jvalley.org | jewish community news

Jewish Community News

News: September 2008

Children and seniors bond with each other at JCC

Two Fridays each month, local seniors makes their way to the APJCC for a different kind of Shabbat engagement — one with four-year-old friends.
Launched by volunteers Rebecca Geshuri, Carrie McCarthy and Carrie Whitaker, the Grandpals Shabbat program will start its second year this September. Geshuri, McCarthy, and Whitaker, mothers of children at the APJCC Preschool, dreamed up the program last year as a way for preschool age children and seniors to connect. More

Speaker Series at Beth David

Through the ages, and medical ethics at “Conversations in Jewish Learning” and “Brunch and Learn Seminars.” Each presentation is a free, self-contained opportunity to learn more about one topic.
Conversations is sponsored by Congregation Beth David in partnership with Sharone Hadassah, Silicon Valley Ner Tamid Lodge of B’nai B’rith, and Brandeis University Women’s Committee of Santa Clara Valley. These lectures are free to members of Beth David or partnering organizations. Non-members are asked for a $5 donation. All Conversations are on Thursday evenings at Beth David in Saratoga from 7:30 to 9 p.m. More

Kehillah graduates travel to Israel

On May 19, seventeen seniors from Kehillah Jewish High School departed on a three-week-long class trip to Israel. The purpose of the trip was “to allow them to experience firsthand the history, people, and culture they have been learning about for years,” says Mike Friedman, Kehillah’s director of guidance and the coordinator of the trip. “By going to Israel,” he adds, “students get an incredible experiential education that cannot be found in the classroom.” More

Bedtime is family time, in a very Jewish way

For children aged six months to five-and-a-half years, a delightful surprise awaits! Coming soon to a bedside near you will be one book a month from the Harold Grinspoon Foundation. The book will have Jewish content. It will be colorful, well-written, and vetted by a selection committee of nationally respected educators and rabbis. It will give parents an opportunity to explore Jewish identity in an atmosphere of smiles and cuddles. And, best of all, each book is free for the first year. More

Tova Yaron opens spa at the San Jose Fairmont Hotel

Over the summer, Tova Yaron opened a multi-level spa in the lobby of the San Jose Fairmont Hotel, her second location. With two successful salons in the Silicon Valley, the Israeli native says she’s come along way from when she arrived in the U.S.
“I don’t know how it happened,” said Yaron. “If you’re very determined and hard working you can make it.” More

Women’s Philanthropy Fall Outreach to celebrate 60 years of Israel

Leah Stern, a TV correspondent, anchor and editor for IBA News, Israel’s only local English language news program, will be the keynote speaker at the Women’s Philanthropy of the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley Fall Outreach event.
The event, titled Women Celebrating 60 Years of Israel, will be held on September 24, from 9:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Levy Family Campus in Los Gatos. During a virtual tour of Israel, women will sample Israeli fashion, politics, aesthetic products, self defense, travel, and, of course, food. More

Silicon Valley Jewish Film Festival presents 17th annual Fall line up

The 17th annual Silicon Valley Jewish Fall Film Festival (formerly the San Jose Jewish Film Festival) continues new year-round programming with its classic Fall Festival from Sunday, October 26 through Wednesday November 19.
“This must be the best set of films we’ve presented in the last eight years,” says SVJFF President Lorin Fink. More

Two Palo Alto teens win $36,000 for extraordinary social action

Eric Heimark, 18, and Sarah VanZanten, 19, both of Palo Alto, are among five California teens who have been named winners of an award for community service that comes with a cash prize of $36,000. The Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award was created in 2007 to recognize teens who have initiated an exceptional social action project that helps to repair the world (tikkun olam). More

College student travels to Bolivia
By Rachel Rosenberg

Bolivia is not a likely destination for a Jewish college student. Chabad doesn’t even have a mission there. But the opportunity to improve my Spanish language skills while striving to repair one little corner of the world led me to accept an internship at a daycare center run by the nuns of the order Siervas de la Madre de Dios in Cochabamba, Bolivia’s third largest city. More

Ernie’s Corner: wine and modern Rosh Hashanah meals
By Ernie Weir
Hagafen Cellars

We all know that Jewish holidays are about food, but because modern Rosh Hashanah meals involve many sweet elements and off-the-beaten path components, finding the right wines to pair can be a challenge if not downright difficult for many people. Here is a quick guide to help you as you get ready for your holiday planning. More

How do Jews stand on Obama?

American Jews are less supportive of Barack Obama than previous Democratic nominees, according to a poll conducted in mid July by the Washington-based advocacy organization J Street.
The lack of support comes despite overwhelming unhappiness with the Bush administration. More

Why are Jews less for Obama, than previous Democratic candidates?
By Cecily Ruttenberg

Something is different about the 2008 presidential election. There’s the obvious. Barack Obama is the nation’s first African- American presidential candidate. But there’s more. Although Jews historically vote Democrat, and support African-American causes, they’re wishy washy on Obama.
Just 58 percent of American Jews said they would definitely vote for Obama, compared to approximately 80 percent of Jews who supported Al Gore and Bill Clinton, according to a recent J Street poll. In John Kerry’s run in 2004, he garnered 74 percent of the Jewish vote. More

Local Rabbis tell how to vote Jewishly

Concern for our government as well as for fellow citizens has been an integral part of Judaism for thousands of years. As a Jew, I understand our right to vote as both a responsibility and a privilege. How each of us votes is an extremely personal matter, but as with all things in life we should all strive to incorporate our Jewish values into this decision. From foreign affairs to the affairs of our nation, we should ask ourselves questions that center around our Jewish values. More

Remember the Jewish prohibition of lashon hara, evil speech

When Stephen Glass, a young writer for the New Republic, was discovered in 1998 to have been “cooking the books” in over half of the articles he had written, there was mass outrage. His fabrication of details, quotes, and entire stories violated the covenant of trust between journalists and their readers. His lack of honesty disrupted the social contract on which we all depend. As I watched the movie “Shattered Glass” made about his story, my thoughts turned to contemporary issues of honesty and personal responsibility. More

JCC’s Fall Gala theme is “Dancing With Our Stars”

The Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center’s fall gala will be held on Saturday evening, November 1, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. at the Fairmont Hotel’s Regency Room, with dinner and dancing. Black-tie is optional, but gala-goers are encouraged to dress to the nines.
The theme,“Dancing With Our Stars,” plays on the theme of the popular reality show Dancing with the Stars. The gala honors the 20 past presidents and chairs of the JCC. More

March of the Living 2008 experience
By Lindsay Greensweig & Ruth Zaltsmann

This past spring, 15 Silicon Valley teens, accompanied by Isaac Goldstein, a local Holocaust survivor, and three adult staff members, participated in the March of the Living. The group shared a bus with teens from other parts of the West Coast and Rabbi Eitan Julius, former spiritual leader of Congregation Sinai, who served as the trip rabbi and educator. More

The third anniversary of Katrina

By Diane Fisher

Thirty debates came and went during the presidential primaries, but not one moderator took the opportunity to ask the candidates how they plan to help rebuild communities in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast. In terms of physical devastation, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the levee failure caused more damage than our three largest disasters combined: the September 11 attacks, Hurricane Andrew and the Northridge earthquake. But three years after Katrina, the Gulf Coast is still defined by FEMA trailers, tent cities, and the echoes of people yearning to return home. More

News

Features

JCN Issues