Other items in today’s column include:
* Political bytes
* Recommended reading
SAN DIEGO – Mathematics tell us that Rabbi Ralph Dalin, San Diego’s Jewish community chaplain, has approximately as much chance of winning a delegate spot at the World Zionist Congress as, say, the Red Sea has of splitting again. He’s 120th on a list of 137 delegates proposed by the Mercaz (Conservative/ Masorti) movement to serve on the 152-member American delegation to the Congress, which will be held in Jerusalem in October. Israel and the Jewish communities of the Diaspora also will be represented among the total of 500 delegates.
There are 15 slates competing for the American spots. Each slate will be awarded a number of delegates in proportion to the total votes the slates receive in email balloting that is going on between now and March 11. American Jews who wish to vote in the election may do so via this website.
Dalin cheerfully says that even though he is unlikely to be elected, he is honored to be nominated to the delegation, which was chosen from the ranks of various organizations within the Conservative Jewish movement. He was nominated by the Schechter Institutes, a conglomerate “which is a major Israeli educational organization with the largest MA program in Jewish studies” as well as a rabbinical seminary, and training for community chaplains. The president of the Schechter Institutes, Rabbi David Golinkin, was a classmate of Dalin’s at the Jewish Theological Seminary and is “one of the leading scholars of the Conservative movement.”
The community chaplain said that he has been a long-time supporter of the Schechter Institutes, contributing both money and ideas over the years.
The Conservative movement, known in Israel as “Masorti,” has listed eight campaign planks for the forthcoming Zionist election. They are:
1. An open pluralistic Jewish society
-
- No restrictions on the Law of Return
- Governmental respect for Conservative and Egalitarian Traditions and Policies
- Increased Funding for the Conservative’ Masorti Movement
- Strengthening the ties between American Jews and Israel
- Combating Anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism
- Achieving peace
- Supporting Israel as a democratic ally and engaged global citizen
Although Rabbi Dalin is the only San Diegan nominated on the Mercaz slate, another slate member San Diegans may recognize is Cantor Alisa Pomerantz-Boro, now of Vorhees, New Jersey, and formerly the cantor at Tifereth Israel Synagogue.
*
Political bytes
*Michael Smolens, political columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune, says somehow there is a disconnect between the messaging and the voters. He writes that a recent poll indicates that Barbara Bry is trailing with voters who agree with her and disagree with her opponents on various issues. For example, as a founder of Run Women Run, she has been an advocate for women’s issues. Yet Todd Gloria in a recent poll receives more than double the female support that Bry receives in the current mayor’s race. On the issue of housing, Bry has favored increased density in transit corridors but has opposed densifying outlying single-family neighborhoods. Nevertheless Scott Sherman outpolls her among voters for whom this is an issue, although he favors more densification elsewhere. Bry has led the fight to contain electric scooters. Yet, Gloria rather than Bry, leads among voters for whom this issue is a priority. According to Smolens, in a topsy-turvy result, voters who are on the other side of the issue—that is, those who want fewer restrictions on scooters – now favor Bry.
*Both the San Diego Union-Tribune and the Voice of San Diego have slammed former Congressman Darrell Issa for a TV commercial in which he makes a point of the fact that his opponent in the open 50th Congressional District, Carl DeMaio, is a gay man. A story by the U-T’s Charles Clark notes that the commercial includes clips of the Los Angeles Blade headline “Carl DeMaio: California’s gay GOP kingmaker” and The Hilll’s: “Gay GOP Candidate: Party Must Change.” In a separate editorial, The U-T declared “Gay-baiting is unacceptable and unforgivable.” In the Voice of San Diego coverage, the commercial was called “a vicious advertisement.” The non-profit news service also said that another part of the 30-second commercial “included a racist depiction of unauthorized immigrants as murderous gang members.” Issa, in response to the Union-Tribune, said the two headlines are part of the news record. The Los Angeles Blade, itself, is a gay-oriented newspaper.
*Sara Jacobs, candidate in the 53rd Congressional District, has received the endorsement of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Southern District Council. In reference to the several ports of Southern California, including San Diego, Los Angeles and Long Beach, Jacobs commented: “In a region with the largest port complex in the United States, ILWU’s hard-working members are a powerful economic force. In Congress, I will always fight for ILWU members and their families.”
*It wasn’t publicized in advance, but former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, who is challenging President Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, was in San Diego on Thursday. He spoke at the Bowlegged Barbecue in Mount Hope, hosted by the People’s Alliance for Justice. Fewer than a dozen people turned up, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
*
Recommended reading
*New York Jewish Week’s Sandee Brawarsky reports that Pamela Nadell’s history, America’s Jewish Women, has won the top prize of the Jewish Book Council.
*The New York Times covered ceremonies at Yad Vashem commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, speaking for survivors, said he cannot forgive.
*
Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com