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News: January 2004

More than 500 South Bay Jews lobby Albertsons for local kosher facility

South Bay Jews interested in a kosher supermarket listen to Albertsons executives during a Dec 2nd meeting held at SPHDS.

By Aliza Aziz

More than 500 people gathered in Sunnyvale in early December to meet executives from the Albertsons supermarket chain in hopes of persuading them to open a full-service kosher facility inside a local Albertsons store.

The Albertsons executives, led by Yakov Yarmove, corporate kosher marketing and operations manager, were impressed with the large turnout and the level of excitement.

What was to have been a focus group of 30 to 40 community members for the purpose of gauging interest into the possibility of establishing a more comprehensive kosher facility, blossomed into something much more. The "if" became "what" and "where." More

Local Jewish teen crowned Miss California U.S. Teen 2003

Jessica Leah Deutsch

By Donna Frankel

Jessica Leah (Jessa) Deutsch, 15, of Sunnyvale recently became the new Miss California United States Teen 2003. She won first place in the preliminary interview competition at the Nationals, which were held November 7-10, in Charlotte, NC, winning 2nd Runner-Up overall. This was quite a feat as the youngest contestant there, her first-ever major pageant.

When asked why she entered the pageant, Jessa explained that she wanted to exercise her talents.

"There is really no place for a young teen to shine in their talent other than school events," she said. "These shows give you the opportunity to put yourself out there." More

Kehillah forfeits Blackford Campus to higher bidder

By Cecily Ruttenberg

Kehillah Jewish High School forfeited its lease with the Blackford Campus to a higher bidder in early December at an auction hosted by the Campbell Union High School District.

By the end of the Dec. 4 auction, the Harker School had offered $1.5 million, more money than Kehillah was prepared to pay. The bids started at $750,000-a-year for a 20-year lease, and went up in $5,000 increments.

At the end of the day, Kehillah representatives said they felt very good about their decision. "Our commitment in dollars and cents is to the excellence of our academic programs - teachers, curriculum, extracurricular activities - and not to a particular building or site," Kehillah Chairman Len Lehmann wrote in an email to community members after the meeting. "What happens inside the classrooms is more important than where the classrooms are located."
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Hillel of Silicon Valley students make high-tech mission to Israel

Four students affiliated with Hillel of Silicon Valley will join 36 other Hillel students from across the nation for a technology mission to Israel, dubbed The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life's Business and Technology Mission. The students, Michael Avrukin, Rachel Bacola, Brett Shore and Ron Peled, will be accompanied by Hillel of Silicon Valley's Coordinator of Jewish Campus Life, Brynne Speizer, who will attend as a staff member.

The group is visiting Israel's Silicon Wadi leading high-tech and start-up companies, including Teva Pharmaceuticals, Vishay, Check Point, Israel Aircrafts Industries, NDS Israel and others. They will meet with students and researchers at the Technion and Weizmann institutes and with venture capital professionals.

Jewish couple leaves Wall Street, opens Israeli boutique in San Jose

Gil and Jenni Luria

By Cecily Ruttenberg

When Gil Luria and Jenni Barnum met and began dating at Columbia Busi-ness School seven years ago, they had a dream of starting a business together. But like most graduates, they quickly accepted jobs in the corporate business world – he on Wall Street and she at an education technology firm.

"We barely saw each other," said Gil. "We'd work weekends and she was traveling more than half the time."

During their limited time together, the newlyweds would dream of starting a business together, and spending more time with each other.

Then one week the pieces all fell into place. On a trip to Israel to visit Gil's family, the couple was visiting the Michal Negrin store, Jenni's favorite jewelry spot. Gil remembered he had seen another Michal Negrin store in Paris and he asked if the store had any franchises in the United States. More

Announcing the Connections 2004 Women of Distinction

Seventeen extraordinary women will be honored as Women of Distinction at Connections 2004, the annual fundraising and outreach event sponsored by the Women's Philanthropy of the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley.

For over two decades, the San Jose Jewish community has honored exemplary volunteers whose talent and service have made a difference, not only in their organizations, but in the community at large. The following generous, accomplished women have found their calling as leaders in the Jewish community and the Women's Philanthropy is proud to honor them. This year's recipients are: More

Beth David's scholar-in-residence to discuss 'Women in the Talmud' at Torah Fund event

By Eleanor Weber Dickman

Congregation Beth David is sponsoring a lecture entitled "Women in the Talmud" by Dr. Dvora E. Weisberg, assistant professor of rabbinics at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. The lecture will take place on Sunday, January 25, from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.

The Babylonian Talmud was written by men and studied almost exclusively by men for over a thousand years. Even its views on, and descriptions of, women reflect the experience of men. At the same time, talmudic literature about women reveals a wide spectrum of attitudes. In this workshop, Dr. Weisberg will discuss both the laws that structured the lives of Jewish women and stories that offer insights into both men and women in the rabbinic period.

Dr. Weisberg also serves as the director of the Beit Midrash (House of Study) at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Raised in San Francisco, Dr. Weisberg received her B.A. summa cum laude from Brandeis University. Her undergraduate thesis, for which she was awarded highest honors in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, was entitled "Can the Demands of Jewish Feminists Be Met Within the Halakhic System?" She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Talmud and rabbinic literature from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
The program costs $18, and is a fundraising event for the Torah Fund of Women's League for Conservative Judaism, which supports the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the University of Judaism.

To pre-register for this course, please contact Elizabeth Sesma at 366-9117.

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