Adventures in San Diego Jewish History, January 8, 1955, Part 1
Compiled by San Diego Jewish World staffSouthwestern Jewish Press, January 7, 1955, Pages 1,8
Jewish Welfare Agencies Hold First Annual Meeting
San Diego’s Jewish Welfare organizations will gather for a joint annual meeting on Wednesday, January 19, 1955 in the Don Room of the El Cortez under the sponsorship of the San Diego Federation of Jewish Agencies.
The dinner meeting will hear Julius Bisno, Executive Director of the Jewish Welfare Fund and the Jewish Community Council of Los Angeles and a noted community organization expert deliver the feature address.
Carl M. Esenoff, President, will summarize the work of the Federation at this meeting. Election of new members of the Board of the Federation as well as for the Jewish Social Service Agency, Jewish Community Center and Jewish Community Relations Council will also take place.
This year’s Annual Meeting will mark the completion of five years of San Diego Federation Activities. Formed in 1949, with Carl Esenoff as its first president, the Federation is the central planning , coordinating and financing body for a group of four vital local agencies: Jewish Social Service Agency, Hebrew Home for the Aged, Jewish Community Center and Jewish Community Relations Council. Funds for the operations of the Federation and its constituent agencies are provided through the United Jewish Fund campaign.
Mr. C.W. Carlstrom, local business executive and Civic leader who has been interested in the work of the Federation and who has assisted it in many ways will be honored at the Annual Meeting for his interest in assisting needy children of all races, creeds and nationalities in San Diego. MR. Carlstrom made it possible a few years ago for the Federation of Jewish Agencies to accumulate a fund of money to be used for Jewish children in San Diego.
A pictorial display by all of the local agencies will be on exhibit for all members of the Jewish Community to view. Reports of the activities of the Federation Agencies will be printed and reviewed at the meeting. Federation agencies last year were allocated a total of over $40,000 by the United Jewish Fund. The Federation itself is a factor in promoting economies in all the Agencies. It provides a wide variety of essential services to the constituents including a consolidated insurance program, all of which central services make for saving money for the local community. The Federation, in its primary function of planning and coordinat(ing) activities eliminates duplication, assures economical operation and distributes the available funds so as to maintain a balanced social welfare program.
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Attention: All Aliens!
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 7, 1955, Page 1
It is mandatory that you register during the month of January with the Department of Immigration and Naturalization. Every member of your family who is 14 years old or over must register and file his own form. Parents file for children under 14. If there is any question about this, or if you need help with the forms, you may go to the offices of the Jewish Social Services Agency, 333 Plaza, Belmont 2-5172 for assistance.
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Jewish Center Dinner Set for January 8th
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 7, 1955, Pages 1, 8
Vince Bennett, star of stage and screen whose comedy antics have spied many an important banquet from coast to coast is coming to San Diego, Saturday. He will be the principal entertainer at the dinner at the El Cortez Hotel which will open the campaign to raise funds for the Jewish Community Center of San Diego.
Bennett is probably one of the most famous of the “Ribbers” and has insulted everyone from presidents to kings. One of his most famous acts is to be introduced as a famous speaker who is supposed to talk in behalf of some cause. He winds up by insulting everyone connected with it.
Just what he will do at the El Cortez dinner is a secret. Sidney Posin, director of the Jewish Community Center and Irving E. Friedman are in charge of the event.
Rodin Horrow is chairman and will be master of ceremonies at the dinner. It will be in the Don Room of the El Cortez beginning at 6 p.m. Other leading personages in the Community Center movement are Ed. A. Breitbard, president of the Jewish Community Center and Maury Novak, Sidney Rose and William B. Schwartz, vice-presidents.
Principal speaker at the dinner with be Robert Levison, vice president of the national Jewish Welfare Board and past president of the San Francisco Jewish Community Center.
The campaign leadership is Headed by Harry Wax, chairman and Leo Beck, Morris Douglas, Rodin Horrow and Louis Steinman, co-chairmen.
The Women’s League of the Jewish Community Center is headed by Mrs. Sidney Rose, president and Mrs. Leo Beck, Mrs. Seymour Rabin, and Mrs. Bernard Lipinsky, vice presidents.
The Jewish Community Center has three acres of land on the east side of 54th Street, north of University Avenue on which they plan to build a Center. IT will contain a gymnasium, swimming pool, club room, arts and crafts, nursery school, library and general offices.
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Hegland, Sankary Start Assembly Duties
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 7, 1955, Page 1
Wanda Sankary, newly elected Assemblywoman from the 79th District today presented a resolution on the Assembly floor which was voted upon and concurred in bythe Senate, commending Mrs. Kathryn T. Niehouse, Mrs. Sankary’s predecessor.
Mrs. Sankary took her oath of office January 3rd, along with 79 Assemblymen, two others of whom are women, and 40 Senators.
The San Diego delegation has succeeded in obtaining desks together so that they are seated in one spot in the Assembly. The delegation, however, split in its vote upon the Speakership race. Sheridan Hegland and Jack Schrade voted for H. Allen Smith, whereas Wanda Sankary and Frank Luckel voted for Luther Lincoln, who won the Speakershnip by a vote of 41 to 38.
The reason that the Speakership race was so hot and furious was that the Republican ranks were split, theDemocratic ranks were split, the Labor Unions were split, and as stated above, the team from San Diego, which will ordinarily act as a body, was split in half.
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Lasker Lodge B.B. Holds Installation January 9
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 7, 1955, Page 1
This Sunday at Mission Valley Country Club, the Lasker Lodge No. 370 B’nai B’rith will hold their annual installation of officers for the year 1955. Milton (Mickey) Fredman has been elected to serve as president for the year. Other officers to be installed are Dr. Milton Millman, 1st Vice-President; Marshall B. Zucker, 2nd Vice President; Edmund Herman, 3rd Vice President; Joseph Kaplan, Financial Secretary; Lawrence Rubinstein, Recording Secretary; Samuel Bennett, Warden; Hyman Kobernick, Guardian; Ted Brav, Jeremiah Aronoff, Harry Kessler, Louis Levitt, Edward Breitbard, Sidney Rose, Jack Spatz, all elected to the office of Trustee. Ralph Feldman, retiring president has been elected to the office of Chaplain. A pre-installation dinner is scheduled at the Mission Valley Country Club to begin at 7 p.m. with a cocktail hour from 6:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
If you are planning to attend the dinner, please make a reservation by calling Joe Kaplan at AT 2-5136. Those who do not wish to dine but want to attend the installation service are requested to be present at 8:30 p.m. A dance will follow the installation.
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Dr. and Mrs. De Sola Pool To Speak For Hadassah
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 7, 1955, Page 1
The San Diego Chapter of Hadassah cordially invites all members and friends to attend a luncheon meeting on Wednesday, January 19, at 12 p.m. at the Temple Center, to honor our distinguished visitors, Dr. and MRs. David De Sola Pool.
Dr. Pool has the distinction of being the spiritual leader of the oldest congregation in the United States, the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of New York City, founded in 1654 and now celebrating its tercentenary. In recognition of her untiring efforts on behalf of humanity, Tamra De Sola Pool was named the “Jewish Woman of Achievement for 1954” by the Women’s International Exposition. Dr. and Mrs. Pool are co-authors of “An Old Faith in the New World,” a 300 year history of the first American synagogue, published by the Columbia University Press.
Mrs. Gabriel Berg and co-chairman, Mrs. Elmer Wohl, have a capable committee consisting of Mmes. William Moss, Rodin Horrow, and Louis Steinman. Reservations are necessary and must be made with Mrs. E. Al Slayen, HO-9-4434.
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March of Dimes (Editorial)
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 7, 1955, Page 2
A unique characteristic of our American society is the value we place upon the life and dignity of each individual.
In many lands, the sight of the miserable and ill, huddled in alleys and doorways, is so common that it passes almost unnoticed. In the United States the life or death of a single person may become a matter of national concern … a little girl trapped in a well, a kidnapped baby, a child lost in the woods.
We do not attempt to put a price on a single life nor the value of mending it. We know that here we are dealing with the priceless.
Similarly, we refuse to accept the inevitability of disease and suffering. We band together and fight them. An outstanding example of this is the fight against polio – the March of Dimes.
In this fight, millions of men and women believing in their individual importance and in their collective strength, have joined hands in typical American fashion. They move forward with unfailing determination, buttressed by the satisfaction that is common to those who do battle in a good cause.
For the fight against polio… for the task of mending lives… give to your 1955 March of Dimes.
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New Year Wishes (Editorial)
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 7, 1955, Page 2
We wish the best for all our friends and supporters, who make possible the existence of a small, free voice in the ever-contracting world – to the United Jewish Fund for its never-ceasing effort on behalf of people, institutions and causes everywhere—to the federation of Jewish Charities, which is trying manfully to weld this community together –to the Jewish Community Center, now on a drive for funds to build a desperately needed place for cultural, recreational and educational programs for our expanding community – to Beth Israel, Beth Jacob and Tifereth Israel Synagogues for their efforts to make Judaism the focal point of Jewish life – to the any Jewish organizations, who labor so diligently in the fields of Public Relations, Aid to Israel and Community Welfare—to the many unsung and unheard of volunteers who serve the organizations all year round — to the too-few people who try to give our community a little culture to lift us out of the daily humdrum of living –to all those who try to make this city a better place to live in we wish the best for the new year!
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Success Drive is Success (Editorial)
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 7, 1955, Page 2
We’re proud of the community and the people who live in this great San Diego area.
We took on one of the biggest jobs this or any other community ever tackled, and we came through with a truly successful Second United Success Drive.
This is not editorial “we,” for thousands of us planned, worked and gave to bring about the community success. We all had a share in it, from the initial planning through the public goal setting, to the hard work and considered giving of the campaign itself.
Look at what we have accomplished:
We have raised $1,340,000, the greatest amount ever raised in a single campaign, and $53,000 more than last year.
We have increased the numbers of people working in the campaign from 10,000 to 15,000 and the number of gifts to more than 185,000.
We have combine d three more agencies into the united appeal, thus eliminating three campaigns, and the Coronado Community Chest joined the Success Drive.
We have almost doubled the amount of support for vital Red Feather health and welfare services in two years.
And we have reinforced our national reputation as a community where people know how to get things done. We have discovered that there really isn’t any job too big for us when we work together.
We have united, and we have succeeded in the Community Cause!
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As the Psychologist Sees You
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 7, 1955, Page 2
Irving Stone
By Irving R. Stone, Psychological Consultant
Signs of Maturity
Parents are confronted with a confusing problem early in the lives of their children. On the one hand, they catch themselves dreaming of the time when their youngsters will be self-sufficient independent beings. On the other hand, they look with askance and displeasure, with a touch of nostalgia, as they watch the children going their individual ways, wishing “for the good old days” when the youngsters looked to them for direction and support.
Although these signs of growing up may be a source of ambivalent feeling on the part of the parents, the signs of maturity may be less real than they are. There is more to maturity than the desire for independence, although this is one of the earliest indications. Esentially, maturity consists of both physical as well as psychological growth.
Growth involves a process which we call maturation. We mean, by this, that development which occurs either before or after birth as the result not of learning but of bodily changes determined by heredity acting over a period of time. For example, children will walk when they are ready and not because of training by parents. Physical changes in boys and girls appear because of their maturation process.
Psychological maturity is influenced in much the same way. We are expected to desire independence, in a small measure, even as early as the age of three. While maturity is expected at each age level in our development, in many individuals one or more signs of arrested maturity may appear. We can assume, however, that the proper undertaking of man is to move from immaturity toward maturity.
One sign of maturity is to be found in what we call the psychological age. This is a basic factor in intelligence and can be determined by psychological testing. At each age level we expect a child to succeed in ever-increasingly difficult tasks or to indicate greater comprehension of abstract concepts. Reasoning should be clearer and more direct. Unfortunately, the other signs of maturity do not readily lend themselves to psychological measurement.
Another sign of maturity is found in the ability to resolve emotional conflicts according to socially acceptable methods. The individual does not allow unresolved problems to follow him all through his life, too afraid or unable to come to grips with them. Essentially, then, a neurosis is one sign of immaturity. That does not mean that every immature adult is neurotic.
There are other signs of maturity. The ability to learn and to do the things in life expected for the individual’s age, the acceptance of responsibility, the completion of tasks, whether they be imposed on him or self-imposed, the ability to make social relationships and to function as part of a social group, the ability to give as well as to receive, all these are additional signs. Mere physical development is not enough to attain maturity. Signs of maturity are equally evident in behavior.
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More About Three Hundred Years in America ~Jewish Contributions to American History
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 7, 1955, Page 2
By Dr. Philip L. Seman, University of Judaism
We will in this chapter discuss the Jewish Community Center Movement; we think of it as an entirely new development, or as an invention of modern days. This is a mistaken idea, for as we look into past achievements as far back as Solomon’s Temple, we are confronted with the fact that there virtually was the first and the most comprehensive of community centers. Not only was this center beautiful in architecture, but it was most complete as far as its physical facilities were concerned for the social and religious functioning of the Jewish Community of Jerusalem and its surrounding territory.
Music and art, poetry and dancing had their being there. Jewish holidays were celebrated. There was no expression latent in the hearts or in the minds of any of the citizens and the community which did not find an outlet. IT was a real community center, for it expressed the life of the Jew outside his home. Nothing went on with the community without it first having the fullest opportunity for expression in the Temple.
After the first and second destruction, there was a lull for quite a number of centuries so far as this type of functioning was concerned. Later, however, with the development of the synagogue in the Middle Ages, the latter took the place, at least in part, of the community center. Outside of the religious function, the synagogue offered an opportunity for education as well. To be sure the education was very largely limited, if not entirely, to the study of the Talmud and other Hebrew lore.
The social and recreational life of the people, however, was also given large expression there. All the great holidays were celebrated with magnificence and splendor. The entire community would center within the confines of the synagogue and its environment. All of the cultural expression of the community found its being there. For all intents and purposes, recognizing the fact that the community was quite concentrated and all the Jews of the community were known to one another, the synagogue represented the finest expression of the Jewish community center. It meant to the members of the Jewish community what the New England town hall meant to the citizens of the respective communities in Old New England.
In the early days of this country, the synagogue functioned in the same capacity. One needs only to recall, as we have in previous chapters, the early history of the synagogue in Newport, R.I., to recognize the fact that in this community the synagogue was a community center, not only as far as the Jewish congregation was concerned, but was a focal point for the whole urban community, as was evident during the early revolutionary days, when for some time, in fact it was used as headquarters for George Washington (to be continued).
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(Directional Situation)
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 7, 1955, Page 2
The man who finds himself down and out soon finds his friends are up and away.
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“Adventures in San Diego Jewish History” is sponsored by Inland Industries Group LP in memory of long-time San Diego Jewish community leader Marie (Mrs. Gabriel) Berg. Our “Adventures in San Diego Jewish History” series will be a regular feature until we run out of history. To find stories on specific individuals or organizations, type their names in our search box.
‘Psalms,’ set in Belgium, is unusual Holocaust memoir
Psalms, A Memoir by Hirsch Grunstein; Create Space; 403 pages; no price listed.
By Norman Manson
Norman Manson
SAN DIEGO–This is, in a number of ways, a very unusual memoir of Holocaust survival. It is not a story of survival in death camps, nor of life on the run deep in the fields and woods of eastern Europe.
Rather, it portrays the recollections of a boy’s life under four years of Nazi occupation in Belgium – a life fraught with stress and anxiety, yet almost devoid of physical harm, at least for young Hirsch (or Henri as he was know in those years) Grunstein.
In some ways the most amazing part of this story is Grunstein’s phenomenal memory, his vivid descriptions of his growing-up years, 65 to 70 years ago. And a section that highlights this phenomenon is his recall of reading the entire biblical book of Psalms, which made a sufficient impression on him that he made it his book’s title.
While Belgium’s Jews certainly suffered under Nazi rule – 25,000 of the 60,00 who lived there were deported to Auschwitz and other death camps and few if any returned – the impression left by this book is that they underwent fewer of the horrors than their East European counterparts did and that, with the help of a few compassionate gentiles, a larger percentage were able to survive.
Grunstein suffered only one really excruciating moment in the course of his wartime odyssey, and what seemed to be a portent of utter foreboding quickly turned into a time of renewed hope. And, in the end, the immediate Grunstein family all survived and were reunited.
Originally from Poland, the Grunsteins immigrated to Belgium in 1930, and were quite well established in Antwerp’s flourishing diamond industry by the time the Wehrmacht invaded in May 1940. They first fled to France, but there was no haven there and they soon returned home, oddly enough with the encouragement of the conquering Nazis. At first, all seemed almost normal, but the Nazis gradually tightened their stranglehold, barring Jews from businesses, schools and much of the city.
In 1942, raids on the Jewish neighborhood were followed by deportations, ostensibly for work.
Finally, in September 1942, it was decided to place young Henri (he was 14) and his younger brother Sylvain with a gentile family in a small village between Antwerp and Brussels. Their hosts, Adrienne and Gaston, put Henri in a small upsteairs bedroom. And, for the next year and a half, Grunstein spent most of his days in hiding, peering out the window or reading from the small book of Psalms that his father had made him take along.
This segment is the most fascinating and provocative of the story – one can see why he titled the book “Psalms.” Amazingly, he recalls, in minute, precise detail, the impact the psalms had on him, bring back memories of his childhood in synagogue and school, and inspiring visions of various aspects of Judaism. The family was Orthodox, quite observant, and Henri tries to retain at least some semblance of Orthodoxy in this totally gentile environment. He even managed to fast on one Yom Kippur. And, when not reading the Psalms, he spends much of his time fanstsizing, gazing out the window and describing the scenes, and his fantasies.
This relatively placid existence came to a sudden, jolting end in the spring of 1944, when he (and others) were apprehended by the SS -his description of his capture is also very detailed and suspense-filled. And, for no more than a day, he appears to be doomed. However, he is rescued by the Belgian Judenrat (Jewish council) and spends the last months of the war in a home for children.
Not to minimize the fate of the 25,000 Belgian Jews sent to Auschwitz and other death camps, but this book seems to indicate that at least a significant number of Belgian gentiles hid and otherwise helped their country’s Jews. Relatively little has been written about the Holocaust in Belgium, and his story spotlights the Belgians’ role during that horrendous era. And Grunstein’s recollections of his wartime experiences are truly amazing in their precise, minute detail after almost 70 years.
For someone whose first language is not English, this memoir is quite well written, and the editing also is first-rate. For a somewhat unusual take on the Holocaust, this is a book well worth reading.
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Manson is a freelance writer based in San Diego
The Jews Down Under~News of the Jews of Australia and New Zealand
Garry Fabian
By Garry Fabian
New Zealand Jewish Community goes to court
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 10 August– The following announcement was released by the New Zealand Jewish Community:
As we informed the community last week, we filed legal proceedings against the Minister of
Agriculture, seeking a restoration of the right to practise shechitain New Zealand. We are pleased to report that an interim agreement has
now been reached with the Minister, which will enable the continued practice of shechita in the period up to trial (which is likely to take place during 2011).
Court orders were made by consent in the Wellington High Court this morning, giving legal effect to that agreement. Every effort is being
made to get chicken and local lamb”back on the table”as soon as possible.
The community would like to acknowledge the tremendous contribution the legal team at Russell McVeagh have made in putting together our
case to achieve this positive outcome in such a short period.
The memorandum was signed by Jewish community leaders Garth Cohen, Michael Stiassny and Geoff Levy.
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Church resolution reveals failure of interfaith
MELBOURNE, 13 August -The National Council of Churches of Australia’s resolution encouraging a boycott of Israel is absolutely indefensible, and makes a mockery of both mutual tolerance and “interfaith” dialogue. It is abundantly clear in the case of Israel, as in countless instances in Jewish history, an exception has been made of Jews.
If the churches were fair about their human rights concerns they would have boycotted Sudan, Saudi Arabia and so many other Islamic
countries for their real human rights abuses and treatment and discrimination of non-Muslim minorities.
No mainstream church group has ever openly sided with Jews, publicly criticising Iran’s President Amadinajad over his promotion of Holocaust denial and anti Semitic rhetoric or criticising Arab/Muslim anti-Semitism. There are so many other examples of the church’s hypocrisy in singling out the Jewish state as their ‘pet’ cause. Even some Christians who have seen the NCAA statement find it incomprehensible that it
does not mention Palestinian/Hamas discrimination of Christians in Gaza.
Jewish interfaith advocates should start insisting on some reciprocity and public support for the Jewish narrative in the Israel/
Palestinian, Arab Muslim conflict otherwise they are wasting their time
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Contemporary Antisemitism: What We Can Do
Contemporary antisemitism turns Israel into a collective Jew among the nations, demonizing and delegitimizing the Jewish state. Irwin Cotler
defines its expression in the genocidal antisemitism of Ahmadinejad’s Iran; the political antisemitism that denies Jews the right to national selfdetermination; the racialised antisemitism that defines Zionism as racism; the legalized antisemitism that makes a mockery of the UN Human Rights procedures, and the “new protocols of the elders of Zion”, which blames Israel for everything from 9/11 to swine flu.
But, Cotler argues, we can act. We have opportunities through Holocaust memory and education, through pressuring for the implementation of the legal procedures of the Genocide Convention,
through reforming the UN, through government initiatives and through working to reframe the narrative that blames Israel and Jews for all
Middle East conflict and ignores human rights abuses in other parts of the world..
The Hon. Professor Irwin Cotler MP is an eminent human rights lawyer and Canadian statesman. A former Canadian Attorney-General and sitting member of the Canadian Parliament, he has been outspoken on issues of human rights in the former Soviet Union, South Africa and Rwanda.
The ADC was honoured to host him recently as our ADC Gandel Orator. This special report is an edited transcript of his Oration.
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Australian Foreign Minister charts positive Israel course
CANBERRA, 13 August – The diplomatic relationship between Australia and Israel has resumed on its normal course, less than three months after Stephen Smith expelled an Israeli diplomat from Canberra.
And despite a frosty few months, the two countries – which both share a desire to see Iran’s nuclear weapons program halted immediately
– never ceased to share intelligence on the rogue state.
In a wide-ranging interview during a campaign stop in Melbourne, Smith spoke about the resumption of that relationship. He made no
pledges about the foreign policy direction a future Gillard government would take, but spoke in depth about some of the decisions made over the past almost three years.
“I am now very confident that things are now back to business as usual,” he said of the diplomatic ties between Australia and Israel.
“Often when you have a difficult issue that you’ve got to manage, your capacity to manage that and then to move reasonably quickly off it,
reflects the strength of the relationship.
“Yes it was a difficult time and I obviously thought very carefully about all of the issues and came to the decision that, as I said
publicly, we could not turn a blind eye to what had occurred.
“I’m very confident now that in terms of agency-to-agency relationship,
government-to-government, nation-to-nation, it is business as usual.”
He added that at no time during the diplomatic impasse, did the two countries stop cooperating to quash the rogue Iranian regime.
“One area [of the Australia-Israel relationship] we did not want to see disturbed was the ongoing cooperation and exchange of information on Iran,” he said.
Asked whether he thought the forthcoming direct talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians means that the time for peace is right, Smith showed some trademark diplomacy.
“I think your attitude has got to be that it is always right,” he said. “You always have to try and take the opportunity and often when things
appear to be at their worst is often a time when you can move forward.”
“We’re very supportive of President [Barack] Obama’s efforts, we’re very supportive of Ambassador [George] Mitchell’s efforts and we
make the point to all of the players in the Middle East that it is absolutely essential that we get long-term enduring peace.
“The issues are complex, complicated and there are strong views respectively on both sides, but we can’t give up because solving these Middle East issues is very important to peace and security, peace and stability throughout the entire world,” he said.
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Jewish Music Festival hits Sydney
SYDNEY, 16 August – SHIR Madness, Sydney’s first large-scale Jewish music festival, brought Bondi Beach to life with more than 40 performers from Australia and around the world, eclectic food stalls, kids activities and an art exhibition centred around Bondi Pavilion on Sunday, August 15.
The festival is the brainchild of Gary Holzman, who has dreamed of staging a music festival for many years.
“I’ve always felt there would be somebody better equipped to put it on than myself, but as it never eventuated, I finally decided to do
something about it,” says Holzman, who is the festival director.
The festival will feature four stages, with musical styles covering klezmer, choral, Latino, Chassidic, Israeli, jazz, cabaret, folk, blues, pop, rock, funk, reggae and rap.
Among the local performers are Deborah Conway, Monsieur Camembert, The Mark Ginsburg Band, Alana Bruce, Joanna Weinberg, the Emanuel choirs and the Sydney Jewish Choral Society.
Leading the line-up of international performers are Israeli singer Ido Lederman, Alex Jacobowitz from New York and the Jew Brothers Band from New Zealand.
Lederman began his music career as lead singer of Israeli rock band Amstaf, and was bass player for the reggae group Hatikvah 6. He will also perform in Melbourne on August 21.
Holzman says: “It’s just going to be an amazing atmosphere and an absolute smorgasbord – what I would call a ‘mixed salad’ of musical delight.
“People should come to appreciate the amazing variety of musical talent within the Jewish community, both from Sydney and from other places as well.
“With the incredible variety of music on offer, a food court full of tempting delights, market stalls, kids entertainment and an exhibition of
Jewish art, this is going to be a fantastic festival for the whole family to come and enjoy.”
Holzman hopes the festival will be an annual event.
“We certainly want to make sure that it’s not going to be a one-off, but will become a highlight of the Sydney cultural calendar.”
One of the international performers from upstate New York is Jacobowitz, a master of the marimba who has plied his trade across the world, most notably in Germany. An Orthodox Jew, he focuses
on the traditional klezmer music of his ancestors.
“My music is spiritual, natural, totally unexpected and riveting,” he says. “It brings European music, African sound and Jewish geist together.”
Jacobowitz says his Jewish identity is an integral part of his music.
“Judaism is my spirit, and my spirit energises and breathes life into my music. Whether I’m playing Bach, flamenco or klezmer, my music is 100 per cent kosher.”
Jacobowitz is thrilled to be in Australia and taking part in Shir Madness.
“To be part of the first Jewish music festival in Sydney makes me proud and humble at the same time, and I hope that the music finds a special echo there.”
For AJN Ghetto Blasterz competition winner Shannon Gaitz, Shir Madness is the highlight of her fledgling music career so far.
“I’m extremely excited, especially to be able to get my name and my songs out there,” says Gaitz, 17, from Bondi, who describes her music as country pop.
“It’s very honest – it’s all based on personal experience and very emotional.”
Gaitz is grabbing the opportunity to perform at Shir Madness with both hands.
“It’s just a huge opportunity of being able to get performance experience, especially with my original songs, and I’m going to be playing with
Philip Foxman, he’s my mentor and that’s also a really big honour.”
Gaitz will also spend a day recording tracks at the Green Sound Music studios in Sydney’s Castle Cove as part of her prize.Sydney band The Naked Parade has been causing quite a stir with its infectious brand of alternative pop-rock.
Singer Talya Rabinovitz explains with a laugh: “We’ve been told that we are the love child of Jeff Buckley and No Doubt if they went travelling
though Eastern Europe and South America.”
“We definitely have a Middle Eastern vibe to our music, with the violin, melodies and the drumbeats.”
Rabinovitz is excited to be performing at Shir Madness.
“It just looks like an amazing music festival,” she says. “This will be a different age group for us as well –
I know that a lot of my family like my aunts and uncles are coming and they don’t usually come to our gigs. I’m excited to see their reaction and put on a show.”
Local singer Natan Kuchar has spent the past four years plying his trade in the United States.
Kuchar has performed solo at Carnegie Hall, but the humble performer speaks more enthusiastically about his recent album release at a small Surry Hills venue in Sydney.
“It made me feel like people really dig what I have and were really interested in me,” he says. “It was a really great confidence booster and it
helped propel me to apply for Shir Madness.”
Kuchar describes his music as “a really raw sound, merging pop music and soul music.”
“I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from people like Stevie Wonder and Regina Spektor for their melodies and for their storytelling within their music,” he says.
“I really love to subtly add melodies from synagogue services or from High Holy Days or just lyrics that are found in certain religious texts
that help to support some other kind of contemporary story that I’m trying to tell in my songs.”
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Fabian is Australia bureau chief for San Diego Jewish World
Commentary: Sara Netanyahu steps up for immigrant children
By Ira Sharkansky
Ira Sharkansky
JERUSALEM–Sara Netanyahu is not one of the most well regarded first ladies of the world. She is known for yelling and throwing things at the household help. She has been the target of civil actions for not paying what is required, and–along with her husband–the subject of police inquiries for fiddling with government funds.
Mrs. Netanyahu has most recently come to attention for writing a letter to Eli Yishai, the Interior Minister with direct responsibility for dealing with illegal immigrants.
“I turn to you as the mother of two sons and as a psychologist . . . I ask from the bottom of my heart that you use your authority to allow a vast majority of the remaining 400 children to remain in Israel. This issue is very close to my heart.”
Yishai is the Knesset leader of the SHAS party of Sephardi ultra-Orthodox, who often speaks out on matters of maintaining the ultra-Orthodox exemption from military service and other issues important to his community. He led the faction against allowing any of the immigrant children to remain in Israel, emphasizing the threat to the society of individuals who are not Jews according to religious law.
For the large number of Israelis who are not fans of either Sara or SHAS, this might be an event to celebrate.
However, many of those Israelis are lining up in behalf of the immigrant children. Joining them are leading media personalities, and Aliza, the politically correct wife of former prime minister Ehud Olmert.
No doubt the kids are here illegally. The government has voted to expel about one-third of some 1,200 children who do not meet criteria of being in Israel for a minimum of years, fluent in Hebrew, and attending Israeli schools. But I am not certain that the government will actually go through with this decision.
It is not only that implementation is not a strong element of Israel’s public administration. Those kids are tugging at a lot of heart strings.
The issue of illegal immigration is no less complex here than in other countries of Europe and North America where there is work that the locals do not want to do. Housewives complain about the problems of finding and keeping decent help who have legal status. There are a couple of hundred thousand workers here legally to work in construction, agriculture, and the care of the infirm. There are thousands of others who have overstayed their permits, come over the border with Egypt, or entered informally from the West Bank. As elsewhere, there are ugly stories of individuals having to pay bribes in order to obtain work permits, being housed in substandard facilities, or denied proper wages.
Also in the headlines is a gun battle involving Africans coming through the Sinai, who rebelled against the Bedouin smugglers who demanded more money as they approached the Israeli border. Several Africans and Bedouins were killed in that fray, and other Africans died in an incident when Egyptian soldiers opened fire when they refused to surrender.
Other news is that illegal Africans are moving out of a Tel Aviv neighborhood and settling in a lower-priced area of Bnei Brak. That is a low-income, largely ultra-Orthodox suburb of Tel Aviv. What will emerge from that social combine will be interesting to observe. Already the locals are demanding a greater police presence in their community.
There is nothing new in all of this. The Book of Joshua describes the Gibeonites, whose presence among the Israelites was not entirely kosher, but who were allowed to stay and “be woodcutters and water carriers for the entire community.” (Joshua 9:21). (Gibeon, or El Jib, is a Palestinian village alongside Route 443, a few miles west of Jerusalem. Its residents may have to find a way through the barriers in order to get work in Israel, but I would not bet against them.)
When a million immigrants came from the former Soviet Union during the late 1980s onward, they had a major impact on the economy. There were some among them who fit the Gibeon profile as “woodcutters and water carriers,” but for the most part they came as physicians, engineers, scientists, and musicians. They and their children are higher than average in income, education and other social indicators.
More than one hundred thousand Ethiopians are mostly at the bottom of the economy, but there are not enough of them to fill the demand. They do not have the skills of Palestinian or Chinese construction workers, and the rights and social programs of Jewish immigrants may allow them to avoid the least desirable opportunities in the labor market.
Sara’s letter may cause her husband to squirm out of the firm posture about illegal immigrants he articulated a week ago, and lead other Israelis to elevate their feelings toward her, at least for a while. The fate of those 400 children is currently at the top of the emotional agenda. That issue will pass in one way or another, but the larger story of which it is a part will not go away.
Unless someone out there can tell us about a large and untapped pool of poor Jews.
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Sharkansky is professor emeritus of politcal science at Hebrew University
Adventures in San Diego Jewish History, December 24, 1954, Part 3
Compiled by San Diego Jewish World staffSouthwestern Jewish Press, December 24, 1954, Page 9
Lasker Lodge News
By Lou Levitt
Congratulations to our newly elected officers for the year 1955. They are: President Milton (Mickey) Fredman; 1st v. pres., Dr. Milton Millman; 2nd v. pres., Marshall Zucker; 34d v. pres., Edward Herman; fin. Sec. Joseph Kaplan; rec. sec., Lawrence Rubenstein; warden, Samuel Bennett; guardian, Hyman Kobernick; trustees Ted Brav, Jeremiah Aranoff, Harry (Ziggy) Kessler, Lou Levitt, Edward A. Breitbard, Sid Rose, and Jack Spatz.
Our annual installation ceremonies will be held at the Mission Valley Country Club on Sunday night, January 8, 1955. The installation will be combined with a dinner dance, and all members are urged to make reservations as quickly as possible, as we have to have a close approximation as to the number attending. Guests are cordially invited. Contact Dr. Millman, or Mickey Fredman. Dinner will be $5.00 per plate and this includes a very fine steak dinner and tax and tip.
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Bay City Initiates New Members January 10
Southwestern Jewish Press, December 24, 1954, Page 10
Monday, January 10th, 1955, at the regular scheduled meeting at Tifereth Israel Center, at 8:00 o’clock p.m., a special program dedicated to the initiation of new members will be held. Mrs. Harold Garvin, chairman, and her committee of Mesdames David Cohen, Abe Hollandersky, Morris Cahan, Robert Palash, Eugene Sacks, Charles Juster, Wilbur Robbins and Max Felsman have planned a most interesting ceremony.
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The Chanukah Story (Editorial)
Southwestern Jewish Press, December 24, 1954, Page 11
The root of the word “Chanukah” is “honoch” which means “to dedicate.” Historically, King Antiochus, a demagogue, was determined to deprive the Jew of his religion. He was clever enough to see that if he was to succeed in crushing the Jews, he must aim at their Judaism, the source of their vitality. But he miscalculated the strength of the Jew’s attachment to his faith.
An aged priest named Mattathias thought if the Jew had to die for his religion he ought to die for it fighting.
He and his gallant sons, the Maccabeans, few in number, and worse still, without military training, went into battle with a prayer on their lips and with the thought of God in their hearts. The result is well known. The Jew regained possession of Jerusalem and the Temple. The Greeks had defiled the Sanctuary by idolatrous worship. It was rededicated to theservice of God, on the 25th of Kislev, in the year 165 B.C.E.
It is to commemorate this glorious story that the Feast of Chanukah has been instituted. The festival lasts eight days, and the traditional explanation is that when the sc red lamp was about to be kindled at the reconsecration of the Temple, only a small flask of oil undefiled by the idolator could be found. But a miracle happened, and it lasted for eight days.
The story of Chanukah is such an inspiring one. But the deeds of heroism are not all that make Chanukah such an important occasion. Throughout the history of our people, we have found similar feats of heroism and valor. For over 2,000 years have we struggled against overwhelming odds against the rage of man and nature, of beast and storm. But the Macabeans taught the Jew to dedicate himself to fight for the holiest causes.
Chanukah cherishes not so much the memory of glorious victories on the battlefield, but rather the triumph of right over might, mind over matter, justice over injustice. The Maccabeans encouraged the pent-up desire for independence of countless people over the history of the world. But for them Judaism would have perished. They held aloft the torch of true religion at a time when thick darkness was covering the nations. They set an example of fighting and sacrificing for the principle of religious freedom.
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A Balanced Press (Editorial)
Southwestern Jewish Press, December 24, 1954, Page 11
The sale of the Daily News in Los Angeles leaves the entire Southern California area without a Democratic voice. In this situation we see a danger, not only because a one-sided Press is not a healthy condition for the Press itself, but the news and opinions expressed in these papers tend to be taken as public opinion.
We have seen many occasions when the Press has been out of step with public feeling and opinion. Some of the most recent examples were seen during the Roosevelt and Truman administrations.
A Press listening only to its own voice, will hear only what it wants to hear. If there is no other organ to print the deliberate omissions of a slanted press, and point out differences of opinion and interpretation of events, then news published by a biased Press will be accepted as gospel. What will happen to our vaunted “Free Press?”
There is no doubt that rising costs are forcing more and more newspapers out of business, and there is an alarming trend all over the country of consolidation of papers and elimination of competition.
We hold no brief for the Republican newspapers. They have merchandise to sell—that is their own particular point of view—and most of them do a pretty good job at it. What is needed now is a balance to that kind of selling, in order to give the readers an opportunity to judge what is best for the greater number of people.
Will it be necessary or small “splinter” groups to publish newspapers at their own expense, in order to get all the facts before the public? We hope this is not the answer to the problem of a balanced Press.
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Chapter 48: More About Three Hundred Years in America~Jewish Contributions to American History
Southwestern Jewish Press, December 24, 1954, Page 11
By Philip L. Seman, University of Judaism
Continuing from the last installment of this series on the Jewish Ethical Code we note that voluntary societies and institutions for the proper fulfillment of the “Camiloth Hasodim” prevailed. The Burial of the dead stood highest on the list, because the most purely selfless in its propmpting; as far as the dead are concerned no reward can be obtained. In this connection the writer cannot resist citing one of the most beautiful of these ancient customs. It is depicted in Martha Wolfenstein’s Classic “The Idylls of the Gass.”
When a death occurs, whether in the home of the rich or the poor, the Burial Society sends two locked boxes to the bereaved. One contains the funds of the society, and the other is empty. The fund must then be transferred from one box to another, and in the process one may add to it or take from it, or leave it intact. The boxes are then returned locked and no one knows or can know who made a donation, or who has been the beneficiary of a charity funeral.
There is every evidence that customs of this character, and the living of this kind of life must have a background, and none needs only to search into the lore of the Hebraic past to learn of this background.
In examining the concepts which were laid down, and which further developed into a social ethics code by which the Jews have through all the centuries guided their lives as far as their relationship of one to the other was concerned we find that if you are a man of distinction and entitled to a prominent seat at an assembly, seat yourself, nevertheless, two or three seats lower, for it is better to be told to go uip than to be asked to go down. Hillel said: “If I condescend I am exalted, but if I am haughty, I am degraded.”
Better for you to have no more than two zuzim, which is equivalent to about a quarter, as a means which to gain a livelihood, than to be a man of large capital and employ it in usury.
The Book of Deuteronomy is a veritable source book or code of Social Ethics. In Deuteronomy laws of justice to all and particularly to the poor, are more detailed and elaborate than anywhere else in the Bible. There are, besides, many regulations that tend to foster the growth of kindness and forebearance to others in our relationship of life.
Jewish social service in a modern sense, particularly as it has been developed during the last fifty years is highly specialized and departmentalized, as by necessity it must be, is quite a contrast to the social services described in the foregoing. I our next installment we will discuss The Background of the Jewish Community Center Movement.
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These Public Officials Send Chanukah Greetings
Southwestern Jewish Press, December 24, 1954, Page 11
Sincerest wishes for a happy holiday – Arthur C. Eddy, County Tax Assessor
Greetings – Don Keller, District Attorney
A Very Happy Holiday—Frank Thornton, Collector of Customs
My sincerest holiday greetings – Dean Howell, Supervisor, 5th District
Wishing you a happy holiday – Clair W. Burgener, City Councilman
Holiday Greetings – Charles C. Dail, City Councilman
Greetings from William L. Morrison
Greetings from Frank A Gibson, County Supervisor District No. 1
Greetings from Senator Fred Kraft
A happy Chanukah to all my Jewish friends – Oscar G. Knecht
Greetings – A.E. Gallagher, Coroner & Public Administrator
Holiday Greetings – John Bate, Port Director, Port of San Diego
Season’s Greetings – Jean du Paul, City Attorney
Best wishes for a happy holiday – Chester E. Schneider, City Councilman
Best wishes for the Holidays – James Robbins, County Supervisor
A joyous holiday—San Diego Civic Center
Holiday Greetings – David Bird, County Supervisor
Holiday Greetings – George Courser, Chief, San Diego Fire Dept.
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Southwestern Jewish Press, December 24, 1954, Page 11
Irving Stone
As the Psychologist Sees You
By Irving R. Stone, Psychological Consultant
What’s Been Accomplished This Year?
If you observe a researcher at work you will notice that at all times he seems to be accomplishing nothing, but just sits and contemplates the many notes he has accumulated as part of his project. Strangely enough, an important phase of his research is going on for he is taking stock either of what previous research has been performed by others or else he is studying what findings he has been able to make during the early phases of his own work.
Just as the researcher must study the past, so must we take stock of ourselves. “What’s been accomplished this year?”: As part of our customs, the end of one year and the beginning of a new one seems to be the period devoted to this soul searching.
Perhaps, although we made many resolutions, it may be a strange thing to find that only one or two of them have been kept. We always start out with good intentions but somewhere along the way we get side-tracked. Maybe it was because the things we resolved to do did not seem to be very important as the year progressed. Perhaps it was because some unforeseen event or situation made it impossible to attain fulfillment of our purpose.
Sometimes, we make a resolution only half-heartedly, never really intending to carry it out. If that is so, we only kid ourselves and put ourselves in a worse light than we should. If may have been important to someone else to see that we carried through with this resolution, even though it was unimportant to us.
Possibly, what we planned to do was important enough, but because of our own lack of drive or initative it was never accomplished. This year that passed can never be regained and there is no opportunity to make fantasy a reality. All that we can give ourselves for our resolution is a large zero—not even a score for effort.
Unfortunately, our scorecard of accomplishments for the year may not be a pleasant sight if we take the trouble to add it up.. Too often, we leave the tally for the end of the year, or else do not even bother to take an accounting. It we were to take a subtotal as we went along, we might find that like the researcher, we could see what has gone before, and in that way avoid making continued mistakes and omissions of purpose.
Let’s make our new resolutions realistic ones, those that can be attained and those that we intend keeping. In that way we can eliminate the disappointments and guilt over resolutions not kept and at the same time enjoy those accomplished.
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Salzburg Puppets To Show Here Jan. 15
Southwestern Jewish Press, December 24, 1954, Page 12
Wonderful music accompanies the elaborate Salzburg Marionette Theatre when the troupe presents three performances at Roosevelt Auditorium on Saturday, January 15. At the matinees, 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” will be shown, while a Johann Strauss evening will be presented at 8:30 p.m., including the complete opera, “The Fiedermaus” and “The Blue Danube Pantomime Ballet.” The dolls are up to 3 ½ feet tall and pay on a revolving portable stage, 27 feet wide, 13 feet deep and 12 feet high. Tickets are available by mail order at the deLannoy & Howarth box office, Room 230, U.S. Grant Hotel.
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City of Hope
Southwestern Jewish Press, December 24, 1954, Page 12
They’re going like hot cakes – order your copy of Samuel Golter’s book “And They Called It The City of Hope” – published by G.P. Putnam Sons—you will find the story exciting and thought provoking!
You can order it through your own favorite dealer at $3.50
Pearl Rubin (JU-2-2482) is in charge of the rental library – the line forms both left and right!
Save your Rummage for our March Sale!!
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“Adventures in San Diego Jewish History” is sponsored by Inland Industries Group LP in memory of long-time San Diego Jewish community leader Marie (Mrs. Gabriel) Berg. Our “Adventures in San Diego Jewish History” series will be a regular feature until we run out of history. To find stories on specific individuals or organizations, type their names in our search box.
Open letter to Fareed Zakaria concerning the ‘Ground Zero Mosque’
Isaac Yetiv
Dear Mr Zakaria:
The case in point is your position on the controversial decision to build a mosque on Ground Zero in New York (your program of Sunday 8 Aug. 2010.) I believe that your support for building the mosque was a knee-jerk reaction to ADL’s strong opposition to it, and that if you dig deeper, you might revise your opinion. ( Already, in your interview with Anderson Cooper a few days later, you seemed less sanguine; I even detected some regretful tone) . The following analysis will hopefully help:
Rauf refused to say where the money (100 millions !!) will come from. A foreign country? a sponsor of terrorism? the terrorists themselves? It is clear that those who will finance the project will dictate its content and its programs. Recent events clearly demonstrate that an “investment” of such magnitude can only come from a few oil-rich theocracies that have produced nine-eleven and other terrorist calamities. Is that scenario not plausible? Do you want to take that risk?
It is a case of what I would call ” zoning for reasons of security, sensitivity to the feelings of the victims of 9/11, common decency,and domestic peace.” The onus of proof is on the proponents of building the mosque precisely at that point and not a few miles away.
The 9/11 atrocities were seen by the perpetrators and their sponsors (to be sure, a minority, to be distinguished from real moderate Muslims, and certainly from Islam as a respectable religion no less than the others)
I dare to go farther: as an avowed foe of political correctness of any kind– I believe it is our collective enemy number one because it obscures the truth, and afflicts us with willful blindness, and the truth, for me, remains the supreme criterion for any judgment– I say with sadness that the Jewish leaders on the Left, in general, suffer from the Jewish disease of what I call “universalitis.” They can’t take their own side in a dispute, the others are always right. They speak in the abstract, on what should be rather than what is. To parody a popular adage, they don’t see the log in the eye of the others but they see the straw in their eye.
They indulge in self-deluding pieties on liberty, rights, constitution, and they defend those who reject them violently. In the words of Lenin in another context (speaking of the Communists in the West) they are “useful idiots.” To the point that they even brave the 69 % and growing opponents among their constituents. I believe they will not be re-elected.
I also believe the mosque will not be built on ground zero. As for Obama, safely protected by those Jewish politicians, he has an uncanny ability to do things against the majority of the people’s wishes. And he, too, will pay politically.
Maybe we should prohibit all religions, for the sake of fairness, to limit their houses of worship to no more than 2-3 floors. We should “respect and suspect” everyone,and not endanger the security of all because of political correctness. And if it is difficult to decide, I suggest to use “Le Pari” (the Wager) of Blaise Pascal. He wrote :” Let us wager that God exists. If we are right, we gain eternity; if we are wrong, what did we lose, a few pleasures or sacrifices, nothing.”
Applied here, it will be: ” If we build such a mosque, we expose ourselves to a potential huge danger but if we don’t, we avoid such catastrophe even if we will annoy some group by limiting their “rights.” For me, the choice is clear.
La Jolla, CA
Globe’s ‘Last Romance’ a sweet-heart deal for Ross and Michael
Marian Ross Patricia Conolly and Paul Michael in "The Last Romance" at the Globe (Photo:Craig Schwartz)
By Carol Davis
Carol Davis
SAN DIEGO– It’s no secret that Marion Ross and Paul Michael are an item. They have been together for 22 years now. But how wonderful is it that, among other things, they can play opposite each other in Joe Dipietro’s (I Love You You’re Perfect Now Change, co-writer for Tony winning Memphis and All Shook Up) newly minted work (written just for them), The Last Romance?
Ross (Mrs. C on Happy Days and Sally Fields’ mother in Brother’s and Sisters) has been associated with The Old Globe since ‘the ‘Craig Noel’ early days of the 1940’s when she made her Globe debut in Ladies in Retirement.
She and Noel had a special relationship over the years and she spoke lovingly and with humor of him at the recent memorial for Noel. She and Michael last shared the stage together in Over The River and Through the Woods in 2000 again at The Globe. Michael, a star in his own right, has appeared on Broadway numerous times.
The Last Romance is a valentine for Ross. It is both charming and telling. I know this is stretching the memory for some, but remember the radio soap The Romance of Helen Trent and the announcer blurbs out, “Can love come to a woman of 35?” Yes Helen, it can come to women of all ages and as for Carol (Marion Ross) in The Last Romance it came when she was in her 70’s. So there ya go.
Both Ross and Michael had some input into the overall look of the play, if you will. Their likes, interests and hobbies are pretty much written into the dialogue, her love of dogs and his of opera, and that makes the play even more personal; that’s what sells. It just naturally suits them to a tee and fits like a glove.
Set designer Alexander Dodge sets the tone with red and gold autumn leaves hanging from tree branches above and scattered over the theatre’s arena stage. Most of what happens takes place in a doggie park on a park bench where the two share, reach out and grow.
Ralph Bellini (Michael) is a widower and Carol Reynolds (Ross) not quite widowed (her husband had a stroke four years ago and is on life support but she refuses to pull the plug) meet in a nearby park. It’s not so much by accident that it’s the very same park Carol lets her newly acquired pooch, Peaches run amok, but more by design after Ralph sees her there one day on his walk.
It seems that Ralph, who goes out for a daily stroll decided to change his route this day and head to the doggie park instead. After being tracked down by his sister Rose (Patricia Conolly) and scolded for not letting her know were he was going (he’s eighty) and a long interrogation of why he came here instead of his usual hunting grounds, she goes off with the promise he will follow shortly. The two live together.
Carol then shows up in the park with her dog Peaches. He’s smitten at once, she’s aloof but he’s determined to get to know her no matter what. Time is of the essence for both. They are no youngsters and there is no time for games. But when Carol holds back, Ralph jumps in with both feet. “Do you like opera?” begins Ralph. “Have we met?” she coyly retorts.
And so it begins. For the next two or so hours we find out that she is a retired executive secretary (that’s apparently why she is impeccably dressed) and loves dogs and he is a retired railroad man (he’s now wearing his new Eddie Bauer sport shirt to impress) who once had an audition with the Metropolitan Opera. He loves to kid around, something Carol finds a bit offensive at first.
They continue to meet in the park and get to know each other, becoming a little friendlier and divulging more and more about each other. But things aren’t always as they seem even for these two seniors who have seen their share of happy times and tragic times. Two thorns keep digging into them like stickers they cannot remove.
Ralph’s sister Rose, his one and only surviving family member isn’t keen on Ralph’s choice of Carol. “Ralph’s a good man. He has his faults-but…I see you spending more and more time with him. And you’d be doing me a big favor if you didn’t.” She looks after her brother and takes care of him more like a wife than a sister and she and is jealous of anyone who might take her place. “She’s the only family I got left. What are you gonna do?” asks Ralph.
On the other hand, Carol’s in limbo because her husband is neither here nor there in her life. She can’t get on with her life until that issue is resolved and she refuses to do anything about his situation. She’s also concerned that if she does get involved with Ralph, he may up and die on her. “What if you die?” she asks.
Watching Carol and Ralph navigate through the minefields of starting anew is a tricky business but with Ross and Michael at the helm it sails without a hitch. Ross is stylishly coifed when we first meet her dressed to the nines (Charlotte Devaux), gloves and all. Watching her go from cold to coy to lukewarm to all smiles when she’s with Ralph is the sign of a seasoned actress who knows her audience and circumstances well.
Patricia Conolly has all the right gestures as Rose, Ralph’s devoted sister. Lonely and abandoned by her own husband as a younger woman, some twenty years earlier she keeps herself busy looking after, cooking, cleaning and caring for her brother almost to a fault.
Michael’s Ralph is charming, down to earth, and salt of the earth and a sincere romantic. Even the interplay with his overbearing sister is more tender than thorny. His love of life, love of opera and his yearning for a second chance at love is true to form.
An added fourth character The Young Man (Joshua Jeremiah) as a younger Ralph, singing selected arias as the story moves along, adds another dimension to this otherwise satisfying and lovely play. Jeremiah, who has a powerful and full baritone voice, breaks into aria about five or six times (highlighted by Chris Rynne’s spot on lighting) throughout the evening starting with a selection from “Mattinata” by Leoncavalla to Mozart’s “Cosi Fan Tutte” to “Pagliacci”. It was glorious.
With Richard Seer’s gentle but straight forward direction and Joe DiPietro’s lovely yet bittersweet play, The Last Romance is the frosting on the cake for those of us whose total number of birthday candles are enough to empty a box and cover the entire top. It is just the beginning of what can be if we let it happen, or so they are saying. Seers gentle prodding of these octogenarians makes it look so easy. They may as well be in their thirties.
The Last Romance gives hope to our aging generation. It has just the right ingredients for a play about second chances and growing older gracefully but realistically, devoid of sentimentality but loaded with humor, and that’s what makes the world go round and this play worth seeing.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: July 30th-September12th
Organization: Old Globe Theatre
Phone: 619-234-5623
Production Type: Romantic Comedy
Where: 1363 Old Globe Way, Balboa Park
Ticket Prices: $29.00-$62.00
Web: theoldglobe.org
Venue: Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre
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Theatre critic Davis is based in San Diego
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