U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer urges
attendance at Shoah commemorations

By Barbara Boxer
U.S. Senator from California

WASHINGTON, D.C—In 1980, Congress established Holocaust Remembrance Day toeducate Americans about the history of the Holocaust andcommemorate its victims. The observance is held on
the datecorresponding to the 27th day of Nissan on the Hebrew calendar, which is known as Yom Hashoah. This year, Holocaust Remembrance Day falls on Sunday, April 15th, and is widely observed on the following day.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC
has been mandated by Congress to lead the nation’s Days of
Remembrance. Details about this year’s observances can be found
online or through the Holocaust Memorial Museum’s main website at


In Los Angeles, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of
Tolerance has organized a number of events during Holocaust
Remembrance Week; details can be found online. To learn more about this vibrant learning center, visit its website.

{Editor's note: San Diego's community observance will be held at
1:30 p.m., Sunday, April 15 at the Lawrence Family JCC, with Israel Consul-General Gilad Millo the principal speaker.}

The Holocaust Memorial Museum has designated “Children in
Crisis: Voices from the Holocaust” as the focus for this year’s
observance. When the Germans and their collaborators sought to
destroy a Jewish community, children were frequently among the
first to be murdered. Upon arrival at Auschwitz and other
killing centers, most children were sent straight to their
deaths in the gas chambers. Only a small fraction of European
Jewish children survived the Holocaust, many because they were
hidden by people and institutions of other faiths.

During the Holocaust, Jewish children channeled their suffering
into creative expression. Some wrote letters and drew pictures
about life under extreme circumstances, while others like Anne
Frank kept diaries of their experiences.

The children of my generation heard the story first hand from
the survivors. Around my kitchen table, I heard about Anne
Frank and cried for her stolen youth and her stolen life.

Now, more than six decades after the unspeakable Holocaust, we
must work doubly hard to keep its history clear and alive in
the world’s memory. Whether you take part in a major event or
just take a moment out of your day, I hope that you will
participate in Holocaust Remembrance Day. For it is only
through remembrance — by speaking the unspeakable, by telling
the story of the Holocaust to our children, to our
grandchildren, and to the world— that we can prevent future
holocausts.
______________________________________
Doing It Better            by Natasha Josefowitz, PhD
A generational gap in
a retirement home

LA JOLLA, Calif. —A woman is standing at the door of the dining room—she checks whether the women coming in have stockings—a dress, no skirts, no sandals and whether the men are properly attired in dress shirt, tie, and blazer. The year is 1958 and the place is the White Sands of La Jolla, a retirement community—and one of many retirement homes where the dress codes were strictly enforced. The year is now 2007, jeans and shorts for breakfast and lunch, casual pants and shirts in the evening, a small attempt to look a bit more dressy for Sunday brunch, but my guest arrived in shorts and no one asked him to leave.

There was an attempt a couple of years back to divide the dining room into dressy and casual sections, the people who did not get the side with the ocean view grumbled so the room was redivided vertically with some windows for each, but people got confused; the potted-plant dividers disappeared and now some people come ready for a party and others dressed for a beach day, all of them happily eating together.

It is surprising to realize that some elder folks have never owned a pair of jeans, a sweat suit, or ever a T-shirt and would find it unthinkable to wear anything like that; they come to exercise class dressed in their street clothes. In their time each activity had its own costume: tennis whites, riding habits, bathing costumes.

But the dress codes are not the only generational differences. There are people living here who came of age during the depression era, they are in their late eighties and nineties (we also have three centenarians living here), while the newer arrivals in their late sixties and seventies have their roots in post-war prosperity. The latter want up-to-date exercise equipment like the elliptical trainer, they want a healthy diet with whole grains, root vegetables, and more exotic dishes versus the old standbys of the more senior crowd who are used to meat-and-potato staples and decry the use of unfamiliar names for new dishes. They were happy with macaroni and cheese (white-flour pasta of course) verses the newer buckwheat pasta with stir fry. So now there is both.

Change is always difficult, and high-speed internet and more space for a 42-inch TV are not priorities for the older crowd who see their fees going up with remodeled apartments, upgraded carpeting, and new paint jobs.

The generation born in the second quarter of the last century, called the Silent Generation has become more vocal facing the requirements demanded by the Baby Boomers coming into their retirement years. So retirement communities have the delicate task to balance respect for tradition, such as bible classes, morning prayers, and vespers, while showing respect for different faiths or no faith and offering weight rooms, large fitness centers with personal trainers, a masseuse, a doctor’s office on the premises, yoga, and tai chi. It really comes down to need of formality—being served at table and playing bingo—versus buffet service comfort with emphasis on health and educational programs. A vestige of formality still exists in the discouraging of table hopping, which the newer residents do not heed.

The younger retirees also want larger spaces, full kitchens, and their own washer-dryers. White Sands has been combining units to fit that need. What started out as 299 small units has been transformed into 140 larger ones. Whereas White Sands’ population is now 25% couples, the couples coming into the new units are younger and are 65% of that population.

Plans are for a ten-bed dementia unit and to keep the four-tier plan of independent living, a non-ambulatory floor, assisted living, and skilled nursing. The new people will have the opportunity to have just one meal a day, while those of us already here had to sign up for three. Yet, the director, Wendy Matalon, believes that within a year, for most, the one meal will become three. It’s just that it’s much easier to not have to shop, cook, clean up, or go to a restaurant, but instead just walk a few steps, sit down, and have a large menu selection to choose from. White Sands staff encourages residents to take food home for snacks, such as fruits, cheeses, and pastries.

Retirement communities everywhere are struggling with these inter-generational issues, and as I write this, I wonder what will my grandchildren need and wish for when they will reach their retirement age—I just calculated that it will be in the mid-century and many of us won’t be here to find out. Just as well!

_______________________
The Jewish Grapevine
EDUCATION BEAT—In the April 8 edition of Jewish Grapevine, we told of an upcoming conference in Albuquerque, N.M., focusing on Crypto-Jews, people who trace their descent from Jews who converted to Christianity under pressure of the Spanish Inquisition.  Prof. Judith Neulander, co-chair of the Judaic Studies Department at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, says that there is controversy over the validity of many of these claims of Jewish descent. Here is an article that Prof. Neulander wrote explaining why the claims of Crypto-Jews is far less than clear-cut. ... Lawrence Summers is an economist and a former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, but perhaps will be best remembered by our community as the former Jewish president of Harvard who spoke out against anti-Semitism (we link to a 2003 article by him on the subject).  Summers will speak at a breakfast meeting of the San Diego Economic Roundtable, beginning at 7:30 a.m. April 30 in the UCSD Faculty Club. An online fee of $50 fee covers the speech, continental breakfast and Summer's presentation.
 

HEALTH CARE—Ryan Altman, chief executive officer of the
Alternative Healing Network, Inc., is putting together the 3rd annual San Diego Healing Arts Festival on Sunday, May 6.  The festival, to be held on the lawn at Park and Presidents Way in Balboa Park, will feature live music and "free massage, acupuncture consultations, demonstrations in dance, Tai Chi, laughter yoga, classes in Yoga, Qi Gong, bellydance, pilates, and more." Altman says his career in putting on events started back in his B'nai B'rith Youth Organization days: "I basically learned how to do this through my time in BBYO in High School.  I even attended the International Summer Programs at Perlman Camp.  I've been into planning events ever since my time as S'gan of the Marc Chagall AZA Chapter # 240."  For information on the event, he may be reached at 619-261-1418.

MUSEUMS—Because it will be hosting the separate-ticket Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit from June 29 through the end of the year, the Natural History Museum in Balboa Park is reducing its general admission prices beginning May 1 to $9 for adults, $7 for seniors, $6 for military, youth 13-17 and students, and $4 for children 3-12. A news release advises: "On June 29, 2007, the Museum will open 'Dead Sea Scrolls,' the largest and most comprehensive exhibition of Dead Sea scrolls ever assembled (outside of Israel) as well as other ancient artifacts and biblical manuscripts. Tickets to the exhibition are not included in general admission; however, 'Dead Sea Scrolls' tickets include admission to the rest of the museum.  So what's left to see for general admission patrons?  Fossil Mysteries is an $8 million permanent exhibition depicting the 75 million year prehistory of Southern California and Baja California; the Discovery Room has live animals and plants; the Ordover Gallery, with fine art nature photography, and the museum's giant screen theatre.

SIMCHAS—Benjamin Jacob Romney, son of  Marc Romney and Barbra Arnold, was born on April at St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  He weighed 8 pounds 6 ounces  and measured 22 inches long. He is the grandson of David and Claude Romney, who are residents of Vancouver.  David, Professor Emeritus of Clinical Psychology at the University of Calgary, is the nephew of Rabbi Charles Heilpern, who spent his last years in San Diego and who is buried at the Home of Peace Cemetery.  Once a rabbi in Bournemouth, England, much of Heilpern's later life is a mystery, including the circumstances leading to his coming to San Diego prior to his death in 1974. David Romney is seeking information so that Benjamin might someday know all about his great-great uncle, and anyone with information is encouraged to contact him at romney@ucalgary.ca



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Jews in the News    ---------------------------------------------------------
 News spotters: Dan Brin in Los Angeles, Donald H. Harrison in San Diego. If you'd like to be a spotter in your California city, please contact Harrison at sdheritage@cox.net. 
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*Real estate investor Albert Mizrahi has been offering to buy commercial properties in the Larchmont Village area of Los Angeles, near the Wilshire District, sending shock waves through the community that favorite stores and restaurants won't be able to pay their rents. James Ricci reported this story in the Los Angeles Times.

* California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has announced that two persons have been convicted for their roles in an insurance scam.  He said that Yvette Diaz and Carlos Macias of International Commercial Insurance of Long Beach pretended to sell policies to trucking businesses but did not forward the premiums to legitimate insurers.  Instead the money was pocketed and victims were issued phony receipts.  Diaz was sentenced to 52 months in prison while Macias received to three years probation. Both were ordered to pay restitution and court fees.

*Defense attorneys in record producer Phil Spector's trial on charges that he murdered actress Lana Clarkson apparently will try to prove she committed suicide, Peter Y. Hong reports in the Los Angeles Times.

*New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has set Feb. 5 as the date for his state's presidential primary election, the same date as California's, insuring that date is the biggest on the presidential primary calendar.

*Howard K. Stern, the lawyer listed on the birth certificate as the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby, turned out not to be after all. DNA testing matched the potential heir with Smith's former boyfriend, Larry Birkhead.  Los Angeles Times reporter Michael Muskai had the story.

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