Jewish Community News

News: February 2007

Nearly two years after the plane crash

One day at a time. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. G-d doesn’t give us more than we can handle. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

By Rachel Michelberg

Before David’s accident, I’d often heard these catch-phrases, possibly even quoted them. Meaningful for some, perhaps – addicts, victims of violent crime, natural disasters. But as a white, upper middle-class Jewish girl from Sunnyvale, this kind of trite, pop psychology held little personal significance. Granted, I’d had my share of challenges in my forty-three years: my parent’s divorce at sixteen, anorexia at nineteen, more than one broken engagement, my mother’s battles with alcoholism (she’s now recovering.) But nothing could have prepared me for the phone call I received on April 19, 2005, four days before Pesach. More

Jewish twenty-somethings leave promising corporate jobs to launch their own businesses

Ron Peled, 29, and Michael Avrukin, 22, two tech-savvy Generation Xers who spent years in promising careers in the corporate world now sit in a plain, undecorated office in Sunnyvale with a mezuzah hanging on the door. Peled worked for the software company Niku Corporation before it was bought by Computer Associates International. Avrukin held an ambitious position as a programmer for Adobe. After meeting at Hillel of Silicon Valley and traveling to Israel on a high-tech tour, the two men discussed the possibility of creating their own company. More

Linda Hooper makes a profound difference in our world

Linda Hooper, the Whitwell Middle School principal who inspired the “Paper Clips Project” spoke at the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley’s Annual Dinner on January 20, to a sold-out crowd. Her speech captured the essential elements of tikkun olam (repairing the world through good deeds). More

Campus Capital Campaign kicks into last lap!

The Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley has announced that only $2 million of the original $24.75 million price tag of the Gloria and Ken Levy Family Campus remains to be raised. “This is an unbelievable accomplishment,” said Federation CEO Jyl Jurman. “We can thank every dedicated community member who contributed to this amazing feat.” More

New charitable giving laws

The IRS has enacted two major changes concerning personal charitable contributions. The changes relate to IRA rollovers, and acceptable deductions.

The recently enacted Pension Protection Act of 2006 provides a significant charitable giving opportunity for individuals aged 70 1/2 and older. Under normal tax rules, making a lifetime charitable gift from an IRA often produces disadvantageous tax consequences to the donor. More

Jewish Family Services annual gala June 3

‘Small Plates, High Spirits & All That Jazz’ is the name of Jewish Family Services of Silicon Valley’s fundraising event scheduled for Sunday, June 3 at Villa Ragusa in downtown Campbell.

According to Thelma Ramm, co-chair of the event with Sandy Silver, the event name sums up the evening. “Small Plates represents food prepared and presented by a number of local chefs, each paired with a purveyor of high spirits poured by a vintner, all accompanied by a Jazz Combo providing All That Jazz. More

Shir Hadash to host speaker on “Crypto-Jews” March 17

As part of a special Havdalah program on Saturday, March 17, at 8 p.m., Congregation Shir Hadash of Los Gatos will host educator and writer Ken Blady, who will speak on “Crypto-Jews: The Jews of Spain and Portugal, and the Converso Diaspora.” More

Summer Camp for children with special needs

By Cecily Ruttenberg

Every summer, parents flip through camp catalogues and choose the program they believe their child will enjoy most. But for parents of children with special needs, the offerings are considerably narrowed. Fearing inadequate supervision, some parents keep their kids home. Others take a nervous gamble. More

Jewish Summer Camp Listing

Read a complete listing of Jewish summer camp programs in the Silicon Valley and surrounding areas. More

Helping the poorest students in Africa

Middle School principal Linda Hooper, the force behind the famous “Paper Clips Project” was the speaker at the recent Jewish Federation Annual Dinner. Until she visited South Africa, Hooper said, she thought the children in her rural Tennessee town were very needy. Indeed, seventy percent of them live below the poverty level. But after her trip, she realized that her students, like most American children, at least have choices. Children in Africa have none. More

Los Gatos Presbyterian Reverend Returns from Israel with “new perspective”

Reverend Mark Burnham, spiritual leader of the Presbyterian Church of Los Gatos, recently returned from a UJC- sponsored trip to Israel. In the face of a “pretty strong pro-Palestinian lobby” within the Presbyterian Church, Burnham said he returned from Israel with a new perspective. More

My High Holy Days in Africa

Lee Gerston is a junior at the University of California, San Diego. He spent his fall semester studying at the University of Ghana in Legon. Lee grew up in Los Gatos and attanded Yavneh Day School.

Buried in the lush trees of the Western Region of Ghana, near bordering Côte D’Ivoire, is the small town of Sefwi Wiawso (pronounced sef-SHWEE wee-OH-so). Sefwi Wiawso is not a typical Ghanaian town. Sure, the village is filled with dirt roads and brick houses, shaky electricity and honking taxis–all typically Ghanaian. But it also has something that no other village in Ghana has: a synagogue. More