Obituaries & memorials

Theodore Bikel’s Songs to Be First in JCC’s ‘Beloved Voices’ Series Feb. 22

I will be hosting the program, and my special guest will be Aimee Ginsburg Bikel, who was Theodore Bikel’s wife during the last years of his life and founder and director of the Theodore Bikel Legacy Project. The songs were selected to illustrate Bikel’s vast range and the large number of his recordings in our Astor Judaica Library.  [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, International, Israel, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego Calendar, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Our Shtetl San Diego County: Jewish Community Foundation’s Leadership Transition

Beth Sirull completes her tenure as CEO of the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego on March 15, when she will be succeeded by Jeremy Pearl, who currently is the foundation’s chief financial officer. [SDJW Staff]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, California, Israel, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Travel and Food, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

Our Shtetl San Diego County: Focus on Education

San Diego Unified School District Board President Shana Hazan and Heather Ferbert, a candidate for San Diego City Attorney, held a joint news conference on Wednesday, pointing out that three great dangers jeopardize the health and safety of public school students. These are 1) Teen Dating Violence; 2) Child Abuse; 3) Weapons brought to schools. [SDJW staff]

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Antisemitism, California, Israel, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Travel and Food, USA

Our Shtetl San Diego County: Snapshots of Antisemitism at Local Universities

The chairman of the University of California Board of Regents, Rich Leib, who is a San Diego County resident, disclosed to Sunday’s symposium on antisemitism cosponsored by the Jewish Federation of San Diego and the American Jewish Committee that the stands he has taken against antisemitism has prompted 120 groups to call for his resignation. “I can say that is not going to happen,” he declared during a panel session on campus antisemitism. [SDJW staff]

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Antisemitism, California, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Our Shtetl San Diego County: Local Volunteers Fly to Israel to Pick Fruit

Lauren Lizerbram of Rancho Santa Fe, the First Lady of Jewish National Fund-USA, extols the experience she had on a 4-day volunteer mission picking fruit at a kibbutz 3.7 miles from the Egyptian border.  The wife of JNF-USA President Sol Lizerbram noted that Thai workers are no longer available in southern Israel, site of the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas terrorists.  “The farmer said he would have absolutely lost his entire crop if it wasn’t picked,” she reported.  “And this was only one farmer.  There are many farmers like him.” [SDJW staff]

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Israel, Obituaries & memorials, Philanthropy & Volunteerism, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

Our Shtetl San Diego County: Rose Schindler’s Hologram Addresses Students

In technology similar to that seen at such presidential museums as the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, the Schindler family has preserved the memory of the late Holocaust survivor Rose Schindler by creating a hologram of her that can answer questions from students or other audience members. [SDJW staff]

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Holocaust, Israel, Jewish History, Lawrence Baron, Middle East, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Shanda File, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Our Shtetl San Diego County: Academy Award-Nominated Short to Screen at SD International Jewish Film Festival

The 17-minute Letter to a Pig, a nominee for an Academy Award as the Best Animated Short Film, will be screened at 7 p.m., Monday, Feb. 5, at the San Diego International Jewish Film Festival. [SDJW staff report]

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California, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Ken Stone, Obituaries & memorials, Opinion, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Mary Weiss, singer of hit-making The Shangri-Las, dies at 75

Published by New York Daily News Mary Weiss, the Queens-born lead singer of the hit-making 1960s girl group the Shangri-Las, has died at age 75, her representative confirmed. A cause of death was not released for Weiss, whose New York-bred band is known for songs such as “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” and the chart-topping

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Jewish Celebrities, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Nordot, Obituaries & memorials, USA

Our Shtetl San Diego County: Groundbreaking Tuesday for Jacobs Performing Arts Center at Liberty Station

Mayor Todd Gloria will speak at groundbreaking ceremonies Tuesday, Jan. 23, for the future Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center that will be built at Liberty Station in a renovated Naval Building 178. [SDJW Staff Report]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, California, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials, Philanthropy & Volunteerism, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Our Shtetl San Diego County: Leaping Into Marriage?

Have you ever met a couple who say, with a smile, that this is their tenth wedding anniversary, but in actuality have been married 40 years.  They are not lying, just bending the truth a little bit.  These are the couples who were married on February 29, which comes around only once in four years — the leap year. [SDJW staff]

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Holocaust, Israel, Lifestyles, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Our Shtetl San Diego County:  Israel-bound Rabbi ‘Zucky’ Returns to San Diego

Zuckerman’s last trip to Israel was in October.  On that occasion, he visited an IDF reserve unit near the Lebanese border, which had no trucks to move around the reservists’ gear. He promptly contributed $2,000 for the unit to purchase a trailer for hauling its equipment. [SDJW staff]

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Antisemitism, Holocaust, Israel, Jewish Religion, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, The Arts, The World We Share, Travel and Food, USA

Our Shtetl San Diego County: Video Highlights Community’s Feb 4 Antisemitism Symposium

The Jewish Federation of San Diego and the regional chapter of the American Jewish Committee have released a video about the Feb. 4 “Standing Together” symposium on antisemitism that will bring AJC’s executive director, former Congressman Ted Deutch, and the former head of the national Anti-Defamation League, Abe Foxman, to San Diego.  [SDJW staff]

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Antisemitism, Israel, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Our Shtetl San Diego County: Israel and Arab Nations Reps. Discuss Mideast Coexistence Jan. 16

A delegation representing Israel, Bahrain, Egypt, and Morocco will discuss the Abraham Accords, the Hamas attack on Israel Oct. 7, the subsequent war in Gaza, and the prospects for encouraging “a constructive and positive way forward for Arabs and Israelis.” [SDJW staff]

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Las Vegas Standup Comic Shecky Greene Dies at 97

Published by Reuters By Rich McKay (Reuters) – Shecky Greene, a comic legend of the old-school Las Vegas lounge acts who rubbed elbows with yesteryear entertainment greats, died on Sunday, his widow told the media. His wife of 41 years, Marie Musso Greene, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that her husband, born Fred Sheldon Greenfield

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Jewish Celebrities, Nordot, Obituaries & memorials