Other items in this column include:
*Camp Mountain Chai offers auction items online
*Donors provide matching funds for Options event
* Political bytes
* Coming our way
CHULA VISTA, California –At her home in the Bonita section of this city, Leila Sherman practiced making a special challah three times so that she could demonstrate the technique on Thursday evening, Nov. 14, at the Shabbat San Diego “pink” challah bake at Beth Eliyahu Torah Center.
Her challah was not just any challah; it was pink challah shaped into a ribbon symbolizing the three-day Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Walk that would get underway in San Diego the next day, on Friday, Nov. 15.
Her technique? “First you need to make the dough pink; this is actually made with beet juice for people who don’t want food coloring.” A second ingredient, she smiled, is “love and care” along with “learning to master the flip of your wrist in order to get the ribbon look.”
Becky Krinsky, who organized the Pink Challah Bakes, both in Bonita and across the border at the Centro Social Israelita of Tijuana, said there were several reasons for merging Shabbat San Diego with breast cancer awareness.
Noting that women traditionally make the challah that Jewish families eat on Shabbat, she commented that “breast cancer affects mainly women. We all have either one person who died from cancer or we know someone who is struggling with cancer, so I think it is a beautiful idea to unite us in praying for everybody and getting both things at the same time.”
Yigal Adato, the president of the Beth Eliyahu Torah Center, which follows the Sephardic style of prayer, said the host congregation immediately got behind the idea because “it is an incredible way to memorialize Jewish women who have passed away from breast cancer; support those who currently may have it, and raise awareness for the future as well.”
Krinsky said that of the 1,800 challah bakes being held around the world, only 35 married the ideas of Shabbat unity and breast cancer awareness. In San Diego County, where there were five challah bakes under the auspices of the Shabbat San Diego organization, the one in Chula Vista was the only one to simultaneously focus on breast cancer awareness.
There were also pink cupcakes available as a special treat at the event where tables were set for 200 people in the Torah Center’s courtyard.
In addition to breast cancer symbolism, organizers arranged for the Myriad company to be on hand to offer genetic screening for anyone who believed they might be at risk for breast cancer. Insurance companies normally will cover the cost of the screening if a patient’s family has a history of breast cancer. If there is no such history, then the patient must individually bear the cost of the genetic testing, which is $300.
Dr. Mauricio Levin of Chula Vista OB/Gyn was on hand to answer questions anyone considering the test might have, and stood alongside his wife, Haya, as phlebotomist Ali Miri of Travalab drew her blood for the test.
Dr. Levin said that the breast cancer gene, known as BRACA, is ten times more common among women of Ashkenazi (European Jewish) background than among the general population. “For the general population, the chances are 1 in 400, while for the Ashkenazi, it’s 1 in 40,” he said.
Host Rabbi Daniel Srugo, wearing a Shabbat San Diego shirt for the occasion, said having Jews of different backgrounds making challah together is a beautiful thing. “there used to be a giant separation between Ashkenazi and Sephardi,” he recalled. “They wouldn’t even marry each other. Today, finally, you see many people realizing that, ‘hey, we are the same, we are exactly the same people.’
“I think the reason Jews spread all over the world was to bring the light of Judaism to all those places,” but also because “we acquired different cultures, different foods, and different tool for prayers,” he said. Challah was not known in biblical times and in countries of the Middle East, it was more common to eat pita bread than challah with Shabbat meals. But today, he said, it is not unusual to see Shabbat tables laden with the foods of both Sephardic and Ashkenazic cultures. “Every Shabbat, I have cholent, gefilte fish, and Sephardic food as well,” the rabbi added.
His Chabad colleague, Rabbi Mendy Begun of Chabad of Chula Vista, commented that whenever Jews get together for something that is positive, it creates “an energy that is very positive.” He said he believes “God has the greatest pleasure when the Jewish people stick together as a family.”
Shabbat San Diego continued on Friday with Shabbat dinners sponsored by various Jewish congregations and institutions around the county, as well as at family dinners to which guests were invited. On Saturday, there will be a community Havdalah service followed by an Ezzy Gluck concert at the Observatory, 2891 University Avenue, San Diego. On Sunday, the weekend of Jewish unity will continue with a morning of learning, with multiple breakout sessions, at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, 4126 Executive Drive, followed in the afternoon by presentations from Holocaust survivors Fanny Krasner Lebovits and Rose Schindler. More information may be found on this publication’s events calendar.
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Camp Mountain Chai offers auction items online
Camp Mountain Chai, the Jewish community-sponsored overnight camp in the San Bernardino Mountains, is holding its gala fundraising dinner on Sunday, Nov. 17, at the Hilton San Diego at Mission Bay. But even if you are not in attendance, you can bid on more than 70 items being offered for auction. To find out what is being offered, click on this website.
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Donors provide matching funds for Options event
The Jewish Federation of San Diego County is recruiting table captains for its “Options” event at which it hopes to gather more than 600 women for a brunch at 10 a.m., Sunday, Feb. 2, at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines.
Women who increase their previous contributions to the Federation by 10 percent or more will have that increased portion matched, up to $50,000, by Elaine Galinson.
For donors who are contributing for the first time, or who haven’t contributed in some time, a dollar-for-dollar match is offered by Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs.
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Political bytes
* San Diego City Council candidate Georgette Gomez has been endorsed in the open 53rd Congressional District race by California State Controller Betty T. Yee, who said: “As California’s Chief Fiscal Officer, I support candidates who fight for underserved communities’ fair share and work to lift up California’s working families.”
* Assemblyman Todd Gloria, a candidate for mayor, and his campaign volunteers plan to walk precincts on Saturday, Nov. 23, starting at 10 a.m. from his campaign headquarters at 10405 San Diego Mission Road. Having “pulled nomination papers” to run for the city’s top office, he and his volunteers will be collecting signatures to put him on the ballot.
Coming our way
* Liberty Station will stage a menorah lighting ceremony followed by a Chanukah celebration from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 22.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com