Comic who bestowed 'yada-yada' on English language here Dec. 5 ... Read more
Jewish Community Economic Recovery Fund helping needy
SAN DIEGO (Press Release)—Single mothers, victims of domestic violence, seniors living on fixed incomes, formerly middle class families now struggling to get by -- the economic recession has created profound, immediate needs that the San Diego Jewish Community Economic Recovery Fund is addressing.
In response to spiraling demands for assistance, the Economic Recovery Fund, a joint venture of the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego (JCF) and the United Jewish Federation of San Diego County (UJF), has awarded more than $800,000 in grants to provide direct relief to those in need.
“We hope that these funds will provide the support and encouragement families need to help get them on the road to self-sufficiency,” noted Andrea Oster, chair of UJF. “This is vital assistance that we as a Jewish community can provide.”
“While these are surely troubled times, we also have a time-sensitive opportunity to step up and help those in need,” stated Murray Galinson, chair of JCF. “By working together and responding quickly, we can emerge from this recession stronger, more innovative and with confidence in the future.”
The Fund goals are to reduce the effect of the economic crisis on individuals and families in the San Diego Jewish Community through critical assistance that will help stabilize personal and family situations; to strengthen San Diego Jewish organizations, synagogues and schools and enhance their ability to respond to the economic crisis; and to promote a caring, inclusive, and embracing Jewish community.
Forty-five percent of the Fund will provide support for basic needs including short-term crisis intervention and case management and will allow for:
*
Expanded emergency case management through Jewish Family Service of San Diego (JFS).
*Emergency financial assistance through grants to rabbis’ discretionary funds at more than 30 local synagogues throughout the county and through JFS Project SARAH, addressing significantly increased cases of domestic violence
*Hand Up Youth Food Pantry at JFS
*Charitable Care for Elderly at Seacrest Village Retirement Communities
“In many cases, our programs are seeing double the number of clients they did a year prior,” said Jill Borg Spitzer, CEO of JFS. “Without this funding from the ERF, we would not be able to provide services to the many families and older adults in our community who need immediate help to reclaim their lives and get back on track.”
Fifteen percent of the Economic Recovery Fund will go to individuals and families to provide tools they need to move out of crisis. These include:
*Vocational services advocacy and career development counseling at JFS
*JFS Economic Crisis Response Program workshops offered to arm community members with skills and strategies to get back on their feet
The remaining 40 percent was allocated to scholarship assistance to five Jewish day schools; six Jewish preschools
10 congregational schools; and to Jewish summer camp
“We’ve seen a major increase in the need for tuition assistance this year,” said Larry Acheatel, executive director of San Diego Jewish Academy. “Maintaining a caring community is so important at this time.”
Preceding provided by the Jewish Community Foundation
Teens who help make world better place highlighted in Diller video
SAN FRANCISCO (Press Release)--Recipients of the Helen Diller Family Foundation Tikkun Olam Awards, including Max Einhorn of La Jolla, are featured in the recent video shown below. San Diego Jewish World extends its "mazal tov" to all these teens who are helping to repair the world.
Preceding provided by Helen Diller Family Foundation
Chabad of La Costa to dedicate Holocaust Torah on January 8
CARLSBAD, California (Press Release)—It will be a homecoming—of sorts—for a Holocaust Torah that had been found hidden in a basement in Carlsbad, Czecheslovakia. Thanks to the generosity of Ed Richard, it will be accepted for use by Chabad of La Costa—in Carlsbad, California.
The Lubavitcher congregation plans to dedicate its Torah during a gala concert and dinner January 10 at the Lawrence Family JCC in La Jolla that will feature chanting by Cantor Joseph Molavany. For more information on the event, watch the website www.chabadatlacosta.com
Assemblyman Marty Block
distributes fire safety brochures
El CAJON (Press Release)—State Assemblyman Marty Block (Democrat, San Diego) has made available to constituents an online pamphlet providing safety tips for the current wildfire season. It may be accessed by clicking here.
Block, a member of the Jewish community, urged homeowners to "examine their property to create defensible space and reduce fuel for a potential flare-up."
Preceding provided by Assemblyman Marty Block
Film on Civil Rights icons Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman to be screened at S.D. Film Festival
SAN DIEGO (Press Release)—NESHOBA, the award-winning documentary film thattells the true story behind the “Mississippi Burning” murders, will have its San Diego premiere at this year’s San Diego Film Festival on Saturday, September 26 at 10:00 P.M. at the Gaslamp Theater, 701 Fifth Avenue, San Diego. NESHOBA is directed by Micki Dickoff and Tony Pagano. Filmmaker Micki Dickoff will attend the screening.
“In 1986 I was in San Diego making a film about AIDS and families called TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE, and the community here embraced me,” says Dickoff. “I’m honored to return to this wonderful city with NESHOBA.”
Dickoff, an Emmy award-winning filmmaker and social activist, was haunted by the slayings of civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, kids only a few years older than she was at the time, who were murdered for doing the right thing during the famed minority voter registration drives in Mississippi in what became known as Freedom Summer.
“In 1964, the Klansmen bragged about what they did. I was offended by the lack of truth and justice in the case,” Dickoff explains. “When Ben Chaney called me about making a film about his brother's murder, I jumped at the chance.”
Teaming with Pagano, an award-winning director of photography, they began shooting on the 40th anniversary of the killings in Neshoba County, Mississippi where the three civil rights workers were slain in 1964. Pagano makes his feature directorial debut on NESHOBA.
“When Micki introduced me to Andrew Goodman’s mother Carolyn, I knew I needed to tell this story,” says Pagano. “Micki’s passion for the truth and Carolyn’s passion for justice were doubly inspiring.”
Through intimate interviews with the families of all three victims, candid interviews with black and white Neshoba County citizens still divided about the meaning of justice 40 years later, and exclusive first-time interviews with 80-year-old preacher Edgar Ray Killen, the mastermind of the killings, the film explores whether the prosecution of one unrepentant Klansman constitutes justice and whether healing and reconciliation are possible without telling the unvarnished truth.
“With the election of Barack Obama in 2008 -- unthinkable 40 years ago – our film serves as a current reminder of how far we’ve come in race relations and how far we need to go,” says Dickoff.
NESHOBA won Best Documentary at the Boston Film Festival, Indie Memphis Film Festival and Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival; Best Political Documentary and Best Directors at the New York Independent Film Festival; Best Mississippi Film at the Oxford Film Festival; Special Jury Award at WorldFest Houston; and, the Audience Award at the Albuquerque Film Festival.
Preceding provided by the filmmakers Tony Pagano and Micki Dickoff
Corona to tell of experiences writing book on Vilna partisans
SAN DIEGO (Press Release)—Laurel Corona, Theodor Geisel Award winner for Book of the Year at the 2009 San Diego Book Awards, will speak at 4 p.m. Saturday, October 3, at the Fourth Annual San Diego City College International Book Fair about her experiences writing Until Our Last Breath: A Holocaust Story of Love and Partisan Resistance (St. Martin's Press, 2009, with coauthor Michael Bart).
“When Mr. Bart approached me in 2003 to see if I would be interested in writing a book about his parents’ wartime experience in Nazi-occupied Lithuania and the renowned Jewish resistance movement of which they had been a part, I almost said no. In the end, what settled it for me was the chance to address several common misperceptions: first that the typical Jew was a passive, uncomprehending victim, and second, that rescuers were almost always non-Jews.” Until Our Last Breath explores the many ways Jews fought back, focusing in particular on the armed resistance movement known as the Vilna Partisans.
Until Our Last Breath won the 2009 San Diego Book Award for best biography and a 2009 Christopher medal, given to books whose writers "craft words and images into a clear, cohesive vision." Corona regularly reviews books for San Diego Jewish World.
Other authors and their presentation times at the October 3 event in SDCC's Saville Theatre will include: 10 a.m. Gustavo Arellano Orange County; ¡Ask a Mexican!; 11 a.m. Rodolfo Acuña, lecture, "Chicano Studies: from Activism to Mainstream;" 12 noon Lavanderia: A Mixed Load of Women, Wash and Word., edited by Donna J. Watson. (Lavanderia readings by Ella deCastro Baron, Chris Baron, Nancy Cary, Yousef Doucet, Olga García Echeverría, V. Kali, Lucia Gbaya-Kanga, Nadia Mandilawi, D. Zenani Mzube, Michelle Sierra)l
1 p.m. Barry Sanders, The Green Zone: The Environmental Costs of Militarism; 2 p.m. William Powers, lecture, "Write to Make Change; 3 p.m. Marilyn Chin, Revenge of the Mooncake Vixen, and 5 p.m. Willie Perdomo, Where a Nickel Costs a Dime.
Boxer urges participation in California Coastal Cleanup Day
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)—The following statement was released by U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (Democrat, California):
"
Every year, California Coastal Cleanup Day offers the opportunity not just to enjoy our incredible coast but to lend a hand to help improve it. It gives every Californian a chance to pitch in to clean up our coast, lakes, and other waterways.
This year, California Coastal Cleanup Day will be held on September 19 from 9:00 a.m. until noon. I encourage you to consider becoming a part of this annual event that has, since 1985, collected more than 13 million pounds of trash and recyclables. You can find an event near you and register for it at http://www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/ccd/ccd2.html
By keeping our beaches and waterways clean, we can take a giant step towards cleaning up our oceans. I encourage you to join in this important and fun event.
San Diego-funded Israeli absorption village filling up
IBIM, Israel (Press Release)—The following message was received from Soni Singer, director of the Ibim-San Diego Student Village in the Sha'ar Hanegev area of Israel, which the United Jewish Federation of San Diego helps to support:
"We follow with great concern the wildfires breaking out in the San Diego area. We pray that the danger soon passes and you will be safe from any peril. Here in Ibim, we are busy with new beginnings. Our New Year's celebrations will include the 24 families who have already arrived from the Former Soviet Union, and the few more who are slated to come. Along with its new challenges our inaugural Family Absorption Project brings with it fresh, and quite young faces, to the Village. These new arrivals are part of a successful effort to increase aliyah from the FSU, entailing increased promotion and benefits upon arrival.
"Our students are streaming in; returning from their summer break. With their arrival, the Village becomes more animated by the day – filled with music, laughter and the wonderful human palate of immigrants from ages three months to 70 years - from Ethiopia, the FSU, Latin America, Hungary and soon from England and South Africa. By the end of this month, all our apartments will be occupied and we will be functioning at full capacity. We are very encouraged by the onslaught of immigrants and hope that this wave of hope will replace the period of kassam rockets and uncertainty of last year.
"On the eve of the New Year holidays, I wish you and your families a Happy New Year – one of health, happiness and the fulfillment of dreams – a year of strengthening our ties and successes."
Preceding provided by Jewish Agency for Israel, overseer of the Ibim-San Diego Student Village
Soille students learn ways to describe Rosh Hashanah
PREPPING FOR HIGH HOLY DAYS—Third graders at Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School celebrate learning about Rosh Hashana; which includes knowing the 4 names of Rosh HaShana and the symbolic foods eaten to 'portend' a sweet and successful New Year. SSDHDS photo
JFS offers e-card for High Holy Days and donation opportunity SAN DIEGO—Jewish Family Service of San Diego has a solution for procrastinators who like to do two good deeds at the same time. The welfare agency is offering you a chance to send a choice of e-cards to your friends and relatives, and at the same time to make a donation to help JFS carry on its work helping families in their times of need. To see the cards--and the donation form--please click here.
Preceding provided by Jewish Family Service
Jolene Ilkay of S.D. makes aliyah
MADE ALIYAH—Jolene Ilkay from San Diego was among the more than 200 new immigrants to Israel arriving on the final summer Aliyah flight on September 8. Ilkay was greeted at the airport by her Israeli boyfriend, Dor, and plans on living in Herzliya. The flight capped off a record summer of Western Aliyah, with over 3,000 Olim moving to Israel from North America and the UK, on 16 Aliyah flights. Among the passengers were 81 singles. This summer alone Nefesh B’Nefesh brought over 1,000 singles to Israel.
(Photo: Sasson Tiram)
'Medical marijuana dispensaries' raided by local law enforcement
POT-BUSTERS—District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis is joined by other law enforcement officials at news conference announcing raids on marijuana dispensaries
SAN DIEGO (Press Release)—San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie M. Dumanis and other law enforcement officials announced Thursday that 14 search warrants were served at 14 marijuana dispensaries and six associated residences in San Diego, the North County and South Bay. The warrants were a result of a four-month undercover investigation and effectively shut down the businesses which were operating under the guise of selling marijuana and marijuana-laced products for medicinal purposes.
“Like most San Diegans, I support the use of legitimate and legal medical marijuana use. However, it appears these so-called 'marijuana dispensaries' are nothing more than for-profit storefront drug dealing operations run by drug dealers hiding behind the state‟s medical marijuana law,” said DA Dumanis.
For-profit marijuana dispensaries are not legal according to state law and the State Attorney General‟s published guidelines. The AG‟s guidelines on medical marijuana allow non-profit collectives and cooperatives that cultivate marijuana to serve their legitimate patients if they follow rules, which include acquiring marijuana only from their members and reimbursing only reasonable costs like out-of-pocket expenses. The law does not allow a patient‟s "primary caregiver" to be a “dispensary” but rather requires that it be someone who consistently assumes responsibility for the housing, health, or safety of that patient. The California Attorney General‟s guidelines on legal medical marijuana use can be found at www.ag.ca.gov.
Dumanis, a member of the Jewish community, was joined in the announcement by United States Attorney Karen Hewitt, DEA's San Diego Field Office Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge William Sherman, IRS San Diego Field Office Special Agent-in-Charge Tami Steine, San Diego Sheriff William Gore, San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne, San Diego Narcotics Task Force, San Marcos Mayor Jim Desmond and Vista City Attorney Darrold Pieper.
Preceding provided by District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis
No charges to be filed against Merriman—D.A. Bonnie Dumanis
SAN DIEGO (Press Release)--District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis has decided against filing charges against San Diego Charger Shawne Merriman in an alleged assault on MTV star Tila Tequila, aslo known as Tila Nguyen, Dumanis' office reported in a statement issued on Friday. The statement said:
“After a thorough review of the investigation into the Sept. 6, 2009 incident at the Poway home of Shawne Merriman, our office has determined there is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that any crime was committed. This case is now closed. No further comment will be made.”
Preceding provided by District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis
INDIAN WELLS, California—Jockeying for endorsements and for individual supporters by three hopefuls for California's Republican gubernatorial nomination will highlight the state GOP's convention at the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa here Sept. 25-27.
The three candidates who've indicated they will be attending include Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner (a member of the Jewish community); former U.S. Congressman Tom Campbell and former E-Bay CEO Meg Whitman.
"Our convention offers Republican volunteers, donors, elected officials, candidates and state committee members the opportunity to learn about the issues, pick up valuable new skills, and build relationships with fellow Republican leaders from throughout California," said State Party Chairman Ron Nehring.
Preceding based on material provided by the California State Republican Party
Dry Bones cartoonist in SD Oct. 6
SAN DIEGO (Press Release)—Yaakov Kirschen, who draws the Dry Bones cartoon strip--a favorite in many Jewish newspapers around the world--will be a special guest at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 6, at the Chabad of University City.
Kirschen's appearance in San Diego is cosponsored by the Zionist Organization of America and the Samuel & Rebecca Astor Judaica Library of the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center. A "small suggested donation" will be asked of attendees, according to organizers.
Preceding provided by Astor Judaica Library
Comic who bestowed 'yada-yada' on English language here Dec. 5
SAN DIEGO (Press Release)—Jewish comedian Jerry Seinfeld has scheduled two stand-up comedy performances in San Diego on Saturday evening, December 5, at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Tickets are available through BroadwaySD.com, or calling (619) 570-1100.
Preceding based on material provided by Broadway San Diego
Copyright 2007-2009 - San Diego Jewish World, San Diego, California. All rights reserved.
