Archive
The Jews Down Under~Roundup of Australian Jewish News
Compiled by Garry Fabian
Battle of the bottle
SYDNEY, 10 June – A Jewish youth organisation has come under fire for using free alcohol, purchased with thousands of dollars of communal funds, to
entice young people to participate in Jewish life. While the community continues its search for long-term solutions to the well-known disconnect between young adults and Jewish Sydney, Fusion just focuses on getting 20-somethings through the door.
“We get Jews to a function room. That is our main aim and goal and that is what they [Shalom College, which is fully funded by the Jewish Communal Appeal] are giving us money for,” Fusion coordinator Danielle Kacen said.
Fusion was established last year as a part of young Jewish group, Network, to cater for 20 to 25-year-old Jews.
“Alcohol is part of getting people, but I’m doing a good job and I’m just doing what I’ve been told to do,” Kacen added.
It is understood that there was a bar tab of more than $3000 at a recent event, Summerfest.
One participant, Leeran Gold, 20, said that while Fusion’s events are fun, there is too much of a focus on alcohol. “There was a massive bar tab at Summerfest,” she said. “I had four free drinks, which is ridiculous because of the prices of their drinks at Ravesis in Bondi.”
She added: “Most people were drinking, but not everyone got smashed.”
Gold, who has been involved with the Australasian Union of Jewish Students, Hillel and Communal Security Group, said she felt the money could be put to better use.
“When I thought about the amount of money that was spent on the bar that night, I realised it could have sent a person on an Israel program, planted 300 trees in Israel or gone towards a Magen David Adom ambulance,” she said. “When you really think about it you feel a bit silly spending the money on alcohol.”
She also felt there was too much pandering to the culture of drinking among young people. “If they spent money on live music or entertainment then I
would go because it would be fun.”
Kacen’s superior, Network director Cara Katz, disagreed that alcohol was used to attract people to functions. “We have never used alcohol to entice people to functions and Summerfest was a very successful night.”
However, the Summerfest flier (pictured) clearly depicts a large bottle of beer and promotes a “free bar tab” and “free entry”.
“The focus was to connect young Jewish people and drinking was a by-product of that,” Katz said.
When approached for a comment, Shalom Institute chief executive Hilton Immerman, who oversees the running of Network and Fusion, agreed the flier
does use alcohol to attract people.
“Personally, this is not the type of marketing that I would use to engage people but we are entrusting them [Fusion’s staff] and I will discuss this flier with them,” Immerman said.
“But if they succeeded in getting 200 young adults to this event then it is a worthwhile point.
“I think it’s obvious that we are offering companionships and a social event in the flier,” he added.
Jewish House CEO Rabbi Mendel Kastel said alcohol abuse is a problem in the community. “I find it a very sad day when Judaism and the community is
reduced to the point when the only way we can get the community together is by enticing people with alcohol,” Rabbi Kastel said. “There is a lack of
creativity, engagement and want to engage people.”
He called alcohol a form of short-term engagement because young people “come, get smashed, then go home”.
“We need to find a long term solution that keeps them engaged in the community.”
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Gaza Flotilla dominates Community body discussion
MELBOURNE, 10 June -The plenum of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria affords the opportunity for all members of the Victorian Jewish community to be informed about and to express their views on a wide range of issues of community concern.
There were three major topics of discussion at the June plenum, and a number of subsidiary matters. Unsurprisingly proceedings were dominated by the recent so called ‘peace’ flotilla to Gaza and the potential outcomes for
local Jewry. As guest speaker David Michelson of the Community Security Group noted, “While we obviously can’t control the Middle East situation, we can manage its repercussions here by strategic planning and responses.”
In his address, Michelson made the point that anti-Israel protests in Victoria were taking a decidedly more aggressive tone, with increasing calls for ‘martyrdom’ and ‘war’. Protestors were increasingly apparently Muslim, rather than the hard left who generally had constituted the majority in recent years. While the local Turkish Muslim community has largely seen as generally more moderate in its views, the flotilla issue has resulted in rallies dotted
with Turkish flags amongst the more common Hezbollah and Hamas placards.
While the danger rating was currently at 5 (6 is the maximum), Michelson observed that staying both calm and vigilant and immediately reporting
suspicious incidents were the most effective ways of thwarting potential dangers. JCCV president John Searle noted the dedication and professionalism of the CSG and asked Michelson that its members be made aware of the community’s appreciation.
The second matter that occasioned considerable interest was the continuing saga of the Melbourne’s Chevra Kadisha’s seemingly cavalier attitude to the condition of Lyndhurst Cemetery, despite numerous public complaints. As John
Searle noted, while MCK was a private organisation, it nonetheless had a moral
obligation to the Jewish community. Where it had let down the community was in the areas of accountability and transparency. Seemingly it is out of touch with the despair and anger felt by so many of its users.
John Searle advised that there had been considerable discussion, both oral and written, with the MCK trustees. Unfortunately the latter had been long on promises and short on providing outcomes. The JCCV had reluctantly brought the Australian Jewish News up to date, ‘reluctantly’ because it would have preferred a more amicable and mature process of reaching a positive
result. It remained to be seen whether adverse publicity would achieve a more fruitful outcome for the community.
Finally, plenum delegates also spent considerable time discussing the proposal for a community hub at 304 and 306 Hawthorn Road. The Jewish
community has long outgrown the latter premises (Beth Weizmann) and funding was now being sought from the State Government to develop both
properties. This proposal includes the creation of the Jewish National Library and Resource Centre of Australia (an amalgamation of various community libraries including Makor) as the centre of an expanded cultural and educational centre. In addition to the establishment of this new entity, the resultant reconfiguration would provide a state of the art Jewish Community
Centre, resulting in more Jewish community organisations being accommodated.
Part of this plan involves the relocation of the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission to Beth Weizmann where it would share joint premises with
the JCCV. This move would enable a rationalisation of resources for common fields of endeavour, particularly in the areas of anti-discrimination, research, combating racism (including antisemitism) and interfaith work/dialogue. The ADC has been the JCCV’s anti-discrimination arm for a number of years,
but its effectiveness in this regard has been limited by the organisations being housed in different locations. The provision of a ‘one-stop shop’ for these matters would create a more efficient and effective process, and greater
convenience and less confusion for users.
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Population shift sees demise of a shule
MELBOURNE, 11 June – geographical shift of congregants has led to the demise of Burwood Hebrew Congregation in Melbourne’s southern suburbs.
The 46-year-old shul, which held its services at Mount Scopus Memorial College, drew some 130 worshippers in its heyday, but could barely
summon a minyan in recent years, secretary Dr Gerald Segal said this week.
“This year our membership was down to 27. People have moved out of Burwood and district, and from Waverley. We had all that area, but there are
very few Jewish people living there now.”
Dr Segal said several of the shul’s congregants have indicated they will go to services at Auburn Road Centre, located at Bialik College.
While it has had several chazans, budgetary limitations meant Burwood synagogue has not had its own rabbi for some years, he said.
“The services were fantastic and family-friendly. Everyone always got called up. They would always make sure everyone felt involved. It’s sad to see
it end,” said Dr Segal, who joined the synagogue in 1978, at the urging of his cousins. He has been secretary for five years, serving with president Jock Orkin.
A farewell event will be held on June 27, to which the shul has invited Mount Scopus principal Rabbi James Kennard and president Lisa Kennett to
share in almost half-a-century of memories.
“We’ll have a closing ceremony and a plaque erected to say that Burwood Hebrew Congregation existed,” Dr Segal said.
The remainder of the shul’s budget will be donated to Mount Scopus College.
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Cross-border kashrut debate continues
SYDNEY, 11 June – New South Wales Kashrut Authority (KA) administrator Rabbi Moshe Gutnick has moved to diffuse tension between Melbourne and Sydney rabbis.
But he was adamant he does not regret distributing a letter, signed by 10 rabbis and the organisation’s director, in response to rumours that Sydney’s Adass Israel community would not accept the kosher status of meat prepared in the Harbour City and plans to establish a breakaway authority.
Tensions flared after, for the second time in recent months, an ultra-Orthodox Sydney family employed a Melbourne caterer under the supervision of the Melbourne-based Adass Israel Rabbi Avrohom Zvi Beck.
An Adass representative said that the family did so because catering was cheaper than Sydney kosher catering.
He added that Sydney Adass Rabbi Shalom Silberberg had agreed to oversee the food once it arrived in Sydney, although it was to be prepared in Melbourne using Melbourne kosher meat.
This sparked a cross-border war of words, with the KA responding to unconfirmed claims that the Adass family had gone with a Melbourne caterer
because it did not accept the kosher status of Sydney meat.
In addition, there was talk that Rabbi Silberberg was establishing another kosher authority.
However, the Adass rabbi refused to confirm whether that was the case, saying only that his work is in “its infant stages at the moment”.
“I really don’t want to comment,” he said. “I don’t know what is going on and I don’t want to embarrass anyone.”
Melbourne Adass Israel member Benjamin Koppel said he too was unaware if Sydney was establishing its own kosher authority.
“We only know what is in the public domain,” he said, adding that while the communities carry the same name in both states, they are autonomous.
However, this did not stop the KA examining in explicit detail the different shechitah (ritual slaughter) practices used in Sydney and in
Melbourne in its letter. They quoted a review prepared by an American rabbi into a Melbourne’s kosher meat practices.
“The OU [Orthodox Union] shechts at a maximum of 750 birds an hour per shochet, some require as low as 600 birds an hour. In Melbourne, the rabbi
found the amount being shechted was 1000 per hour!”
It said the rabbi also found chickens in Melbourne are being soaked in water at the wrong temperature.
But Koppel, who saw the rabbi’s report, said “he was very satisfied with all he saw”.
“He suggested a small number of enhancements and cost-saving measures.”
While Eric Silver from Melbourne’s Solomons Kosher Butchers – the only producer of kosher chickens in Victoria – did not return The AJN’s
calls, other rabbis said the KA letter misquoted the report.
Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant, the head of the Organisation of Rabbis in Australasia kashrut subcommittee, said he found the situation “most
disturbing and extremely disappointing”.
But Rabbi Gutnick said the KA’s letter had been taken completely out of context. “There should be absolutely no tension between Melbourne and
Sydney,” he said. “The letter was crystal clear that we hold the Melbourne rabbinate in the utmost respect. On behalf of the rabbinate of the
KA, we eat the Melbourne shechitah when in Melbourne.
“The sole purpose of the letter was to point out that those who are trying to suggest that the Sydney chickens are inferior are simply incorrect.”
He called those who have misinterpreted the KA’s letter “mischievous and misrepresenting our position”.
“Perhaps those whose agenda it is to try and say that our shechitah is not good are trying to deflect from the essential issue by fomenting discord between Melbourne and Sydney.”
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Closer links of community bodies advocated
MELBOURNE, 11 June – The Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) has confirmed its intention tophysically and metaphorically move closer to the
Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV), announcing a plan to relocate to the Beth Weizmann Community Centre.
JCCV president and ADC deputy chairman John Searle confirmed the move, saying that “the best way to work closely is to be close”.
“This is something we’ve been talking about for a considerable amount of time,” Searle announced. “The relationship we have with them is sensational, [but] it’s sometimes difficult because we are not in the same building.”
A memorandum of understanding between the two organisations means that they are already currently working closely together.
ADC executive director Deborah Stone said it is “more logical” for the two groups to also be located “close together if physically possible”.
Currently, the anti-defamation organisation is based in Caulfield South.
Changes currently underway at Beth Weizmann to introduce the Jewish Library Australia – a national library that would bring together the various collections of Jewish books that already exist within the community – means that space at
the community centre should become available in approximately six months.
Searle said that while the ADC initially positioned itself to counter anti-Semitism and racism across Australia and New Zealand, over time its evolution has seen it operate mainly in Victoria. The move closer to the JCCV would complete this transition.
“I think it is more Victorian than anything else,” Searle said, adding that in NSW, anti-defamation work is “very competently” looked after by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies.
However the chairman of ADC, Mr Tony Levy in a press release to the Jewish News firmly stated that while the ADC works for the whole Jewish
Community, and had amended its constitution for non B’nai Brith to obtain membership status in the ADC, it remained very firmly the B’nai B’rith
Anti-Defamation Commission, as a committed and proud member of the B’nai B’rith family.
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Prime Minister reaches out to Jewish leadeship
CANBERRA. 11 June – Australian Prime Minster Kevin Rudd attempted to rebuild bridges with the Jewish community last Thursday in the wake of the
Government’s comments regarding the flotilla crisis and the expulsion of an Israeli diplomat over the passport affair.
The Prime Minister, together with Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, invited six Jewish community representatives for a frank discussion about recent events.
The six, chosen personally by the PM, were Australia/Israeli & Jewish Affairs Council chairman Mark Leibler, Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Robert Goot, Zionist Federation of Australia president Philip Chester, Yachad Accelerated Learning Project convenor Helene Teichmann, Jewish Labour Forum founder Bruce Solomon, Australia Israel Cultural Exchange founder Albert Dadon and Jewish Community Council of Western Australia representative Steve Lieblich.
Joining the group for a kosher dinner in The Lodge’s dining room were MPs Michael Danby and Mark Dreyfus. “The group discussed recent developments in relations with Israel, and confirmed that the bilateral relationship was
strong, and that the Government will be pressing ahead with the next phase of the relationship,” a spokesperson for the Prime Minister said.
It was the first time a Prime Minister had invited community leaders for an intimate, private meeting since Malcolm Fraser’s invitation following the First Lebanon War broke out in 1982.
According to participants, Rudd explained the Government’s decisions and the reasoning behind those decisions. Participants then spoke in turn, expressing their thoughts on recent events.
“The dinner was an important opportunity for those present to engage in a frank, friendly and constructive exchange,” Goot said after the meeting. “The meeting was both welcome and timely and the Prime Minister’s and Foreign Minister’s positive remarks on a number of new initiatives, gives us great confidence that the relationship between the Jewish community and the Government will continue to be close and cooperative as we focus on the future.”
Those initiatives include an official visit by Trade Minister Simon Crean to Israel from July 14-17 and the receipt of an official Israeli ministerial delegation by Canberra in coming months.
The Prime Minister expressed his own wish to visit Israel for a third time, but said domestic matters were keeping him at home.
Rudd emphasised that unlike most other countries, Australia had not called for a United Nations investigation after Israel confronted the flotilla of activists trying to break the Gaza blockade.
“There was no specific singling out of Israel for condemnation, just a condemnation of violence,” Leibler reported.
Rudd also called for a greater flow of humanitarian aid into the Hamas-controlled zone, but at no time spoke in favour of the removal of the blockade, noting that it was vital Israel prevented arms shipments into Gaza.
On the matter of passport forgeries and whether or not the Australian Government was right in its decision to expel an Israeli diplomat, Leibler
admitted that Rudd and some of the other dinner guests had “a difference of opinion there”.
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Fabian is Australia bureau chief for San Diego Jewish World
Six ‘women of valor’ saluted at Jewish Arts Festival
Donald H. Harrison
By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO–Young playwrights Ali Viterbi, Leah Salovey and Sarah Price-Keating–saluted six San Diego “women of valor” in a Lipinsky Family Jewish Arts Festival production on Sunday in which they and other talented actresses portrayed the women in six successive 10-minute segments.
The composite sketch of female Jewry of San Diego celebrated spirituality, reaching out to others, and triumph over adversity, among other valorous virtues.
Celebrated were 18-year-old Emma Tuttleman-Kriegler, played by Viterbi who was a fellow student at San Diego Jewish Academy; Emma’s mother Jan Tuttleman, the incoming chair of the Jewish Federation of San Diego, portrayed by Sherri Allen; Torah High School teacher Penina Fox (Salovey); anti-hungeractivist Joan Kutner (Linda Libby); violinist Eileen Wingard (Sarah Price-Keating) and Holocaust survivvor Fanny Krasner-Lebovitz (Rosina Reynolds).
In her portrayal of Wingard, Price-Keating played a Vivaldi duet with Myla Wingard, Eileen’s real-life daughter. Additionally, Daniel Myers beautifully sang in Hebrew “Aishet Chayil,” a passage taken from Proverbs about the qualities of a “woman of valor”
“Far beyond pearls is her value. Her husband’s heart relies on her and he shall lack no fortune. She seeks out wool and linen, and her hands work willingly…”
Four of the subjects overcame adversity. Tuttleman had to raise two young daughters alone after her husband, Michael Kriegler died battling cancer. Her daughter Tuttleman-Kriegler fought off a would-be rapist while walking home from party while a junior high school student, and has become an advocate for helping people materially less fortunate than herself, both in San Diego and in Ghana. Fox was shot in the leg by a patient of her psychologist father. Krasner-Lebovitz, who was sent from her home in Latvia to a Nazi concentration camp, used to dream of sleeping again on clean sheets. She has been a leader of Hadassah in San Diego.
Fox, who rebelled as a youth against her Orthodox Judaism, eventually found herself relishing its spirituality– especially after a meaningful school trip to Israel during which she was invited home by a rebbe’s daughter to observe first hand the frumme lifestyle that Fox ultimately embraced.
Wingard,a retired San Diego Symphony violinist who now writes a column for San Diego Jewish World, found meaning in transmitting Jewish values and the great music of the world through her family and through her works.
Kutner, who founded the program at Congregation Beth Israel to collect food and feed the hungry in conjunction with St. Vincent de Paul, was celebrated for her outreach efforts.
In one story about her experiences, she shocked a homeless man by calling him “sir.” He inquired why she called him that, when everyone else thought of him as a bum. She replied that in the area where they were, he always had acted like a gentleman–and therefore deserved to be treated as such. Students who accompanied Kutner later told her that short conversation was more powerful to them than any sermon.
A European woman who also volunteered to feed the homeless studiously avoided Kutner. When she asked why, the lady said she was afraid of her because she was a Jew. She explained that she had been taught that Jews wanted to harm Christian people. Kutner suggested that the woman run her hand over Kutner’s head so as to discern for herself that Jews don’t have horns. Later, she invited the woman to visit Congregation Beth Israel. When Rabbi Michael Sternfield removed the Torah from the Ark for her to see personlly, the woman broke into tears, realizing that what she had believed were lies.
Directed and co-written by Todd Salovey, who is Leah’s father as well as the producer of the Lipinksy Family Jewish Arts Festival, “Women of Valor” was presented in The Space, an intimate U-shaped area of the Lyceum Theatre, with seats rising up from the stage below.
Proceeds from the production were earmarked for the support of Torah High School, SCY High and San Diego Jewish Academy.
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World
Imagine what hypocrites would do without Israel to condemn
By Rabbi Ben Kamin
Rabbi Ben Kamin
SAN DIEGO–Sometimes one wonders what the media, the pundits, the leftists, the Presbyterians, and most of Europe would all do if they did have not the Jews to examine and excoriate. Certainly it’s a collective straight line away from their own inexhaustible layers of racial hypocrisies, inquisitions, crusades, slave-trading, and discarding-all-principles-for-oil that comes with their parlor anti-Semitism.
Since BP (then the Anglo-Persian Oil Company) first raped that land, now called Iran, for oil in 1908, there has been a love-hate liaison with the Arabs that has manipulated the American consumer, cost the lives of the thousands of American soldiers in several business war adventures [Kuwait-Iraq-Saudi Arabia], while conveniently stonewalling our finest ally in the region, Israel, as the scapegoat for any and troubles.
For us, world history has been an oil leak, from betrayal to BP.
The current, essentially unchecked gushing of oil into the Gulf of Mexico from BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig, and the attendant destruction now wrought upon the waters, coast, wildlife, environment—not to mention the hard-working people, economy, and the future of a significant portion of the United States—remains a toxic allegory of this entire duplicity.
Millions of words of analysis and somber reflection, if not steaming chastisement, fill the pages and testimonies of the world’s press and legislative records about Israel’s bungled incident with the cynically presented “peace” flotilla. Not a lot of parallel consideration has been given to Egypt’s quiet cooperation with Israel’s arms blockade of the Hamas-locked Gaza, or to the fact that Turkey’s sudden and overwrought concern for the Palestinians does not seem to extend to their refugee camps in Lebanon, or to the fact that Jordan massacred manifold times more Palestinians in 1970 deliberately than Israel ever has in defense of its borders, or that the United Kingdom (whose academic centers practically offer anti-Semitism as a curriculum item) invented white colonialism.
Moreover, while it is invigorating that South Africa is hosting the World Cup, it is also beyond any realm of pretense for that nation to join in the knee-jerk labeling of Israel as an “apartheid” state. Such a libelous claim was again obviated when one of fourteen Arab members of the Israeli Parliament, Azmi Bishara, who was on board the raided flotilla but then addressed her fellow legislators in Jerusalem two days later (I’m not saying she wasn’t heckled). Try that same scenario in Teheran, Cairo, Damascus, or even Istanbul.
The Israeli people, feisty, democratic, weary, filled with self-awareness, though unwilling to ever give up their remarkable country, are undergoing a thorough and painful period of introspection in the wake of recent events and the larger question of this 43-year occupation of territory that followed the 1967 war forced upon them. Jews all over the world join with them in contemplation and reflection, hope and prayer.
We are not doing it because the chorus of anti-Semitism is getting louder and uglier. We are not going to suddenly capitulate on anything, however. For us, world history has been an oil leak, from betrayal to BP. So you see, it’s just that we are not going to be marched to the gas chambers ever again.
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Rabbi Kamin is based in San Diego. This article also appeared on examiner.com
Peace activists or accomplices?
By Bruce S. Ticker
Bruce S. Ticker
PHILADELPHIA — Is it just me, or did you also wonder how these “peace activists” found the free time to join the mission defying Israel’s blockade? Did you also wonder how they could afford to travel the world for this purpose?
Here’s the critical question: How could educated, compassionate people fail to sense something strange about their compatriots? How were they so incapable of figuring out the current facts of life in the Middle East before they even stepped foot on the Mavi Marmara or one of its sister ships?
These “peace activists” may be intelligent, idealistic people, but they have a stupid side. Either they could not comprehend the realities or they did not care. I can absolve the first group, but the latter group is despicable and probably anti-Semitic.
The motives of some activists merit consideration, and the Israeli government and military should not escape legitimate criticism when it emerges. Even if the military made mistakes when it intercepted the Mavi Marmara on Memorial Day, the passengers should never have pushed Israel into that position in the first place. As readers are aware, Israel said that its commandos were attacked by extremists and killed nine of them to defend themselves.
The peaceniks chose between Israel’s security and ostensibly aiding the Gazan people. Who made their choice knowingly and who genuinely misunderstood Israel’s situation?
Israel was stuck in a corner. Its leaders feared that these ships, supposed to be carrying humanitarian supplies, could be smuggling weapons and other materials that Hamas, the terrorist pack that dominates Gaza, might employ for future attacks on Israel. Hamas is pledged to Israel’s destruction and for years launched rockets into southern Israeli towns. In another act of war, Hamas persists in holding Israeli Sgt. Gilad Shalit hostage after nearly four years.
Some longtime critics of Israel were probably accustomed to assailing past misguided Israeli policies – especially, the 1982 Lebanon war and the construction and retention of settlements throughout Gaza and the West Bank. In the interim, Israel offered the Palestinian Arabs their own state in 2000; pulled out of Gaza in 2005; and mainly undertook military operations that were defensive in nature. Now Israel faces ongoing threats from terrorists in Iran, Gaza and Lebanon.
These developments have been front-page news for the last decade, so the peaceniks are hardpressed to explain how they could be so ignorant of this.
Quoting several analysts, The New York Times reported that the Free Gaza Movement, which sponsored the flotilla, is a varied coalition of groups and individuals, “often with little in common apart from opposition” to the blockade. Varied media reports said that peace activists included members of national legislatures, a writer, a physician, a retired diplomat and a retired registered nurse from Cape Cod.
Some activists sound like good people who genuinely wanted to help the needy. The nurse has helped victims of Haiti’s earthquake. Another passenger was an Irish politician whose father is a retired marine in Massachusetts who once organized opposition to the Vietnam war. Former American diplomat Edward Peck, who served in the Reagan administration, no doubt remembers the Lebanon war.
News reports suggest that the peaceniks did not trust the Israeli government to deliver the humanitarian supplies to Gaza. On top of that, I would speculate that they took into consideration that the Israeli government is controlled by a coalition of rightwing parties headed by Likud.
What they may need to understand is that Likud’s return to power directly resulted from the ongoing hostility Israel faced from the Palestinians despite its significant strides to peace. Israeli voters tend to play good cop/bad cop.
The peaceniks might not engage in violence, but they joined a flotilla filled with fanatics who would employ violence, and did. You would think the peace activists might notice signs of bizarre behavior and even spot devices that could be used as weapons.
Some years ago, when Israel announced the discovery of 90 tunnels in Rafah, the southern border town in Gaza, it occurred to me that members of the International Solidarity Movement like Rachel Corrie must have been aware of them. They probably observed weapons carried by Palestinian Arabs in the towns where they stayed. Corrie is the 23-year-old ISM member who was killed when she attempted to block an Israeli bulldozer.
Likewise, I suspect that the American and European passengers on the flotilla were aware of clues that something was amiss.
Even if the “peace activists” neither lifted a hand against the commandos nor had any idea about the intentions of extremist passengers, they still participated in an act of war simply by trying to break a blockade arranged by a sovereign nation that, whatever its lapses, was trying to protect its citizens.
For smart people, they are extraordinarily dumb.
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Bruce S. Ticker is a freelance journalist based in Philadelphia. He blogs at www.jewishconcerns.blogspot.com and can be contacted at bticker@comcast.net.
Hamlin disappoints in ‘The Jesus Hickey’
By Cynthia Citron
Cynthia Citron
LOS ANGELES–Agnes Flynn’s dad doesn’t want her to go to the embankment to neck with Seamus O’Malley. But she does anyway and Seamus, in a fit of lust, bites her on the neck. No, he isn’t a vampire, but his bite affects her as profoundly as if he were. It transforms her not into the undead, but into a saint!
So begins Luke Yankee’s sweetly charming new play, The Jesus Hickey, now having its world premiere at the Skylight Theatre in L.A. And, as the title indicates, Seamus’ bite leaves a hickey that inexplicably incorporates the face of Jesus.
Overnight, Agnes becomes a star in the small Irish town of Sligo, revered by some, feared by others, and seen as the devil’s spawn by still others. Leaving the dismayed Agnes to wail, “If I’m so special, why don’t I have any friends?”
Anastasia Lofgren plays Agnes with an appealing schoolgirl innocence and her real-life husband, Aaron Leddick, plays the somewhat goofy Seamus. Playing Agnes’ tyrannical “Da” is Harry Hamlin, thin and gray-haired but still as handsome as he was during his years on L.A. Law. But the real star of the show is Barbara Tarbuck, who plays “Grandmaire,” the tough-talking, pragmatic, and totally lovable matriarch of the house. Over the top and sometimes overly shrill, she is, nevertheless, the hilarious center of this universe, foul-mouthed and lewd and very very funny. (Sample dialogue: explaining why some townsfolk are leery of Agnes, “They’re afraid she’ll turn them into a pillar of shite.” And, attempting to talk Agnes out of her infatuation with Seamus: “It’s well known that the O’Malley’s all have wee Jolly Rogers…”)
Sadly, Hamlin is the weak link in this stellar cast. Conniving and overwrought, he shouts his lines angrily even when it isn’t necessary, leaving himself little leeway when hyper-emotion is called for. He plays a man with little warmth and even less depth, and so it’s hard to muster much sympathy for his character.
Two others in the cast provide competent cameos: Tom Killam as Father Boyle and Roddy Jessup as a neighbor, Paddy Martin. And Jeff McLaughlin has done a terrific job with the set and lighting design, as has Joanie Coyote with the costumes (Grandmaire’s gray silk suit in the second act is a smash!)
Playwright Luke Yankee serves as director for this production, produced by Gary Grossman for the Katselas Theatre Company. The play will continue at the Skylight Theatre, 1816 North Vermont, in Los Angeles, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 through July 11th. Call (310) 358-9936 for reservations.
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Citron is Los Angeles bureau chief of San Diego Jewish World
Adventures in San Diego Jewish History, May 28, 1954, Part 5
Chaim Weizmann Branch Paole Zion
Southwestern Jewish Press, May 28, 1954, Page 9
The recent monthly meeting was devoted to a commemoration of our late beloved member, Sol Goodman. His friends and members of the Labor Zionist organization to which he was so especially devote have decided that a living tribute to his memory be made by planting a garden of one hundred trees in Israel. Mr. M.S Berlin is in charge of this project and will be pleased to hear from anyone interested in contributing to this memorial garden.
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Gay Nineties Revue Pleases Large Crowd
Southwestern Jewish Press, May 28, 1954, Page 9
Beth Jacob Sisterhood’s “Gay Nineties Revue” presented last week at the Center attracted and kept laughing large attendances for both nights. Tastefully directed by Alice Solomon assistend by Esther Bricker, the show was well cast and costumed.
Outstanding were the singing waiter, the old time melodrama, the can-can girls, the men’s ballet, and several specialty numbers. Those who missed the show failed to see some unusual local talent. We need more of the same.
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Al Kaye Joins Kettner-Packard
Southwestern Jewish Press, May 28, 1954, Page 9
Al Kaye, well-known sports commentator, has joined the Kettner-Packard Sales Organization and will work with such top-notch auto men as Carl Whittenton, Sr., and G.A. Deshon, sales manager. Al will be with the new car division of Kettner-Packard and invites all his friends to come down and see him.
Al Kaye, who was formerly with a distribution house in San Diego, has for the past 6 years been assisting Al Schuss with the Padre Baseball broadcasts. Well known in the Jewish community, Al promises all his friends personal attention at the Kettner Packard salesroom located at Kettner and Ash.
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United Success Drive Set for Campaigns
Southwestern Jewish Press, May 28, 1954, Page 9
Top level organization for the Second United Success Drive of the San Diego Area Community Chest has been completed with the announcement of 12 civic leaders as vice-chairmen and committee chairmen
Under leadership of George A. Scott, general chairman, the 12 are now mapping plans for the campaign to raise funds for nearly 40 Red Feather health and welfare services joined together in the Chest to conserve community time and money.
Named as vice chairmen were Chester Dorman, Dorman’s Inc., for Pace Setter and Commerce and Industry Relations; William Elser, San Diego Elevator Co., for Military Professional and Education, and Public Employees; Mrs. Marion Milner, 4880 West Alder Drive, for Geographic Divisions; and Burton I. Jones, theatre owner, for Associated Towns and Associated Cities.
Backing up the soliciting division of the campaign will be eight special committees including: Loan Executives, William Shea, publisher; Corporate Yardstick, La Motte T. Cohu, General Dynamics; Credits, Graydon Hoffman, Bank of America; Women’s Cabinet, Mrs. Neville Waite, 907 Copurt Way.
More than 15,000 volunteer campaigners will be needed in the fall effort, Scott said, emphasizing the need for repeating last year’s over the top campaign, the first since 1944.
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Noted Editor Speaks At Jewish War Vets Convention Banquet
Adventures in San Diego Jewish History, May 28, 1954, Page 9
H.M. “Hank” Greenspun, editor and owner of the Las Vegas Sun, will be the principal speaker at the Jewish War Veterans convention Saturday evening, June 5. Greenspun’s daily column “Where I Stand” has many times received national publicity because of his stand on important national issues. His banquet subject is “J.W.V. and the Fight for Democracy.”
Best known for his fight on behalf of Zionism and against bigotry, Greenspun has been outspoken in his attitude on many facets of American life that affect all of us. As a “Fighting American” he is an outstanding voice for fair play and democratic ideals on the American scene.
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Jewish Center News
Southwestern Jewish Press, May 28, 1954, Page 10
“Lucky” Night – Let your fun be your contribution! This is the thought behind “Lucky” Night. Cards and games, drinks and food, will all be leading to the happiest mood. The date to circle is Sunday, June 27th. The time is 8:00 p.m. and the place is the Beth Jacob Center. Remember, your fun can be your contribution to the San Diego Jewish Community Center.
Good Times Around the Corner – Our Junior High Dance Class enjoyed a well deserved break with a party on Monday night, May 17th. Richard Solomon and Rona Price were chosen king and queen. Entertainment from the group added much to the dancing and refreshments.
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City of Hope
Southwestern Jewish Press, May 28, 1954, Page 10
President Ethel Berwin expresses her thanks to everyone who helped make our May 19th Card Party such a huge success. Proceeds from this affair go to the new Children’s Leukemia Wing at the City of Hope Medical Center.
It costs $377.00 for a diagnostic workup for leukemic child (blood chemistry) at the City8 of Hope. Care for one day is $40.00 for a leukemic child. Goldie Schusterman was chairman of the Card Party with Cookie Bloomfield as her co-chairman.
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Schneider Active Councilman
Southwestern Jewish Press, May 28, 1954, Page 10
Chester A. Schneider, City Councilman, who is the Republican candidate for Assembly in the 79th District, has served as an active member for 4 years on the Board of Race Relations. This group has provided a working approach to inuring justice for people of all racial groups and is seeking employment for many Southeastern San Diegans.
Schneider, has served five years on the City Council in a full time capacity and has been recognized as one of the hardest-working and sincere men serving San Diego. He has resided in San Diego since 1933 and is a veteran of 33 years naval service.
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Jolly 16 News
Southwestern Jewish Press, May 28, 1954, Page 10
The meeting for May was held at the home of Jule Steinman. Luncheon was served before the regular meeting. The Jolly 16 $100 scholarship will be awarded this year to Alice Aufright, a San Diego High School student, who will attend State College this fall.
President Julia Steinman and her board were re-elected to guide the Jolly 16 through their birthday year. 1954 marks the 40th year of activity for this energetic group. To celebrate this auspicious occasion, an elegant dinner dance will be given in November. Mrs. George Neumann and Mrs. Maxwell Kaufman are in charge of the affair.
Cook Books are still for sale from members. They make a lovely gift item for a friend or bride.
A bon voyage dinner party honoring Nate and Sally Ratner was held on Saturday, May 22nd, at the home of Bernice and Carl Esenoff.
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(Hebrew Home)
Adventures in San Diego Jewish History, May 28, 1954, Page 10
Application for admission to the Hebrew Home for the Aged may be made through the Jewish Social Service Agency, 333 Plaza, BE 2-5172.
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“Adventures in Jewish History” is sponsored by Inland Industries Group LP in memory of long-time San Diego Jewish community leader Marie (Mrs. Gabriel) Berg. Our indexed “Adventures in San Diego Jewish History” series will be a regular feature until we run out of history.
San Diego’s historic places: Aerospace Museum Annex
Don Simmons, left, and grandson Justin check out an F-102 such as Simmons built at Convair.
By Donald H. Harrison
Donald H. Harrison
EL CAJON, California–Near the northwest corner of Gillespie Field is an annex of the San Diego Aerospace Museum, where visitors can hear lore and legends about aircraft from people who, in some cases, made them originally or who are helping to restore them to museum quality.
Among the volunteers is Don Simmons, 84, a former Convair employee, who helped to build the wing assembles of F-102 fighter aircraft such as one that is displayed on the tarmac near the museum’s hangar. On a recent weekday when his adult grandson Justin was visiting from Modesto, California, Simmons brought him to Gillespie Field to show him one of the ways he has been enjoying his retirement.
It’s not the F-102 that has been preoccupying Simmons, but rather a Corsair that the museum lists as an AU-1, but which some enthusiasts suggest more properly should be designated an F4U-7. Whichever version it may be, it has a proud heritage as a high-altitude carrier-based, propeller fighter that usually walloped the Japanese Zeros and later North Korean fighters in aerial combat. It also was flown from U.S. land bases in the Pacific.
This particular Corsair came to the Aerospace Museum for restoration after Hurricane Katrina of 2005 caused the waters of the bay near Mobile, Alabama, to surge, sweeping the plane back into waters behind the museum battleship USS Alabama. The Corsair suffered severe damage from the impact and also from salt water corrosion caused by its 16-hour nightmare in the hurricane-tossed waters.
Simmons spends Thursday mornings lovingly working on the Corsair wings which folded up to maximize space on an aircraft carrier. Some of the hurricane-wrecked Corsair’s parts were so damaged that new parts had to be made in the museum’s machine shop.
“The hinge for the wing was right there,” he told his grandson Justin. “There is a hydraulic piston in the wing that pushes the thing up. …”
Walking around the project on which he has spent more than a year, he added, “The story goes that the Navy didn’t like this plane, but the Marine Corps loved it.”
“And they made a legend out of it!” added a smiling Justin.
When Simmons began working at Convair in 1951, he worked on the Convair XFY-1 Pogostick, so named because it was an early version of a VTOL (vertical take off and landing), He later moved over to the F-102, which underwent numerous changes during is course of development and manufacture.
Running a hand along the side of the F-102 to emphasize its contours, he explained, “they change the shape of its fuselange to make it more aerodynamic.”
At Convair, he said, different parts of the planes were assembled by specialty teams, his own being the frames of the wings. Fuel tanks later would be fitted into the wing structure, so that “most of the wing was all fuel.”
Simmons worked at Convair 35 years, retiring in 1986. He not only made airplanes but also built rockets.
Although an octogenarian, Simmons is not nearly the oldest of the volunteers — as some of the men who work on the restorations are nonagenarians. Simmons jokes he is still a kid compared to some of them.
Jeff Eads, the 47-year-old facility manager, said although he has a paid position now, he had started some years ago as a volunteer wanting to learn about airplanes from the retired workers like Simmons who had manufactured them.
Having himself worked in construction (kitchen and bathroom remodeling) and having always been interested in airplanes and boats, he said he was drawn to the museum annex after moving to El Cajon.
“I grew up with people who are good with their hands, and to be able to come in every day and work with these volunteers is a real privilege,” he said. “Some of them are grandfatherly, some are fatherly, some are like brothers, and then there are the cantankerous old uncles.”
He said the stories the volunteers tell–both about building the planes and flying them–are now being collected on video tape.
Airplanes from the San Diego Aerospace Museum in Balboa Park are rotated in and out of the annex if they need repairs. “These guys can take almost any basket case (like the Corsair) and turn it into a nice piece of work,” he said.
The Corsair “has always been my favorite airplane because of the looks of it: it has lines you don’t see on any other airplane. We’ve been waiting for a Corsair for a long time–it’s a feather in your cap if you can get one into your collection.”
Another project which Eads considered special was the restoration of the museum’s reproduction of “The Spirit of St. Louis,” flown in 1927 by pioneer aviator Charles Lindbergh non-stop between New York and Paris — the first such trans-Atlantic flight.
While the original — “or what’s left of it” — is in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the re-creation of the plane was done by builders who were involved in creating the original at Ryan Aircraft in San Diego. The old timers even put their autographs inside the engine compartment.
Eads recounted that a mob of souvenir seekers crowded around LIndbergh’s original plane soon after he landed in Paris, each wanting to take a small piece of the historic airplane home. The result that the plane was not deemed air worthy and had to be shipped back to America in a crate, rather than flown as Lindbergh had planned, Eads said.
So, the local version of the “Spirit of St. Louis” — maybe it should be called “The Spirit of San Diego” — has its own bonafides.
While 90 percent of the 70 or so volunters are retired aircraft workers like Simmons, Eads said younger mechanics and engineers are beginning to find their way to the facility. He said students from San Diego State University, construction workers and even some high school students come for the same reason he did — to learn from the previous generation.
The kind of volunteers who are wanted are “people who have an eye for detail and a sense of history,” he said.
The workers pride themselves on their meticulousness. “We looked for six months just for the color of blue that we are going to paint the Corsair,” he said. “There are so many different colors and we are going to paint it with certain Marine Corps markings. You’ve got to get that color right, because I
can assure you, if you get it wrong, there will be someone who will know.”
Visitors may come to the annex between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and examine the planes in the hangar and the tarmac. There is no admission charge. People
who’d like to learn how to reconstruct aircraft may telephone Eads at (619) 258-1221.
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. Thiis article appeared previously on examiner.com
Eagle Scout gives back to thank Sharp staff
BENEFACTORS --Zac Lewis, fourth from right, is surrounded by friends and family who helped him produce slide boards. From left they are Markus Unterberg, owner of San Diego Woodworking, brother Ian St. Louis, Andres Sheikh, Kendall Condon, Austin Farmer, Zac, his sister Alice Anne-Carriere, and parents Anne St. Louis and Dan St. Louis
By Sara Appel-Lennon
Sara Appel-Lennon
SAN DIEGO — Last June, University City High School student Zac St. Louis explored volunteering options for his Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project, coming upon The Ranchero Fund, which offers medical equipment to paralyzed patients with no health insurance.
St. Louis learned that Rebecca and Niel Pollock started The Ranchero Fund after Niel Pollock became a paraplegic following a surfing accident. In lieu of wedding gifts, the couple asked for financial donations to the fund.
St. Louis said The Ranchero Fund builds and donates “slide transfer boards” to help spinal cord injury patients move from a wheelchair to a bed or car. He told his mother that if he could make 100 slide transfer boards, he would help 100 people.
Last September, St. Louis surpassed his goal by donating 120 slide transfer boards to Sharp Rehabilitation Services. He organized and led a team of Boy Scouts to create the boards to fulfill the rigors of the Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project. St. Louis has become an Eagle Scout, the highest rank in Scouting.
Annually Sharp Healthcare staff honors a handful of former patients with the Victories of Spirit Awards because of their courage and strength in volunteering in the community after experiencing a difficult setback themselves. Dave Brown, System Director of Rehabilitation Services, will present one of these awards to St. Louis at the 20th annual event on June 4 at the Hilton San Diego Bay Front.
“How many 17-year-old kids do this any more?” asked Brown. “He’s a wonderful example of kids, the power of kids, and wanting to make a difference. It’s quite remarkable.”
Why St. Louis chose to volunteer at Sharp Healthcare became clear in an essay he wrote for his Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project. He wanted to express gratitude to Sharp staff in a tangible way for the excellent medical care his mother received after a near-fatal car accident in 2003. It was caused by a driver who failed to stop at a red light. St. Louis was in the car along with his mother and two siblings.
“I had blocked the accident out of my mind. My mom was so close to dying. It was a crazy time. …This was my only way to give back to them for helping my mom. You can’t really thank them enough for what they did,” said St. Louis.
Mom Anne St. Louis added, “I’m smiling. It’s all good.”
St. Louis devoted last summer to the project so it would not conflict with school. The work entailed getting quotes from wood workers, buying supplies, cutting wood, sanding, applying lacquer, the logo, and creating a template. He managed a team of Scouts working sanding parties in an assembly line. He did not sign his initials on any of the boards.
To raise money for the project, St. Louis made presentations to Cabrillo Club and Portuguese Social and Civic Club where he discussed how he would help people and why he needed the money. Both groups donated $500. He needed to raise $2,500, and he raised $500 extra.
A patient who received one of the boards said, “I thought only a ‘wuss’ would use a transfer board. … For almost 39 years, I never used (one.) I guess time has caught up with me, now I realize it would have been smart to use a transfer board before.”
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This article appeared previously in La Jolla Light
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