By Eileen Wingard
LA JOLLA, California — The Gotthelf Gallery, with its current exhibit, The Art of Aging, will be the setting for the Thursday, May 2, 7:00 p.m. Jewish Poets—Jewish Voices evening.
Three senior Jewish Poets will be featured, Janice Alper, Chana Givon (read by Ellen Zyroff) and Dr. Irvin Jacobs. Following the hour of presentations, there will be a half hour of open mic, when audience members are encouraged to share poetry about aging. The evening will conclude with a reception.
Of the three featured poets, two reside in San Diego and one used to live in Los Angeles. Her poems will be read by her friend, San Diegan, Ellen Zyroff, professor and information scientist.
Janice Alper is a retired Jewish educator and communal worker. She was a recent presenter at the JCC, telling about her travels in Russia, as part of JLearn’s Tapestry. She is compiling essays about her early years in her grandparents’ Orthodox Jewish household in Brooklyn, and writing poetry, reflecting the world around her.
She frequently chants Torah at Beth El and at the Saturday Minyan at Beth Israel, and she serves as a docent at the Birch Aquarium.
Chana Givon, a native of New York City, composed songs and poems before she could read and write. She lived in Los Angeles during the Sylmar earthquake, which inspired her children’s book in rhyme, “We Shake in a Quake.” In 2003, she joined her two daughters and their families in Israel, where she served as a volunteer for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and is the Israel co-chair of the Unity Coalition for Israel, a Christian support group in the US.
After retiring from medicine, Dr. Irvin Jacobs began writing poetry in a poetry course at SDSU, while pursuing an MFA degree in Creative Writing. His articles were published in the San Diego Jewish Press Heritage and in the San Diego Jewish Journal. He is a native of Ambridge, Pennsylvania. In San Diego, he served as Chief of Medicine at Grossmont Hospital, Alvarado Hospital, and College Park Hospital, where he was also Chief of Staff. A member of Beth El, he gives regular Torah Droshes to the Thursday morning Minyanaires.
There is no charge for this evening, which features poets of our region. RSVP is recommended because of
tightened security. Kindly respond online at: lfjcc.org/poetry.
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Wingard is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. She may be contacted via eileen.wingard@sdjewishworld.com