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Editor's Note: We combine Sharkansky's two most recent columns.

By Ira Sharkansky

JERUSALEM--Living in Israel is pleasant. The weather and public services are decent. The data on life expectancy indicate that it is safer than the United States and much of Western Europe..

The problem is reading about Israel, especially what comes from commentators who have not learned the value of moderation.

Disturbance comes from the right and the left. Two of my least favorites are Caroline Glick, who writes for the Jerusalem Post and Gideon Levy, of Ha'aretz. I do not read either on a regular or even occasional basis, but I know they are somewhere out there. I find them quoted by friends or sent as something that I must read and pass on. I never pass on and usually do not read, except when I ponder Jewish extremism.

Glick and Levy are not the only writers who torment us with their descriptions of Israeli imperfections. They are similar to others on their ends of the spectrum, predictable in what they write, and useful as examples of what not to read.

I have not done a study of either, other than looking at enough to know that I do not want more. Perhaps I am unfair and miss some nuances. I will consider any comments about shortcomings in my summaries.

A recent example of Glick is this article. The sky is about to fall. The world is against Israel. Even allies are evil. Obama is threatening, and will pounce harder. The center and left of Israeli politics are hopelessly naive. They are serving our enemies by efforts to find accommodation with Arabs, Europeans, and Americans who will not be accommodated. Even the right of center is not reliable. Netanyahu's heart may be in the right place, and he is trying to evade the snares of international forces who pretend to be friends but really are enemies. Even he is trapped in the culture of politics where he must go along to get along. The only correct way is to be strong and uncompromising. There is no appropriate response to threat other than declaring the correctness of our path against local and international naysayers, and embarking on a forceful defense of what we know is true.

While Glick sees Israel as too passive in a hostile world (except for foolish politicians who do the work of enemies while thinking otherwise), Levy (as for example in this article) sees Israel as actively creating problems for itself. It is aggressively foolish and self destructive. It does too much and can do nothing right. What others consider to be victory is catastrophe, or a step toward it. There is no better example than the recent Gaza war, which he describes with certainty as an utter defeat, a moral disaster, and bound to produce more problems. Once the trumpeting of success has quieted, all will see the failure of the goals declared for the onslaught. Israelis are blind to their faults and their failings, but the world is not. Continuing in the current direction, which has been going on for ever, assures the increasing enmity of civilized people, the bankruptcy of our moral potential, and the country's doom.

Rather than surrender my license as an optimist, I will insist on the good in the misery of these extremists. Their existence illustrates our tolerance for dispute. They also recall the madness of the biblical prophets. They claimed to hear the words of the Almighty, insisted that no one else was behaving correctly, and perceived apocalypse in the near future. Yet what they wrote was included in sacred text, and has been honored until now. That is more than will happen to anything I have written.

Extremism is part of Jewish culture, even though it may cause discomfort. Perfection now. Damn those who do not agree.

The strength of Israel's democracy is apparent in the tolerance of views that differ so greatly, published in prominent journals, without censorship or retribution.

What saves the us from madness is the obvious success of Israel, and the balance in its institutions. The sky is not falling. Israel has not only survived but prospered. Its enemies are miserable. The military has succeeded in protecting the country, screening out or controlling the occasional problems among its recruits, and avoided excesses like Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Abu Grieb or Guantanamo.

Israel's officials include some who fail tests of moral rectitude, but most are sane and know how to get along with world powers. What they have done recently with respect to the peace process, as well as in Lebanon 2006 and Gaza 2009 is less than heroic, and also less than apocalyptic. They have absorbed criticism from the Israeli center for doing too much or not enough. They are even further from the demands of commentators like Glick and Levy, and that is their wisdom.

**
I recently criticized the Obama administration for trying to manage Israel. I argued that Israelis are better able to decide what is best for themselves than the American government.

A number of people passed along my column. Among them was Naomi Ragan, who passed it on under the headline "Israeli Take on Obama's policies." In response I received a number of replies, most of them in support of what I had written, but many of them saying that I did not go far enough. Common to several was that Israel must stand up for its rights; tell the United States and other members of an anti-Israeli conspiracy

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where to get off; rely on its supporters and its own might. Some weighed in with their religious faith, both Christians and Jews, to assert the priority of Israel's claims.

I appreciate the moment of notice, but must respond with something essential for understanding Israel's situation.

It is not a great power.

There may be only two countries that qualify as great powers, the United States and Russia. We should not envy either of them. Both can do pretty much as they want to their own residents and others without fear of international sanctions. Both did well in World War II, but since then have not accomplished much in their international adventures other than killing many of their own soldiers, as well as many more soldiers and civilians in the countries they invaded.

Russia is far from a paradise. The United States is a decent place for those with resources, but is less desirable than much of Western Europe (and Israel) on indicators of health, violence, income security, and the difficult to measure thing called quality of life. The problems faced by the Obama administration in trying to reform the health system illustrate why Americans in their large, wealthy, and democratic country, which spends more than others on health, cannot obtain world class service due to entrenched interests that profit from the status quo.

Like most countries of the world, Israel must play the political game of going along to get along. It cannot thumb its nose at a great power, or even at the middling powers that prevail in Europe. As long as Israel remains in their club, it will have access to economic and technological opportunities, cultural exchanges, and at least a minimum of political support.

More than the average country, Israel must tend to its relations with others. This reflects the madness of Muslim politicians and religious leaders, and their weight in the United Nations and other organizations.

As we read in the Bible that they composed, Israel's ancestors learned in ancient times how to preserve their community amidst powerful others. Jews have succeeded more often than not in a long and troubled history from the Philistines to the Americans. .

Currently the position of Jews--in their own country and elsewhere--is better than at any other time since the death of King Solomon.

When my late father-in-law was a young man in Dusseldorf, he thought that he was witnessing the height of Jewish achievement in Weimar Germany.

The rest of his story reminds us that Jews must consider likely pitfalls as well as opportunities.

In other columns, I have described Israel's success in providing public services that match what should be expected from a country classified by the World Bank as one of the wealthiest, but not in the upper half of that list. A disproportionate percentage of resources goes for national defense. One can argue if the IDF has used too much or too little force, but the big picture is one of success.

Israel comes in for severe criticism, but much of that is either the blather of ideologues, usually impotent politically, or the lip service of government officials who are pursuing something from Muslim countries.

Coping is a skill described by psychologists (many of them Jewish) for dealing with personal problems not likely to be solved completely. Its political equivalence is a skill essential to those who would lead Israel.

Sharkansky is professor emeritus of political science at Hebrew University. Email: email: msira@mscc.huji.ac.il

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Iran engages in Cold War style effort to block U.S. broadcasts

By Charles Recknagel

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (Press Release)—At Radio Farda, operated by the United States' Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty, the e-mails and phone calls come in continuously from Iran.

"It's really important that Radio Farda send reports every moment to us, because we do not have any access to news inside Iran," says one listener in Tehran. "Now the VOA and BBC have been jammed."

The listeners are helping the U.S. Congress-funded Radio Farda, which broadcasts 24 hours a day in Persian from Prague, to play an escalating cat-and-mouse game with Iranian government censors.

The censors have been trying to black out both U.S. and British government-sponsored newscasts in Persian almost from the moment that people began protesting the July 12 presidential election results.

To black out a newscast, Iranian authorities beam their own signal up to the commercial satellite carrying the foreign program. The beam is on the same frequency as the newscast, only at much higher power. As a result, anyone in Iran trying to receive the newscast on their home satellite dish receives only the meaningless, substitute signal instead.

Similarly, the government is blacking out foreign news programming in Persian on shortwave and medium-wave radio, particularly within major population centers. Here, authorities set up a local high-power transmitter to again overwhelm the newscast with a stronger signal on the same frequency.

Iranian officials are aiming most at broadcasts during the peak evening listening hours. And it is during these hours that the feedback from the news program's audience in Tehran grows most frenzied.

Iran has blocked not only opposition and news websites, but social networks like Facebook as well.Many listeners simply send messages noting their location and that they can no longer hear the program. That alerts the broadcasters to the moment the programming is blocked. The trick for the broadcasters then becomes to shift the transmission signal slightly to escape the blackout.

During the time it takes the censors to catch up and similarly shift their substitute signal, the programming can be received by listeners searching their dials.

As the game has escalated, foreign broadcasters have dramatically increased the number of satellites and short wave frequencies carrying their programs.

From broadcasting originally only on Hotbird 6, a satellite whose "footprint" covers the Mideast and South Asia, Radio Farda now also broadcasts on four more satellites covering the region: Telstar 12, Nilesat 101, Arabsat BADR4, and Asiasat 3-D.

TBBC said last week it was using two extra satellites to broadcast its Persian-language service. VOA's Persian News Network (PNN) television programs are now beamed through five satellites with six different distribution channels.

It is the kind of struggle once common during the Cold War. For decades, the Soviet government spent huge amounts of money to isolate its citizenry from outside news sources.

But it's not something seen often since then. Iran has periodically blocked U.S. broadcasting at critical moments -- including the student demonstrations of 1999 and the last presidential election in 2005 -- but never with such a sustained effort as now.

Iran's activity raises some legal questions, because the jamming is also knocking out some transmissions to countries other than Iran itself.

The BBC says its Arabic-language service and other language services to the Middle East have also experienced transmission problems since the jamming of its Persian-language frequency began June 14.

Rod Kirwan, a communications law and regulation expert at the international law firm Denton Wilde Sapte in London, says that Iran has the right under international telecommunications treaties to control the use of the broadcast spectrum within its territory, including foreign satellite broadcasting.

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But when there is a spillover effect into neighboring countries, it is creating a harmful interference with the same rights of other member states in the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

Kirwan says that while the broadcast spectrum is a "sovereign right," it's up to each country "to decide how to best use the spectrum and, of course, nations have decided for the greater good to sign up to the ITU coordination arrangements in order that everything works and you have smooth international services."

But Kirwan adds that this "is a sort of voluntary restriction on your freedom to act as a sovereign body and that is the tension: national rights over sovereign territory or spectrum vs. international coordination rights."

Kirwan says that if other states complain, the case could become an escalating dispute. But it is not likely to result in clear penalties for Iran.

"It's one of the basic problems with public international law: who is around to enforce it? And, of course, there is nobody and so it ends in some kind of diplomacy and maybe bilateral pressure," Kirwan says. "But essentially these international treaty organizations operate on a voluntary basis."

That makes jamming the foreign broadcasts a fairly cost-free political strategy for Iran. It is also not particularly expensive in financial terms. It only requires uplink equipment to reach the target satellite and the patience and manpower to play the cat-and-mouse game of shifting frequencies that follows.

Overall, the jamming effort falls into Tehran's larger goal of blocking out all key communications links that challenge the legitimacy of the presidential election results.

The government is blocking many international websites, including Facebook and Twitter, as well as local opposition sites. Text messaging has been cut off for the past week, and mobile-phone service in Tehran is frequently down.

No wonder, then that some of the messages Radio Farda receives from listeners sound like an SOS to the outside world from an increasingly cut-off populace.

"Today is Sunday, June 21. All sites, radios, and anything from which we could get true information have been jammed and now we can't get any news," one caller says.

"Now you need to show your higher technology. We are waiting to see whether you are able to overcome these parasites or not."

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has accused international media of waging a "psychological war" against the country. It's a charge that millions of Iranians now can make against Khamenei himself.

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Analysis of Fayyad speech requires listening to the silences

By Barry Rubin

HERZLIYA, Israel —Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s big policy speech received global attention. Not so that of his Palestinian counterpart, Salam Fayyad. Fayyad’s June 22 presentation deserves careful analysis.

Fayyad is prime minister for one reason only: to please Western governments and financial donors. Lacking political skill, ideological influence, or strong support base, Fayyad does keep the money flowing since he’s relatively honest, moderate, and professional on economic issues.

But his own people don’t listen to him. Most PA politicians want him out. International pressure keeps him in.

So here’s the Fayyad paradox. If he really represented Palestinian stances and thinking, there’d be some hope for peace. Since he’s so out of tune with colleagues, though, Fayyad sounds sharply different from them. And even he’s highly restricted by what’s permissible in PA politics, limits which ensure the PA’s failure, absence of peace, and non-existence of a Palestinian state.

His first problem is that Hamas controls the Gaza Strip and seeks the PA’s overthrow in the West Bank. Most Fatah and PA leaders prefer peace with Hamas rather than Israel. Make no mistake: this is a mutually exclusive choice. If Hamas merged with the PA the resulting would be far too radical to negotiate a solution, not to mention being en route to becoming dominated by Tehran-allied radical Islamism.

Moreover, to keep the door open for such conciliation, the PA can’t come closer to making a deal with Israel. But that’s not all. In veiled—an appropriate word here--language, Fayyad says Palestinians must avoid “politicizing” the Gaza issue so that any sanctions continue against the Hamas regime there.

By not opposing the suicide bombers, Fayyad follows suicidal policies. By fighting any isolation or sanctions on Hamas, the PA ensures that Hamas tightens its hold on the Gaza Strip and so doesn’t need to accept PA leadership. By supporting Hamas’s ability to attack Israel without costs, the PA ensures its Islamist rival can appear to be the more effective fighter against Israel, thus undermining the appeal of PA leadership or of any peaceful solution.

Second, while not directly endorsing terrorism and violence--in contrast to most of his colleagues and the PA’s own institutions—Fayyad argues that Israel holding any Palestinian prisoners in jail is “a violation of international law.” In other words, if a Palestinian attacks or murders Israelis, Israel has no right to imprison him. What option does it have? Only to set them free to try again. Here, too, he supports and glorifies cost-free terrorism.

Indeed, only a few days before, some of his top officials sat in the audience of a show in which the ruling Fatah party bragged that it was the proper Palestinian leader because it was more effective at anti-Israel terorrism than Hamas.

Third, Fayyad argues that it’s not the PA’s job to convince Israel by its behavior or to negotiate bilaterally on the basis of mutual concessions and compromises. Instead, as other PA leaders have openly stated recently, the PA’s strategy is to get the world to pressure Israel to give it everything it wants.

But it’s Fayyad who is vague—Netanyahu gives a list of specific Israeli conditions; Fayyad does nothing of the kind. In fact, he does something peculiar. According to him, Netanyahu is presenting an “Israeli narrative” about the conflict, while Palestinians say they have their own “narrative,” but Fayyad says he won’t talk about it!

Why is he so vague rather than giving his own case? Because he cannot do so. The Israeli narrative as laid out by Netanyahu is clear: Jews want and merit a state; the conflict is due to an Arab refusal to accept that state’s existence. This Israeli narrative does not prevent a two- state solution, one state for each people.

The Palestinian narrative, to this day, is that Jews have no such right to a state and that all the land is rightly Palestinian, Arab, and (for most) Muslim. This Palestinian narrative does prevent a two-state solution, and its continuity--even reinforcement by Hamas most of all but also by the PA--is the cause for the peace process's failure and the fact that it will continue to fail.

That is what Fayyad cannot admit. Indeed, the main Palestinian strategy debate is merely about the most effective way of wiping Israel off the map.

He does claim that Palestinians’ “main aspiration” is to have their own homeland, which he promises will live in peace, cooperation, and respect with its neighbor. But he cannot say it would resettle all Palestinian refugees within its borders, won’t bring in foreign troops, will end the conflict permanently, or will provide Israel with security guarantees. It will certainly never recognize Israel as a Jewish state even while the PA's own constitution defines Palestine as an Arab and Muslim state.

Fayyad might prefer such an outcome, but that’s not the Palestinian position and he knows it.

Fayyad says the PA has done a good job and that “the citizens sense this progress.” Why, then, is the PA afraid to hold elections, even in the West Bank? It is no secret that the PA isn’t popular and fears Hamas’s appeal. He speaks of building a strong economy, dealing with poverty, developing social services yet gives no sense of how this might be done. Even given massive international subsidies, the PA’s management remains poor, riddled with corruption and incompetence. Fayyad can do nothing to reform it since the political elite isn’t with him and he has no power over the warlords and their gunmen who are often the real powers in the West Bank.

Finally, he predicts a Palestinian state within two years. Yet he has no way to make this happen except to prove that the real reason the peace process hasn’t succeeded is the misconception “that it is always possible to exert pressure on the weaker side in the conflict as if there is no limit to the concessions that it could offer.” In other words, the reason why peace has not been achieved is because the PA had to make all the concessions.

The truth, of course, is the exact opposite. Israel withdrew from most of the territory, allowed 200,000 Palestinians to come in, backed the formation of the Palestinian Authority as the power ruling the territories, cooperated in the establishment of security forces, agreed to billions of dollars in international subsidies for the PA, and so on.

And what concession did the Palestinians make? They said to international audiences—though not in their own media, mosques, schools, or internal statements—that they accepted Israel’s existence and sometimes—but far from always--when it suited them, stopped some terrorist attacks. That's it.

Yet, even aside from the fact that the one-sided process favored the Palestinians, doesn’t Fayyad see the irony in his words? He advocates precisely the same approach he claims has caused the peace process to fail. He views Israel as the weaker side—in relation to the West—and yet thinks those other countries will force it to make concessions without limit.

By feeding the PA’s false belief that the West will pressure Israel into giving them a state in the borders they want, without concessions, restrictions, or even PA implementation of past promises, the U.S. and European governments are doing a very effective job in sabotaging any possibility for peace.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s big policy speech received global attention. Not so that of his Palestinian counterpart, Salam Fayyad. Fayyad’s June 22 presentation deserves careful analysis.

But his own people don’t listen to him. Most PA politicians want him out. International pressure keeps him in.

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While presenting his speech partly as a response to Netanyahu, Fayyad confronts none of the Israeli leader’s points, merely dismissing his position as a vague, which it certainly wasn’t.” (Ironically, in contrast to most Western observers, Fayyad acknowledges that Netanyahu endorsed a two-state solution six years ago).

But it’s Fayyad who is vague—Netanyahu gives a list of specific Israeli conditions; Fayyad does nothing of the kind. In fact, he does something peculiar. According to him, Netanyahu is presenting an “Israeli narrative” about the conflict, while Palestinians say they have their own “narrative,” but Fayyad says he won’t talk about it!

That is what Fayyad cannot admit. Indeed, the main Palestinian strategy debate is merely about the most effective way of wiping Israel off the map.

Fayyad might prefer such an outcome, but that’s not the Palestinian position and he knows it.

Fayyad says the PA has done a good job and that “the citizens sense this progress.” Why, then, is the PA afraid to hold elections, even in the West Bank? It is no secret that the PA isn’t popular and fears Hamas’s appeal. He speaks of building a strong economy, dealing with poverty, developing social services yet gives no sense of how this might be done. Even given massive international subsidies, the PA’s management remains poor, riddled with corruption and incompetence. Fayyad can do nothing to reform it since the political elite isn’t with him and he has no power over the warlords and their gunmen who are often the real powers in the West Bank.

Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal.

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THE VIEW FROM JINSA

Obama's differing standards in Colombia and Honduras

By Shoshana Bryen

WASHINGTON—President Álvaro Uribe of Colombia is coming to Washington out of favor with President Obama. Despite the heroic job Uribe has done in cutting the FARC narco-terrorist organization down to size, rescuing hostages, combating crime in Colombian cities and reducing political violence, the American administration is unhappy that the very popular, pro-American, pro-free-trade president is considering how to run for a third term in a country with two-term limits.

This is the background to the removal of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on Sunday. President Obama pronounced himself "deeply concerned" and Secretary Clinton said the president's arrest should be condemned. Hugo Chávez, Raúl Castro and Cristina Kirchner joined them in short order. Too fast; too pat.

Honduras has been stable since the early 1980s, mainly because the institutions of government were operating within the law represented by the constitution, the supreme court and the attorney general. Zelaya tried to overrule them all and paid.

Zelaya, a vocal ally of Chávez, had been pushing a public "referendum" to change the Honduran constitution to permit a president more than one term, although the constitution itself bars changes to some of its clauses - including the ban on multiple presidential terms. The Honduran supreme court had ruled the referendum illegal, a position supported by the country's attorney general and members of Zelaya's own political party. The Honduran Army refused the president's order to deliver ballot boxes for the vote. When it was clear that Zelaya intended to go ahead with the illegal referendum, the supreme court issued an order for the army to arrest him.

Zelaya's arrest cannot be seen as separate from the Venezuelan referenda that produced "constitutional changes" that gave Hugo Chávez more and longer presidential terms, making him the "legal" dictator of Venezuela with powers greater than any of his predecessors. The full-scale nationalization of industry and intimidation of labor leaders and whatever media has not been shut down or nationalized has made Chávez internally untouchable for at least the next 10 years, short of a popular overthrow. This is not democracy - nor is a Honduran referendum held over the objection of its supreme court.

And Venezuela's co-opting of democratic norms cannot be seen as separate from Iran's flagrant manipulation of the vote there. Countries with only the outer form of democratic elections and outer form of citizen participation have been exposed as dictatorships. Zelaya's just didn't get as far as he would have liked. Had he "won" the referendum Sunday, he would have been in a position to run for another (currently illegal) term in November's presidential election. He says he had no intention of running, but it's hard to believe he

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thwarted the rest of the governmental apparatus just to set up some possible unknown future Honduran president to run for a second term some other day.

The supreme court stepped in to prevent the illegal referendum. The army obeyed the court. The Honduran congress voted to oust Zelaya and has sworn in congressional leader Roberto Micheletti to serve the remainder of Zelaya's term. Micheletti belongs to Zelaya's Liberal Party, but opposed the president in the referendum.

This is really "inside baseball." It is Hondurans in a crisis of legitimate governance that has to be settled by Hondurans. President Obama should give the Honduran supreme court, attorney general, army and congress at least as much benefit of the doubt as he has given the mullahs who stole the Iranian election - and tell everyone else to stay out.

Instead, Mr. Obama is treating Honduras like a banana republic - assuming the worst of the military and the best of a ruler who shares his personal political proclivities.

Bryen is special projects director for the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. (JINSA). Her column is sponsored by Waxie Sanitary Supply in memory of Morris Wax, longtime JINSA supporter and national board member.

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San Diego County and California Jewish news and publicity

Insurance Commissioner Poizner
to investigate local holdings in Iran

LOS ANGELES (Press Release)—California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner on Monday announced that he will launch an effort to probe insurance company investments for ties to Iran and immediately direct California-based insurance companies to divest any direct holdings in the Iranian government.

“State law prohibits California insurance companies from investing in countries designated as state sponsors of terrorism,” says Commissioner Poizner. “I have directed California insurers to divest of Iranian government holdings and ordered a survey of these insurance companies to ensure compliance with the law. Additionally, I am requiring all insurance companies that do business in California to disclose what, if any, indirect investments they have in Iran.

“Specifically, I will require each insurer to report all investments they have with companies that do business with the defense, nuclear, petroleum, natural gas or banking sectors of the Iranian economy as of March 31, 2009. To protect California consumers, the California Department of Insurance will also closely evaluate any indirect investments by California-based insurers in Iran to make sure that they are safe and sound.”

The California insurance code specifically prohibits any investment respecting a foreign jurisdiction, or any investment denominated in the currency of that foreign jurisdiction, if that jurisdiction is designated as a state sponsor of terrorism. This section of the code took effect Jan. 1, 2009. The insurance code also authorizes the Insurance Commissioner to evaluate the “soundness” of investments by California insurance companies. Should the Commissioner hold a hearing and find the investments to be unsound, he can order divestment.

Insurance companies generally invest premium dollars as they are received until they are needed to pay claims. For example, a life insurer may collect premiums for decades before the policy is paid out.

The goal of the survey will be to determine an insurer’s level of indirect investment in specific sectors of the Iranian economy as well as direct investments in the Iranian government. Each insurer licensed to do business in California will be required to list any investment in a company that conducts in excess of $20 million of business in the Iranian petroleum or natural gas sectors. Insurers will also be required to list investments of any amount in companies doing business in the banking, nuclear, or defense sectors of Iran, including activities relating to the production of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons and technologies. The companies’ reports will be due in approximately 90 days.

A preliminary CDI analysis shows that insurance companies that conduct business in California – which is the 4th largest insurance market in the world – have tens of billions of dollars of investments in companies with substantial business in Iran. Insurance companies are the largest investor group in the global economy, with an estimated $3 trillion to $4 trillion in investments.

This action will join an existing array of global and local economic and trade sanctions already in place against Iran, including measures by Congress, the European Union and the states of Missouri, Texas and Florida. California has taken similar measures in the past by directing the state’s two enormous public pension funds to divest Iranian investments.

“We need to strictly enforce every sanction that is currently in place against the government of Iran and send a clear message to Tehran’s oppressive leadership that we as a nation stand as one,” said Commissioner Poizner. “I call on my fellow state Insurance Commissioners to launch similar investigations in their jurisdictions. I will share relevant information we collect with federal and other government officials and agencies as appropriate if we detect suspected violations of federal or state laws."

Before his election as Insurance Commissioner in 2006, Poizner served as a White House Fellow in the National Security Council in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and helped build a new homeland security plan for the United States. He is also is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Prior to turning to public service, Poizner was a highly successful businessman/entrepreneur and founded several technology companies. Poizner’s last company, SnapTrack, pioneered life-saving technology that integrated GPS receivers into cell phones. This technology is now the industry standard and can be found in more than 700 million cell phones around the world.

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Filner resolution calls upon Jews and Blacks to work together

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) — Democratic Congressman Bob Filner of San Diego recently co-sponsored H.Con.Res. 154, a resolution expressing the sense of Congress that African-Americans and Jewish-Americans share common historical experiences and a commitment to a society free from hatred and violence.

H.Con.Res. 154 also honors the sacrifice of Special Police Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns in his defense of the staff and visitors of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on June 10, 2009.

The tragic shooting of Officer Johns was an act of violence profoundly affecting both the African-American and Jewish-American communities. Officer Johns, an African-American, was allegedly killed by a White supremacist while defending an institution devoted to Jewish history and dedicated to eradicating all forms of hatred and violence.

Officer Johns' murder sadly demonstrates an historic commonality between the African-American and Jewish communities, that of being the target of senseless acts of hate-motivated violence.

“The tragedy at the Holocaust museum reminds us that we must continue to have an open dialogue for all people who seek ways of fighting injustice in our society,” stated Filner. “African-Americans and Jewish-Americans must continue to work together to combat all forms of hate-inspired violence and intolerance through education, community-building, and a commitment to work together to improve our world.”

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Rabbi Deborah Prinz, a chocolate lover, maintains adventure blog

Rabbi Deborah Prinz, former spiritual leader of Temple Adat Shalom in the Rancho Bernardo section of San Diego, is now living on the East Coast with her husband, Rabbi Mark Hurvitz.

Long fascinated by the links between Jews and chocolate, Rabbi Prinz maintains a blog detailing her adventures and her research into this sweet subject. Here is the link.

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S.D. Jewish Men's Choir to perform
at Holocaust survival art exhibit

OCEANSIDE, California (Press Release)—KolHakavod, the San Diego Jewish Men's Choir, will perform at 4 p.m., Sunday, July 12 at the Oceanside Museum of Art,704 Pier View Drive, in conjunction with the "Fabric of Survival" art exhibit by Esther Nisenthal Krinitz.

Krinitz was a teenager in rural Poland when the Nazis invaded her quiet village, changing her life forever. Separated from their family, young Esther and her sister survived the Holocaust pretending to be Polish Catholics, eventually coming to America after the war. Krinitz decided, at age 50, to tell her story in cloth, stitching thirty-six beautiful and poignant appliqué and embroidered panels which comprise the exhibition.

SPME accepts UCSB finding on academic freedom, but criticizes Professor Robinson's scholarship

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (Press Release)—The faculty members constituting the Board of Directors of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) consider academic freedom, freedom of expression, and duly constituted academic processes fundamental and essential to the maintenance of scholarly excellence in colleges and universities. The Board, therefore, accepts the findings of the University of California Academic Senate that Professor William Robinson committed no infraction worthy of further charges or sanctions.

Nevertheless, we feel obligated, as faculty colleagues, to point out that in circulating a photo montage that equates photos of Nazis with photos from the recent Gaza war, if that is what they were, Professor Robinson showed little understanding of eitherthe complex issues of the Arab-Israel conflict or the Nazis' genocidal campaign against the Jews. The images in question do not shed light on either event and are generally acknowledged to have been developed as anti-Israel propaganda and not scholarly material subject for academic analysis.

The material emailed by Professor Robinson to his students is an example of the low standard of analysis being applied by some faculty to events in the Middle East. The circulated material had the negative unintended consequences of diverting a discussion of the very real complex issues of the Arab-Israel conflict. It focused in on the biased propaganda that unfortunately obstructed intelligent analysis and turned the assignment into a question of academic freedom and standards. This negative

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attention is likely to dominate students' future recall of what they learned in Professor Robinson's course, which purports to deal with the "sociology of globalization." That a tenured professor chose to draw such exploitive analogies and to impose them on his students raises serious questions about his judgment and the value of his teaching. Concern for academic freedom does not justify or erase what is clearly and profoundly flawed pedagogy.

SPME is a not-for-profit, academic organization consisting of over 28,000 academics, researchers and professionals from around the world at nearly 3000 campuses committed to academic freedom, academic excellence and honest and civil discussion of the complex issues of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

SAN DIEGO (Press Release)—San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie M. Dumanis and San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne announced on Monday that a cold case homicide investigation has led to the indictment of James Carter, a gang member involved in a 2003 shootout in Southeast San Diego that killed two women and injured a seven-year old boy.

Carol Waites, 45, and Sharen Burton, 32, were killed by gang crossfire when they stopped at Dr. J’s Liquor store following New Year’s Eve church services.

“These innocent victims were caught in a gang revenge shooting that shook the community and left law enforcement with very few leads,” said DA Dumanis.

“Over the years, investigators pursued this case with great determination. The shooter who fired the fatal shots will now be held accountable for his crimes.”

District Attorney and SDPD investigators worked tirelessly over a six-year period to develop new leads and piece together new evidence in the case. During that process, law enforcement, with the help of the FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force, was able to solve two other gang-related murders, seize 15 guns and convict 30 gang members of unrelated crimes, sending them to state prison for cumulative sentences of more than 400 years. Investigators were also able to avert two other revenge shootings.

“This investigation and the resulting indictment is a great example of how a dedicated law enforcement team can have a very real affect on solving and preventing gang crime,” said Chief Lansdowne.

In May of 2009, evidence against one of the suspects in the Dr. J’s shooting was presented to a Grand Jury. After hearing from 25 witnesses during a month-long hearing, jurors returned a seven-count indictment against Carter, 35. He is indicted on two counts of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and four counts of attempted murder. The Grand Jury also found true a special circumstance allegation of multiple murders, which makes the defendant eligible for the death penalty.

Carter, who is in custody on an unrelated robbery charge, was arraigned Monday in San Diego County Superior Court downtown.

Ms. Waites and Ms. Burton were friends from the True Faith Missionary Baptist Church. They attended midnight services on New Year’s Eve and stopped at Dr. J’s on Logan Ave. near Euclid Ave. to buy a fire log shortly before 1:00 a.m. Rival gang members opened fire. The victims were both shot in the back and died. Waites’ seven-year old nephew was hit six times as he shielded Waites’ two-year old granddaughter in the back seat. The toddler was not injured.

The shooting involved as many as eight to 12 gang members in two or three cars attacking up to eight members of a rival gang. There were at least four gunmen. It was the culmination of a 12-year turf rivalry between the two Southeast San Diego gangs. In just over two months prior to the Dr. J’s shooting, the gangs had exchanged at least six murders and many more drive-by shootings.

Preceding provided by District Attorney Dumanis

Nadine Finkel retirement salute today at Congregation Beth Israel

SAN DIEGO--A retirement salute to Nadine Finkel, who has given 30 years service to the organized Jewish community – the last 17 of them as a senior staff member of the United Jewish Federation – will be held from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. today (Tuesday) at Congregation Beth Israel, 9001 Towne Centre Drive.

LETTERS TO EDITOR

Story on ballet in public school wins praise from the principal

Editor, San Diego Jewish World:

What a great article by Sheila Orysiek. I really appreciate how she was able to highlight my exact sentiments about the arts and its importance in the lives of everyone, especially the children. Thank to her for taking the time to feature our school and the hard and dedicated work of the teachers and students here at Hamilton.

Lillie K. McMillan
Principal, Hamilton Elementary School
San Diego

Pioneering series on anti-Semitism in La Jolla found for writer's kin

Editor, San Diego Jewish World:

I have begun to try to find out more about Alice Craig Greene who, apparently had several articles and stories published in and around 1940's and 50's. My information is that she also wrote and published screen plays and perhaps novels.

My computer experience is limited and my skills almost non-existent. When I found her name mentioned many times on your site, I have been unable to pull out the articles. Can someone help me? It appears she was a leader in pointing out the anti semitism that was prevalent during her time.

She was a cousin of my father, a theatrical looking blonde
who smiles at us through an old snapshot he retained. She
was a daughter of his aunt, Florence B Craig. Younger
than Alice, he visited her once in California once, and I think
he had a crush on her then, in his teens.

Thank you for any assistance.
Alice Beckerwerth

Editor's Note: Alice Craig Greene wrote a pioneering series on the "Gentleman's Agreement" among realtors that illegally excluded Jews from La Jolla. Here is the link to her series reprinted from the Southwestern Jewish Press, which we sent to Ms. Beckerwerth in response to her inquiry.

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Bible in Pop Culture: ...Watered the surface of the soil

If you don't have a mist coming up from the earth, or rain coming down from the heavens, an Australian company offers a packaged solution. Here's the link.

Genesis 2:6

A mist ascended from the earth and watered the whole surface of the soil

Do you have a photo that you think illustrates how a biblical verse has worked its way into pop culture. Please send it to us for possible publication in this series, "The Bible in Pop Culture."

You may send your jpg photo for posting online to us at San Diego Jewish World, emailing it to editor@sandiegojewishheritage.com.

If possible, please send it at 72dpi resolution and 400 pixels wide. Please include the name of the photographer, the date and place the photo was taken, and any other relevant caption information.

For our growing "Pop Bible" collection please see Bible in pop culture index

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THE JEWISH GROTTO

Anti-Israel boycott of Trader Joe's fizzled in San Diego

By Gary Rotto

SAN DIEGO—The planned national boycott of Israeli products earlier this month seems to have bypassed the San Diego market. Trader Joe’s stores in the area were quiet, with no evidence of deshelved products, stickers placed on products or other disturbances.

There was an unsubstantiated report of leafleting in front of the Encinitas location of Trader Joes. Besides the fact that I could not find any staff or customers who observed the supposed flyer distribution, the Facebook page of “Don’t Buy into Apartheid” reported actions only in Pittsburgh, Oakland, Sacramento and San Francisco.

One San Diego metro area Trader Joe’s manager was well aware of the boycott threat, nodding as I explained what I was reporting on. He said that it was quiet from that standpoint the whole weekend, for which he was quite glad. “We’re just here to sell groceries,” he stated.

A call to the Trader Joe’s national office elicited this email response, “Please know that Trader Joe’s sells groceries. We do not use our products as political tools or to make any

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statements about political causes. We have no intention of removing any products based on pressure from any group, no matter what they support or don’t support. As always, we believe our customers are smart, and they are capable of making decisions about what they purchase,” stated Alison Mochizuki, National Publicity Director for Trader Joe's.

My friend, Henry, was all over the boycott the day before the action was to take place, forwarding an email from Stand With Us to his contacts and sending the link to the San Diego Jewish World story about purchasing Israeli products to many others. Dutifully, he stopped in at the La Jolla location to make his purchase on Sunday and found that the store had a run on Israeli Couscous, and all brand Dorot herbs. Apparently, many other supporters of Israel and supporters of product diversity had done the same.

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nancy.harrison@americasvacationcenter.com

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THE JEWISH CITIZEN

Learning about neighboring communities — the hard way

By Donald H. Harrison

AGOURA HILLS, California—There was a time when I used to love to drive the California freeways, back when they actually were ways that were free enough to afford a panoramic view of the state. Today, unfortunately, the only time they seem to be uncrowded is between midnight and 5 in the morning—and then it is too dark to see anything but the road ahead.

With grandson Shor in the back seat, Nancy and I took a trip last Friday from San Diego to this horse-ranch community in the northern portion of Los Angeles County. My brother Bill lives here in Agoura Hills, and, not far away, so too do his daughter Caren, her husband Craig, and their children Ashlee and Tyler. The family get-together was to celebrate Bill’s 69th birthday on Saturday.

While Nancy, Shor and I were traveling north on Interstate 5 last Friday, Los Angeles County traffic suddenly bunched up. The driver of the car in front of me slammed on his brakes. I did too. So too did the driver of the car behind us. I stopped in time to avoid hitting the car in front of me. The car behind us also stopped in time. But the driver of the car after that either wasn’t as alert, or was driving too close behind, or had faulty brakes. He smacked into the car behind us. After a few seconds, I could see in my rear view mirror that no one was hurt—the driver of the car behind me had gotten out of his car to exchange driver’s licenses with the driver who had been following him.

As Los Angeles County traffic goes, it was a minor mishap, but it was enough for me to want to get off the freeway for a while—and happily comply with grandson Shor’s request that we get “something to eat.”

In La Mirada, alongside the I-5 freeway, we found an In-n-Out — which is a fast food chain with a limited menu. Burgers, French fries, and soda pop. Simple. People can make their decisions quickly. As fast food goes, their burgers are superior. In-n-Out diverted our minds from the accident we almost were in.

We decided to switch off driving responsibility, with Nancy taking the wheel for the next portion of the trip After about 15 miles, while riding along in the second-to-the-left lane, Nancy said, “there’s something wrong with the air conditioning.” Then she said, “I heard something snap. The power steering is not working.”

With me sticking my arm out the passenger window, to let the traffic know we had to make a lane change, Nancy expertly maneuvered three lanes to the right and got off at Atlantic Avenue—an exit just below the great Los Angeles Interchange system.

She brought the car to a stop next to a small recreation park named for Monsignor Ramon Garcia in the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles. Early last century, Boyle Heights had been a major area of Jewish settlement; in fact, the Breed Street Shul, once the largest Orthodox synagogue on the West Coast and today a state historic landmark, is located less than three miles from where we coasted to a stop. Recently the Israeli Consulate chose the Breed Street Shul as a place to hold an Israel Independence Day celebration to emphasize the linkages between the Jewish community and the Mexican-American community, the preponderant group in Boyle Heights today.

We popped the hood of my 1999 Buick, and called 21st Century Insurance to send a tow truck. A gentleman from the Los Angeles Department of Public Works, Bureau of Street Services while driving by, happened to notice our distress. He quickly determined that our serpentine belt had been frayed to the point of snapping by a sharp-edged idler pulley, and put an orange safety cone behind our car. He told us which General Motors dealerships still were in business in the area, and we decided to instruct the tow truck to take our car to Camino Real Chevrolet in Monterey Park.

The City Wide Towing truck had room for only one passenger in addition to the driver and another employee, so Nancy—our family financial wizard—went ahead while I stayed at the playground with Shor. As he doesn’t speak Spanish, Shor was a bit shy about meeting the children on the playground, so he soloed on the climbing apparatuses as I watched for our courtesy ride.

The man from the Bureau of Street Services came back twice to check on us, at one point confiding to me that it was a good thing we were on the east side of the freeway—a

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CAT'S GAME—There was no winner in this tic-tac-toe game

residential area—and not on the west side, where there had been a lot of gang activity.

I was glad that Shor, 8, was absorbed with the playground equipment, including a moveable tic-tac-toe game, and therefore did not overhear the concern for us in our samaritan’s voice.

How often we cross over one neighborhood or another in our automotive cocoons, never thinking about what kind of community might be below! Automobiles travel nearly conveyor belt style on freeways that isolate them from the surrounding businesses and residences. The situation on the West Bank of Israel is quite similar, I reflected. For example, the highway that connects Tel Aviv to Ariel bypasses nearby Arab communities. There is intentionally as little interaction between the villages and drivers as possible—because Jewish drivers are afraid their cars might be stoned as they move through what may be the future Palestine.

“Out of sight, out of mind” goes the saying—and this can lead to authorities, whether in the U.S. or in Israel, neglecting those communities off the beaten path.

At Camino Real Chevrolet, a helpful service supervisor and a team of mechanics promised to work as hard as they could to get us back on the road in time to see our relatives. The problem was that they didn’t have the right parts for a Buick Park Avenue Ultra, so they had to first call around and then fetch them.   In the meantime, we made ourselves comfortable in an unadorned seating area.

Like any elementary school aged student, Shor sometimes can get quite hyperactive, but in these unfamiliar surroundings he sat quietly and uncomplainingly, waiting along with his grandparents for developments. Nancy and I were both very proud of the composure he exhibited during a day of unfamiliar situations, and as a reward--and a diversion--took him for an ice cream shake at Carl's Jr, even though that meant two fast-food restaurants in a single day.

With Nancy back at the wheel and finally Agoura Hills-bound, our car stalled a couple of times in traffic, but once we were moving at normal freeway speeds, the battery—which had been taken out and put back in during servicing—recharged itself, and there were no further mishaps. Given the delay at the park and at the automobile agency, a journey that normally would have taken between two and three hours had used up the better part of the daytime.   How good we felt to finally arrive at Caren’s and Craig’s home, where we relished once again the sense of belonging.

Next, of course, I shall have to take my Buick in for a full tune-up, and then decide whether I should succumb to years of family urging to buy myself a new car—something I really don’t want to do. But, if the aging car is no longer safe, then buy a new one I must.

As I reflect on this small, slice-of- life family adventure, I better realize what social critics mean when they say that freeways don’t connect communities, they divide them.   It’s comforting to me to know that in those communities our cars pass over, there are people like the nice gentleman from the Bureau of Street Service, whose name--I could kick myself—I had forgotten to ask.

I had thanked the man profusely for his kindness, but I felt a need to put my appreciation into writing. I located an email address for the public relations contact for the Department of Public Works—Michelle Vargas—and in telling her of our experience, described the gentleman as best as I could: Middle aged, Hispanic. Vargas messaged back that she was glad that I had run into “one of the very committed workers” of the City of Los Angeles and would try to identify him from among the Department’s 6,000 workers.

Editor Harrison's email: editor@sandiegojewishworld.com

MUSIC OF OUR PEOPLE

The cantor who brought neshuma to show business
To hear Cantor Stephen Dubov, z"l, sing Yism'chu, please click here

Yism’chu by Cantor Stephen Dubov, z’l in tribute and memory , musical setting by Cantor Steven Richards

By Cantor Sheldon Merel

SAN DIEGO—Cantor Stephen Dubov's life and career represents the diversity of talent, personality, education, and musical experiences that many cantors bring to their pulpits. He was a regular on the daytime drama Guiding Light, appeared in 152 films, performed in Israel, Broadway, with several opera companies, and Philharmonic Orchestras in Los Angeles and New Orleans. Eventually, his love of Jewish music and its spirituality, brought him to New York City to apply for admission to the School of Sacred Music of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR).

Steve had arrived early for his scheduled interview for admission to the college, so he used the waiting free time to arrange a Broadway show audition. Wham! He got the part, skipped the cantorial audition, and his life flew in a different direction - for a while! Eventually, after traveling a complete career circle, he re-applied to the School of Sacred Music and earned investiture as cantor and a Bachelor of Jewish Music.
Somewhere along the way, in addition to his amazing professional career in television, radio and Broadway, Cantor Dubov had also earned a bachelor's degree in music education from the University of Miami and a Master's degree in sacred music from HUC-JIR.

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After graduation from HUC-SSM, in 1991, he served six years as cantor at Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, and in 2002, turned his cantorial career completely around and did something unique in the cantorate. He founded his own synagogue, Congregation Chaye Olam, serving as its sole clergy, and in four years brought its membership to 100 families.

During his years in the Detroit area, Cantor Dubov directed the Kidz Klez Band of Michigan, with preteen and teenage musicians, recorded CDs and performed klezmer music in sites that included Disney World in Florida and Carnegie Hall in New York City. In describing working with the young band members, Steve felt that, “Jewish music had gone into their souls and their futures, and that's part of what being a cantor is about.”

in 2006, he made another gutsy move, and once again launched a new life adventure, accepting a pulpit in Florida as the cantor of a 1,500-family synagogue. Just after starting his new position, Cantor Dubov flew back to his West Bloomfield home in Michigan to help his wife and children get ready to join him in Florida. Tragically, with no warning, he suffered a massive heart attack and died on Aug. 6, 2006 at age 55.

As quoted by a close friend, “Steve loved people, music and life. When he sang, you wouldn't just hear it, you would feel it inside.”

YISM’CHU: “Those who keep the Sabbath and call it a delight shall rejoice in God’s kingdom. All who hallows the seventh day shall be gladdened by Your goodness. This Sabbath day is Israel’s festival of the spirit, sanctified and blessed by You, the most precious of days, and a symbol of the joy of creation.”

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L.A. BEAT

Drama on politics, comedy (?) on ancient judiciary

Editor's Note: What audience doesn't love "twofers" -- theatre parlance for "two for the price of one" tickets? So we thought we'd see how you like a theatre review twofer--two reviews by our Los Angeles bureau chief Cynthia Citron in the space of a single column.

By Cynthia Citron

Farragut North at Geffen Playhouse

LOS ANGELES—Farragut North is the section of Washington, D.C. where old pols go when they die. It’s the heart of the business district, close by the K Street lobbyists, where influence is bought and sold.

In Beau Willimon’s new play, Farragut North, currently having its west coast premiere at the Geffen Playhouse, the prospect of winding up there hangs over the principals like the ghost of Christmases Future. Chris Pine, a 25-year-old wunderkind (think George Stephanopoulos) is Stephen Bellamy, press secretary for a governor who would be president. Bellamy’s boss, campaign manager Paul Zara (Chris Noth) is a confident and successful veteran of such campaigns, dipped in the scruples of a James Carville. Together, they have helped lift their candidate to a rising lead in the polls.

The candidate, who never appears, and his plans for the country, which are never expressed, are beside the point. The focus is on the machinations of the people behind the scenes. Bellamy and Zara are aided by a bright young gopher/speechwriter named Ben (Dan Bittner), an ambitious newspaper reporter, Ida Horowicz (Mia Barron), and an earnest young intern, Molly (Olivia Thirlby). Representing the opposition is Tom Duffy (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.) who enters the picture to try to seduce the power-hungry Bellamy to the Other Side.

The convoluted plot is interesting and the actors are engaging, but somehow the whole thing just doesn’t ring true. The characters, I believe, are too savvy to fall so helplessly into the holes that other people have dug for them. Further, I am not convinced that experienced political players could be so easily maneuvered and that their actions would be taken so seriously---especially in today’s political climate.

Chris Noth, handsome as ever, is a little too jolly and laid back to be totally convincing as the campaign manager. And in the opening scene, surrounded by his cohort in a bar, he and the others banter at such a frantic speed that much of their dialogue is lost.

Chris Pine, on the other hand, is excellent throughout, even though he appears far too gullible for someone as shrewd and calculating as he is apparently supposed to be. Both women carry out their minor, though critical, roles in fine fashion, as does Isiah Whitlock, Jr.

Director Doug Hughes leads his cast through the intricacies of the plot with only a little lag-time and the appropriate sturm und drang. David Korins’ set design is simple and effective, as is Paul Gallo’s lighting, but the background video collages supplied by Joshua White and Bec Stupak, while providing a burst of political spectacle, were highly unintelligible.

Farragut North, which opened in New York in the fall of 2008, is, according to Variety, a project being adapted by Warner Brothers as a feature film to be produced by George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Meanwhile, the stage production will continue at the Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeeles on Tuesdays through Thursdays at 7:30, Fridays at 8, Saturdays at 4 and 8:30 and Sundays at 2 and 7 through July 26th. Call (310) 208-5454 for reservations.

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WASPS—Front row: John Apicella, Peter Van Norden, Steve Totland, Hubert Hodgin; Standing: Robert Alan Beuth, Albert Meijer, Mark Doerr

The Wasps at Lost Studio Theatre

LOS ANGELES—Listen, wouldn’t you think that a musical that could produce lyrics that rhyme “prodigious, religious, prestigious and litigious” would be a show you’d like to see? Well, yes and no.

Other than a few good lyrics, a leading actor with a marvelous voice, and a cast with the energy of a lightning bolt, The Wasps doesn’t have a whole lot more going for it.

You see, long before there were White Anglo-Saxon Protestants in America, there were WASPS in Greece. They were citizen jurors known for their “stinging” verdicts. (Thus, they were called “wasps.” Get it?) And in 422 B.C.E the playwright Aristophanes wrote a satirical play about them that apparently had his contemporaries rolling in the aisles of the amphitheatre. Unfortunately, 2500-year-old jokes don’t hold up very well. Or maybe they were lost in translation.

At any rate, playwright, composer, and director Meryl Friedman has made a valiant effort to update all the silliness and shtick for a modern audience. Originally commissioned and presented by The Getty Villa in Malibu for their Villa Theater Lab Series, the play has since been reworked (and reworked and reworked). This version is, apparently, Version 217. Or thereabouts. But the verdict is: it needs work.

The current plot, as in the original, revolves around an aristocratic juror (Peter Van Norden, he of the big beautiful voice) whose son (Albert Meijer) thinks it’s time for him to retire. But the Old Man doesn’t want to. And that’s about it.

Around this meager plot is woven a play within a play, in which an imperious Manager and Chorus Leader (Mark Doerr) attempts to bully the players into hurrying up. The players, three jurors and a slave, (John Apicella, Steve Totland, Hubert Hodgin, and Robert Alan Beuth) continue to derail the action, however, with appeals to the audience and arguments with each other. They chase each other around the stage, break into song, change costumes, and make a tremendous amount of indiscriminate noise. At one point (a high point, actually) they do a respectable facsimile of Zorba’s dance, which then degenerates into a Jewish wedding dance (chair in the air, if you please), which then segues into a Russian soldier’s squat dance.

The humor is at the level of knock knock jokes and silly faces, the music is derivative and not very memorable, and the instruments by which it is delivered include a piano, kazoos, and a barbershop septet. There is also, finally, a trial in which a cat is tried for stealing a hunk of cheese (don’t ask!)

To be fair, much of the audience seemed to love the production. There was a lot of laughter to encourage the players. But as far as I’m concerned, Aristophanes is highly overrated. And The Wasps still needs work. A LOT of work! Just call me an old Groucho.

The Wasps will continue at The Lost Studio Theatre, 130 S. La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 and Sundays at 3 through July 26th. Call 800-838-3006 for tickets.

Citron is Los Angeles bureau chief for San Diego Jewish World. Her email: citronc@sandiegojewishworld.com

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Adventures in San Diego Jewish History

Lee Greenberg To Head
Tifereth Israel Sisterhood
Southwestern Jewish Press May 29, 1953 Page 5

Unanimously elected at the last meeting of the Sisterhood, Mrs. Zel Greenberg will be installed as President of Tifereth Israel Sisterhood for the ensuing year, on Tuesday, June 9th at the Installation Meeting and Brunch, beginning at 11:30 a.m. Elected to be installed with Mrs. Greenberg are: Roann Oglesby, 1st V-Pres.; Evelyn Binder, 2nd V. Pres.; Syril Press, 3rd V. Pres.; Dorothy Belkin, Rec. Sec.; Reva Garvin, Corr. Sec.; Raye Lenett, Fin. Sec.; Evelyn Baranov, Treas.; Sara Bystrom, Auditor; Becky Addleson.

In charge of the Installation Brunch are Circle Captains Bertha Sklar and Stella Sarfan. The events of the afternoon will be climaxed with the drawing for the beautiful, large Freezer, proceeds of which will go towards the equipment of the kitchen in the new Center. Raye Solomon and Mary Gordon, Co-Chairmen of the Freezer Project, were applauded for the success of the undertaking. The two Co-Chairmen are anxious to have the enterprise go over the top. You can help them, by selling your books of tickets, and obtaining additional books from the Chairmen.

In Memoriam {Lucille Rubel}
Southwestern Jewish Press May 29, 1953 Page 5

Whereas, in His infinite wisdom the divine Creator has called Lucille Rubel to her eternal rest, we, the Temple Beth Israel Sisterhood join with her family, her loved ones, her many friends, and the community in mutual grief of her passing.
To have known Lucille is to have loved her. The memory of her unselfish giving and graciousness will live with us always.

National Survey To Be Made
Southwestern Jewish Press May 29, 1953 Page 5

Tifereth Israel Synagogue is participating in one of the most significant projects ever undertaken by the Conservative Movement—the National Leadership Survey of the United Synagogue of America.

The survey, conducted jointly with the Bureau of Social Research of Columbia University, will explore the realities and requirements of our present-day synagogue lay-leadership. It will probe into the personal background of congregational leaders, their Jewish training and interests; examine the basic motivation for leadership work; consider the relationship between Rabbi and Lay-Leadership; assemble information on democratic procedures in Synagogue Administration; study membership and leadership relations; and pose, for an honest expression of opinion, a number of problems that are of great significance for the future development of Congregational life.

Survey questionnaires have been distributed to certain members of the Board of Trustees in accordance with a national sampling procedure determined by Columbia University. The Survey will be carried out with every safeguard of complete anonymity.

Jewish Labor Committee Commemorates 10 Years of Revolt of the Warsaw Ghetto
Southwestern Jewish Press May 29, 1953 Page 5

The tenth anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Revolt is not an ordinary observance. Time has decreed that it be not merely a period of sorrowful remembrance but that it be elevated to the sphere of eternity. In 1953 the Revolt will remind us that, despite our poverty, we are rich and powerful by virtue of the

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infinite potential strength of Jewish youth in every part of the globe. It will also send forth a warning to the new tyrants: The Warsaw legend can come to life again!

The local committee of the Yiddish Scientific Institute is urging every Jew in the city to come to the Beth Jacob Auditorium Sunday evening, June 7.

The narrator will be Shlome Hochberg, brilliant speaker and author, who himself was an inmate of the Warsaw Ghetto and by a miracle was saved.

The musical part of the evening will be highlighted by the beloved folk singer, Feigele Panitz, and Mrs. E. Bruman at the piano. No solicitations.

War Veterans Convene Here
Southwestern Jewish Press June 12, 1953 Page 1

The Department of California Jewish War Veterans of U.S.A. convention opens tonight, Friday, June 12th at Hotel Del Coronado with Memorial Services led by Rabbi Monroe Levens. The public is invited to attend this Memorial Service.

A membership luncheon was given by membership chairman Mrs. Ralph Schwartz, in her home, Wednesday, June 10th. Bids were extended to 25 prospective members.

The next regular meeting of the Post and Auxiliary will be Monday, July 6th. No social meetings will be held during June, July and August.

United Jewish Fund Forwards Cash to U.J.A.—Goal In Sight
Southwestern Jewish Press June 12, 1953 Page 1

San Diego Jewry, through the United Jewish Fund, forwarded another $15,000 in cash last week to the “National Action Conference” of the United Jewish Appeal, according to Harry Snyder, Treasurer.

Done in answer to an urgent and dramatic appeal for cash assistance in the United Jewish Appeal’s drive for $25,000,000 cash immediately to be forwarded to Israel it brings the total cash contribution to the United Jewish Appeal for 1953 from San Diego to $50,000. $110,000 in cash had been forwarded to the Appeal for 1952.

According to the latest report from Carl. M. Esenoff and Milton Y. Roberts, Chairmen of the 1953 Campaign, 1750 contributors have pledged close to $190,000 or 88 percent of the goal. The campaign is still running 10½ percent better than 1952 and has secured more contributors at this time than in the entire previous year.

Indications according to the Chairmen point to a campaign which will reach a minimum of $210,000 from close to 2,000 contributors.

However, the chairmen warned against overconfidence and stated that there were still 401 prospective contributors to be seen before the campaign can be closed. The Campaign will continue,” pledged the chairmen, until every potential contributor in the Jewish community of San Diego has been seen and reseen to impress on him his responsibility to the Jewish people and to the United Jewish Fund.

Contributions may still be forwarded to the office of the United Jewish Fund, 333 Plaza, San Diego 1, Calif.

“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.