By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO, Calif.—Rabbi Lisa Goldstein and Jackie Tolley are staging a $15 million "race to the mezuzah"  with the winner being the one who can affix a mezuzah to the doorpost of a new Hillel house first.

Goldstein, executive director of Hillel of San Diego, is headquartered at the University of California San Diego and, on the other side of the city, Tolley is the director of Hillel at San Diego State University.

Although the $15 million joint fundraising campaign will raise sufficient money for both planned facilities, the two Hillel colleagues know that between the time one draws up the plans and makes a structure ready for occupancy, there can be many a twist and turn.  "So we figured we'd have a pool on which one of us gets to put the mezuzah up on the front door first," Goldstein said.

Herbert Solomon, a former president of the United Jewish Federation of San Diego County, has agreed to chair the capital campaign, which is expected to begin soon after post-Memorial Day consultations are completed with Herb Tobin, a fundraising consultant affiliated with Hillel's Schusterman International Center in Washington D.C.

The two projects wended their ways through separate bureaucratic processes and it is an utter coincidence that negotiations, hearings and approvals ended at nearly the same time for each of them, Goldstein said.

In the UCSD case, Hillel only received permission on May 9 to purchase from the City of San Diego an unoccupied 33,000 square foot triangle of land bounded by La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla Scenic North, and La Jolla Scenic Way.  Permission came on a 6-2 vote of the San Diego City Council after a contentious hearing in which neighbors in the suburban La Jolla neighborhood close to the university successfully demanded that the proposed 12,000-square-foot facility increase the number of onsite parking spots from 40 to 68.

The City Council also made Hillel agree to limit occupancy in the building to 250 people at a time, except for six times a year when that number may be boosted to 400.  Rabbi Goldstein said such occasions as the High Holy Days and the first Shabbat after the beginning of the school term are the kind of occasions that permission for the increased number of occupants were necessary.

Voting in favor of Hillel were Council President Scott Peters, who represents the La Jolla area; and Council Members Kevin Faulconer, Toni Atkins, Tony Young,  Jim Madaffer and Ben Hueso.  The two dissenting votes were cast by Council Members Donna Frye and Brian Maienschein.

Rabbi Goldstein said that City Attorney Michael Aguirre and Assistant City Attorney Karen Heumann had hosted a series of meetings between Hillel and the neighbors prior to the City Council session in an effort to forge agreements. The neighbors continued to oppose the Hillel house, even after Hillel agreed to various concessions, but as the two sides came to know each other the debate became less strident, she said.  

In previous hearings before various La Jolla planning groups, feelings were so intense that Goldstein heard herself being heckled, a fairly unusual experience for a rabbi.  There was even one neighbor who would cross the street when she saw the rabbi approaching.   Now, said Goldstein, some of the opponents, though disappointed in the City Council's decision, are more friendly. Furthermore, she said, some have expressed willingness to serve on a neighborhood advisory council to Hillel.

At San Diego State University, Hillel's efforts to win approval for a 10,000-square-foot facility were not nearly so contentious, but they were often subjected to complicated and time-consuming delays. A major problem was that San Diego State University wanted to redevelop the urban areas bordering its campus—a process requiring considerable public input. The process started and stopped, and different developers were engaged, over a period of 18 years. 

Until recently the San Diego State University  (SDSU)  Research Foundation, a charitable arm of the university, was driving the project.  But then SDSU President Stephen Weber announced that because of changes in the way the State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees funds projects, the university, itself, would have to take the project over. 

Most of the redevelopment attention has been focused on properties not affecting Hillel, so the Jewish organization was able to arrange a land swap with SDSU's Research Foundation. Hillel traded its  property at 5742 Montezuma Road for a rental property owned by the SDSU Research Foundation almost directly behind the current Hillel House on Lindo Paseo. Additionally, Hillel was able to purchase a property right next door currently owned by the Wesley Foundation of the Methodist Church. 

By combining properties at 5705 and 5712 Lindo Paseo, Hillel will have room to build a 10,000-square-foot two-story building and a parking lot accommodating between 15 and 25 cars, Goldstein said.  Meanwhile, by acquiring the old Hillel site, SDSU Research Foundation will be able to assemble three adjacent lots and offer them for sale at a better combined price than if the three lots had been sold individually, according to Theresa Nakata, SDSU Research Foundation's director of community and public relations.

Another three lots are being assembled by the Church of Latter Day Saints, which will become a neighbor of Hillel's at the new site. There is a possibility that the two religious groups could pool parking spaces.  Friday nights are the busiest times at Hillel, whereas the Mormons could use the parking spaces on Sunday mornings

Although parking is always a worry, both Hillel houses are benefited by the fact that, for the most part, the students they serve either live on or near the campus, or have campus parking spaces.

Although the UCSD facility would be 2,000 feet larger than the one at SDSU, the two buildings will serve similar functions.

Goldstein said that at UCSD there will be a multipurpose room that may be divided into three parts for separate Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Shabbat services, and then opened up for a common dinner served from the building's kosher kitchen.  There will also be a lounge area, a library, some meeting rooms and staff offices, she said

Tolley said the SDSU building's architectural plans have not been completed, but that the design should include these elements: multipurpose space for 200-250 students, lounge areas, library and conference room, kosher kitchen, office space for Hillel staff and for on-campus Jewish organizations like the Jewish Student Union, and flexible space.

Although the SDSU Foundation and Hillel have exchanged titles to their respective properties, they have agreed to rent them back to each other for a period of two years to accommodate the planning and building processes

With a similar time frame anticipated for the UCSD project,  that means Goldstein and Tolley both will have plenty of time to shop for the perfect winner's mezuzah.