Items in this column include:
*Local businessmen fly to Bahamas to help victims of Hurricane Dorian
*Councilmembers Bry and Campbell often find common ground
*San Diegans will host IDF veterans as they sort out combat memories
*Bible Players to enliven services this weekend at Tifereth Israel Synagogue
Local businessmen fly to Bahamas to help victims of Hurricane Dorian
SAN DIEGO – Israeli-Americans Yaron Lief and Eyal Rubin, respectively the CEO and vice president for reconstruction of Orange Restoration, were flying on Wednesday to the Bahamas, where they will join a team from the Israeli NGO smartAid to help various agencies set up portable, solar-powered electrical charging station. In the wake of the destruction wreaked by Hurricane Dorain, the San Diego duo also will provide mobile Walkie Talkies, WiFi Hotspots and Ceullar Hotspots to facilitate communication between workers on the ground and their headquarters.
Orange Restoration is a San Diego-based company that helps restore properties damaged by fire, water, or mold. The company has engineered solar-paneled charging stations and other equipment for use in disaster areas, and also has been collecting supplies for distribution to people whose homes were destroyed by the hurricanes including individual water purification systems, solar flashlights, and solar lighting systems. In response to a request, they also are shipping to the Bahamas several pallets of feminine hygiene products, which are not now available.
Bobby Lipton, marketing vice president for Orange Restoration, said that Lief “has a background working with the Israeli government responding to disasters, and smartAid called him to help with their project.”
Having participated in relief work following other disasters, what Lief and Rubin found, according to Lipton, “is that the first wave of people who come in have communications and power issues. They may need power generators for their phones and computers. What they have engineered is bringing in these solar-paneled batteries for energy, that permit these organizations to power their walkie talkies and communication systems.”
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Councilmembers Bry and Campbell often find common ground
Barbara Bry and Dr. Jen Campbell sit next to each other on the San Diego City Council dais and the two Jewish members tend to agree on issues and candidates.
For example, they voted on Tuesday with the majority in a 7-2 City Council decision to enter a pact with other cities to compete with San Diego Gas & Electric in the purchase and sale of energy.
Campbell and Bry also were among a 5-4 majority that voted to impose affordable housing requirements on developers of new rental units. The ordinance requires 10 percent of the units to be leased to families earning half the median income or less for a family of four, or lease 15 percent of the units to families earning 80 percent of the area median income.
Bry and Campbell also are on the list of people who have endorsed Marni von Wilpert in the 5th City Council District, along with former City Councilwoman Marti Emerald, State Senate President pro tempore Toni Atkins, and Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez.
Von Wilpert, a deputy city attorney who previously served in the Peace Corps in Botswana and as an attorney for the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, has also been collecting endorsements from employee organizations, the latest being the Municipal Employees Association of San Diego.
Other organizations that have endorsed her include the San Diego Firefighters Association and San Diego Labor Democrats.
Among her declared opponents in the 5th City Council district, which runs along the Interstate 15 corridor, is attorney Joe Leventhal, a former member of the city’s Ethics Commission.
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San Diegans will host IDF veterans as they sort out combat memories
Howard Feldman and Nina Brodsky have taken on responsibilities as co-chairs of POM (Peace of Mind) San Diego, a support group that provides a place outside of Israel for former members of the same IDF units to reflect upon their past experiences guided by two Hebrew-speaking therapists.
The first such session on the U.S. West Coast will be hosted in December by Chabad of Carmel Valley, according to Feldman, owner of Pioneer Security Services which provides clients with alarms, cameras, and other security devices to protect their premises.
For security reasons, the actual meeting place for the former IDF soldiers will be kept confidential, Feldman said. Arrangements are being made for the 20 former soldiers and their therapists to stay with host families, two former soldiers to a home. Nitay Gold, an Israeli now living in San Diego has written a column for San Diego Jewish World, telling what a session was like that he attended in Canada. His story is linked here.
Feldman said he and Brodsky are hoping to interest five other area synagogues in sponsoring the soldiers of other IDF units, explaining that “there are 127 IDF units waiting in line,” and philanthropists have offered to match up to 50 percent of the $65,000 cost-per-unit through 2020.
Anyone interested in joining POM San Diego is invited to contact Feldman via his email or by calling him at his office at 619 307-3400.
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Bible Players to enliven services this weekend at Tifereth Israel Synagogue
Aaron Friedman and Andrew Davies, comedians who perform together as The Bible Players, will be featured guests at Tifereth Israel Synagogue during its artists-in-residence weekend named for the late Abraham and Anne Ratner. The Bible Players will provide Torah comedy at 7 p.m. Friday night following 6:15 p.m. Kabbalat Shabbat services; at morning Shabbat services on Saturday, Sept. 21, and on Saturday night with a resh-rated performance prior to Selichot services. In addition, Barry Magen, representing Rosenstein Arts, will show through the weekend art pieces by Mordechai Rosenstein, which will go on sale after Shabbat. For more information, contact the synagogue at 619 697-6001.
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com