San Diego County

Israel rabbi, student visit Seacrest Village residents

I first met 18-year-old Michal Sharon in the Seacrest Village dining room as she was hopping from table to table cheerfully introducing herself. She was fresh out of high school in Israel and chose to delay her required service in the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) to spend one year in San Diego as an emissary in a new-to-San Diego program. [Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel]

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Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel, z"l, Middle East, San Diego County

‘Stay in Mexico’ policy shifts charitable focus

After the Trump Administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy was introduced in the summer, many asylum seekers were forced to stay in Mexico. While they wait for their court date, the need for shelters and other assistance in Tijuana has dramatically increased. Enter two grassroots organizations that were started in 2018 and early 2019 to support migrants in the Tijuana area. In 2018, Birdie Gutierrez, the daughter of migrant farm workers, founded Bridge of Love Across the Border and began to collect much needed items which were sent to migrant shelters in Tijuana. [Mimi Pollack]

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International, Mimi Pollack, San Diego County

Federation chips in $100,000 for JCC Maccabi Games

Board members of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County have voted unanimously to contribute $100,000 to help the Lawrence Family JCC to host the August 2-7, 2020 JCC Maccabi Games which are expected to bring to San Diego 2,000 athletes from all over the world. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Judaism, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Sports & Competitions

Walmart’s pharmaceutical mitzvah

A mildly demented and slightly disheveled gray-haired man comes to the window and says “I need to fill this prescription.” His mentally ill girlfriend blurts out he just had a heart attack and needs his blood pressure medicine filled. I overhear the technician at the window explaining to them that he does not have any type of health insurance to cover the cost of the medication.  He asks the cost and is told it $48 for a one-month supply of his potentially life-preserving drug (and this is at a community healthcare facility for the poor and indigent). [Ben Dishman, PharmD]

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San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

A freshened grinch at the Old Globe

Just as September’s high holidays are  marked by boxes of matzo ball soup on Von’s endcaps, so the annual Christmas season is heralded by  the Old Globe’s production of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The show opened last night to a full house and an enthusiastic fan base welcomed all the Whos from Whoville, Max the loyal dog, and the once-curmudgeonly Grinch who did teshuva. [Eva Trieger]

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Eva Trieger, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Chabad of Poway’s Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein retires

Never able to shake off the painful memory of having his fingers shot off by an intruder at Chabad of Poway nor of seeing congregant Lori Gilbert-Kaye murdered and two other congregants wounded, Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein has decided to retire. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Event marries Shabbat, Breast Cancer Awareness

Becky Krinsky, who organized the Pink Challah Bakes, both in Bonita and across the border at the Centro Social Israelita of Tijuana, said there were several reasons for merging Shabbat San Diego with breast cancer awareness. Noting that women traditionally make the challah that Jewish families eat on Shabbat, she commented that “breast cancer affects mainly women.  We all have either one person who died from cancer or we know someone who is struggling with cancer, so I think it is a beautiful idea to unite us in praying for everybody and getting both things at the same time.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food

‘Superstar’ rocks on Broadway

The scenic design by Tom Scutt is a construction site with bare girders  –possibly for downtown condos that few of us can actually afford. And just as many churches have foregone traditional pipe organs and choirs, the traditional orchestra hidden in the pit has been traded in for a rock band incorporated into the set. [Eric George Tauber]

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Eric George Tauber, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Humorous book relates teachers’ anecdotes

Many of our readers may remember Art Linkletter’s television show Kids Say the Darndest Things.  In classrooms throughout the nation, their parents say even darnder things. Just ask Cheryl Kolker and Jan Landau, longtime teachers at the San Diego Jewish Academy who have collected anecdotes from 30 of their colleagues in American public and private schools and put them all into a humorous book Teachers Have You Ever..!!@#*!! [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

San Diego gears up for 2020 JCC Maccabi Experience

The Lawrence Family JCC has been sending flyers to people throughout the county looking for athletes, artists, volunteers and donors for the 2020 JCC Maccabi Experience, in which over 400 San Diego County teen athletes and artists will become part of a competition among 2,200 teens from throughout the world from Sunday August 2 through Friday, August 7. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Bruce F. Lowitt, Donald H. Harrison, International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Sports & Competitions, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Seacrest gala to support financially needy residents

Gala Co-Chairs Mary Epsten and Alana Ziman, and Honorary Chairs Sheila and Jeffrey Lipinsky along with an expected 400 guests, will gather on Saturday, February 22, at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla for the Legacy of Light and Love Gala, honoring the legacy of our San Diego Jewish community. It will be a spectacular night featuring a cocktail reception, live auction, 3-course dinner, electrifying entertainment by The Dancing Fire, and dancing to Spencer and his Players! [Seacrest Village press release]

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Lifestyles, San Diego County

Tzipi Livni remains optimistic about Mideast peace

The former foreign minister said that it was during the Second Lebanon War that she realized that there could be no military solution to Israel’s troubles with its neighbors, only a political one.  She said when the terrorist group Hezbollah attacked settlements in the north of Israel, she was urged by then U.S. Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice to prevent her country’s military forces from destroying the duly constituted Lebanese government while retaliating against Hezbollah. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Survivors’ descendants, youth, to carry on Holocaust education

There is a continuing focus on Holocaust education in the county, with the Lawrence Family JCC and the J Company Youth Theatre announcing a planned “Remembrance Reading” at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the JCC, and second-generation Holocaust educators Sandy Scheller and Sonia Fox-Ohlbaum pledging to take to schools the concentration camp uniforms their family members had been forced to wear. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Business & Finance, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast