Honors
Ben Lerman of Berkeley and Tamara Helfer of Walnut Creek graduated in July from YIVO’s Uriel Weinreich Program in Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture. The six-week program is the oldest intensive Yiddish summer program in the world. Lerman is an emergency physician and Helfer is a former research astronomer.
Three locals have been recognized as distinguished alumni by the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem: Maya Zinkow, senior Jewish educator at Berkeley Hillel, M. Evan Wolkenstein, author and director of experiential education at Jewish Community High School of the Bay, and Leah M. Kahn of Berkeley, who serves as vice president of education at the Office of Innovation. The Pardes Institute, which offers programs worldwide, highlighted 50 distinguished alumni in honor of its 50th anniversary.
Vivian Kahn of Santa Rosa was a recipient of the 2023 International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s 43rd annual IAJGS conference. Kahn was recognized for her work as JewishGen’s Hungarian research director. In her role, she facilitated the indexing of over 1.5 million Jewish records from greater Hungary, all now freely accessible to the community on JewishGen.org. IAJGS is an umbrella organization of nearly 90 Jewish genealogical organizations worldwide. The Santa Cruz Jewish Genealogical Society was also honored at the conference, receiving the IAJGS Member of the Year Award.
Comings & Goings
Jenn Levine is Temple Israel of Alameda’s new school director. She has been working in Jewish education for 20 years and has a doctorate in educational leadership, with a focus on disability justice and inclusion. Levine has been an educator at Temple Israel for the last 10 years and has worked at other Jewish organizations, including Midrasha and JCC of the East Bay, as well as serving as a b’nai mitzvah tutor and classroom teacher.
“Miss Jenn is an incredible teacher who excels at connecting with each student,” Rabbi Cynthia Minster said in a press release. “She really understands how to make Judaism meaningful to kids, providing individualized attention that supports the full range of human experience. She will create an environment that is inviting and accepting for all Jews, including Jews of Color, neurodiverse Jews, transgender and nonbinary Jews.”
Happenings
Adam Swig, executive director of Value Culture, and Tony Kaye, the film director known for “American History X,” performed a small concert in Poland in late June for Ukrainian refugees who are being supported by the Krakow JCC. The concert will be part of a new documentary series co-written and produced by Kaye and Swig. The pair also participated in the 32nd Krakow Jewish Culture Festival. Kaye, who is also a singer-songwriter, performed on stage and Swig was featured in a discussion on “value culture” with MTV Wild N’ Out rapper Kosha Dillz.
Chabad of the Delta celebrated its grand opening July 16. The new center for Jewish life is run by Rabbi Peretz Goldshmid and Mashie Goldshmid and serves the East Contra Costa County and Delta areas, including Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley and Discovery Bay.
In June, Camp Nefesh held its first in-person session since the pandemic at Congregation B’nai Israel in Sacramento. The free day camp for refugee children is facilitated by teen counselors. This year, the camp hosted refugee children from Afghanistan and Ukraine.
Or Shalom Jewish Community in San Francisco hosted a farewell Shabbat service and oneg for Rabbi Chaya Gusfield, who served as interim spiritual leader until Rabbi Faryn Borella’s installation. Prior to her role at Or Shalom, Gusfield served as assistant rabbi and principal of the religious school at Beth Chaim Congregation in Danville for seven years, was Jewish chaplain for Alta Bates Summit Medical Center for two years and served as a palliative care interfaith chaplain at Kaiser Permanente locations in Oakland and Richmond for seven years. Gusfield also has ties with Kehilla Community Synagogue in Piedmont, where she serves as spiritual leader emerita.
Connie Levi of San Francisco and her sister Karen Levi of Potomac, Maryland, traveled to Konstanz, Germany, in April to lay a Stolpersteine for their father, Max Levi, and their grandparents, Gertrude Levi and Alfons Levi, who fled Germany in June 1938 and then spent their lives in San Francisco. Stolpersteine, or “stumbling stone,” is a small concrete cube featuring a brass plate inscribed with the name and life dates of individuals who suffered under Nazi extermination or persecution. The stones act as both a physical “stumbling block” and a symbolic tribute. They are placed at the exact last place of residence or employment before Nazis forced people out. There are now at least 100,000 such memorial stones in over 1,200 cities and towns across Europe and Russia, according to the Times of Israel.
Petra Quintini, an administrator at the Universitat Konstanz, worked with local high school students to complete research on the Levi family. The students located addresses of where the family lived and worked and the schools Max attended. They also visited the Jewish cemetery for documentation of family grave sites. A group of college students paid for the stones and the ceremony, where the Levi sisters spoke before touring the flat where their family had lived.
Chabad of Berkeley celebrated the dedication of a new Torah Aug. 6. The Torah was commissioned in Israel in memory of Mickey Klein, a Berkeley resident who recently died. Certified sofer Rabbi Levi Potash of Chabad MidPen in Redwood City finished writing the final 100 letters. People came from across the Bay Area to help inscribe a letter in the Torah.
Opportunities
S.F.-based Jewish LearningWorks is accepting applications for its Voices for Good Fellowship for women leaders in Jewish communal organizations. The two-year program will include monthly online seminars and in-person regional meetings. It’s designed to “amplify women’s voices by creating platforms to address issues that matter to them” and “strengthen the Jewish community’s talent pipeline by building the skills of future leaders.” Applications close Nov. 3.
Oshman Family JCC is accepting applications to its yearlong Kol Isha Women’s Leadership Program. The intensive program brings together local women to build community, participate in Jewish learning and create local social justice projects and includes a five-day service-learning trip to Scottsdale, Arizona. Applications close Aug. 31.
Applications are also open for J Leaders Academy, a program that aims to empower Jewish young adults to positively impact the world through leadership development, community building and networking opportunities with peers and mentors. Applications close Aug. 31.
Two offices are available for rent at Chochmat HaLev in Berkeley to “mission-aligned individuals or organizations.” Reach out to [email protected] or get more info here.
Philanthropy
The Alexander M. and June L. Maisin Foundation, a supporting foundation of the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund, announced a partnership with 10,000 Degrees to enhance educational opportunities for students in the San Francisco Unified School District. Through this partnership, the Maisin Foundation will distribute approximately $1 million per year in scholarships, wraparound support services and coaching to public school students in San Francisco to help them access and graduate from college.
“We are proud to work with 10,000 Degrees to add their wraparound services to our scholarships to help students navigate getting into and through college and achieving their goals,” Maisin board chair Rick Schiller said in a press release. “We share the Federation’s commitment to helping not only our own community but those in need beyond the Jewish community.”
Credit:Source link
