Other items in this column include:
*Jewish organizational news
*Political bytes
*In memoriam
SAN DIEGO — Police reported on Friday that they had arrested a 14-year-old boy in connection with an attack on Saturday, Oct. 10. in which Rabbi Yonatan Halevy of Kehillat Shaar Hashamayim was clobbered on top of his head by an assailant who then rode off on his bicycle. The 31-year-old rabbi, whose Sephardic congregation is engaged in education as part of a Shiviti movement, was knocked down but not seriously hurt. At the time, Halevy was walking on Governor Drive in University City with his father, a stroke victim in his late 60s. The father was not assaulted.
The juvenile who allegedly committed the attack was booked into juvenile hall and charged with assault and battery and committing a hate crime. Halevy had told San Diego Jewish World that the assailant laughed as he rode his bike away and said something about white power. Because he is a juvenile, police did not provide the name of the suspect.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported on Saturday, Oct. 17, that the commanding officer at the Police Departments Northern Division, Matt Novak, acknowledged through a spokesman that “the initial response could have been better.” Halevy previously had told San Diego Jewish World that the responding officers on Oct. 10 had told Rabbi Halevy that there was nothing to be done about it. The U-T quoted Novak as saying: “Going forward, we will be having discussions and possibly training with officers to help them better understand and better respond to incidents like these.”
Tammy Gillies, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, commented that a physical attack on a rabbi is not just against him personally, but sends a hateful message to the entire Jewish community. “That is the double impact of a hate crime,” she told the Union-Tribune.
“We are grateful to local law enforcement for their diligence in investigating this crime,” Carly Gammill, director of the StandWithUs Center for Combating Antisemitism, messaged. “It is our hope that he will come to see that hate serves no one, and that this is a time to come together and build up our communities rather than trying to tear them apart.”
Yosef Condiotti, Executive Director of StandWithUs San Diego added, “We continue to stand with Rabbi Halevy and the local community against the bigotry of antisemitism. We are also hopeful that the teen responsible will take this as an opportunity to see the error of his ways and, rather than continue to spread hatred, become a part of the solution to the societal disease of antisemitism.”
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Jewish organizational news
(In alphabetical order)
*American Jewish Congress has issued a “Jewish Guide to U..S. Politics” telling of various candidates and their positions. It may be accessed via this website.
*American Technion Society will present Technion students Polina Bronov and Shimon Sheba, who traveled to San Diego last February, in a Zoom cast telling about their research and about the changes Covid19 has wrought in Israel since they have returned. Register via this link.
*Americans for Peace Now has condemned plans to build 5,000 new homes in Judea and Samaria. APN’s President and CEO Hadar Susskind said: “Every brick laid in a West Bank settlement is another obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peace. The wholesale approval of thousands of housing units makes a mockery of the Israeli government’s claims that it is extending its hand in peace to Israel’s Palestinian neighbors. Normalization with Gulf states means nothing when the government of Israel normalizes the occupation. But the responsibility for sabotaging peace and Israeli democracy rests not only with the government of Israel but also with the Trump administration, which has legitimized the settlements and the occupation, and has granted Israel a green light to intensify both.”
*AMIT in conjunction with the Anti-Defamation League will present “a multifaceted, virtual discussion on anti-Semitism and education” at 6 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 29. More information is available via this website.
*Camp Mountain Chai will dedicate via internet a new Ark and Eternal Light in honor of Ed (z”l) and Rae Samiljan, co-founders of the camp, at 12:45 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25. Register via this website.
*The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, better known as the Claims Conference, has come to an agreement with the German government to increase payments to Holocaust survivors. According to a spokesperson, “The most recent negotiations resulted in two supplemental payments, each of €1,200 (approximately $1,400), for Jewish Nazi victims eligible for the Hardship fund. The payments will be made in each of the next two years for a total of €2,400 ($2,800) and the payments will become effective as of December 1, 2020.” More information via the Claims Conference’s website.
*Israeli American Council is petitioning the State Board of Education and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who vetoed an ethnic studies program opposed by many Jewish groups, to make certain that when the next version comes along, that he “put in safeguards to make sure our public education doesn’t become hostile and discriminate against students because of their ethnic background.” More information via this link.
*National Council of Jewish women, Jewish Women International and Hadassah plan to cooperate at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow (Friday) in an event to welcome Shabbat and to stress the importance of voting. The online event, for which you may register here, will feature remarks by Debra Messing, Jaclyn Friedman, Abby Stein, Maharat Rori Picker Neiss, Rabbi Sandra Lawson, Rabbi Mira Rivera, and Rabbi Isaama Goldstein Stoll.
*The World Zionist Congress, to which delegates were elected from Israel, the United States and other countries around the world, will meet by Internet Oct. 20-22 to decide how approximately $1 billion per year will be spent on a variety of Jewish priorities. Rabbi Jeremy Gimbel of Congregation Beth Israel is an elected delegate from San Diego representing Reform Judaism.
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Political bytes
*Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) is now in the last months of her tenth and final term of office prior to her retirement. But that doesn’t mean, she’s lost interest or has stopped fighting for what she believes in.
She’s endorsing candidates for public office — the latest being Marni von Wilpert in the San Diego City Council’s 5th District — and she’s pressing the U.S. Senate to adopt a measure which she successfully steered through the House of Representatives to aid military families put food on their tables.
She spoke during a Zoom briefing on Wednesday that was sponsored by Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger and the National Military Family Association.
“We see military families lining up in food banks across the country,” the congresswoman said. “This is something we have the power to change. This is so important to these families and we have to get it right. We can’t let military families suffer.”
The problem is that when the federal government computes who is eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) it includes housing allowances as income — making many military families ineligible for federal food relief in the form of food stamps that may be used in lieu of cash at supermarkets.
So, instead, dependents of enlisted personnel line up at food banks such as those operated by Jewish Family Service at Camp Pendleton and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
MAZON President and CEO Abby J. Leibman said no American – and especially those serving our country – should be forced to choose between feeding their families or paying for necessities. “Those who serve in the military should not need help from a food pantry on a regular basis,” she said.
Preoccupied now with the confirmation process of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, it’s an open question whether the U.S. Senate will bother itself with the welfare of the families of the armed forces personnel who put their lives on the line to protect our country.
* On television commercials and in a flurry of news releases, candidates are leveling charges and counter-charges against each other, not only in the presidential race but here at the local level.
53rd CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT — San Diego City Council President Georgette Gomez says the most recent contributions report filed by her opponent Sara Jacobs indicates that only $78,747 was contributed by “real people” whereas more than $1.6 million came from Jacobs’ trust fund, bringing her self-funding to $4.6 million. In the same news release, Gomez also attacked Jacobs for her personal investments, noting that include energy and fossil fuel companies, banks, and pharmaceutical companies.
SAN DIEGO MAYORAL RACE — Assemblyman Todd Gloria has called upon NBC 7 and producer Dorian Hargrove to reveal the source of a story they later retracted that involved a forged footnote suggesting that Gloria was the promoter of the city’s ill-fated purchase of the building at 101 Ash Street, which still can’t be used because of asbestos and other construction problems. “This false news story based on a forged footnote has immeasurably impacted Todd Gloria’s campaign and benefitted his opponent,” Gloria’s campaign manager Nick Serrano stated. “Both Todd and the public deserve to know who is behind this deceptive act.” In another campaign development Gloria won the endorsement of Dolores Huerta, the co-founder of the United Farm Workers. She commented, “From increasing the minimum wage to standing up for communities like Barrio Logan against special interests, Todd has proven that he is a fighter for the people. He has the lived experience, character, vision and values to be a mayor for all of us.” Meanwhile Gloria’s opponent, San Diego City Councilwoman Barbara Bry announced she would lead a caravan from City hall to San Ysidro from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., on Sunday, Oct. 18, to promote “solutions, not empty promises.” Intended to bring Bry’s “message and vision for economic equity to a number of neighbors and neighborhoods along the way,” the caravan will include guest speakers, a taco truck, and car decorations, according to a news release.
3rd SUPERVISORIAL DISTRICT — Terra Lawson-Remer writes: “As President Trump continues to assault immigrants, people of color, LGBTQ families, and democracy itself, I am inspired to be running in one of the few races in California where voters can reject Trumpism in a meaningful way. Our current supervisor, Kristin Gaspar, is a right-wing Republican who supported Trump early in the 2016 Republican Primary and has visited his White House five times at taxpayer expense. She opposes the ACA, she is anti-choice, she opposes a ban on assault weapons, she opposes action on climate change, she opposes funding for voting access, and she has advocated against a science-based approach to the COVID-19 crisis. With a Board majority up for grabs, the results of this election will define what happens in San Diego County for years.”
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In memoriam
Noah W. Hytken, 20, died Wednesday, Oct. 14, Am Israel Mortuary reported. Graveside Funeral services will be conducted by Rabbi Chalom Boudjnah of Chabad at SDSU at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18 at El Camino Memorial Park, San Diego.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com Free obituaries in memory of members of the San Diego County Jewish community are sponsored on San Diego Jewish World by Inland Industries Group LP in memory of long-time San Diego Jewish community leader Marie (Mrs. Gabriel) Berg.