Other items in this column include
*Political bytes
*Coming our way
*Recommended reading
SAN DIEGO – Four months before their 50th anniversary, Rachel and Jerry Levens renewed their wedding vows in a backyard ceremony officiated by Rabbi Joshua Dorsch, the third rabbi to serve in the pulpit of their congregation, Tifereth Israel Synagogue, since Jerry’s father, the late Rabbi Monroe Levens, retired in the 1970s.
The ceremony was moved up to a date on which most of the couple’s 20 descendants could converge on San Diego from various points in the country.
It also was moved up as a precaution in case Jerry, who is under hospice care for cancer, would be unable to attend a ceremony on their actual anniversary of May 30.
With a little help from his friends and family, Jerry walked to an outdoor chuppah, under which chairs were set up for him and Rachel to listen to the Conservative rabbi recite the blessings. As is traditional in a Jewish wedding, Rachel circled the groom to symbolize the circle of the home they built around them. The chuppah was a family heirloom, which Rabbi Levens had utilized when he conducted weddings.
Bible passages and words of wisdom—including an essay on marriage by the late Rabbi Morton Cohn of Congregation Beth Israel and Temple Emanuel—were read prior to Jerry and Rachel telling each other and about three dozen guests, of the love that had sustained them for a half century. Rachel had studied with Rabbi Cohn for her conversion to Judaism.
Jerry, 85, told Rachel, 71: “You are as dependable as the sun and the moon and like the rising and the setting of the sun and the moon, you are the pulse of my life. You bring order to my chaos, love to my days and nights, and music to my soul. You have always been by my side and you will always be at my side. I love you. Thank you for always being there.”
Rachel told of the Yin/ Yang pin which included their names on both halves. They were so different when they met, she explained. “I was younger; he was older. We were of different faiths. I had never been married before; he had been married before. He had children; I didn’t have children at the time. We were so different that we would sometimes just be amazed that we had come together.”
For them, she said, Yin and Yang symbolize “the lightness and the darkness, the good and bad, the ups and downs, and all the different experiences that one has in life.”
During their careers, Rachel had served as a municipal purchasing agent, working at different times for the cities of National City and La Mesa. Jerry, trained in piano at the Juilliard School in New York City, had a varied career including teaching economics at several colleges, serving as administrator of convalescent homes, owning a deli and catering company, and serving as an academic consultant to the Harcourt Brace publishing house.
The couple has six children, eight grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.
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Political bytes
*San Diego City Councilwoman Barbara Bry has reported raising $849,139 from 2,856 individual donors in her campaign for mayor. “Unlike two of my opponents [Assemblyman Todd Gloria and City Councilman Scott Sherman], I can’t use loopholes to funnel large PAC and corporate contributions through political party machines [Democratic and Republican County Committees] to support my campaign. And unlike one of my opponents [Gloria], I didn’t set up a committee pledging under penalty of perjury to run for re-election to the state Assembly after I’d already announced I was running for Mayor, providing yet another loophole to get around the city’s prohibition on accepting special-interest PAC and corporate contributions. [Bracketed material from San Diego Jewish World.]
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*District Attorney Summer Stephan and 3rd District County Supervisor Kristin Gaspar say that “human trafficking is the second largest underground economy in San Diego County with an estimated $1 billion dollars in yearly revenue. Our children are being lured into this depraved world through new and innovative means and unfortunately some of our state laws are restricting investigators from going after the predators.” Gaspar, running for reelection in the 3rd county supervisorial district, says local, state, and federal jurisdictions should come together in a unified approach to protect children from being trafficked and exploited.
*Terra Lawson-Remer, a candidate for the 3rd County Supervisorial District, has scheduled a $135-per-person fundraiser from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 23 at a Solana Beach location. Among members of the host committee are former Port Commissioner Laurie Black and Rancho La Puerta and New Americans Museum founder Deborah Szekely. Reservations via this website.
*5th District County Supervisor Jim Desmond reports that last Tuesday, “the Board of Supervisors passed a comprehensive board policy to address homelessness in the unincorporated area of the County. This allowed immediate action to provide temporary housing to those living in parks or on the street in the East County. This action was necessary as current law prohibits moving the homeless without offering shelter. In East County, staff will identify properties for safe and temporary relocation options where wrap around services may be provided. It also directed County staff to review all County-owned land to be used for housing – transitional to permanent in North County and East County, as well as exploring modular housing that can be available in months rather than years. Finally, it directed staff to review how law enforcement can best facilitate moving the homeless out of public places, environmentally sensitive habitat and extreme fire danger areas and creating greater leverage with homeless court.
*Former Congressman Duncan Hunter, who pleaded guilty to misappropriation of his campaign funds and resigned from the 50th Congressional District, would not be able to collect a congressional pension later in his life under a bill introduced by two Democrats, Josh Harder of California and Max Rose of New York. Times of San Diego contributing editor Ken Stone quoted Rose as saying: “Serving in Congress is a privilege, not a right. If you’re corrupt and break the law, you don’t deserve a taxpayer-funded pension. In order to regain the trust of the American people, we need to act as true public servants, not entitled criminals.”
*State Sen. Brian Jones, R-Santee, a candidate in the 50th Congressional District, has offered a three-point program for increasing housing starts in California, now that SB50 requiring densification throughout the state has been defeated in the state Senate. His program: 1) Abolish the $10,000 forced solar power mandate on every new home – if someone wants to get solar and can afford having $10K added to the price of their home, fine, but if not, our nanny state government should not be forcing the extra cost on every California family. 2) Reduce (or eliminate) some of the many fees on home buyers and home builders that keep rising, which in turn keeps forcing the cost of buying a home higher and higher. 3) Reform CEQA so that long-planned residential communities get an expedited review through the environmental and judicial process. Democrat politicians routinely do this for billionaire sports team owners and millionaire players for their palaces so why not do this for the hardworking California family looking to buy a home?
*Former San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio has outraised former Congressman Darrell Issa in the race in the vacant 50th Congressional District. According to a news release from DeMaio, Issa has raised $818,735 while DeMaio has raised $2,148,208. DeMaio said over 31,000 contributors helped him reach that total.
*U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, himself a Democratic candidate for President, has sent out a fundraising letter in behalf of San Diego City Council President Georgette Gomez, who is running for Congress in the 53rd CD from which Susan Davis is retiring.
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Coming our way
*A class in Yiddish for Beginners, taught by the Yiddish Academic and Arts Association of North America, will be held at 11 a.m., Sunday, Feb. 2 at 5225 Fiore Terrace, San Diego. Five classes will follow at 2 p.m. on subsequent Sundays. Fee per class is $15; for the series $70. Reserve via this email.
*Temple Emanu-El, 6299 Capri Drive, holds a Miami Vice Casino Night in support of its Price Family Preschool at 8 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 8. A $60 ticket includes dinner and open bar. Reserve via this website.
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Recommended reading
*Israel Resource Review reports British MP Robert Halfon has raised objections to Palestinian textbooks that teach it is “honorable” to kill Israelis.
*The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University has published a piece by Moshe Dann, PhD, recommending an alternative Mideast peace plan: Recognizing Jordan as a Palestinian state.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com