event in its various forms has always been successful in bringing out a large crowd, even those who are not extremely connected with other aspects of Jewish life. The festival intends to offer a chance to celebrate and explore Israel without getting mired in the politics. “We think this is one time in our community we can actually celebrate Israel without having to worry about the [political] contention,” she says. “This is an opportunity to show off what Israel has to offer. The community helps to rally around Israel in this context as well. As we are designing this program, this event, we really are trying to be intentional.” Expect “lively entertainment,” with performances from Jonathan Valverde, students at Kavod Elementary, members of Tarbuton, Shevet Galim Israel Scouts and the Ken Jewish dance troupe. San Francisco band, The Peatot will headline, with music that pays tribute to Israel with music from the past four decades, according to their website. As in past years, the Friendship Circle 5K Walk will take place at the start of Israel Fest to raise money for programming that supports social

opportunities for children and adults with special needs. People can register ($20 online, $30 on-site, day of event) on the Friendship Circle website or through the Federation. Baron’s Market has agreed to donate fruit and water for walk participants. New this year will be something organizers are calling the “Graffiti Wall.” Allison Madwatkins, an attorney, artist and chair of Shabbat Connections for Federation’s NextGen Board, came up with the idea. “I love the symbolism of the Tree of Life,” she says. “I think it’s a fabulous symbol of Judaism.” She’s working on a mural with the Tree and U.S. and Israeli flags in the background. At the festival, people will be invited to decorate leaves to place on the Tree, showing solidarity with Israel. “We see [the Tree of Life] in every synagogue. We plant trees abroad when we go to Israel. ... I think of that kid’s song, ‘it’s the tree of life, everyone who hold fast to it, are happy.’” As always, it takes a village to pull off an event expected to draw 3,000. The full list of partners can be found on the website, and expect to see booths with more information and giveaways throughout the festival. San Diego Jewish Journal will also be there, manning a booth and giving out subscriptions, so be sure to come by and say hello. More details at jewishinsandiego.org/israelfest. A

HAPPENINGS by tina b. eshel

ay offers up plenty of ways to celebrate all things Israel this month, but while you’re at it, don’t forget to honor your mom! Start the good times early with NextGen. Young adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s are invited to Cinco de Mayo Happy Hour on Tuesday, May 3. Also save the date for NextGen’s Showcase Fundraiser, June 18 at the San Diego Air and Space Museum. Details are at nextgensandiego.org or on the group’s Facebook page. Show love for your mom with one of many Mother’s Day activities. On Saturday, May 7, spend the day at the San Diego Botanical Garden’s Chocolate Festival where you’ll find family fun and unique gift ideas. The festival is free but requires paid admission to the Botanical Gardens. Learn more at sdbgarden.org. Take the mom in your life to the Carlsbad Flower Fields Mother’s Day Celebration, on Sunday, May 8 for live music amid the colorful display of blossoms. Read about all the attractions and events at theflowerfields.com. If wine is more to her liking, enjoy Bernardo Winery’s Live Music on the Tasting Room Patio. This is a weekly occurance, happening on Sundays from 2-5 p.m., and it lands perfectly on Mother’s Day this year. See all winery events and a schedule of music at bernardowinery.com. Moving on to entertainment for all ages: Dubbed the “most fun you’ll find this side of the bayou,” Gator by the Bay is back May 5-8 at Spanish Landing on the San Diego Bay. Grab your dance partner and move to the sounds of Lousiana zydeco, jazz, salsa, swing, country and blues music and nosh on Cajun and Creole cooking, but first buy your tickets at gatorbythebay.com. Later in the month, 25 chefs from San Diego restaurants will cook up dishes inspired by their favorite books at the Eat. Drink. Read. Culinary Event for Literacy on Wednesday, May 18, from 5:30-8 p.m. at Liberty Station in Point Loma. Winemakers, spirit distributors and local craft breweries will pair their libations with the epicurean delights, desserts and other artisanal foods. Buy your $95 ticket to great food, fun and reading at literacysandiego.org/edr. Finally, the House of Israel in Balboa Park brings two happenings this month. The House of Israel Lawn Program on Sunday, May 22 will feature festive songs and dances of Israel. Lawn Programs are held on the House of Pacific Relations outdoor stage just outside the House of Israel. The following weekend on Sunday, May 29, House of Israel will take part in the International Cottage’s Ethnic Food Fair from noon till 5 p.m. Nosh on latkes and other treats throughout. Admission and parking are free, you just buy the food and beverages from each of the participating International Cottages. Learn more at cottageofisrael.com. A

MOTHER’S DAY Events begin Saturday, May 7

GATOR BY THE BAY

May 5-8 Spanish Landing on San Diego Bay gatorbythebay.com

EAT. DRINK. READ. CULINARY EVENT FOR LITERACY Wednesday, May 18 Liberty Station, Point Loma literacysandiego.org/edr

HOUSE OF ISRAEL EVENTS

Lawn Program, Sunday, May 22 Ethnic Food Fair, Sunday, May 29 cottageofisrael.com

Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 75

SENIOR CENTERS Lawrence Family JCC 4126 Executive Drive, La Jolla Contact Melanie Rubin for details or to R.S.V.P. (858) 362-1141. Bus to "Great Scott" at the San Diego Opera Tuesday, May 10, 4:45 p.m. Cost: $20 nonmember, $15 member. Bus seating is limited to first 20 who reserve with payment. Tips and Tricks for a “Picturesque” Summer Thursday, May 12, 1:30 p.m. Cost: $10 nonmember, $8 member. R.S.V.P. by May 5. "Camp David" at The Old Globe Sunday, June 5, 12:30 p.m. Cost: $55 nonmember, $44 member (includes bus from JCC and theatre ticket) JFS University City Older Adult Center 9001 Towne Centre Drive, La Jolla Contact Aviva Saad for details or to R.S.V.P. (858) 550-5998. Lunch available at noon with reservations. Daily fee, $27. Cinco de Mayo Celebration Thursday, May 5, 10 a.m. Mother’s Day Celebration Tuesday, May 10 a.m. Yom Ha'atzmaut Celebration Thursday, May 12, 10 a.m. On the Go Excursions A program of Jewish Family Service, On the Go provides transportation to events throughout the county for homebound seniors. For information, please call Jo Kessler at (858) 637-7320. Dinner with Marlene, at the Lamb’s Players Theatre Wednesday, May 11, bus departs 1 p.m. A magical new play about an actual dinner party in 1938 Paris, with singer, movie star Marlene Dietrich and a fascinating assortment of artists, writers and socialites, as Europe is coming apart at the seams. Cost: $58 Once On This Island, J*Company at the JCC La Jolla Sunday, May 22, bus departs at noon Celebrate storytelling with this rousing Calypso-flavored tale of one small girl who finds love in a world of prejudice. Cost: $33 JFS No. County Inland Center at Adat Shalom 15905 Pomerado Road, Poway Contact (858) 674-1123 for details. Most Activities are free to members, and lunch is $7 with reservations. Fitness Fusion Mondays and Wednesdays, 9 a.m. Monthly Celebration with the Sophisticats Wednesday, May 25, 11 a.m. Entertainment, music and lunch 76 SDJewishJournal.com l May 2016

JFS University City Older Adult Center

9001 Towne Centre Drive, La Jolla Contact Aviva Saad for details or to R.S.V.P. (858) 550-5998. Lunch available at noon with reservations. Daily fee, $27. Yom Ha'atzmaut Celebration Thursday, May 12, 10 a.m.

JFS Coastal Club at Temple Solel 3575 Manchester Ave., Cardiff by the Sea Contact (858) 674-1123 for details. R.S.V.P. for lunch by Monday at 12:30 p.m. All activities are free and lunch is $7. Fit and Flexible Tuesdays, 10 a.m. Showcase Presentation: Nutrition Class Tuesdays, May 10, 17, 24 and 31, 11 a.m. JFS College Avenue Center 6299 Capri Drive, San Diego, CA 92120 Contact Sara Diaz (858) 637-3270 for details on any events or to R.S.V.P. Update: Israel and the Middle East Monday, May 23, 12:45 p.m. With Ian Merles from AIPAC Healthy Aging Thursday, May 26 at 12:45 p.m. With Dr. Jamin Eiseman, Geriatrics, Kaiser Permanente Jewish War Veterans of San Diego, Post-185 Contact Jerome Klein at (858) 521-8694 May 8, 10 a.m. Second Sunday of the month. Lox and bagels served. North County Jewish Seniors Club at the Oceanside Senior Center 455 Country Club Lane, Oceanside Contact Josephine at (760) 295-2564 May 19, 12:30 p.m. Third Thursday of the month. Refreshments served. Veterans Association of North County, Post-385 1617 Mission Avenue, Oceanside CA 92058. Contact Marc Poland (858) 232-1645. Jewish War Veterans meetings May 8, noon Second Sunday of the month.

SYNAGOGUE LIFE SPECIAL EVENTS History of Zionism and Zionist Thought adult education course with Ohr Shalom Wednesdays, May 11, 18, 25 and June 1, 11 a.m. 2512 Third Ave; (619) 231-1456; ohrshalom.org Shabbat Commemorating Yom Ha’atzmaut with Ner Tamid Friday, May 13, call for time 15318 Pomerado Road, Poway; (858) 513-8330; nertamidsd.org Family Connections Spring Fling with Congregation Beth El Sunday, May 15, 11 a.m. 8660 Gilman Drive, La Jolla; (858) 452-1734; cbe.org

GALAS

Kosher BBQ and Brew with Congregation Beth Am’s Men’s Club Sunday, May 15, 5 p.m. 5050 Del Mar Heights Rd; (858) 481-8454; betham.com

Temple Emanu-El Gala honoring Dr. Bob Rubenstein May 14, 5:30 p.m. (619) 286-2555; teesd.org Tribute and concert by Jonathon Valverde

Lag B’Omer Picnic with Beth Jacob Congregation Tuesday, May 22, 3 p.m. Princess Del Cerro Park, 6195 Wenrich Ave (619) 287-9890; rand@bjsd.org

Spring Gala with Congregation Beth Israel May 22, 5:30 p.m. (858) 900-2510; cbisd.org Plus fun for all with croquet, bocce ball and more

Jay Greenfield to read and discuss new book “Max’s Diamonds” Tifereth Israel, Monday, May 23, 7 p.m.; tiferethisrael.com Temple Solel, Tuesday, May 24, 7 p.m.; templesolel.net

Fundraiser Gala with Congregation Adat Yeshurun May 29, 5:30 p.m. (858) 535-1196; adatyeshurun.org

*Interested in having your event featured? Contact editor@sdjewishjournal.com. Submissions are due by 15th of the month for the next issue.

Temple Solel Annual Gala June 4, 6 p.m. (858) 436-0654 templesolel.net Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 77

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ASK MARNIE

by Marnie Macauley

ADVICE asksadie@aol.com

The Green-Eyed Monster The Talmud teaches, “The world cannot exist without jealousy.” That “unpleasant” emotion, when used wisely, can spur We Jews and others to enormous goodness and heights. Or, it can take us to extremely unpleasant places. It really is our choice. CONQUER THE GREEN WITH THE GREEN

Marnie: I have a huge problem with jealousy. I am seeing a wonderful, trustworthy man I met on a Jewish dating site. But, the green monster rears its ugly head whenever there’s an attractive woman around. I’ve already spoken to my rabbi and even sought counseling for this, but do you have any other suggestions for how to keep this beast at bay? -Stuck in San Diego MARNIE SAYS: Mamala, I could psychobabble you witless by blah blahing about trust, the need for control, and FA (fear of abandonment – which is a condition of such proportion, the Center of Disease Control should make it an epidemic). But hey, you’ve already heard that from your dear rabbi and therapist, so no need to send us both hot-wiring our curls in boredom. I’ll keep it to a simple action and reaction. Your jealousy is as appetizing to your marvelous mate as a dumpster in downtown Calcutta. Quit it or you could lose this wonderful, trustworthy yet probably annoyed human being. Each time you feel your Kermitizm rise, say to yourself: “This is hacking my life to hackfleisch (chopped meat). I refuse to go there.” Enter the Land of Linguistic Opposites. We Jews are marvelous with words. When you and your mate spy an attractive female say: “David … her eyes? Gorgeous.” Even tell her. Then smile! Trust me. He’ll be so knocked out by your confidence that you’ll have won a miraculous victory! This may take a few tries. Be diligent. No backsliding. Tape your tongue to the roof of your mouth. Now, the fun part. Keep a reward kitty. The amount is up to you, but make it part of your budget. Tuck it into your pantyhose drawer and privately pay yourself each time you rise

victorious against the green demon. The tougher the challenge, the bigger the reward. At the end of the month, blow it on something glorious! This is about acting as you wish to be. The more you act it, the more you’ll believe it, until eventually, it will become the real you.

your husband how you feel, which is: unheard, ignored, fourth wheel. You need to work on a way to make decisions together to put your health as a couple, first. Next, go with your husband to Mama’s until the ex can call a U-Haul.

AN EX BEE IN HER BACKYARD

A GREEN “BEAU?”

MARNIE SAYS: No, SJ. Sadly, I suspect you’re not being insecure enough. Forgive me. In most marriages there’s hardly room for two. You’ve got four squirming around in there! Why in the world of Century 21 your mother-in-law cooked up this flaky arrangement is a mystery, but it’s rank, so keep the Raid handy, okay? You’ve got a couple of stingers on your tail! Consider Marnie’s Rule of Uncommon Sense: “Old baggage” doesn’t belong near new digs. Is this unfair? Too bad. Newlyweds have enough thorns in their sides without a wasp in their backyards. Most telling: your vote had less import than an extra carrot on one gefilte. And this is your problem. Your request not to have an ex around your mama’s boy is not unreasonable. The fact that you were ignored, is. You’ve heard of “Show and Tell?” How about “Go and Tell,” darling. First “tell.” Tell

MARNIE SAYS: Honey, next to a can of Lysol and a dust mop, if there’s one thing that makes me shvitz in horror, it’s uncorked, unprovoked jealousy — especially from a male who vacillates between paranoia and pedestals. OK, princess. You can spend a lot of time blathering about how the good fellow puts pillows under your feet and bows before you, but mamala, anyone who crowns you, then kicks up thorns when you speak to another, has a hole in his head the size of the Negev. One, I might add, that could be as dangerous, should you get lost and are offered directions by a Sabra. So, much as I detest ultimatums, either he gets help to Crazy Glue his ego or I’d consider abdicating. If not, my dear Rapunzel, the next time you offer a pal a Rolo, you may find yourself locked in a bell tower, getting your mail up your braids. A

Dear Marnie: I’ve been married for just over a year. Recently my husband’s ex-girlfriend moved into his mama’s house four miles away! My hubby, being the mama’s boy that he is, spends a lot of time there and will definitely be running into her. What is the best way for me to control my hurt? I’ve already told him that he should have considered my feelings before allowing this to happen. I end up being the “bad guy” when I voice my opinion and feelings. Am I being overly insecure here? -Sad and Jealous

Dear Marnie: I’ve been seeing someone for four months. He says he’s in love and is talking chuppahs. The problem is he’s very overprotective. At a concert three days ago he got extremely angry because I talked to an old friend, a fellow I went to Day School with. This is typical. He also looks over my shoulder when I’m reading my e-mail. He’s crazy jealous. Other than that he treats me like a princess. When I mention it he tells me that his jealousy proves he loves me. -Stressed in San Diego

Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 81

You deserve a factual look at . . .

Why Does Israel Matter?

Shared ideological and spiritual values make the U.S. and Israel ideal allies, but Israel also gives us priceless military, political and technological benefits. Critics of Israel question the value of the United States’ $3 billion in annual aid to the Jewish state. Yet Israel’s contribution to the U.S. on the world stage, in the Middle East and here at home is invaluable. Indeed, many analysts believe our investment in Israel is a bargain, yielding huge returns in vital strategic areas, and should be increased.

What are the facts?

security. Global Political Support. Few countries share such a Israel and the Jewish people have always held a cherished place congruence of national interests as do the United States and in American hearts. American founders Thomas Jefferson and Israel. Both nations wish to: Benjamin Franklin so admired the children of Israel, they ● Prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons wanted to put Moses leading the exodus on our Great Seal. ● Fight global Islamist terrorism Abraham Lincoln supported the “noble dream” of a reborn ● Promote the development of Middle East democracies Jewish state, and Woodrow Wilson aspired to “help restore the ● Resist the spread of Iran’s influence Holy Land to its people.” Today, common religious foundations, ● Achieve a peace with the a commitment to democracy and civil liberties, and equally vibrant “The U.S. intelligence and military Palestinians What’s more, Israel consistently economies continue to bind Israel and the United States in an partnership with Israel is ‘absolutely sides with the United States on global political issues. At the United extraordinary relationship. critical’ to U.S. national security.” Nations, our votes have been virtually Yet the relationship of the United identical, as have our policies on States to Israel delivers tangible human rights and global conflicts. Israel has unqualifiedly strategic rewards far greater than shared values. Israel makes supported U.S. military actions globally for the last half century. invaluable contributions to U.S. intelligence and military While Israel split unusually with the Obama administration on security, to America’s political influence globally, and to our the Iran nuclear deal, this disagreement was shared by a majority quality of life. of the American people and the U.S. Congress. Above all, the U.S. Intelligence and Military Support. Israel and U.S. intelligence can count on Israel’s unwavering support and stability as the services enjoy extraordinarily deep levels of cooperation on only liberal democracy in the greater Middle East. counterterrorism and threats from hostile Middle East states, Contributions to American Quality of Life. As a world including Iran and Syria. Our nations share expertise in technology powerhouse, Israel’s innovations positively influence defending ports and airports from terror threats, as well as American medicine, communications and the environment. foiling global cyberattacks. In fact, Maj. Gen. George J. Keegan Israeli companies provide critical technology for most American Jr., former head of U.S. Air Force intelligence, asserted that computers and cell phones, and they pioneered the USB drive, American military defense “owes more to Israeli intelligence ingestible microcamera, and major advances in drip irrigation input than it does to any other single source of intelligence”— and desalination for drought-affected regions like California. the value of which, he assessed, exceeds “five CIAs.” The United Dozens of U.S. high-tech companies, like IBM, Intel, Google and States also benefits from Israel’s position as the strongest Microsoft, have flocked to Israel to take advantage of its military power in the Middle East, which America can innovative spirit. Israel also outsources jobs to the U.S.: Israeli unhesitatingly count on. In addition, the U.S. stores armaments pharmaceutical firm Teva, the world’s largest producer of in Israel in case of an emergency, and the U.S. and Israel generic drugs, employs tens of thousands of Americans. Though regularly hold joint military exercises in the region. The unique tiny Israel’s population is only 7.7 million people, it is America’s technological capabilities of Israel’s defense industry have also 20th largest customer in the world—larger than Russia or Spain. contributed to U.S. superiority in drone warfare, armored vehicle More Israeli companies are listed on the NASDAQ exchange than protection, robotics and missile defense. No wonder that in from any other countries except the U.S. and China. Even the $3 testimony before Congress, then Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman billion of U.S. aid to Israel creates American jobs, since $2.25 Adm. Mike Mullen called the U.S. intelligence and military billion of it is spent with U.S. companies. partnership with Israel “absolutely critical” to U.S. national

Not only does Israel share core values with the U.S., but no other country in the Middle East—and few in the world—have national interests so closely aligned to those of the United States. While the U.S. contributes $3 billion a year to Israel, America receives outsized military, political, economic and quality-of-life returns. In fact, given this extraordinary ROI, the U.S. would do well to consider increasing the financial investment it makes in the Jewish state. This message has been published and paid for by

Facts and Logic About the Middle East P.O. Box 590359 ■ San Francisco, CA 94159 Gerardo Joffe, President ■ James Sinkinson, EVP

FLAME is a tax-exempt, non-profit educational 501 (c)(3) organization. Its purpose is the research and publication of the facts regarding developments in the Middle East and exposing false propaganda that might harm the interests of the United States and its allies in that area of the world. Your tax-deductible contributions are welcome. They enable us to pursue these goals and to publish these messages in national newspapers and magazines. We have virtually no overhead. Almost all of our revenue pays for our educational work, for these clarifying messages, and for related direct mail. 155

To receive free FLAME updates, visit our website: www.factsandlogic.org 82 SDJewishJournal.com l May 2016

BRANCHING OUT OF THE BOX • Check out local upcoming events on JNF San Diego’s Facebook page at facebook.com/JNF.SanDiego • Mark your calendars for Chai Night at The Rep production of Rapture, Blister, Burn on May 11th at 7:00pm. 25% of all single tickets sold for this performance will benefit JNF. • For more information, to drop off a blue box, or to get involved, contact Amy Hart at ahart@jnf.org or 858.824.9178 x988.

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SAN DIEGO JEWISH COMMUNITY OBITUARIES Arrangements by Am Israel Mortuary

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Sofia Paz - Bonita 6/5/1928-2/13/2016 Survivors: daughters, Sara and Zelma Nakach; sons, Moshe and Isac Paz; 10 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren

Richard Baron - Encinitas 9/27/1920-1/31/2016 Survivors: son, Fred Baron

Melvin Hammer - San Diego 2/14/1927-2/17/2016 Survivors: daughter, Nancy Sue Grunewald; sons, Robert and Neil Hammer; and five grandchildren

Elizabeth Ozer - Poway 7/11/1921-1/31/2016 Survivors: son, Daniel Ozer Ingram Chodorow - Rancho Santa Fe 6/15/1939-2/6/2016 Survivors: wife, Ellen Chodorow; sons, Brett and Devin Chodorow; and five grandchildren Walter Marcus - San Diego 2/7/1930-2/7/2016 Survivors: wife, Barbara Marcus; sons, Jeff and Gary Marcus; two grandchildren and one greatgrandchild

84 SDJewishJournal.com l May 2016

Robert Farkas - La Jolla 10/14/1930-2/22/2016 Survivors: wife, Myrna Farkas; and daughter, Barbara Miller

Michael Gale - El Cajon 12/24/1951-2/28/2016 Survivors: wife, Sandra Gale; son, Ren Gale; and two grandchildren

Arthur Bernard - San Diego Grigoriy Lyuber - San Diego 11/25/1920-2/24/2016 2/15/1920-2/29/2016 Survivors: wife, Dorothy Bernard; Survivors: son, Gennadiy Lyuber daughters, Flo Bornstein and Lynne Sandor; and four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren Lottie Goodman - La Jolla 2/24/1944-2/24/2016 Survivors: husband, Ira Goodman

Walter Stern - San Diego 1/16/1928-2/16/2016 Samuel Gelbart - Carlsbad Survivors: daughter, Monica Stern; 9/14/1927-2/25/2016 and son, Roland Stern Survivors: wife, Frances Gelbart; and sons, Jay and Richard Gelbart Samuel Behar - Martinez, GA Marc Lynn - Encinitas 4/13/1941-2/19/2016 8/22/1918-2/26/2016 Survivors: wife, Barbara Behar; Survivors: sons, Barry and and son, Scott Behar Davin Lynn Sarra Sklyar - San Diego 8/3/1925-2/21/2016 Survivors: daughter, Nataliya Telerman; two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren

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J U N E 4 -26 PR EVIEWS MAY 27 TH R OUGH J UNE 3

Nisan • Iyar 5776 | SDJewishJournal.com 87

41 years of award winning theatre

The next stage

Announcing Our 2016-17 Season

Ffounding member of Culture Clash and the award-winning writer of El Henry, A Weekend with Pablo Picasso and Steal Heaven comes an outrageously hilarious adaptation of Moliere’s The Imaginary Invalid. By Herbert Siguenza (pictured) Directed by Sam Woodhouse

SEPTEMBER 15 - OCTOBER 9, 2016 A Pulitzer Prize winning drama that dares to face the truth about the stories we tell our friends, the secrets we tell our lovers and the lies we tell ourselves. By Ayad Akhtar (pictured) Directed by Michael Arabian

OCTOBER 20 - NOVEMBER 13, 2016 World-renowned performer Ron Campbell is joined by Klezmer musician Yale Strom in this immersive retelling of the greatest Jewish play in history. Written & Directed by Todd Salovey (pictured) Based on the play by S. Ansky Original Music Written & Performed by Yale Strom Starring Ron Campbell

NOVEMBER 23 - DECEMBER 18, 2016 Using his virtuosic signature storytelling and musical stylings, Hershey Felder presents a time bending story of culture and politics around the greatest music ever composed. Written & performed by Hershey Felder (pictured) Directed by Trevor Hay

JANUARY 12 - FEBRUARY 12, 2017 The sensuous and provocative comedy about fame, cyber identity and big ambition that has gotten rave reviews all over the country. By Laura Eason (pictured) Directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg

FEBRUARY 23 - MARCH 19, 2017 Award-winning playwright Karen Zacarias’ adaptation of a quest of epic proportions that looks at the dreams shared on both sides of the border. By Karen Zacarías (pictured) Based on the novel by Luis Alberto Urrea Directed by Sam Woodhouse

MARCH 30 - APRIL 23, 2017

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