San Diego, CA (special) -- While Israel's foreign minister Shimon Peres was on another of his world trips, meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo and U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington, his son, an almost-as-frequent traveller, Dr. Yoni Peres, was on a journey that took him from to the three largest cities of California.

Shimon Peres was searching for a way to bring an end to the violence that has halted peace discussions between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Yoni Peres, a veterinarian, was in search of funds that will enable the Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind to provide canine partners for his country's largely cane-dependent blind population. Yoni Peres timed his visit to San Diego so he could serve as the sondok (godfather) at the April 27 brit milah ceremony for Shor Martin Masori, the son of Shahar and Sandi Masori. You'll excuse me if I say, ever so quietly, that Shor is my first GRANDSON!!! The

SONDOK--Dr. Yonatan Peres holds Shor Martin Masori in readiness for his circumcision by mohel Rabbi Leider of Chabad of  University City.  Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal (Back to camera) and the boy's father, Shahar masori, flank the mohel.

ceremony was officiated by Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal and Cantor Alisa Pomerantz-Boro of Tifereth Israel Synagogue, a Conservative congregation, while Rabbi Moishe Leider of Chabad of University City, an Orthodox congregation, served as the mohel. 

Yoni had befriended my daughter, Sandi, while she lived in Israel and had served in the wedding party when she married his countryman, Shahar, here in San Diego on Jan. 16, 2000.

Yoni's most recent visit to San Diego coincided with the celebration of Israel's Independence Day, so he delivered at the Lawrence Family JCC Yom Ha'Atzma'ut greetings from his father to the San Diego Jewish community. He also spoke briefly at Tifereth Israel Synagogue, where he was accorded the honor of an aliyah by that congregation's vice president for ritual, Perry Arenson.

He had the opportunity to explore the tidepools at Cabrillo National Monument, enjoy the view from the terrace of La Valencia Hotel in La Jolla, see a fog-shrouded downtown San Diego from the University Club atop the Symphony Towers Building, go shopping for a western belt and buckle in Santee, and enjoy the televised playoff games of the National Basketball Association. An avid sports fan, Yoni considers basketball almost as exciting as his beloved Israeli soccer. However, most of his time in San Diego County was devoted to private meetings with local philanthropists whom he hopes will become Guide Dog Center supporters.

Located on an acre and a half at the moshav known as Beit Oved, south of Tel Aviv, the guide dog center breeds dogs, trains them, and matches them in partnerships with blind people. Part of the process is for the blind persons to stay at the center while they are taught how to work with the dogs. Later, guide dog personnel live for a week near the blind person's residence to give the dog post-graduate training in the obstacles and intricacies of the blind partner's home and neighborhood.

The center had been operating from offices in the same kind of temporary buildings that Israel has used to house the large wave of Ethiopian and Russian immigrants. These "caravans" in their residential configuration include a bedroom at either end, and a common living room, kitchen and bathroom complex in the middle. At the Guide Dog Center, they had been converted into a warren of tiny offices.

Last November, thanks to a grant from Charles and Andrea Bronfman of New York, the Guide Dog Center inaugurated its Yoffe Health and Reproduction Center, named after Mrs. Bronfman's pet dog, "Yoffe"-- a Hebrew name meaning "beautiful" or "pretty." The complex includes two welping units, where new born pups can be raised and looked after, kennels, and a fully equipped veterinarian clinic with an examination room, surgery, x-ray, ultrasound unit and a diagnostic laboratory.

Next September, the center will begin construction of the Lady Kaye Center which will house its administrative offices as well as dormitories specially equipped for the blind people who will stay there while working with their new canine partners. That building was the gift of Lady Elizabeth Kaye, the widow of Sir Emanuel Kaye of London.

In meetings arranged by Helena Galper, the San Diego representative of Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind, the younger Peres stressed to potential donors that capital improvements are not the only programs for which the center needs financial assistance.

The veterinarian also stressed the need for underwriting each partnership between a blind person and a dog. Blind Israelis are provided the dogs, the training, and the follow-up care for free. Peres told the potential donors that it costs $18,000 to sponsor a canine-human "partnership," that is, to defray the costs involved in transforming one dog (usually a Labrador, but sometimes a Golden Retriever, or other breed) and one blind human being into a working team. In some cases, the donors were asked to consider sponsoring a class of four partnerships.

Anne Taubman, president of Seaport Village, chairs the steering committee for the San Diego chapter of Friends of the Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind, the first of its kind in the United States. Other members include County Assessor Greg Smith, Superior Court Judge Victor Bianchini, former community college board trustee Kara Kobey; Patricia Avchen; Gerry Burstain; Betty Byrnes, Jeff Elden, Marilyn Lazarus, Gary Polakoff and Barbara Zell

There are plans to establish similar chapters in San Francisco and Los Angeles, the two other California cities which Peres visited on this trip.

The organization plans to bring violinist Chaim Tzur, the first human graduate of the Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind, to California in September and March to perform in a series of concerts and to discuss how having a guide dog has changed his life. When not performing on stage, Tzur is the curator of Israel Radio's collection of folkloric music.

Tzur also is the cousin of David Amos, conductor of the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra (TICO) -- yet another personal link between the guide dog center and San Diego's Jewish community.

For further information about the Guide Dog Center's work and its local American Friends of the Israel Guide Dog Center committee, you may contact Helena Galper at (619) 435-8226.