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Today's Postings
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
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DEDICATIONS
Each day's issue may be dedicated by readers—or by the publisher—in other people's honor or memory. Past dedications may be found at the bottom of the index for the "Adventures in San Diego Jewish History" page.
WASHINGTON, D.C—It was "Veterans Sabbath" in the local synagogue. Three young men of the congregation, two graduates of Jewish Day School, talked about what motivated them to volunteer for the Marine Corps (two) and the Air Force (one), and how their decisions raised eyebrows among other Jews. "My grandmother said it wasn't a career for a nice Jewish boy," said a young Marine to knowing chuckles in the audience.
But it is.
Jews have been soldiers from the beginning of the Jewish people. The second Marine pointed to the morning's Torah reading for the earliest example of a Jewish citizen soldier. Abraham, a shepherd, raised an army from among his people to fight five kings and rescue his nephew Lot, who had been kidnapped. "A guerrilla army on night maneuvers," said the Marine. And then Abraham returned to his flocks as our soldiers expect to return to theirs. There were Joshua, Jephta, Samson, Barak and the Maccabi brothers. And there are the soldiers of the IDF, who defend the Israel and the heritage of the Jewish people today and every day.
Perhaps it is only the idea of the Jews in the American military seems odd to some Jews. But Jews in America have been in our armed forces since the founding of the Republic. Fifty percent of the first graduating class at West Point was Jewish (OK, there were only 2 graduates, but still). Jews have served in every American war and on both sides of the Civil War. There have been Jewish Marines, pilots, submariners and foot soldiers; Jewish medics, artillery gunners, logisticians and intelligence officers; Jews who were drafted and Jews who volunteered; Jews with long military careers and Jews who just met their commitments. Most of our fathers or grandfathers volunteered for World War II.
Here is our theory - all soldiers serve proudly and serve best in the best countries. American soldiers protect not only their countrymen, but also the values that make up free and democratic societies. They participate in alliances with like-minded countries and defend those who cannot defend themselves. For more than 350 years, no country has been as good to the Jewish people as this one - period, full stop. And Jews, like others who appreciate the goodness of the United States, want to protect and serve her.
One of the Marines called service in the U.S. military "tikkun olam," the repairing of the world that Jews believe is a social and religious requirement. This Marine had served two tours in Iraq - one in 2006 and one in late 2007 - describing his first as fighting and his second as building. Serving.
By the time the three men were done, those who weren't sure why Jews should enlist had turned to pride in the choices these men had made.
This Veterans Day, we salute all of our veterans and thank them for the difficult and dangerous work they do that allows us to have our Sabbath - whether on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
Bryen is special projects director for the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. He column is sponsored by Waxie Sanitary Supply in memory of Morris Wax, a longtime JINSA supporter and national board member.
Ohr Shalom SynagogueNovember 14 Zamru service
UNITED JEWISH FEDERATION OF SAN DIEGOJanuary 29 Men's Event
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SCHOOL OF DIVERSITY—"Sisco," the general director of the Kfar Hayarok agricultural school
enjoys a moment with junior high school students of diverse backgrounds. At right, a mural
in Arabic quoting a proverb about writing about injuries done to you in sand, and about good
deeds done to you in cement.
THE JEWISH CITIZEN
Diverse mixture of Israeli students live in rural oasis surrounded by urban Tel Aviv
KFAR HAYAROK, Israel—Twelve hundred students and approximately 100 peacocks roam freely over the campus of this agricultural school, known in Hebrew as the “Green Village.” There are also numerous horses in the riding stables, milk cows in the barns, and a menagerie that brings together such other farm animals as chicken and goats with more exotic species like camels, ibexes and ostriches.
According to Koby Naveh, the general director who has been known since his own days as a student here by the nickname “Sisco,” the current population of students represents the diversity of Israel, “living together in peace, as friends, helping each other.” Five hundred of the students are full-time boarders, most of them on scholarship because they come from economically disadvantaged homes in outlying areas of Israel. The other 700 live in the central core of Israel, having ready weekday access by bus or car to this school located in a suburb north of Tel Aviv.
Sharing the pathways with the strolling peacocks are students whose families came with the recent waves of Russian-speaking and Ethiopian Jewish immigrants, as well as Arab students from nearby villages and students from “old Israeli” families—that is, those who have been in this country for at least two generations or more. These also bring a wide variety of customs to the school. Among them are Yemenite Jews, Ashkenazi Jews with roots in the various European countries and the United States, Moroccan Jews and in the case of Sisco’s own family, Iraqi Jews.
KFAR HAYAROK SIGHTS—A peacock strolls leisurely down one of its walkways at the Kfar Hayarok School, where the birds are treated like "sacred cows." At right, student Yelena Girgoins
On a lawn outside one of the buildings used by junior high school students, I chatted with five students whose names were Fahdi, Noor, Anat, Ilana and Yelena, who told me that their favorite subjects were math, English, grammar, math and gymnastics. The latter—a girl whose family made aliyah from the former Soviet Union—was encouraged by her classmates to demonstrate her physical flexibility by twisting herself into a pretzel, seemingly becoming another of the many art works that characterize this campus.
Lawns are dotted with free-standing sculptures, some abstract, some representational, that have been donated to the school over the years by alumni of its arts program. Although known as an agricultural school because it is an oasis of rural life, surrounded by the urbanTel Aviv area, Kfar Hayarok offers a full complement of academic subjects, along with classes in the visual arts, music, computers and sports.
ARTS AND SPORTS—Teacher Galila Moldavsky displays nature-themed art created by students,
and on a common lawn, students prepare themselvbes to throw javelins.
Sisco refers to the peacocks as the “sacred cows” of Kfar Hayarok: “Nobody touches them, nobody harms them – I like it.” They have been breeding since the days four decades ago when Sisco himself was a student, and his tendency to jump around from place to place was compared by students to the frenetic activities of U.S. Undersecretary of State Joseph Sisco, the special U.S. envoy who exemplified Middle East "shuttle diplomacy" during the Nixon and Ford administrations.
“I thought it was a joke and I laughed and I thought it was over but every day, every few hours, ‘Sisco, Sisco, Sisco, Sisco.’ In one week, all the students, all the staff, even the general director called me ‘Sisco.’ In those days, my mother, my brother, all the family call me Sisco. Today, except my wife and two workers here, everyone calls me ‘Sisco.’”
In fact, he said cheerfully, if someone were to ask one of the students where the offices of Koby Naveh were, they would not know. A visitor would have to specify that she or he meant the office of the general director, and then the students would say, ‘oh, Sisco! His office is over there.”
When students decided to paint murals illustrating favorite proverbs they invited the general director to participate, and his Hebrew signature—Sisco—can be seen above the work, along with those of other students who, depending on their background, wrote their names using the alphabets of the Hebrew, Amharic, Russian, Arabic or English languages.
Among the murals is one containing a credo for the multi-lingual, multi-ethnic student body: ““We must learn and live together as sisters and brothers or perish together as fools.”
Another is of a tree in full bloom in the middle of the desert. It is accompanied with a paraphrase of Theodor Herzl’s well-known proverb about creating an independent Jewish state: “If you will it, it is no dream.” The paraphrase said “if you want it, it is no legend.”
Talmudic advice accompanies a mural of nomads passing through the desert. “All the bad things that are done to you, write them on the sand, but the good things which happen to you engrave it on the stone.”
In Amharic, viewers are advised: “If you try to capture a lion with a string, it is impossible, but if you take a lot of strings you can capture the lion.”
The murals were created by the students last summer under the guidance of a Canadian artist, Amy Forrista, who volunteered at Kfar Hayarok under its “Because We Care” program, which further adds to the international flavor of the school.
Lori Schaefer Bacher (shown at left), director of the program, has been coming to Kfar Hayarok from the United States ever since her days in 1969 as a young camper. She returned for 11th grade studies, and then after graduating from college and working professionally, she returned in the 1980s to run an English-language program for six years. Returning home, she raised five children, and recently received a phone call from Sisco inviting her to help develop a program for volunteers.
This semester “Because We Care” has attracted four young adult volunteers—two from the United States, one from Canada and one from Hungary, who live and eat at the school for five months at a cost of $11 per day. They spend 20 hours per week working at various tasks including English tutoring, day care, animal husbandry, and sports coaching, take a course in Hebrew, and travel with the students on field trips throughout Israel.
SCHOOL DAYS—Jessica Pressley, a volunteer from California, tutors Ortal Mangito, a student
from Beersheva, in English in the school cafeteria. At right, the eye-arresting entrance to the
arts building on the Kfar Hayarok campus
One of the current American volunteers is Jessica Pressley, 22, from Apple Valley, California, who works with the cows and horses, teaches English, and uses the photography skills she developed at Cypress College in Orange County, California, to help the school produce promotional materials.
A Christian with a maternal Jewish grandmother, Pressley is exploring her Jewish roots and at the same time photographing and visiting such revered Christian sites as the Via Dolorosa and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.
She learned about the program through the Jewish Agency which lists on-line opportunities for people who would like to have in-depth Israeli experiences ranging from five to eight months, and sometimes longer. The Jewish Agency promotes Jewish immigration to Israel, the process by which so many of the families of the students at Kfar Hayarok came to Israel.
“Israel was always this place, this map, in my Bible – a place where Jesus had been, and that is where Israel was—in my Bible, you know 2,000 years ago,” Pressley told me as we shared a hearty lunch in the school’s cafeteria. “So when I started thinking about coming to Israel , it was, wow, I am really going to be in this place where all these events in the Bible took place! And being here I am still in shock!...”
EXCHANGE PROGRAM—Hevda Epstein, sitting in one of several computer facilities at Kfar
Hayarok, is seeking a school in the United States with which to have two-week exchange
programs. At right is a dormitory, typical of those in which exchange students would stay.
Hevda Epstein is another member of the 250-strong faculty and senior staff and is involved with the international aspects of the school. She is the director of student exchange programs. Currently two schools in Germany send students to Israel for two weeks, and receive students from Kfar Hayarok in exchange.
Because of the Holocaust, the exchanges with German schools are quite emotional, both for the Israeli and the German students, Epstein said. In Israel, they go together to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem, and in Germany they visit Buchenwald and Jewish cemeteries, she said.
“The utmost of the visit in Germany was when we were in Buchenwald and one of the German girls started to cry,” said Epstein, whose own Romanian Jewish father had been seized as a slave laborer by the Nazis.
The students do not confine themselves to Holocaust studies by any means. Before embarking on their trips to Germany, Kfar Hayarok’s students study the history of the towns in which they will be residing, learn about their geography, and also become acquainted with the works of some of the great German thinkers like Goethe for example.
Under the rules of the exchange program, the visiting students pay for their flights to the host country, but during their two weeks there, become the financial responsibility of their host families, who typically agree to take them touring as part of the curriculum.
Epstein said the school now is exploring an exchange program with a Jewish school in Michigan and hopes to find schools, either public or private, in other parts of the United States with which to create exchange programs. She said a partnership with a school in San Diego County would be ideal.
Other countries with which Kfar Hayarok is exploring possible exchange programs include England, Singapore, China, and Finland, she said.
The school receives only part of its financial needs from the Israeli government and to supplement its income leases out land to a variety of tenants, who add to the ambiance of Kfar Hayarok, and also provide some consulting services to the school. For example, there is a big top circus tent on the grounds of Kfar Hayarok, where students can learn juggling. My friend, Dr. Yoni Peres, has his Village Veterinary Center on the grounds of Kfar Hayarok, and although he specializes in the treatment of dogs and cats, he recently provided his surgery area to set the broken leg of an ibex that hurt itself while jumping the fence of the menagerie. In the photo at right, he and his family look on as a veterinary colleague explains the procedure.
There are several private kindergartens on the campus, a high tech start-up company, and private riding stables. Kfar Hayarok is bounded on one side by a busy Israeli roadway, and another source of revenue are commercial signs on Kfar Hayarok land advertising wares to passing drivers.
One of Sisco’s biggest disappointments was the Israel Baseball League, whose six teams all stayed in summer 2007 in Kfar Hayarok’s dormitories and ate in the school’s large cafeteria, which accommodates 1,500 students and staff daily. Owners of the league ran up a debt of 600,000 Israeli sheckels ($150,000 U.S.) and thus far has failed to pay it off, notwithstanding promises made by the league’s new owner David Solomont in an interview earlier this year with San Diego Jewish World and subsequent discussions with Sisco.
“They (the old owners) gave us the check which was not honored and they gave us all the year promises, promises and promises .. and how they would honor their promises, and nothing from all this honor,” Sisco said. “After he (Solomont) talked to you, he told me, ‘I give you my word of honor that you will get your money’ and then, after they came to Israel with a very small group, he stopped answering the email . All the promises to you in the newspaper –nothing. From all the promises, nothing. “
Besides the financial setback caused by the baseball league’s broken promises, the misadventure also took its emotional toll. Lori Schaefer Bacher said that it was near Kfar Hayarok that the first Israel Tennis Center was constructed, and the hope was that American baseball would catch on in Israel the way tennis has—even to the point that there are such internationally ranked Israeli tennis players as Shahar Peer. Instead, bad debts left throughout Israel have left a bad taste in Israeli mouths for the American sport.
Sisco walks me to a modern building which houses the arts and music programs, and as we look in from room to room, he smiles at the diversity. In one rehearsal room, a rock band is churning out a heavy metal selection; in the next room, there is a lone performer practicing a classical piece on a concert piano.
In another area of the building are the art studios, and Galila Moldavsky , the teacher of design, shows us some of the latest student projects, integrating the idea of nature with various forms. Paintings of flowers, for example, decorate papier mache human torsos, and scenes from the Garden of Eden enhance some large pots created by the students. “We are an ecological area with an urban area surrounding us and we want our students to make these connections ... So they take recycled materials, or natural materials , and they design it, connecting art and nature…”
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FOOD LOVERS—Visitors enjoy a past San Diego Wine & Food Festival, and at right, Loren
Brent shows the proper way of preparing a pizza
WHAT'S GOOD TO EAT IN SAN DIEGO
Wine and food ... and Amore!
By Lynne Thrope SAN DIEGO—The San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival returns with an action packed week of festivities for you foodies, gourmands, and wine lovers!
You won't want to miss the 160 world-class wineries, 60 fine dining restaurants, gourmet foods, celebrity chefs, wine dinners, cooking classes, wine tasting classes, olive oil competition, live and silent auctions, food tv personalities, and whew, more food and wine than you know what to do with! Come join me and more than 6,000 tastemakers including legendary winemakers, celebrity chefs and others with discerning taste (like you) November 12-16 at the San Diego Embarcadero, Wine & Culinary Center on Harbor Drive, The Hornblower Cruise Ship and Macy’s cooking School in Mission Valley. For details, check out www.worldofwineevents.com
Amore—Maybe next year Amore will have a booth at the San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival. One bite and I fell in love with the pizza produced at this 2-year old Pacific Beach joint. They make their crust just the way I like it – thin, crispy, and hot! I actually went to welcome Shabbat with fellow friends and congregants, Chip and Dale Brent, and specifically, to see what their son Loren was up to.
At 21, Loren doesn’t yet realize what a rising star he could be in the culinary world, but with commitment, a clear vision, and perseverance, this wunderkind will definitely make his mark in the food industry. He’s begun his trek already at Amore on Mission Boulevard where he lovingly molds the dough, tosses all 18 inches of it in midair and catches it dead center as if he were related to a Ringley Brother. Better than that he’s related to the Brent Family of Incredible Cooks! Whether it’s mondelbrot, kichel, or rugulah, Chip and Dale are masters at the craft of Jewish baking. And Lucky Loren inherited their cooking genes – yes, they come to him through heredity, but more precisely through his hours of observation, assistance, and just plain instinct.
What Loren let me sample at Amore was not the usual pizza fare; instead, I devoured healthier slices of Artichoke, Pesto, and Spinach pizzas. In addition to these, I inhaled the Garlic Knots that are truly the best in San Diego. While dipping the 4th knot in pizza sauce, I knew I was hooked and had to calendar my next visit with friends who live in the area. When I tell them Amore was recognized as the 2007 Reader’s Choice Award for Best Pizza in the Beach Bay Press, they’ll know my opinion matters.
In addition to over 30 pizza toppings, Amore serves up Calzones, Salads, Buffalo Wings, Zucchini Sticks, Hot Sandwiches, New York Cheesecake and Zepoli – deep fried dough balls covered with powdered sugar. But in today’s watchful economy, can you really beat 2 slices of pizza and a drink for $6? Can you? Let me know… Amore, 653 Mission Boulevard, Pacific Beach, 858.272.6673.
www.amorenypizzeria.com
SANTA MONICA, California —If a play written about Hollywood and performed in Santa Monica adds a glossary to its playbill to explain such words as arc, high concept, indie company, option, and “Ishtar”—let alone such words as nosh, bubalah, facocta, and schmendrick— you know the playwrights have vastly misunderestimated their audience, as our nearly departed president would say.
The play is Desperate Writers and its hapless creators are Joshua Grenrock and Catherine Schreiber, who also appear as Burke and Jessica, two formerly married producers who snipe at each other throughout the play. They and a third producer, Leo Goldberg (Peter Van Norden), become the victims of David and Ashley (Chris Petschler and Kate Hollinshead), the two desperate writers of the play’s title. Frustrated at having failed to get their work optioned after 10 years of writing together, David and Ashley decide to kidnap the three producers at gunpoint and force them to listen to their latest play. Which they do, locking them into a huge cage in the middle of their living room.
Predictably, the play they have written is nearly as bad as the one they’re acting in. Max Bialystock would have given up Springtime for Hitler to produce it. But ridiculous as the play within the play is, the three producers keep interrupting David’s impassioned reading of it to argue over whom they would cast in each of the parts.
Ashley also keeps interrupting to press gourmet appetizers on her “guests” and to provide a rubber glove filled with ice for Jessica, who’s newly Botoxed forehead is beginning to cause her pain.
Eventually, this would-be farce devolves into total bedlam as a host of other characters come and go. Judy Nazemetz as Vanessa, the couple’s agent, screams her way through various negotiations; Vincent Giovanni plays five different parts indistinguishably; Chris Stacy twitches his way through four parts adequately; and Miki Yamashita appears briefly in each of four roles. But the real star of this cavalcade is Amanda Troop, whose four appearances are delightfully different and beautifully comic.
Kay Cole, a fine choreographer, has served as director for this trite, unfunny play, and allows it to drag dismally between the scenes of mass hysteria. The actors do the best they can, but they have only clichés to work with, so nobody will be winning Tonys on Broadway for this world premiere production. What happens in Santa Monica stays in Santa Monica.
Desperate Writers will be presented at the Edgemar Center for the Arts, 2437 Main Street, in Santa Monica, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 and 7 through November 23. Call (310) 392-7327 for tickets.
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SOILLE SAN DIEGO HEBREW DAY SCHOOL
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Hebrew Day School
Democracy in Motion at Soille Hebrew Day
SAN DIEGO—In preparation for the Election day, the first grade classes at Hebrew Day learned about the importance and process of voting. Each student registered to vote, marked a ballot in the voting booth, put the ballot in a ballot box and proudly wore an “I VOTED” sticker.
For 46 years, Soille San Diego Hebrew Day has championed Jewish day school education: instilling Jewish values and inspiring students to aim for excellence in a value-based, family environment. The school serves children from infants through eighth grade, and offers generous financial aid grants to families to make a Jewish day school education affordable to all. For more information on the school, visit the web site at http://www.hebrewday.org/ or contact Audrey Jacobs, Director of School Advancement at 858-279-3300 ext. 106 or ajacobs@hebrewday.org
SAN DIEGO—Midsummer’s Night Dream offers opportunities for many of the quintessential elements of the ballet: humor, weightless dreaming as well as Shakespeare’s adroit presentation of our human frailty without too much mental blood letting. City Ballet of San Diego’s performance of this ballet at the Kroc Theatre on November 9 was choreographed by Elizabeth Wistrich with her usual deft hand.
The costumes were in pastels with different shapes – empire waist tunics, Romantic length skirts, all of them attractive with the exception of Titania’s – which looked more like a feather duster. The stage lighting was often quite dim – magical forest glade notwithstanding. Mendelssohn’s beautiful music included spoken dialogue from the play as well as singing. However, what truly needs some attention is the overall quality of the tape. Were this the age of reel to reel tape recording – I would say one could hear the reels. The final complaint is the covey of “sprites” danced by students who are in the midst of that awkward age we would all rather forget. The movement they were given didn’t help – they were distracting and didn’t fit in a professional performance. None of this is their fault.
Tara Formanck caught my eye as a lovely Peach Blossom Fairy. Taurean Green’s mime was both graceful and telling. He is always “there” in his dancing. Janica Smith gives the impression she is much taller than she actually is – a good thing. She and Gerardo Gill are a good pair and their dancing was fine to watch. Emily Kirn (Titania) and Green (Oberon) were a bit hesitant in their partnership with some off center turns – though competently completed. Daniel Salvador (Puck) and Megan Nichols (Rose) fulfilled their characters well.
The Diana and Acteon Pas de Deux (from Esmeralda) with Janica Smith and Geoff Gonzalez, offers an opportunity to showcase the classical style. While he gave a good account of the difficult brisé volé batterie – he also needs to expand his gesture. She did well with choreographer Vaganova’s tricky en dedans (inward) pirouettes.
Ariana Samuelsson and Geraldo Gil danced the Grand Pas ClassiquePas de Deux– her repeated relevés (springs) to pointe on one foot while changing the direction of her working leg brought well earned applause. He did a multiple pirouette which he slowed to good effect.
Leave the Light On (choreography by Wistrich) gave a rousing jazzy end to an otherwise classical program. The music by Beth Hart thumped, jumped and romped. The men in jeans and the women in plain A-lineish dresses let loose and swiveled their way to a finish. The dancers obviously enjoyed themselves and therefore fully communicated that joy to the audience. They need to bring more of that inner enjoyment to the classical portion of the program.
As Prima Ballerina Assoluta Margot Fonteyn once said (rough paraphrase) the strict structure and discipline of the ballet should be liberating not inhibiting. Ballet dancers have to find a way to break through – and not allow their care for correctness (as important as that is) to inhibit their joy in dancing and conveying that joy across the footlights. That’s the problem for every artist.
As a young ballet student of mine once explained to a newcomer to class: “We work hard, but we have fun.”
. Please click the ad above to learn more about JFS "On the Go" program for seniors. To read
a San Diego Jewish World story on the program, please click here Arthritis doctor to visit College Avenue Senior Center
Thursday, December 11th at 1:45 pm— Non-Drug Approach to Handling Arthritis With Dr. Richard Engle M.D. Concerned about the use of medication in managing your arthritis pain? Looking for healthy alternatives in handling your arthritis? Come learn from the Doctor himself !Dr. Engle will bring you up-to-date on the cutting edge, non-drug approach to handling arthritis. Bring your questions!
The College Avenue Senior Center, at 4855 College Avenue in San Diego, is a program of Jewish Family Service of San Diego The College Avenue Senior Center also offers hot Kosher lunches served Monday - Friday at 12 Noon Seniors: Suggested donation of $3.00; All others: $5.00 fee.
SAN DIEGO JEWISH ACADEMYNovember 18 Kindergarten program
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SONGS OF OUR PEOPLE
'Rachel quand du seigneur' from La Juive
To hear a performance of this piece featuring Cantor Merel, please click here
SAN DIEGO—La Juive (The Jew) by Jacques Halevi, premiered at the Paris Opera in 1835, is the only Jewish opera on non-Biblical themes that remains in international repertory. The aria,"Rachel Quand du Seigneur" is sung towards the end of the opera and is one of its dramatic highlights. To fully appreciate the emotional impact of this aria, here is a capsule of what led up to it, and the opera’s stunning conclusion.
The story took place in 1414 century Italy, when the Spanish Inquisition had spread its ugly tentacles of anti-Semitism throughout Europe and Italy. The opera’s central characters are Eleazar, a Jewish goldsmith and his daughter, Rachel, living in the midst of overwhelming prejudice.
Years earlier In Rome, Eleazer had tragically witnessed his two sons burned at the stake by violent anti- Semitic Christian mobs, and is constantly tormented by its memories, and eager for revenge.
Now living in the city of Constance, Eleazer and Rachel, were attacked by angry Christian mobs because they kept their shop open on a Church Festival day. At the last moment, Cardinal Brogni appears to quiet the mob and save Eleazer and Rachel from its wrath. Eleazer recognized the Cardinal, and reminded him that he had banished him from Rome many years ago. (An important note is that Brogni originally entered the priesthood years earlier after losing his wife and daughter in a disastrous fire in Rome.)
A handsome Prince became so infatuated with Rachel that he disguised himself as a Jew to win her favors. When his true identity became public, both she and Eleazer were condemned to death for consorting with a Christian. Brought before Cardinal Brogni and the Christian Council, they could only be saved by converting to Christianity. Eleazer would rather die than bow to the will of a Christian god, but openly declared revenge on one Christian. He told the Cardinal that during the disastrous fire in Rome that killed his wife, a certain Jew saved his infant daughter from the flames, and raised her as his own child, but the secret of her whereabouts will die with Eleazer upon the scaffold.
Alone in prison, Eleazer is torn with despair for Rachel, who will die for the satisfaction of his revenge. If he revealed that Rachel is the Cardinal’s lost daughter, her life would be spared. From the depths of his tormented soul, Eleazer sings the moving aria, "Rachel Quand du Seigneur."
“By heaven’s grace, you were given to my protection from the cradle. I vowed to give you happiness, and now it is I who doom you to the executioner.”
In an emotional quandary, he imagines he hears Rachel’s voice, pleading,”Save me, father. I am too young to die. Save your child”. Torn apart with guilt and torment, Eleazer cries, “C’est moi, moi. (It is I, who delivers you to death!), “Moi”.
As Eleazer and Rachel are led to their execution, he asks Rachel if she wishes to live. Realizing it would mean converting to Christianity, she, like Eleazer, chooses death. Cardinal Brogni pleads with Eleazer to tell him whether his daughter still lives, and where she is.
Eleazer cries “There!”, and points to Rachel, just as she is plunged into a cauldron of boiling oil. With a look of sardonic triumph, Eleazer follows Rachel to his own terrible death, as the final curtain falls.
Merel is cantor emeritus of Congregation Beth Israel, San Diego. The audio selection is from his forthcoming CD, Chants of a Lifetime, and was recorded with the former Jewish Community Center Orchestra, under the direction of David Amos.
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Adventures in San Diego Jewish History
Editor's Note: To create a permanent and accessible archive, 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.
Hadassah Southwestern Jewish Press, April 28, 1950, page 3
By Sivia Bickman
Honoring one of the outstanding and best loved women of San Diego, the Hadassah organization will dedicate its “Mother and Daughter” luncheon to Mrs. Ida Nasatir. A musical comedy skit based on her life from birth to the present time will be presented by members of the organization, and having as the male lead one of the community’s popular men folk to represent Dr. Abe Nasatir. The background music for the skit will be furnished by the Hadassah quartet of it own members. The cast of players will be announced at a later date, but from all reports, this promises to be the most entertaining.
Chairman of the luncheon will be Mrs. Al Neumann, assisted by her co-chairman, Mrs. Harris Rubel. A menu for which they have become famous in San Diego consisting of Borscht, Blintzes and Strawberry Shortcake, will be served, and it is being hinted that some of the husbands to not intend to be left out of such a treat and plan to come to enjoy their noonday meal with the Ladies of Hadassah. (Good idea! How about it, men?)
Thirty-four women will hostess the luncheon.
This affair will take place at the Temple Center on Wednesday, May 10th, the next regular meeting date of Hadassah; as usual, the nominal charge of 75 cents will be made, which is a bargain, if there ever was one.
A cordial invitation is extended to every Jewish woman to attend and to bring her own Mother or someone else’s Mother to enjoy a most delectable meal plus an outstanding afternoon of entertainment.
San Diego Guardians Southwestern Jewish Press, April 28, 1950, page 4
The San Diego Guardians, of the Hebrew Home for the Aged, will honor George A. Scott on Thursday, May 4, at the U.S. Grant Hotel.
Sam Addleson, vice president of the Guardians, has been chosen to present a suitably inscribed plaque to Mr. Scott in recognition of his service to the community. Many prominent and outstanding citizens of the community will attend this affair.
It will be necessary to make reservations for this evening in advance. Members of the Guardians are urged to call Henry Price, F. 9-6197, or Arthur Glickman, F. 9-1223 or Sam Addleson, M-0303.
Introduction of Towne Club Southwestern Jewish Press, April 28, 1950, page 5
Approximately 200 people attended a cocktail party and buffet dinner as gests of the sponsoring committee of the proposed Towne Club of San Diego on Saturday, April 22nd.
The proposed new club is situated at 2nd and Nutmeg and was formerly the residence of the Goodwin family. The three floor mansion has a number of spacious rooms well suited for the purposes of the Club. The house is surrounded by lawns and garden walks amid fruit trees of all kinds. There is ample room for the proposed swimming pool.
Eli Levenson, speaking on behalf of the Sponsoring Committee, told of the plans for the Towne Club. He explained that because of limited facilities a great many people were not invited to the initial showing of the Club House. Membership, he stated, was open to the entire community, and if 100 members signed the application form, the Committee would go ahead with its plans. The membership drive would last thirty days.
It was proposed that the initiation fee for charter members be $150.00 for a family membership. A family membership has been defined as the head of the family, wife or husband as the case may be, and all junior members of the immediate family residing with their parents.
In order to make available the facilities and to adequately provide for the many forms of entertainment which the club proposes to make available, it was proposed that the monthly dues temporarily be fixed in the sum of $10.00.
For further information, contact Rodin Horrow, F. 9-1241. “Adventures in Jewish History” is sponsored by Inland Industries Group LP in memory of long-time San Diego Jewish community leader Marie (Mrs. Gabriel) Berg. Our indexed "Adventures in San Diego Jewish History" series will be a daily feature until we run out of history.
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Winding the 'Peace Process' Down, or Up ... by Shoshana Bryen in Washington D.C.
One Small Rescue, Revisited ... a Kristallnacht remembrance by Mimi Schwartz in Princeton, N.J.
JUDAISM What defines a Jew by Choice?... by Sara Appel-Lennon in San Diego How did Abraham become a monotheist? ... by Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal in San Diego Hashem is the world's best boss ... by Rabbi Baruch Lederman in San Diego
SPORTS
A bissel sports trivia with Bruce Lowitt... in Oldsmar, Florida
ADVENTURES IN SAN DIEGO JEWISH HISTORY
April 14, 1950—San Diego Birdie Stodel B’nai B’rith No. 92
April 28, 1950—$100,000 Mark For United Jewish Fund Reached In April
April 28, 1950—History Making {Editorial} by Julia Kaufman
Obama election dominates Israel news... by Judy Lash Balint in Jerusalem
Europeans won't have Bush any more as their convenient scapegoat ... by Shoshana Bryen in Washington, D.C.
Elephants, fallow deer and sand cats breed at Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem ...by Donald H. Harrison in Jerusalem
ADVENTURES IN SAN DIEGO JEWISH HISTORY
—April 14, 1950: Temple Beth Israel
—April 14, 1950: Temple Beth Israel Sisterhood
—April 14, 1950: Tifereth Israel News
Thursday, November 6, 2008 (Vol. 2, No. 265)
INTERNATIONAL
Shimon Peres shares his personal memories of U.S. presidents—and the president-elect... by Donald H. Harrison in Jerusalem
CAMPAIGN 2008
Obama's victory and U.S. race history... by Ira Sharkansky in Jerusalem
America the Exceptional... by Shoshana Bryen in Washington, D.C.
Outcomes were mixed in races in which San Deigo Jewish World made endorsements ... SDJW staff report
SAN DIEGO
Sweat-equity partners sought for San Diego Jewish World by publisher
ARTS
Thursdays With The Songs Of Hal Wingard:
#24 Persistent Perseverance
#73 Let The Racers Pass By
#21 By My Singing You Will Know Me
LIFESTYLES
Can gays be 'cured' after all? ... by David Benkof in New York
ADVENTURES IN SAN DIEGO JEWISH HISTORY
—April 14, 1950: Beth Jacob Congregation
CAMPAIGN 2008
Obama election is an advance by America toward its highest ideals by Donald H. Harrison in Kfar Hayarok, Israel
INTERNATIONAL Tel Aviv savors San Diegans’ financial support for environment, schools... by Donald H. Harrison in Tel Aviv The Jews Down Under, a roundup of Australian Jewish news ... by Garry Fabian in Melbourne —Lord's Prayer debate crops up again —AIJAC testifies on academic freedom enquiry
—Jewish deputy mayor throws hat in the ring
—Prominent Jewish community figure honoured
—Ten million dollar commitment to Palestinians —Home-grown terrorist attack just as likely
—Community alarmed over fascist visit
—Award winning Jewish author dies
—Shule input requested to solve traffic signal problems
—German prosecutors to appeal Toben's release
—Intercultural visit to synagogue
—Jews and Moslems cook for peace
SAN DIEGO Sweat-equity partners sought for San Diego Jewish World by publisher ADVENTURES IN SAN DIEGO JEWISH HISTORY
—April 14, 1950: Pioneer Women
—April 14, 1950: Cottage of Israel Joins In Israeli Independence Celebration
—April 14, 1950: Council of Jewish Women
—April 14, 1950: Histadrut Council Tuesday, November 4, 2008 (Vol. 2, No. 263)
CAMPAIGN 2008 The U.S. President and the Middle East... by Shoshana Bryen in Washington, D.C. San Diego Jewish World endorsements
SAN DIEGO Sweat-equity partners sought for San Diego Jewish World by publisher
ARTS Especially in tight times, Tel Aviv history holds hope for fundraisers for the arts by Donald H. Harrison in Tel Aviv
David and Goliath's epic battle in music by Cantor Sheldon Merel with audio of the cantor's performance of "David and Goliath." ADVENTURES IN SAN DIEGO JEWISH HISTORY —April 14, 1950: News of the Fox
—April 14, 1950: Jewish War Veterans Post No. 185 and Auxiliary
—April 14, 1950: Labor Zionist Organization of San Diego
—April 14, 1950: Junior Matrons Link to previous editions
WASHINGTON, D.C—It was "Veterans Sabbath" in the local synagogue. Three young men of the congregation, two graduates of Jewish Day School, talked about what motivated them to volunteer for the Marine Corps (two) and the Air Force (one), and how their decisions raised eyebrows among other Jews. "My grandmother said it wasn't a career for a nice Jewish boy," said a young Marine to knowing chuckles in the audience.
KFAR HAYAROK, Israel—Twelve hundred students and approximately 100 peacocks roam freely over the campus of this agricultural school, known in Hebrew as the “Green Village.” There are also numerous horses in the riding stables, milk cows in the barns, and a menagerie that brings together such other farm animals as chicken and goats with more exotic species like camels, ibexes and ostriches.
Lori Schaefer Bacher (shown at left), director of the program, has been coming to Kfar Hayarok from the United States ever since her days in 1969 as a young camper. She returned for 11th grade studies, and then after graduating from college and working professionally, she returned in the 1980s to run an English-language program for six years. Returning home, she raised five children, and recently received a phone call from Sisco inviting her to help develop a program for volunteers.
The school receives only part of its financial needs from the Israeli government and to supplement its income leases out land to a variety of tenants, who add to the ambiance of Kfar Hayarok, and also provide some consulting services to the school. For example, there is a big top circus tent on the grounds of Kfar Hayarok, where students can learn juggling. My friend, Dr. Yoni Peres, has his Village Veterinary Center on the grounds of Kfar Hayarok, and although he specializes in the treatment of dogs and cats, he recently provided his surgery area to set the broken leg of an ibex that hurt itself while jumping the fence of the menagerie. In the photo at right, he and his family look on as a veterinary colleague explains the procedure.
SANTA MONICA, California —If a play written about Hollywood and performed in Santa Monica adds a glossary to its playbill to explain such words as arc, high concept, indie company, option, and “Ishtar”—let alone such words as nosh, bubalah, facocta, and schmendrick— you know the playwrights have vastly misunderestimated their audience, as our nearly departed president would say. 
SAN DIEGO—In preparation for the Election day, the first grade classes at Hebrew Day learned about the importance and process of voting. Each student registered to vote, marked a ballot in the voting booth, put the ballot in a ballot box and proudly wore an “I VOTED” sticker.
SAN DIEGO—Midsummer’s Night Dream offers opportunities for many of the quintessential elements of the ballet: humor, weightless dreaming as well as Shakespeare’s adroit presentation of our human frailty without too much mental blood letting. City Ballet of San Diego’s performance of this ballet at the Kroc Theatre on November 9 was choreographed by Elizabeth Wistrich with her usual deft hand. 
SAN DIEGO—La Juive (The Jew) by Jacques Halevi, premiered at the Paris Opera in 1835, is the only Jewish opera on non-Biblical themes that remains in international repertory. The aria,"Rachel Quand du Seigneur" is sung towards the end of the opera and is one of its dramatic highlights. To fully appreciate the emotional impact of this aria, here is a capsule of what led up to it, and the opera’s stunning conclusion. 
