Other items in today’s column include:
*Temple Emanu-El Advocacy Committee urges ban on ghost guns
*Coronavirus suggestions
*Teens pitching for charity
*Political bytes
*Coming our way
*Recommended reading
*In memoriam
SAN DIEGO — Prosecutors announced on Thursday they would seek the death penalty against John T. Earnest, 20, the alleged shooter who killed congregant Lori Gilbert-Kaye at Chabad of Poway last Passover while wounding three others, including Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein. Meanwhile, Tammy Gillies, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, was telling San Diego Jewish World that the effects of that April 27 shooting rampage are still being felt throughout San Diego County.
“I think some of our institutions are taking more seriously the idea of security,” Gillies commented during an interview. “Some always have, and some not so much, but now are more on board.” Members of other religious communities are now “realizing that when we go to synagogue – when we take our kids to synagogue – we have to walk through armed guards to go, and I think that has been shocking to some other communities. I think it has raised awareness about anti-Semitism.”
Asked whether tight security sends a message to well-intentioned visitors that they may not be welcome at the synagogues, Gillies responded, “I think that you have to find the balance between security and welcoming. I don’t think it has to be either/or – that you are welcoming or you’ve got guards and security gates. I think we have to find a happy medium, but there is a responsibility for an organization to do the best it can to protect the people who are coming in.
“I think most people understand that when you are going to synagogue that there should be some type of security, whatever that institution feels, and that you will feel more secure once you are in that building worshiping. I think those are the times we are living in now. You don’t want it to be an armed camp, but also you have to take some steps to keep people safe.”
In our interview, Gillies commended local law enforcement and local elected officials for their empathetic response to the Poway shooting and to the community’s sense, in the aftermath, of its vulnerability.
“Their voice matters,” she said. “They have the bully pulpit to say that this is not what our community stands for. One of the first calls that I got was from [San Diego] Mayor [Kevin] Faulconer, asking what can we do? The police chief, the sheriff, the local FBI special agent in charge, city council people – they all understood that this level of hate crosses the line.”
She recalled that on the day of the shooting, “I was at the rabbi’s house all day,” and Poway Mayor Steve Vaus “came in with his wife while they were doing Havadalah prayers. That was a different experience for him, for sure, but he wanted to show support.
“When I walked into the command center that day and saw Sheriff [Bill] Gore and Chief [David] Nisleit and FBI Special Agent in charge {Suzanne] Turner – they looked at me and I thought they were going to cry because of the pain that you could see that they personally felt. And I was really moved by what they said, how they reacted, and how they wanted to do whatever they could to support our community.”
The after-effects of the shooting were felt even more recently when Gillies participated with Rabbi Scott Meltzer of Ohr Shalom Synagogue and Mohamed Ahmed, Ph.D., the associate chief security officer at San Diego State University, on a panel on anti-Semitism at Cal State San Marcos.
“We talked about anti-Semitism and Rabbi Meltzer and I were waiting for the questions about Israel and all that. I think there were over 100 students who attended and there was not one question about Israel. They stuck to anti-Semitism because the accused Poway shooter had been a student there and some of these folks were in classrooms with him. They were concerned about the hatred and what can we do to stop that hatred, and how to understand the roots of anti-Semitism. Not one of them conflated the Israel issue with anti-Semitism. I was really amazed and so proud of those students. That was a great conversation that we had.”
In addition to charges of murder and attempted murder, Earnest is also accused of attempting to set fire to a mosque in Escondido. “He was an equal opportunity hater,” Gillies said.
While students at that Cal State San Marcos meeting were focused on combating anti-Semitism, at other college and high school campuses, there has been an increase in the number of anti-Semitic incidents, according to Gillies.
“We see a lot of incidents of graffiti in the schools,” Gillies said. “Schools particularly are troubling to us because we just see more and more. We get complaints from parents, students, even from teachers about what is going on in the schools and they don’t know how to handle it.”
There recently was graffiti, including swastikas, at San Dieguito Academy, and a few weeks ago, speakers on the San Diego State University campus denounced Jews as “Zionist masters” over the university. After some hesitation about not interfering with free speech on campus, SDSU President Adela de la Torre issued a statement denouncing anti-Semitism.
Gillies said people who hate are feeling emboldened to publicly express such sentiments as anti-Semitism, racism, and homophobia. “It’s all kinds of people with all kinds of anger in the country, and divisiveness. It’s ‘if you don’t agree with me, then I hate you and I hate everything you stand for.’ It’s a lack of civility. Kids hear that at home and they see it on the Internet and that is what they take to school with them.”
The ADL regional director said hatred against Jews comes from both the far right and the far left of the political spectrum. In tomorrow’s column, I’ll share with you Gillies’ comments on campaigns to delegitimize Israel.
*
Temple Emanu-El Advocacy Committee urges ban on ghost guns
Apropos, but independent of the discussion with Tammy Gillies above, the advocacy committee of Temple Emanu-El has urged congregants to write to the San Diego County Fair Board to ask its members to adopt a rule at the March 10 meeting to ban the sale of “ghost guns” at the March 14-15 “Crossroads of the West Gun Show” to be held at the fairgrounds in Del Mar.
Made from kits, “ghost guns are unserialized and untraceable and are of increasing concern to law enforcement,” a letter from the committee to congregants said. “According to an ATF agent who spoke to the CBS station in San Francisco, 30 percent of guns taken into evidence in firearms trafficking cases are ghost guns.”
The committee suggested that letters be sent to the board via Donna O’Leary (doleary@sdfair.com) mentioning that “because of the reality of attacks on several U.S. synagogues, including in Poway, I have to pass armed guards simply to enter my place of worship. The availability of ghost guns in our backyard increases the risks already faced by our congregation, as well as other faith communities and schools. I urge you to ban the sale of ghost guns at the Del Mar Fair.”
*
Coronavirus suggestions
Young Israel of San Diego passed along the suggestions of virologist James Robb, MD, to its members for protecting against the coronavirus. Among them, no handshaking. Use knuckles to touch light switches, elevator buttons, and door knobs. Lift gasoline dispensers with a paper towel or disposable glove. Keep a bottle of sanitizer available at your home’s entrances, and in your car.
Meanwhile, Chabad of University City, in a report to its congregants, listed the symptoms of coronavirus that may appear between 2 and 14 days after exposure as fever, cough, and shortness of breath. The congregation urged its members to stay at home if they have any of those symptoms. “If your child is feeling at all sick, please do not bring him or her the shul,” the congregation’s bulletin implored. “The health of our community, including the elderly, the babies, and pregnant mothers, depends on you.”
*
Teens pitching for charity
In a program modeled after television’s Shark Tank, Jewish teenagers will sit as potential donors to a variety of charities that deal with children with special needs or conserving and protecting the environment, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., Sunday, April 5, at the Jewish Community Foundation offices at 4950 Murphy Canyon Road.
The teens are members of the Jewish Teen Foundation (JTF) who expect to raise over $40,000 in their effort to “positively impact the future for themselves and their peers,” according to Alex Jacobs, marketing and communications officer of the Jewish Community Foundation.
“Our teens are already very passionate about helping others,” JCF’s Teen Coordinator Sarah Vigon commented. “Community support will magnify their impact and help inspire an entire lifetime of philanthropy.”
Free tickets for the event are available via this website. All contributions of any amount made in support of JTF’s missions will be tax deductible, according to Jacobs.
*
Political bytes
*As of 5 p.m. Friday afternoon, with the Registrar of Voters still counting mail-in and provisional ballots in San Diego County, here is how matters stood in races of particular interest.
–50th Congressional District – In the race to succeed convicted former Congressman Duncan Hunter, a Nov. 3 runoff between two candidates of Arab background was increasingly likely. Ammar Campa-Najjar, a Democrat whose father is Palestinian and mother Mexican, was the top finisher, with 46,917 votes for 36.07 percent of the total. In second place was former Congressman Darrell Issa, a Republican who is of Lebanese descent, with 30,326 votes or 23.31 percent. In the unofficial count, he was widening his lead over Republican Carl DeMaio, a radio host and former San Diego City Councilman, who had 27,181 votes or 20.9 percent.
–53rd Congressional District – In the race to succeed retiring Congresswoman Susan Davis, Democrat Sara Jacobs had 40,280 votes for 29.49 percent of the total followed by Democrat Georgette Gomez, the president of the San Diego City Council, with 26,821 voters for 19.64 percent of the total. The next highest finisher in the 15-candidate field was Republican Chris Stoddard with 19,007 votes or 13.91 percent.
–78th Assembly District – In the race to succeed Assemblyman Todd Gloria (who is running for mayor of San Diego), City Councilman Chris Ward had 48,131 votes or 57.71 percent, and Sarah Davis, a fellow Democrat, had 21,620 votes or 25.92 percent. The only other candidate in that race, Democrat Micah Perlin, trailed with 13,654 votes or 16.37 percent of the total.
–In the 3rd District race for the County Board of Supervisors, incumbent Kristin Gaspar had 55,042 votes or 44.67 percent, and Terra Lawson-Remer had 37,651 votes for 30.56 percent. Escondido City Councilwoman Olga Diaz was third with 30,529 votes or 24.78 percent. Gaspar is a registered Republican, and her two challengers are Democrats.
–In the race for Mayor of San Diego, Todd Gloria had 101,856 votes or 41.27 percent of the total, compared to Scott Sherman’s 59,907 votes for 24.27 percent of the total, and Barbara Bry with 57,888 votes or 23.45 percent. Three other candidates in the race divided the balance of votes, with none receiving over 6 percent. Gloria and Bry are registered Democrats, and Sherman is a Republican.
–The 5th District San Diego City Council race is so close that continued counting saw a change in position between Joe Leventhal who led in Tuesday’s semi-official results, and Marni Von Wilpert, who is the current leader in the ongoing ballot counting. She had 13,262 votes for 39.80 percent of the total, while Leventhal had 12,679 votes for 38.05 percent. Isaac Wang and Simon Moghadam were the other two candidates in that race.
*In the Democratic presidential race meanwhile, Michigan’s Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden ahead of Tuesday’s election in her state.
*
Coming our way
Conductor David Amos of the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra, who has also conducted professional symphonies around the world, will share stories of musicians and orchestras he has known, including the Israel Philharmonic, at a lecture at 7 p.m., Sunday, March 15, sponsored by the Tifereth Israel Synagogue Men’s Club, at 6660 Cowles Mountain Blvd. Admission is $10 via this website.
*
Recommended reading
Jewish Business News reports that doctors at Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikva removed a lung from a patient’s body, thoroughly cleaned it, and reinserted into the patient. Thank you for the recommendation, Ellen Zyroff.
*
In memoriam
*Bernard Daniel Friedman, 93, died March 5. Funeral services will be conducted at 1 p.m., Sunday, March 8, at the Arlington Cemetery, 201 Mt. Vernon Highway, in Atlanta, Georgia, it was reported by Am Israel Mortuary
*Lila Boskoff Jacobson, 96, died Friday, March 6. Her funeral will be conducted by Rabbi Eli Fradkin of Chabad of Coronado at 10 a.m, Sunday, March 8, at El Camino Memorial Park, 5600 Carroll Canyon Road, San Diego.
*
Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com