By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO—Selwyn Isakow, a private investor who helped organize last weekend’s Shabbat San Diego events, said attendance statistics were impressive but the true test of the events that brought so many Jews together is whether it will spur many people to seek deeper levels of involvement with the Jewish community.
Isakow told an interviewer that throughout San Diego County approximately 1,500 people learned to make challah on Thursday, Oct. 23; 7,500 Jews from all movements attended Friday night dinners at community gatherings as well as at private parties Oct. 24; and approximately 2000 people attended Havdallah celebrations Saturday evening, Oct. 25.
In organizing these events with Robyn Lichter and Rabbi Daniel Bortz as part of a worldwide celebration that reportedly attracted more than one million participants in 460 cities in 35 countries, Isakow said three goals were paramount.
The organizers wanted this Shabbat weekend to be the “most meaningful” so far in every participant’s life. They wanted the events to promote “community unity around a concept of a shared Shabbat.” And they wanted the weekend to be an expression of “global solidarity” for Jews everywhere.
The organizers collaborated with the Jewish Federation of San Diego and other Jewish agencies and 41 of 44 congregations. Isakow would not comment on those congregations that declined to participate, except to say it was a source of frustration for him. On the bright side, he said, activities included institutions ranging from the Jewish Humanist movement to the Chabad movement as well as all other movements along the spectrum of Jewish belief. Isakow is himself a member of a Conservative congregation, Beth El, which generated approximately 150 attendees at the community dinner that attracted over 500 people to the nearby Congregation Adat Yeshurun, which is Orthodox.
Marlene Rissman was among the attendees of that dinner and other events. Additionally, she said, while learning to make challah, “the camaraderie was delightful and the evening was full of helpful instructions and lively conversation. Many of us made new friends and acquaintances. And, we went home with delicious challah ready to bake.
“Saturday was filled with Shabbat services, learning, and lunch, and was punctuated with a grand Havdalah service. Some venues had special invited speakers, while at Adat Yeshurun in San Diego, Shai Abramson, the chief cantor of the IDF and the IDF choir, sang new and familiar melodies which lifted the words of the prayers and wafted them through the air to the hearts of each of us.
“For me the most amazing and beautiful aspect was the coming together of so many Jews, all of us from different backgrounds and with different views,” said Rissman. “It was so very special to sense the oneness of a people sometimes so apparently divided. This unity is our greatest strength. The respect and acceptance of differences is a model for each of us to strive for. Without it there is no peace, no wholeness, things I think each of us needs and wants.”
Obviously such a mass undertaking—with dinner offered free to all—required underwriting, and while Isakow declined to state for the record how much the proceedings cost, he was quick to complement the Leichtag Foundation, which was the lead sponsor of the events.
Other major contributors included the San Diego Private Bank, which Isakow heads; his wife Hilary, with whom he made a separate contribution, and the Westfield Shopping Center. He noted that the community organized into various levels of giving, with numerous contributions in the $5,000; $2,500 and $1,000 ranges.
To prepare for similar celebrations next year after the High Holy Day season (when synagogues have an opportunity to promote the events to their congregants), a Shabbat San Diego Fund has been established at the Jewish Community Foundation, which will accept donations.
The success of the fund will be one measure of the success of the Shabbat San Diego weekend, said Isakow. Another will be “the feedback we get from the various congregations” and a third will be whether attendance increases at Shabbat San Diego in 2015.
Somewhat shy about being spotlighted, Isakow told an interviewer that while he was involved in structuring the event, the real credit should go to the “volunteers and the participants who made the whole thing successful.”
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishowrld.com
Selwyn Isakow wrote: Don:Thank you so much for the excellent article. I really appreciate the outstanding job you did and loved the way you integrated Marlene’s comments. I probably neglected to emphasize enough that the success of the Shabbat Dinner program was due to the efforts of Felicia Mandelbaum, Claire Ellman and Sharleen Wollach. Also Stacey Katz and Hilary Isakow Chaired the successful Challah Bake and Tamara Klein and Rashel Galicot Chaired the incredible Havdalah Celebration. Brad Slavin and Steve Shulman were the geniuses behind the technology on the website and social media marketing campaign. These were the real heroes of Shabbat San Diego together with the incredible efforts of Robyn Lichter, the volunteers and participants.
Thanks again,Selwyn.