Jewish Community News

Simchas: April 2008

Simchas of Silicon Valley

By Andrea Cohen Greyber

Births

     Barbara & Marvin Spielman of Cupertino happily announce the birth of their granddaughter Jorja Maxine Polston on August 7 in Berkeley, CA. Lisa Spielman & Joshua Polston are the delighted parents and big brother Sid, 4½, and big sister, Bayla, 3, are thrilled to welcome Jorja to the family. She is named after her great-grandmother Marion Levin. Bernie and Dr. Betty Polston of Tarzana are Jorja’s paternal grandparents.        
 Grand-parents Jyl & David Jurman, members of Temple Emanu-El, Laurie & Jack Tanowitz, Shir Hadash congregants, and Micky and Andy Weisman are thrilled to announce the birth of their grandson, Eli Samuel Weisman. The proud parents are Jodi & Kevin Weisman and his big sister is Maya. Eli is blessed with an abundance of great-grandparents: Annette Sunshine of Palm Desert, Lil & Irv Tanowitz of Woodland Hills, Mary & Marty Ivener of Denver, CO and Arlene & Rubin Jurman of Los Gatos and Florence Cobin of Los Angeles. Eli, whose parents are members of Wilshire Boulevard Temple and Temple Israel in Los Angeles, was born on February 11 in Los Angeles and the Brit Milah was presided over by Rabbi Steve Leder, a close friend of the Weisman family and Dr. Fred Kogen, mohel.
      Jay & Cindy Cohen of Temple Emanu-El are the proud grandparents of Ella Morgan Shahar who was born on November 2, 2007. She is the daughter of Elyse (Cohen) & Guy Shahar of Tel Aviv. Elyse grew up at Temple Emanu-El and was delighted to have her daughter named there on February 29. Uncle Philip Cohen, who now lives in MO, is thrilled with his new niece.

   Great-grandmother Golda Miller is pleased to announce the birth of Eliana Miller on January 26. She is the daughter of Maya & Andy Miller of Antioch and the granddaughter of Dolly & Ami Ramot who now live in Spokane, WA. Eliana will be named at Temple Emanu-El on May 23.

Called to the Torah

Kelsi Krandel was called to the Torah at Temple Emanu-El on February 9. She is the daughter of Shari & Steve Krandel of San Jose and the younger sister of Kevin, 15.  Kelsi attends Fisher Middle School in Los Gatos and Kevin attends Los Gatos High School. Kelsi is the granddaughter of Clay & Sandy Feldman, Ruth & the late Bob Krandel. She has been on a competitive dance team for 5 years. In her spare time she loves to read, listen to music and talk with friends. She also enjoys spending time with her grandparents. She is an avid writer of stories and poems and hopes to be an author one day. For her mitzvah project she is collecting old lights bulbs and recommending that people replace them with compact florescent ones in order to save energy. Anyone who is interested in helping with this project is encouraged to contact Kelsi at kdkrandel@sbcglobal.net.

                Benjamin Daniel Frieden, son of Steve & Rosemary Frieden and brother of Shayna Frieden, 10, celebrated his Bar Mitzvah on February 16 at Congregation Beth David. He was blessed with the presence of his grandfather Joseph Asaro of San Francisco, aunts and uncles and good friends. Benjamin is a seventh grade honor roll student at Moreland Middle School in San Jose and his sister attends Payne Elementary School in San Jose. He has played baseball with Moreland Little League for the past eight years. This last season, his 12-year-old All-Star Team went to San Bernardino as the Northern California champions and became the runner-up champions for the state of California. Benjamin chose Project Linus as his Bar Mitzvah project. This organization provides blankets to children who are seriously ill or traumatized, in other words, “children in need of a big hug”. He will lead his seventh grade class in making blankets for Project Linus.

                Ben Hendel was called to the Torah as a Bar Mitzvah on February 9 at Congregation Beth David. He is the son of Graciela & Ariel Hendel. Ben attends Kennedy Middle School in Cupertino where he plays the oboe in the band. His older sister, Yael, 17, attends Homestead High School in Sunnyvale. His grandparents, Jorge & Dora Schongut were able to fly in from Uruguay for this special occasion, as were his Aunt Beatriz & Uncle Samuel Cohen of Herzyliah, Israel and Aunt Beatriz & Samuel Cohen and cousins Alan & Dalith Hendel of Chicago.

                Nadav Peaceman Zinger, son of Alene & Ron Zinger of Los Altos celebrated his Bar Mitzvah on February 23 at Congregation Beth David. Nadav is a student at Cupertino Middle School; his younger brother Yarden attends South Peninsula Hebrew Day School where he is in the first grade. Nadav plays on the school soccer team as well as in competitive soccer and basketball leagues. He also enjoys playing the piano, skiing and travel. Nadav was pleased to share this occasion with his Saba Ben from NJ, Great-Aunt Clair, Uncle Michael & Aunt Shari, Cousins Troy and Ashley, Great-Uncle Irving & Aunt Barbara from NY and Dod Itzik & Gracie from FL. His former au pair from South Africa, Louis Louw, was also able to be with him for his special day. On this milestone of his life, he lovingly remembered his Safta Stell. For Nadav’s Mitzvah, he decided to help children who were less fortunate than he. For the past five years, he has had three au pairs from Africa. America Share is the non-profit arm of Micato Safaris. America-Share supports about 2,000 Kenyan children, many of whom are orphans due to the HIV/AID epidemic sweeping the continent.The organization places underprivileged children in schools and orphanages. Through Lending a Helping Hand, a sub-program of America-Share, travelers can meet local children and offer financial support if they choose. Most of these children are homeless or living on the streets.  Nadav will donate 15 percent of his Bar Mitzvah gifts, which he hopes will be enough to sponsor a few children. He is hoping to visit Africa this summer so that he can hand deliver the donation.

Ian Ferguson, son of Bryan & Jan Ferguson, was called to the Torah as a Bar Mitzvah at Congregation Beth David on March 15. Ian is a seventh grade student at Moreland Middle School where he enjoys playing soccer and basketball. His older brother, Joshua Ferguson, 15, is a student at Archibald Mitty High School. Ian’s grandparents, Toby & Martin Boyar of Whittier, CA and David & Georgia Ferguson of Goleta, CA were on hand for the festivities. As part of his mitzvah project Ian raised money for the Santa Clara Humane Society; he baked brownies and cookies and sold them at Congregation Beth David after Hebrew School.
               
Weddings

        Temple Emanu-El congregants, Eileen & David Gitin were delighted to celebrate the wedding of their daughter Lori Gitin to Leslie T. Garcia. They were married on January 6 at a ceremony in San Francisco at Coventry Park. Lori’s grandfather Rabbi Joseph Gitin and Rabbi Dana Magat shared the officiating duties at the wedding.  The happy couple is now living in the south bay.