Other items in today’s column include:
*Chabad House at SDSU in fundraising drive
*Scenes around our county
*Political bytes
*Coming our way
*Recommended reading
SAN DIEGO — A Conservative congregation in San Diego, Tifereth Israel Synagogue, is urging members to practice caution as the coronavirus epidemic spreads across the United States. It recommended that congregants and visitors wave to each other or bump fists rather than shake hands, and also to refrain from the custom of touching mezuzahs on doorpost and then kissing their hands
A letter to congregants, co-signed by Rabbi Joshua Dorsch, congregation president David Ogul, and executive director Alissa Messian, said: “Mindful of concerns over the coronavirus and the ongoing flu season, we want to remind everyone to be vigilant about washing hands and to consider using a fist bump instead of shaking hands or a friendly wave instead of greeting each other with a hug and kiss. Please also refrain, for now, from kissing the mezuzahs on our doorposts. We have set up extra hand sanitizing stations, additional cleaning precautions are in place, and we recommend we all err on the side of caution.”
Writing “in an abundance of caution and not due to any immediate threat,” the synagogue leaders also endorsed the following recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control.
- If you feel sick or are sick, stay home from work, and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol if soap and water are not available.
- Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. If a tissue is not available, cough into your sleeve. Always wash your hands thoroughly after you cough or sneeze.
- Properly discard tissues after you use them.
- Avoid contact with people who are sick or who appear to be sick.
- If engaged, or in close contact, with someone who was recently overseas, be additionally responsible and vigilant for the possibilities of infection.
Subsequently, Beth Jacob Congregation issued a similar advisory to its congregants. It suggested:
“Don’t come to Shul if you have a fever and/ or respiratory symptoms. You must be symptom free and fever-free (without the use of fever-reducing medicines) for at least 4-hours before considering returning to Shul.”
Additionally, the Orthodox congregation advised: “Please attempt to restrict physical social contact including: handshaking, fist bumping, kissing Mezuzot and Sifrei Torah. We encourage you to greet friends and family in our community with an elbow bump and/or a wave.”
*
Chabad House at SDSU in fundraising drive
Rabbi Chalom Boudjnah of the Chabad House at San Diego State University has announced a campaign to raise $180,000 over the next 18 days. He said nearly half that amount already has been raised. “Hundreds of students and young professionals in San Diego have been impacted and inspired to … do more mitzvot, … bring Torah into their lives … visiting our home and Chabad house for meals, classes, social events, kosher meal plans, volunteering events and more.” He estimated that 10,000 meals were served by Chabad to students and young professionals this year.
*
Scenes Around Our County
At a recent “Jewish Poets-Jewish Voices” program at the Lawrence Family JCC, the emotional impact of the words of Holocaust victims was clearly evident on the faces of attendees and performers alike. Sandra Scheller, herself the daughter of now deceased Holocaust survivors (who had made their lives in the South Bay portion of San Diego County) was there with her camera.
*
Political bytes
*U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has dropped out of the Democratic presidential nomination contest, after failing to win a single state among the 14 that were at stake on Super Tuesday, including her own state of Massachusetts where she placed third. The question on political observers’ minds was whether she will now endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, or Vice President Joe Biden. Answering that question in front of her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Thursday, Warren said she wanted to “take a little time to think a little more” She added that she had thought that there was room for a candidate who was neither in the progressive wing nor the moderate wing of the Democratic party, but somewhere in between, and realizes now “I was wrong.”
*U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) created controversy and a backlash when, during a speech about preserving women’s right to choose, he said, ““I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price.” That prompted a rare rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts that such rhetoric was dangerous, followed by sharp critiques from President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Schumer responded that McConnell knew very well that his rhetoric was not intended to be threatening to the two judges, who now are hearing with the rest of the Supreme Court a case that may impact abortion rights. “I’m from Brooklyn. We speak in strong language. I shouldn’t have used the words I did. But in no way was I making a threat. I never, never would do such a thing,” Schumer said on the Senate floor amid calls from Republicans that he apologize for his comments about Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
*Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) on Thursday endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for President. She wrote: “Today I am endorsing Vice President Joe Biden for President. I believe he is the best qualified candidate and has the best chance to defeat Trump. Vice President Biden has the reservoir of experience and the lay of the land we need in a President at this consequential time. He has strong relationships across the aisle and around the globe that will put our country in the best position moving forward. He has demonstrated the ability to lead the whole of our country, to bring people together, and to have wide appeal. I did not endorse in the Presidential race before the California primary as it is my custom to let the voters be heard first. Now the field has narrowed so that we are provided with just two choices to thwart Trump. I hope that people who have not yet supported Vice President Biden will take another look now that our choices are more refined. The consequences of our November election could not be more significant, and nothing is more important for our kids and grandkids than ending the reckless and divisive Trump presidency.”
*
Coming our way
*Mesa College History Professor Jennifer Peoples Hernandez will discuss artist Belle Baranceanu and her role as a Depression-era artist , at 1 p.m., Tuesday, March 10, at the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park.
*Rabbi Scott Meltzer of Ohr Shalom Congregation leads a “brand-new” Passover celebration and lunch at noon Wednesday, April 1, at the Lawrence Family JCC, 4126 Executive Drive, La Jolla. Ticket $1`8. RSVP by March 18 via JCC Senior Adult Department at (858) 362-1136.
*Mark Silberstein, recently returned from Israel, will provide an update on developments on Israel at a bring your-own-lunch meeting at noon, Thursday, April 16, at the Lawrence Family JCC, 4126 Executive Dirve, San Diego. Ticket $10. RSVP by April 8 via JCC Senior Adult Department at (858) 362-1136.
*
Recommended reading
*The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that an earthquake measuring 6.9 or more on the Richter Scale could cause extensive damage if it occurred along the Rose Canyon Fault. We’d like people to know that although the canyon was named for San Diego’s first Jewish settler, Louis Rose, who operated a tannery there in the 1850’s, it is the Rose Canyon Fault, not Rose’s fault.
*”Guardians of Memory in the Alsace province of France keep watch on Jewish cemeteries to prevent further desecration, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
*Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim retells the Purim story in a mesora.org publication, Jewish Times magazine, utilizing Talmudic interpretations as sources. It’s a fair bet that most people will not like Vashti or King Ahashuerus any more than they like Haman in this version.
*
Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com