Jewish Community News

News: March 2007

High School students travel to rebuild Katrina devastated Gulf Coast

When 32 Kehillah Jewish High School juniors returned from their class trip March 1, they had suitcases filled with filthy clothes and armloads of bug bites. This is because instead of visiting the White House or the historical Maine coast, the 16 and 17-year-olds spent two days living out of a volunteer tent in Waveland, Mississippi repairing homes devastated by Hurricane Katrina. More

A Student Perspective

Los Gatos Camera to shut down; forced to pay $50K for denying service to Jewish man

Mitchell Cutler, owner of La Fondue Restaurant in Saratoga and a member of the Jewish community, won a judgment last month against Los Gatos Camera for denial of service. Less than two weeks later, Los Gatos Camera owner David Muston announced that for unrelated reasons he would close his doors. More

Study finds 1 million more U.S. Jews

A new study gives fairly concrete evidence that the American Jewish population could be more than 1 million people larger than believed – but if so, it means efforts to engage them may have been less successful than the community realized. More

My winter break painting bomb shelters

By Rachael Kirk (Rachel grew up in San Jose. Her family belongs to Shir Hadash.)

After running inside the school to escape from the rain, I noticed the bomb shelter where we would work—far worse than the weather outside. I followed six other college students into the shelter; we unpacked our soaked supplies and looked around to assess the job at hand. In less than three hours, we decorated the previously white walls with trees, flowers, butterflies, and other happy, innocent murals in order to comfort the scared children who could spend hours, even days, in this shelter, as they did this summer. More

Super Sunday donors pledged $324,842 to the 2007 Campaigns

Over 70 volunteers picked up the phones on Super Sunday 2007 which was held on February 11. Led by co-chairs, Denise Kappler and Barbara Goldstein, the results were phenomenal. Donors pledged $324,842 to the 2007 Annual and Campus Capital Campaigns, surpassing expectations. More

Women of Distinction

The Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley Women’s Philanthropy held its 24th annual Women of Distinction Ceremony at the Connections 2007 Tea on March 11, at the Fairmont Hotel’s Imperial Ballroom in San Jose. Fifteen women and seven teens were honored for their exemplary service to Jewish life in the Silicon Valley. More

Yavneh Day School receives accreditation

Yavneh Day School recently underwent the rigorous process in order to renew its accreditation with the California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS), the state’s leading accrediting body for private, not-for-profit schools. School administrators produced nearly 700 pages detailing every aspect of the school’s operation from governance to finances to faculty credentials and student curricula. The accreditation process culminated in a three day on-site visit in February by an accreditation team. More

Mimouna Celebration on April 11 at Kehillah

JIMENA, Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa, will host a community-wide Mimouna Celebration on Wednesday, April 11 from 7-9 p.m. at Kehillah Jewish High School in Palo Alto.

The Mimouna is a joyous celebration corresponding to a Mediterranean springtime celebration. Families decorate their home with flowers, orange blossoms and stalks of green barley and welcome visitors to enjoy food and the festive atmosphere. Hosts serve tea with mint and mufleta dipped in honey and butter. More

17th Annual Brandeis Lunch with the Authors, March 28

The Santa Clara Valley Chapter of Brandeis University National Women’s Committee (BUNWC) will hold its annual Lunch with the Authors on Wednesday, March 28 from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the historic Del Monte Building, 100 S. Murphy Ave., Sunnyvale. The donation is $72, part of which is tax deductible. For information and reservations, call Joyce Mendel at (408) 238-7316. This event is open to the public. More

600 gather at Shir Hadash, urge health care reform

More than 600 people attended a mid-February event at Congregation Shir Hadash to urge county and state legislators to take action to reform the California health care system. State Assemblymembers Jim Beall (24th District), Sally Lieber (22nd District), and Ira Ruskin (21st District), as well as County Supervisor Liz Kniss agreed after the meeting to work on legislation to provide Californians with affordable health care. More

Pesach & Wine: what to drink with your meal

Whether Ashkenazi or Sephardic, there are certain dishes you just cannot avoid when it comes to seders. Fittingly enough given the holiday, I’ve broken the meal down into four different courses. The suggestions below don’t cover every possible idea, but they do try to give you some hints for why certain styles of wine pair well with certain kinds of foods. L’Chaim! 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