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FRIDAY-SUNDAY, JULY 4-6
FRIDAY, JULY 18 Temple Solel Shabbat at Beach
MON., SEPT. 29-THURS., OCT. 9
THE JEWISH CITIZEN
The 20-gallon challenge; can you save water each day, help preserve Earth's resources?
 SAN DIEGO—It was a good thing that I read Garry Fabian’s column below before shaving yesterday morning. Alas, I had already brushed my teeth. Fabian’s story about the efforts of Rabbi Jonathan Keren-Black in Melbourne, Australia, to promote eco-friendly Judaism got me wondering about the water situation in our own county, where we also need to conserve the precious life-giving liquid. My curiosity led me to the chart below created by the San Diego County Water Authority on what we can do in our homes to conserve water.
Indoor
Tip |
Estimated Savings |
Run the dishwasher only when full. |
2-4.5 gallons per load |
Turn off water when rinsing dishes. |
2.5 gallons per minute |
Turn off water when brushing teeth. |
2 gallons per minute |
Shorten showers. |
2.5 gallons per minute |
Fill the bathtub half full while bathing |
15-25 gallons per bath |
Don’t use the toilet as a wastebasket. |
1.6 gallons per flush |
Wash only full loads of clothes. |
15-50 gallons per load |
Fix leaky toilets. |
30-50 gallons per day per toilet |
Fix leaky faucets. |
15-20 gallons per day per leak |
Install aerators with flow restrictors on kitchen/bathroom faucets. |
4.7 gallons per day |
Replace older, inefficient clothes washers.
(For information on $175 Water Authority/SDG&E vouchers call 800-986-4538) |
20-30 gallons per load |
Replace older, high-volume flushing toilets. |
2.2-3.8 gallons per flush |
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Running the dishwasher only when full already hadbeen implemented by my wife Nancy. Turning the tap off when rinsing dishes (like turning it off when brushing teeth, or shaving), is something I need to do a much better job at. So is shortening showers. I don’t believe I’ve utilized the toilet as a wastebasket; if I use a Kleenex, I normally throw it into the basket, not into the toilet. The full laundry load is another policy that Nancy has implemented.
Pogo used to proclaim in the cartoon strip, “we have met the enemy and he is us.” In our home, I’m afraid, I’ve unwittingly been the family’s biggest enemy of water conservation, and I shall try to form good new habits. As Rabbi Keren-Black says, taking steps to save water is something “anybody can do.”
Our water situation in San Diego is critical. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger last month declared the state in the midst of a drought, noting that the water levels of Northern California’s lakes and rivers are far lower than usual. We in Southern California are greatly affected by what happens in the northern part of our state, and in the states to the east of us that take water from the Colorado River. Whether our imported water be from the Colorado River or from the California State Water Project, we in San Diego are at the end of the pipeline. If cuts are made up-system, we at the end of both systems feel them.
And cuts will be made. For years, California had been taking more than its allotment of water from the Colorado River, thanks to underutilization by other states along that river system. But now those states are claiming their shares, meaning there’s less coming to us. Our problem is further complicated by the fact tat there is less water in Northern California to be funneled into the state water project.
The San Diego County Water Authority has challenged all of us to save at least 20 gallons per day over our previous usage. If we believe both in being good citizens—and in the Jewish notion of tikkun olam—we will do our best to meet that challenge.
Of course, wasteful water usage is not the only way we hurt the planet in our daily lives. Throwing out materials instead of recycling them is another. Driving our cars when we could use mass transit is yet another. If there is anything good about high gasoline prices, it may be that it will induce some of us to reexamine our automobile usage.
Various Jewish organizations and congregations in San Diego have been taking steps to increase environmental awareness and earth-friendly practices and perhaps more will be persuaded to do so. As of yet, there is no overarching coordinating body in the Jewish community that is helping our organizations to work together more efficiently as joint stewards of the earth.
As Garry Fabian’s column prompted me to think about water usage here, perhaps this column—or at least the chart created by the San Diego County Water Authority—can prompt our readers all over the world to ask how they can conserve in their areas. This is what I mean when I say that I hope San Diego Jewish World can prompt a global Jewish conversation. The Internet can rocket good ideas around the world—and even help to save it!
THE JEWS DOWN UNDER
Progessive view on Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
By Garry Fabian
 MELBOURNE - Anyone awaiting brickbats from a Progressive rabbi's critique of Rabbi Dr Jonathan Sacks, chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth, had to wait until near the end of a session at Limmud Oz last week
For the past two years, Rabbi Fred Morgan, senior rabbi at Temple Beth Israel, has conducted a Melton graduate course on Modern Jewish Theologies, which highlights Rabbi Sacks and the Orthodox doyen's religious philosophy.
In Sunday's session, he cast Rabbi Sacks as the product of a moderate Orthodox upbringing, committed to the great English political philosophers and to Isaiah Berlin, his mentor. A visit to the Lubavitcher Rebbe proved pivotal for Rabbi Sacks. "The rebbe said 'you're a leader' and it turned his life around."
Rabbi Sacks has used his government-appointed role as chief rabbi to try to reconcile the progessivist elements of British Orthodoxy with more stringent views, said Rabbi Morgan.
Committed to the principle behind the title of one of his books, The Dignity of Difference, Rabbi Sacks has shown what makes Judaism special is its commitment to diversity. "This can only happen in a post-Enlightenment, secular, Western, democratic world," said Rabbi Morgan.
But Rabbi Sacks was in trouble with Orthodox colleagues when London’s Jewish Chronicle published excerpts of The Dignity of Difference in which he stated that "no one creed has a monopoly on spiritual truth.”
Rabbi Morgan said Rabbi Sacks "can cope with Christians, Hindus and Buddhists as a type of 'other', but not with 'other' types of Jews".
He cited the 1996 controversy after Rabbi Sacks' deliberate absence from the funeral of British Progressive leader Rabbi Hugo Gryn, and a letter to Orthodox colleagues trying to justify his attendance at a memorial service for Rabbi Gryn, in which he assured them of his adamant rejection of Progressive Judaism.
Rabbi Morgan also spoke of the British chief's conflict with many Israelis in 2002 when he told The Guardian that Israel's actions to rein in the intifada were "incompatible with the deepest ideals of Judaism".
Historic agreement on emergency management
SYDNEY -An agreement allowing for greater support and services during any emergency affecting the Jewish community has been implemented by the NSW Jewish community and the NSW State Government.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed last week by the NSW Department of Community Services (DoCS) disaster-recovery manager Wendy Graham and the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Knoll.
Graham said: "This is about promoting partnerships and the value of having a community partner as an agency for DoCS to work with."
Knoll commended DoCS for its "tremendous support in the project and its understanding of the need for such an initiative."
DoCS is mandated to deliver welfare services during an emergency or disaster by the NSW Government.
The MOU formalises the relationship between the Jewish Emergency Management Plan (JEMP NSW) and DoCS, and the role of the Board of Deputies as a peak advisory agency to DoCS about the needs of members of the NSW Jewish community who have been affected by a disaster.
JEMP will act as a support agency to DoCS under the NSW State Displan (Disaster Plan).
JEMP is a community-based initiative under the auspices of the Board of Deputies.
It is aimed at providing a coordinated management plan to deal with any emergency, whether a natural disaster, medical emergency or terrorist-related incident, which has affected NSW Jews locally and overseas.
Graeme Samuel explains silence on Pratt case
CANBERRA- The time had come for a 'reality check' on commentary concerning Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) decision-making processes, said ACCC Chairman Graeme Samuel.
Speaking to the National Press Club in Canberra today, Samuel declined to respond to any questions regarding the criminal proceedings recently instituted against Richard Pratt.
"However, I think it is time we did a reality check on commentary on how decisions are made at the ACCC,” he said.
"There has been too much talk in recent months of 'Graeme Samuel's ACCC,' and of decisions having been made in pursuit of personal motives. Let me make it clear – all decisions of the ACCC are made by all seven commissioners and over the past five years almost every decision has been unanimous.
Decisions are made after careful consideration and rigorous analysis from staff. In legal matters the ACCC consults with its legal advisers and where necessary eminent senior legal counsel. Our decisions are subject to scrutiny and review by the courts, tribunals and the parliamentary committee process.
"Ultimately we are bound to exercise our powers in accordance with the principles of administrative law which include tests of natural justice, reasonableness, proper purpose and good faith," he continued "In cases involving criminal prosecutions the ACCC must refer matters to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions who has full carriage of all criminal proceedings under the Trade Practices Act. The concurrence of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, based on statutory standards of proof and prospects of conviction, is required for any criminal prosecution to proceed.
"The ACCC has a strict policy of not commenting on matters before the court. Adherence to that policy is essential to protect the integrity of the judicial system. However it undeniably leaves the ACCC open as an unprotected target for those who would seek to criticise the Commission's actions. I guess we are fair game. But we cannot and will not respond to this criticism, no matter how irresponsible or misconceived we perceive it to be."
Graeme Samuel is a prominent members of the Melbourne Jewish community
Being 'green' is the Jewish thing to do
MELBOURNE - Jonathan Keren-Black, rabbi at the Leo Baeck Centre, aims to improve the world through this weekend’s Sustainable Jewish Living Expo to be held in Melbourne.
The rabbi is a strong advocate of environmental issues, but also believes in practising what he preaches. He has refurbished his own home in Camberwell so that it is energy and water efficient.
Rabbi Keren-Black collects rainwater and then uses it around the house. He encourages other people to use low-flush toilets, to have shorter showers and to switch off the lights.
“Those are the things anybody can do,” he said.
Rabbi Keren-Black also runs tours of his environmentally-friendly home four times a year and is planning the next one in August.
Now an organisation that he helped to establish -– the Jewish Ecological Coalition (JECO) -– will teach others how to live a sustainable life and also emphasise the links between Judaism and environmentalism with this weekend’s expo.
The expo is co-sponsored by the Jewish Museum of Australia.
British-born Rabbi Keren-Black sees a close connection between religion and the environment.
“Judaism very strongly encourages us to look after the environment,” he explained.
“If you read Genesis, you see that the Jewish understanding is that God’s idea of humanity is to take care of the world. I don’t think that we’ve been doing a very good job of that and it’s getting very late today to repair the damage that we’ve done.”
 At the expo, there will be several stands addressing different environmental issues, including fair-trade clothing, environmentally-friendly cosmetics, food and printing, and hybrid cars.
Former B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation chairperson Dr Paul Gardner and his wife Helen (pictured at left) are just two fans of the hybrid car, which run on a combination of electricity and petrol. Rabbi Keren-Black also drives a hybrid car.
Salary hikes impact on Jewish school
MELBOURNE—The principal of Melbourne's largest Jewish school has said that a looming increase in teachers' salaries is about to force the community to rethink the way it provides Jewish education.
Rabbi James Kennard, principal of Mount Scopus College, said that a recently negotiated deal between the State Government and the teachers' union had increased wages by up to 34%. In addition, he said, many independent schools paid well above the award rate in order to attract the best teachers.
Melbourne's Jewish schools also provided millions of dollars out of their budgets to subsidise students who would otherwise not receive a Jewish education.
Rabbi Kennard said he "delighted that teachers are getting salaries that are closer to what they are really worth", but the decision was going to put immense pressure on Jewish school budgets.
"The salary increase is going to significantly add to our costs and this will make it even more of a challenge to provide Jewish education in a way that is acceptable to as many families as possible" Kennard said.
Nachama Bendet, the newly-appointed co-chair of the Coordinating Committee for Jewish Day Schools, said that salaries comprise about 80% of a school's operating costs.
"Clearly if Victorian Jewish day schools are to remain competitive in salaries, the proposed increases in salaries to Victorian Government teachers will place financial pressure on our schools'" Bendet said.
Rabbi Kennard suggested that raising fees might not be the most sustainable model for Melbourne's Jewish schools.
"I think the community needs to consider two things: one is its funding priorities. Number two, whether the current model of so many schools competing against each other is sustainable and is in the best interests of the community", Kennard said.
Johnny Baker, former long-time president of Mount Scopus and outspoken critic of the current structure of Melbourne's Jewish education system, said Kennard's comments vindicated his long-held views.
"The status quo in Jewish education is no longer sustainable. In the current economic climate, the ability of families to pay school fees will be even more difficult."
"The community and its major donors need to make an urgent reappraisal of our funding priorities and recognise that competition and duplication will further exacerbate an already critical situation" Baker said.
Baker suggested that a new method of funding was needed to make schools more efficient, to bring down the cost of a Jewish education.
New Zealand's Jewish Community doubly celebrates
AUCKLAND, N.Z. - Last week, the New Zealand Jewish community officially celebrated Israel's 60th anniversary in Auckland, including an emotional ceremony awarding the title of Righteous among the Nations to a former Dutch woman, now living in Christchurch, who helped to save three Jews during the Holocaust.
Among the 300 people attending the gala event which was organised jointly by the Embassy of Israel and the New Zealand Zionist Federation, was former Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer, New Zealand Opposition Leader John Key, and 15 members of parliament.
All the speakers and the audience were touched by the presentation to Hermina van der Schaaf who, along with her late husband, was honoured for her bravery in hiding three Jews in Holland during WWII. The Pollack family stayed with them for two months during 1943 until a safe place was found for them. In his testimony to the couple, one of the survivors, Max Pollack, detailed all that the van der Schaafs did for his family, at the risk of their own lives.
After receiving the award form Israeli Ambassador Yuval Rotem, Laban and Robert Narev (both also Holocaust survivors) van der Schaaf said that she had done nothing extraordinary.
Narev's wife was saved during the Holocaust by a Catholic nun, who could not be located after the war. Narev said that presenting van de Schaaf with the prestigious award from Israel's Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, was like closing the circle for his family.
Australia -Israel link on celluloid
SDEROT, Israel—Award-winning Australian film Lucky Miles was staged in the besieged Israeli town of Sderot on the opening night of the 2008 Australia Israel Cultural Exchange (AICE) Australian Film Festival a few days ago.
AICE chairman Albert Dadon opened the festival with Liberal Senator Michael Forshaw, who is visiting Israel with a group of fellow politicians and journalists as part of an AICE mission to the country.
"The AICE Australian Film Festival symbolises the excellent relations between our two countries. Being here tonight at the opening of the festival, it enables me to congratulate the achievements of Israel in science, medicine and culture in the face of constant hostilities in the past 60 years", Senator Forshaw said.
Also in attendance was Israel's homeland security minister and Kadima Party leadership aspirant Avi Dicter, who bypassed the welcome of French President Nicholas Sarkozy in order to be in Sderot.
Australia's ambassador to Israel James Larsen was also in attendance.
The festival takes in five Israeli cities and will feature 43 screenings, including films and documetaries.
Antisemitism after the Holocaust
This is a transcript of a speech that John Searle, chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission recently delivered to a Rotary Club situated in a western suburb of Melbourne, an area where there is no known Jewish presence.
In talking to you this morning I will cover three areas: Anti-Semitism; The holocaust; Anti-Semitism in Australia today
What is anti-Semitism?
Put simply antisemitism is a form of racism directed at Jews, Judaism, and all things Jewish.
Anti-Semitism is not a recent phenomenon, and has been described as the “longest hatred," spanning over 2500 years. Like all racist behaviour, it has common themes of dehumanization, victimization, acts of violence, bias in the workplace, on the sporting field and everywhere else.
Anti-Semitism is essentially a deep-seated belief that Jews are outsiders who pose a threat to the fundamental values held by the community in which they reside. Jews are thought to be dangerous, manipulative, and inferior. In some contexts, we are seen as villainous or corrupt. In other contexts, Jews are viewed as subhuman or controlling and therefore deserving of differential treatment.
The term “anti-Semitism” was coined by Wilhelm Marr in Germany in 1879 as a positive alternative to the more confronting expression, “Jew-hatred.” Anti-Semitism is not hostility towards “Semites” Arabic, Aramaic, or Hebrew peoples. It is no more than an alternate/politically correct expression for Jew hatred.
The European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia adopted a definition of antisemitism:
Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.
Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.
Beyond this, antisemitism is involved when Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity, is singled out from the world’s nations for negative treatment, boycotts, exclusion, negative media bias and the like.
In this context the Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) seeks to deal with racism and human rights issues although we do focus on issues involving anti-Semitism.
Why does anti-Semitism exist?
•Antisemitism is a form of xenophobia – the fear of people who are different.
•When Jews were exiled from the land of Israel they went to live in the Diaspora – always a minority and always different from the people around them. Jew hatred was aggravated by Christian ideology which required that Jews convert to become Christian. In medieval times all manner of libels were perpetrated against Jews, eg the blood libel which claimed that Jews killed Christian children and used the blood to make unleavened bread for Passover. The image of the Jew as child murderer is found in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
•Another common libel is that Jews were mean, money-loving or controlled banks and finance. This resulted from the political situation in which early Christian society placed Jews. Christians were not allowed to lend money for interest while Jews were not allowed to enter professions or participate in public life. This situation meant Jews could only earn a living by money-lending or selling second-hand goods. Conversely there were no Christian money-lenders because no one lends money without interest. Many Christian businesses were dependent on Jewish money lenders leading to resentment and a continuation of Jew hatred.
The Holocaust
The Holocaust was the culmination of modern race-based antisemitism. It promulgated the “final solution” – to get rid of Jews completely. It was the darkest period in the history of modern man and not just a crime against Jews but a crime against all of humanity.
During World War II, from 1939 to 1945, six million Jews were murdered. Initially these deaths were as a result of the imprisonment of Jews in horrendous conditions in concentration camps. Later in the war there was a deliberately policy to exterminate Jews, mostly though not solely in gas chambers.
The Holocaust spread through the entire Nazi-occupied Europe with Jews from Germany, Austria, Poland, Russia, Austria, parts of France and many other places taken by train to their deaths. The centre of the destruction was in Poland at extermination camps such as Auschwitz and Treblinka.
The systematic and business like manner in which the Nazis went about this task defies belief. Hundreds of concentration camps, six major death camps and the systematic recording of the gassings, beatings, shootings. The world had never seen anything like this.
I am the son of a Holocaust survivor.
After the Holocaust:
Anti-semitism and Israel—Jewish life changed considerably after the Holocaust. A major reason was the founding of the modern state of Israel which meant Jews were no longer condemned to being a minority in foreign lands although most Jews still live outside Israel.
The close relationship between Israel and modern antisemitism can be seen in the fact that Diaspora communities are now most threatened by Israel’s enemies, for example by extremist Muslim groups or by hooligans who respond to an event in the Middle East by vandalizing Jewish property or attacking Jews.
Anti-semitism on the world stage: We are seeing significant increases in anti Semitism in some parts of the world, particularly Europe. For example, France has been a particular centre of anti-Semitic attacks in recent years, possibly because of a large Muslim population from North Africa.
Across the western world, these kinds of incidents increased early this decade. A 2004 report on five European countries including France and the UK found increasing incidents in all countries. The ADL annual audit of anti-semitic incidents in the US observed increases.
Australia
Australia has also experienced an increase in antisemitic incidents. Last year there were 638 reports of antisemitic incidents in Australia, the highest number on record.
Generally Australia has an excellent record in regard to antisemitism. Our multicultural society, our culture of a fair go and our welcoming of immigrants from many countries have all meant Australia is a good place to live for Jewish people. We have a vibrant community with schools, synagogues and cultural institutions that allow us to both celebrate our own culture and make a positive contribution to Australian society. It’s a sign of the success of Jewish integration that Australia has had two Jewish governors-general Sir Isaac Isaacs and Sir Zelman Cowen.
But we are concerned that the incidence of personal attacks for example assault, arson and face-to-face harassment has tripled. You may have heard about the attack on Menachem Vorchheimer who was assaulted by a group of footballers, in the presence of an off-duty police officer, when he was walking from synagogue. He managed to identify his attackers and took them to court.
It is common in Victoria to have attacks such as people shout out abuse from cars eg Hitler didn’t finish the job - hurl eggs, throw projectiles, vandalise property, leave graffiti, hate mail.. Email or internet based anti-Semitism is rife eg cricket club slander on facebook
holocaust denial - which is deeply offensive
Sources of anti-Semitic behaviour:
Both organized groups and individuals. From the far right, Muslim community, hooligans etc.
What can be done?
•Public leadership – strong commitment to multicultural Australia, accepting and valuing difference
•Education in schools and in the public arena focusing on diversity
•Interfaith relations
•Careful monitoring of hate crimes and effective policing. Victoria Police have recently committed to a hate crimes unit which we hope will address this issue.
•Legislative intervention eg racial vilification legislation
•More effective internet policing
•Information sessions like this one –so I thank you for inviting me.
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JERUSALEM DIARIES
'Standupistim'—That's Hebrew for
Stand Up comics" —wow 'em in Israel
By Judy Lash Balint
 JERUSALEM—Back in the dark ages of the terror war that ravaged Israel between 2000-2005, an Israeli-born American stand-up comedian decided his contribution would be to bring some badly needed comic relief to the beleaguered citizens of Israel.
To double the mitzva, Avi Liberman made the whole enterprise a benefit for Crossroads, a Jerusalem center for English-speaking teens in trouble. Crossroads just happened to have been founded by his old Texas buddy, Caryn Green, a dynamic young social worker whose commitment to Jerusalem's troubled youth is legendary.
This year marked the fifth anniversary of the enterprise, and despite the fact that the atmosphere in the country has done a 180 (despite our bombarded brethren in the south and the Iranian threat and Olmert's corruption and a disgusting "prisoner exchange" and a joke of a "temporary truce" and on and on....) we citizens can't move anywhere because of the tourist traffic, Liberman brought another three outstanding comics to entertain and benefit Crossroads.
After gigs in Tel Aviv and Raanana and before another one in Beit Shemesh, the comedians entertained Jerusalemites in the trendy Maabada theater/club last week.
Before a full house of English-speaking olim and visitors, Liberman opened with a set full of local reference jokes about the upcoming Gay Pride Parade, the so-called "calm" in Gaza and the Hefziba real estate development company that's fleeced hundreds of apartment buyers. Liberman closed with a hilarious top ten list of things you won't hear in Meah Shearim.
The other three "standupistim"--yes, that's what they're called in Hebrew--each had quite different styles, but all brought the house down with their impressions of Israelis, including some characters in the audience.
To check out the impressive bios of the comics who came over to Israel, visit www.crossroadscomedy.com and if you catch their act in the States, tell them how much you appreciate them coming to entertain your friends in Jerusalem.
A HERALD IN ZION
Only in Israel? A Tale of Four Chickens
By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson
 MEVASSERET ZION, Israel—This story was told to me by one of the dramatis personae, so I can vouch for its veracity.
It was the day before Pesach, and all over Israel people were preparing for the Seder (in Israel we have only one Seder, which is another good reason to live here). Almost everyone holds or attends a festive meal of one kind or another. For weeks before the festival a frenzy of preparations descends over the country, houses are scrubbed, recipes exchanged, explanations brushed up. In effect, Pesach and the Seder become the focal point of life.
The turkey which friends had ordered for the festive meal from the local supermarket had failed to materialize. ‘Choose any meat you like, and you’ll get it at half price,’ the manager said. So the friends, who originate from the USA (possibly explaining the decision to plump for turkey), decided to take four chickens instead. Yes, they decided, they would roast four chickens and that would constitute the main course for the Seder, providing sufficient meat for them and all their guests.
Once the four chickens had been brought home, quel horreur! It transpired that they could not all fit into the oven. Actually, you would be hard put to it to find an oven in any home in Israel large enough to take four chickens at once. Panic. Visions of a Seder with no main course passed before our friends’ eyes.
“I know what to do!” said the husband, whom we will call Robert in order to protect his identity. “I’ll take two of the chickens round to Susan and Mike, who will be our guests at the Seder, and ask them to cook them in their oven. When they come in the evening they can bring the chickens with them, and that will solve the problem.”
Robert’s wife, let’s call her Ilana, agreed to this solution. Susan and Mike were duly informed of their luck and accepted readily. After all, isn’t that what friends are for? Ilana got the chickens ready, put them in a roasting pan and sent her husband on his way.
Wearing the ragged shorts and T-shirt in which he had been helping with the last-minute preparations, Robert jumped into his car and sped over to their friends’ house. The round trip was not expected to take long. Susan and Mike live not far away from them, in the same dormitory suburb just outside Jerusalem
As fate, or policy, would have it, this was just the time, day and place that the police had decided to check drivers’ licences. In Israel, it seems, drivers who have had their licences revoked because they have accumulated too many serious traffic violations tend to carry on driving regardless. A terrifyingly large proportion of accidents appear to involve drivers whose licences have been revoked.
Robert was stopped by a policeman and asked to show his licence. He did not have it on him, as he had just popped out of the house for a minute to take the chickens to the friends’ oven and had not thought to take his documents with him. Driving without a licence is a grave offence. What was he to do?
“But, officer, this is an emergency,” Robert said, pointing to the chickens and explaining the situation, the possibility of a Seder with no main course and the host in the lock-up looming large before his eyes.
The policeman listened patiently while Robert told his sorry tale. “Yes, you’re right, it is an emergency,” he agreed at length and waved Robert on, wishing him ‘Chag Sameach.”
I wonder whether an English copper would have seen matters in quite the same light.
When the extended family met at the grandparents' house in Newark, N.J.
By Gail Feinstein Forman
 SAN DIEGO—My delightful youthful visits to my grandparents’ house in Newark would not have been complete without the arrival of my cousins Judi and Gary who often met us there after lunch. The son and daughter of my mother’s older sister, they lived a short distance from my grandparent’s house.
My cousin Judi, four years my senior, was a seasoned Prima Donna. She was the closest relationship I ever had to a sister and since she was four years older than I, felt her role, as “older cousin-like sister” was to teach me the ropes about how to be alluring. This would require me, a bit shy and not focused on appearance, to wake up and get moving on the essential externals, such as a nose job.
On numerous occasions, since I was 10, she assured me that if I saved a quarter every week until I was 17, I’d have enough money for that operation. And in addition to that, I should consider putting a nickel inside each one of my cheeks when I went to sleep, then turn to sleep on my face, so that I would develop dimples. Somehow, I could never muster the enthusiasm necessary for her ambitious enterprises.
My cousin Gary, two years younger than me, was a goofy kind of kid, uncoordinated and hyperactive. We’d often play together in the backyard and basement repeatedly breaking one of my grandmother’s “dasn’t do rules” of not becoming “overheated.”
Gary took the brunt of the blame for any wrongdoing that happened. If you blamed Gary, the adults believed you. Dancing, prancing angels from Miss Greenwald’s Dancing School like Judi and I never did things like that!
Besides being a paradise for kids, my grandparent’s house served as headquarters for the Family Gathering, the grandest drama occurring on the indoor stage. This event happened maybe once or twice a year, when my Uncle Bill and Aunt Kaye temporarily touched down in Newark on their way to or from one of the exotic ports of call they called home.
Bill, a dashing Clark Gable look-alike, was a hot-tempered perfectionist who chewed out or fired subordinates on the spot for merely a slight infraction; family members singled out for his sting have never forgotten the occasion. “Reasonable” was not a term used to describe Bill. Considered the black sheep in the family, he left home at 13 to successfully pursue his vision of the American Dream. He linked up with the aircraft industry, changed his name from Bogoslowsky to Boyd, and left behind what he then considered the poverty of immigrant life and its insular vision
His rather glamorous wife Aunt Kaye enjoyed his successful life in the limelight and the riches, which came with the territory. While Bill was overseas during World War II, she sat out the war living in my grandparent’s home as my mother’s roommate, and as a protégé of my grandmother’s Jewish cooking.
When Bill returned from the war, his work with the airline industry brought them years of living opulently around the world in Japan, Thailand, Florida, and California- all far-off destinations at that time. But for all his gruffness, and inner desire to pursue wealth and fame, he still managed to keep up to date with the family and share responsibilities for its support.
On those special “touch-down days”, the cast of characters, which comprised my mother’s complete family, gathered around my grandparent’s dining room table. The cast of players, from left to right were: Aunt Mollie, my mother’s older sister, and Uncle Stanley, her husband, and their kids, my cousins, Judi, and Gary.
As the oldest of three children, Mollie fulfilled her role as both language interpreter and guide through American culture for my grandparents, often feeling overly burdened and frustrated with the responsibilities. Her interactions with me were at times so abrupt and intimidating that she personally arrived in nightmares to torment me.
In later years, I recognized her gruff exterior as a cover for a very empathetic soul who taught classes at prisons and ghetto schools. After taking night classes for what seemed like an eternity, she graduated college from the same school as her son-my cousin Gary-and on the same day and same year as him!
Mollie’s husband, Stan, was rather passive and appeared easy-going. He liked to tease us and play “catch” with the boys. He sold men’s clothing at a Flagship store on a nearby New Jersey highway whose main draw was a talking Mina bird at the front entrance.
My parents, Max and Pearl, and my brother Mark and I formed the other nuclear family around the table. My brother was the most recent edition of this family, being the youngest of all the four cousins, the real “baby” of the family.
My mother Pearl was a beauty, and did a stint as a sweater model in Newark, and my father, Max, was equally as handsome as she was beautiful. Old photos of them together seem to show a light above their faces like a match in heaven— “beshert.”
My parents were closely bonded in the grip of the “greatest generation” and the socio-political crises of the times. They easily could have been the sailor and the swooning nurse in the famous Times Square photo on D Day! They got engaged when the war broke out, were separated for three and half years while my father was overseas, and immediately married when he returned home in 1945.
Also typical was the housing and labor pattern. They took the only one-bedroom apartment available in Elizabeth, New Jersey after the war, had children right away and dreamed of a life in the suburbs where the kids could have a backyard.
For the occasions when the whole extended family got together at my grandparents’ house, the dining room was transformed into a noble’s estate- for only in the homes of nobility would you see such a feast as this!
The finest deli spread in town was found on that dining room table- corned beef, pastrami, hot dogs, potato salad, coleslaw, sour tomatoes, sky-high cholesterol-containing knishes to “die for“ and die from– all procured personally by Pop at Tabatchnick’s, Rugelach and Danish from the nearby Jewish bakery also dotted the table.
After eating, Pop took center stage and regaled the audience with his sidesplitting Yiddish tall tales from Russia. Each story was punctuated by the glorious entrance of his mythical seven, seven-foot tall brothers who worked ingeniously to respond to the indignities they faced from Anti-Semitism.
Pop's favorite, oft-repeated tale was the one where the Russian Cossacks came to beat up all the brothers. But being stronger and more clever than the enemy, they grabbed hold of the Cossacks, turned them upside down in the snow, and "made mincemeat" out of them.
The audience would crack at the first joke, and then Pop was off and running.
However, warmer than the glow created by the cornucopia of plenty, were the smiles that illuminated each and every one of the faces at that table.
Pop had fashioned his own special "miracle."
Immeasurable family pettiness was put aside. And the family became, for those few precious moments, one singular, seemingly indestructible, Hydra-like unit, cemented by blood ties and shared history.
ADVENTURES IN SAN DIEGO JEWISH HISTORY
Robinson-Rose House
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Editor's Note: We are reprinting news articles that appeared in back issues of various San Diego Jewish newspapers. You may access an index of the headlines of those articles by clicking here. You may also use the Google search program on our home page or on the headline index page to search for keywords or names.
U.J.F. Campaign Continues
From Southwestern Jewish Press, June 19, 1947, page 1
The United Jewish Fund Campaign will continue until every conceivable dollar is raised, pledged Max Rabinowitz and Louis Steinman, co-chairmen. There is still $15,000 in contribution that should be brought in before the campaign is completely closed.
The Board of the United Jewish Fund has directed the forwarding of another $25,000, making a total of $75,600 which has been sent to the United Jewish Appeal in answer to their emergency request for immediate funds. Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, in asking for all available cash explains that there is a new critical position due to the death of UNRRA on July 1. This in addition to the fact that the IRO has not yet been effectively set up, plus the U.S. Army’s abandonment of its feeding program for displaced persons, has created an intensely critical condition.
Mr. Morgenthau further announced that spring campaigns for the United Jewish Appeal, including San Diego’s, have produced approximately $115,000,000 which is 15% better than the entire 1946 campaign. Many of the large cities including Boston and Chicago have not as yet begun their 1947 campaign. However, it was pointed out that money was desperately needed since cash resources are not available for the desperate current needs.
If you have not made your contribution to the United Jewish Fund, send it in now to 609 First National Building. If your pledge has been made to the United Jewish Fund, pelase help the criticial situation by mailing your payments immediately.
Newcomers to Country Welcome Baby Boy
From Southwestern Jewish Press, June 19, 1947, page 2
Rabbi and Mrs. Baruch Stern, who arrived from Czechoslovakia by plane last week and are making their home with his brother and family, Mr. and Mrs. Leo Zwiebel at 4605 Mississippi Street, announce the birth of a son, Stephen, on Thursday, June 12, 1947, at Hillside Hospital. The baby weighted 6 pounds, 6 1/4 ounces at birth.
Stephen’s Bris will be held Thursday morning, June 19th, at 8:00 a.m. at the Beth Jacob Congregation.
According to Mr. Sandor Goldberger, president, Rabbi Stern is affiliated with the Beth Jacob Congregation here.
Francis W. Parker School Packs 20 Boxes for S.O.S.
From Southwestern Jewish Press, June 19, 1947, pages 4,8
Tuesday and Wednesday of the week, there came to light a project that the Francis W. Parker School has been working on for the past half semester. With the packing those two days of almost 5000 pounds of nursery school equipment into 20 separate units, each unit of which will completely equip a school which will take in 100 children, the culmination of months of endeavor by the pupils and teachers is realized.
Cuddly dolls, brightly painted tricycles, all manner of blocks as well as educational books and 100 pounds of colored clay for molding are just some of the miscellaneous items of the equipment being sent. Bedding, tooth brushes, vitamins, laundry bags, all things that go in tem king and smooth operation of a good nursery school are included in the boxes.
The Dorothy Taylor Nursery School, which also has been gathering materials, brought their equipment for packing to the Parker School.
A goodly portion of the weight is made up by the large quantity of good clothing that the pupils have been bringing each week. These garments, that will perfectly fit the little 2 to 5 year old boys and girls were all mended, if they needed mending, sorted and labeled by the Mothers Club of the school.
All of the teachers, especially Miss Corman, the Kindergarten teacher are to be commended for their untiring work in the fulfillment of this project which was undertaken by the school pupils, teachers and affiliated parent groups after a talk about the children in the Camps by Miss Mathilde Oftedal. Miss Oftedal is at present in San Diego for a short time, prior to her returning to Europe to continue to work with the children of the Displaced Persons Camp.
The packing of the 20 separate boxes was done by volunteer women and men of the Jewish community under the supervision of Mrs. A.P. Nasatir, who is S.O.S. chairman or San Diego.
The Temple Beth Israel Sisterhood, which for the past few months have maintained a Collection Center for clothes and canned foods for the S.O.S. are continuing through the summer with this part of their aid. They are just inaugurating a new plan of assistance with the sewing of layettes for babies being born in the Displaced Persons Camp.
The Sisterhood Project will give these mothers of new-born babies the much-need moral uplift as well as the necessary garments for the children.
The need for good, used clothing and canned foods is still very urgent and anyone who can get a package together but cannot take it to the Collection Centers is invited to call Main 3022 to arrange for a pick-up.
Temple Sisterhood Sponsor New Project
From Southwestern Jewish Press, June 19, 1947, page 4
On Wednesday, June 25th, the regular luncheon meeting of the Temple Beth Israel Sisterhood will be in the form of a social with a card party following the serving of luncheon at 12 noon.
In addition to all members, the committee in charge urge all ladies to attend this affair to help the Sisterhood embark on their new project. All funds raised at this luncheon will go to purchase materials for the making of layettes for babies born in the Displaced Persons Camp. The Sisterhood has undertaken this work as part of the aid to the S.O.S. (Supplies for Overseas Survivors).
For the past few months, the ladies have been busy gathering, sorting and packing good used clothes for the S.O.S. They will continue with that phase of their work, and have taken this new layette project in addition. Sewing groups are being organized and specific days will be assigned each group. This project will be under the guidance of Mrs. Edgar B. Levi.
The Sisterhood hopes to send quite a large number of completed layettes to the S.O.S. in the very near fture, and therefore cordially invite all the ladies in the community to take part in the project by attending the Luncheon Card Party at the Temple Center on Wednesday, June 25, at 12 noon.
 Nancy Harrison
cruise & tour specialist
(619) 265-0808
SAN DIEGO JEWISH WORLD THE WEEK IN REVIEW
Middle East
Israel's painful deal with Hizbollah by Ira Sharkansky in Jerusalem
What the devil is O.C.S.? or how to end importing Middle East oil by J. Zel Lurie in Delray Beach, Florida
Canada
In aftermath of Golubchuk case, Canada grapples with when a patient is dead by Rabbi Dow Marmur in Toronto, Canada
San Diego
San Diego Mesa College librarian Jack Forman a connoisseur of Jewish books by Donald H. Harrison in San Diego
Adventures in San Diego Jewish History
—Honor Your Loved Ones On-line
—June 12, 1947: Pioneer Women
—June 12, 1947: Birdie Stodel B.B.
—June 12, 1947: J.C.S.C.
—June 12, 1947: Gerald Schissell Elected To Office
Lifestyles
Pop proudly gives a tour of his 'palace' by Gail Feinstein Forman in San Diego
Middle East
Sarkozy should butt out of Israel's affairs by Isaac Yetiv in La Jolla, California
Judaism
Midbar kvetching:complaints in the desert by Sheila Orysiek in San Diego
Adventures in San Diego Jewish History
—Honor Your Loved Ones On-line
—June 12, 1947: U.J.F. Announces Close of Campaign
—June 12, 1947: Telegram from Henry Morgenthau Jr. to Albert Hutler
—June 12, 1947: Admiral Badger Accepts Placque (sic)
The Arts
Cast of Morgan-Wixson's Cabaret weak by Cynthia Citron in Santa Monica, California
Lifestyles
Dancing their way through the senior years by Donald H. Harrison in Oceanside, California
Menus come on parchment in Dussini Mediterranean Bistro in the Gaslamp by Lynne Thrope in San Diego
Europe
Politics in jolly and not-so-jolly England by Lloyd Levy in Henley-on-Thames, England
Judaism
Why the soldier decided to wear his kippah by Rabbi Baruch Lederman in San Diego
The qualifications for being 'a good Jew' by Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal in San Diego
Adventures in San Diego Jewish History
Remember Your Loved Ones On-line
—May 29, 1947: Letter to the Editor {From Mike Lustig}
—May 29, 1947: We Were There by Albert Hutler
—May 29, 1947: Beth Jacob Congregation
The Arts
Golden Boy: New Village Art's golden oldie by Carol Davis in Carlsbad, California
A lesson in being true to one's real self by Donald H. Harrison in San Diego
Sports
A bissel sports trivia with Bruce Lowitt in Clearwater, Florida
Friday, June 27, 2008 (Vol. 2, No. 154)
Middle East
Parallels of German, Iraqi reconstructions by Shoshana Bryen in Washington D. C.
High school art project; Sderot twins illustrate Kassams' psychological impact by Ulla Hadar in Sderot, Israel
Lifestyles
Father and daughter both made some new friends on Single Parent Family Weekend by Gary Rotto in Angelus Oaks, California
San Diego County
Astronaut, centenarian address San Diego conference on aging and independence by Gerry Greber in San Diego
San Diego Jewish Trivia: Music by Evelyn Kooperman in San Diego
Adventures in San Diego Jewish History
Remember Your Loved Ones On-line
—May 22, 1947: Pioneer Women by Bess Borushek
—May 22, 1947: Eli Levenson Praises Chairmen In Making Final Welfare Fund Appeal
—May 22, 1947: Hillel Councilorship at State College a Possibility
The Arts
Chapter 14 of Reluctant Martyr, a serialized novel by Sheila Orysiek of San Diego
Middle East
Olmert, every crafty, may survive again by Ira Sharkansky in Jerusalem
The Arts
Debra Winger's memoir shows she can write as well as she can act by Yvonne Greenberg in La Jolla , California
Star Trek exhibit in San Diego provides Jewish visitors with reasons to kvell by Donald H. Harrison in San Diego
Temple Emanu-El and San Diego Musical Theatre are saying 'Bye, Bye ECPAC' by Carol Davis in El Cajon, California
Thursdays with the songs of Hal Wingard:
—No. 256, Youthful Love
—No. 215, Love Notes
—No. 104, Everything Is Sexual
Adventures in San Diego Jewish History
Remember Your Loved Ones On-line
—May 22, 1947: JWV Auxiliary
—May 22, 1947: Beth Jacob Congregation
—May 22, 1947: Jewish War Vets
—May 22, 1947: Lasker Lodge B.B.
Middle East
Are the French modern-day Delilahs? by Shoshana Bryen in Washington, D.C.
No time for electioneering, Israeli mayors in the Negev tell two Ehuds by Ulla Hadar in Sderot, Israel
Australia
A roundup of Australian stories by Garry Fabian:
—Long-running archives saga ends positively
—US academics travel 'Down Under'
—Refugee Week: time for reflection, action
—Church 'Middle-East statement' draws mixed reactions
—Melbourne Community-Victoria Police Dinner
—The environment and 'the Jewish question'
—Bipartisan politicians visit Jewish Holocaust Centre
—Canberra books a place in Jewish history
—Queensland Opposition Leader at AICC
—Perth Walks for JNF
—Can your boss make you work on Shabbat?
—Pratt steps down from Blues, but AJAX remains firm
—Chabad centre protested by neighbours
The Arts
Remember, a poem by Rebecca Rudin in San Diego
Cantor becomes a conductor—of a tour by Eileen Wingard in La Jolla, California
Adventures in San Diego Jewish History
Remember Your Loved Ones On-line
—May 22, 1947: That's What I Think by Ray Solomon
—May 22, 1947: S.O.S. Wants Books!
—May 22, 1947: Home Camp Registration Now Being Taken
—May 22, 1947: Rabbi Wolf to Speak For Sisterhood
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