	San Diego Jewish World 'There's a Jewish story everywhere'

                              Today's Postings

Shoshana Bryen in Washington DC "Gates underscores threat of Iran and the jihadists in speech to JINSA"

Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: "Jewish community rallies to help victims, as wildfires sweep San Diego County"

Ira Sharkansky in Jerusalem: "Abbas' response to plot on Olmert's life raises questions about Palestinian intentions"

                                The week in Review
                           (click on dates to see back issues)

Sunday, October 21, 2007

"Cynthia Citron in Los Angeles: "Divorce, Jewish playwright style"

Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: "Partying at the Air & Space Museum for Seacrest Village Retirement Communities"

Joe Naiman in San Diego: "Horseracing debuts as Hall of Champions' featured sport"

Sheila Orysiek in San Diego: "Yiddish still alive, tickling"

Saturday, October 20

Shoshana Bryen in Washington DC: "Glad he spoke, but JINSA doesn't agree with all that Gates had to say"

Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: Comedian ponders relations between U.S. Jews, Christians"

Ira Sharkansky in Jerusalem: "He thinks he shall never see a peace conference as lovely as a tree"

Eileen Wingard in San Diego: "A golden baton winner looks back on TICO's endorphin-filled season"

Larry Zeiger in San Diego: "Book of David grows tiresome with its extended biblical metaphor."

Friday, October 19, 2007

Cynthia Citron in Los Angeles: "Braille Institute honors near blind reader, 101, now an author herself"

Garry Fabian in Melbourne, Australia: "How B'nai B'rith lit its menorah in Australia and New Zealand."

Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: "Evan Almighty mighty good way to spend quality time with grandson, 6"

Rabbi Baruch Lederman in San Diego: "A kiss at a bris"

Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal in San Diego: "'And you shall be a blessing...'"

Dora Klinova in La Mesa, California: "America? Just a joke"

Wednesday, October 17

Sherry Berlin in San Diego: "Sammy Spider's webmaster coming to SD Jewish Book Fair"

Peter Garas in Gordon, Australian Capital Territory: "Jewish Memories: Australian BBYO activists designed intensive Jewish camp experience"

Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: "Whistling right up to the bully"

Tuesday, October 16

Garry Fabian in Melbourne, Australia: "Shul accuses cab companies of charging elderly exorbitant fares" ... "Jewish youths attacked in hate crime" ... "Wife charged with murder of missing Israeli"

Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: "Study shows Jewish schools pay female principals less than male counterparts"

Dora Klinova in La Mesa, California: "The first Americans in my life."

Fred Reiss in Winchester, California: "Christian afterword sours analysis of Torah and Book of Joshua"

Archive of Previous Issues

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The Jewish Citizen
by Donald H. Harrison

Jewish community rallies to help victims, as wildfires sweep San Diego County

SAN DIEGO—With eight wildfires making an east-to-west march through San Diego County, forcing the evacuation of an estimated 250,000 people from their homes, numerous Jewish institutions closed on Monday either to keep members and personnel away from the flames, to shield them from poor air quality, or to permit workers to be with their families in this time of emergency.

The three Jewish day schools—Chabad Hebrew Academy, San Diego Jewish Academy and Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School—were among the earliest institutions to announce closures.

Synagogues buildings in the affected areas included Temple Adat Shalom, Chabad of Poway, and Ner Tamid Synagogue in Poway; Congregation Beth Am in the Carmel Valley area of San Diego, Temple Solel in Cardiff by the Sea, and the Chabad Houses of Scripps Ranch and Rancho Santa Fe.

Residents of the Rancho Bernardo/ Poway branch of Seacrest Village Retirement Home initially were to be evacuated to the sister facility in Encinitas, but as the fires threatened the Encinitas facility, plans were changed. The residents of the Rancho/ Bernardo branch went to Heritage Pointe in Orange County, which also is an assisted living facility; whereas residents of the Encinitas facility traveled south to La Jolla to the campus of Congregation Beth Israel for temporary sheltering. Numerous residents made arrangements to stay with family members or friends.

Meanwhile the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center in the eastern portion of La Jolla was closed, forcing cancellation of various events including Monday evening's scheduled screening of the movie, The Land of Milk and Honey.

Meanwhile, the United Jewish Federation, the Jewish Community Foundation and Jewish Family Service teamed up to offer assistance to displaced families and victims.

The three agencies announced creation of a Jewish Community Disaster Fund both for personal assistance and for rebuilding of any Jewish communal structures that might be damaged by the fires. They said the money would be held in trust by the Jewish Community Foundation, with no administrative expenses to be deducted.

Those wishing to contribute to the fund may do so by making a check out to the Jewish Community Disaster Fund, in care of the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego, 4950 Murphy Canyon Road, San Diego, California 92123.

Although major evacuation centers have been established by public authorities at Qualcomm Stadium and at the Del Mar Race Track, and smaller centers have been established at various schools throughout the county, Jewish Family Service is also helping to arrange shelter. Those seeking shelter may do so by calling JFS at (858) 637-3000, or visiting its Turk Family Center at 8804 Balboa Avenue, San Diego during business hours.

Congregations that were unaffected by the fires through Monday also offered to either provide shelter or to help arrange it. These included The Chabad House at San Diego State University (6115 Montezuma Road, 619-778-3541), and Tifereth Israel Synagogue (6660 Cowles Mountain Blvd, 619-697-6660).

The Jewish agencies suggested that people desiring to work as volunteers during the emergency contact the Red Cross Spontaneous Volunteer Center, at the Horizon Christian Fellowship, 5331 Mt. Alifan Drive, in the Clairemont area of San Diego. (858-309-1261).

Jews who are elected officials were much in evidence during the response to the disaster, especially Sheriff Bill Kolender, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.

Kolender reiterated several times at a series of news conferences that when emergency personnel call upon residents to evacuate their home, those orders must be followed. It is more important to save your life than your property, Kolender said, adding that those who argue with emergency personnel about evacuations keep them from performing vital tasks—in effect, obstructing them in their efforts to help others.

He also announced that the Superior Courts would be closed to permit bailiffs and other sworn personnel to join the fire lines.

Similarly, Dumanis announced that 120 investigators for the district attorney's office would put aside their normal duties to assist in policing the affected areas.

Poizner promised quick action against any con artists who attempt to defraud fire victims on their policies—a problem that residents encountered four years ago after the disastrous Cedar fire.

He also suggested that residents who are evacuated not only take with them copies of their home insurance policies but also “to make sure they gather their financial documents in addition to personal mementos. If you have not already conducted a home inventory of your assets, take the time to catalogue the condition of your home and your assets. Locate receipts for major purchases, such as art, electronic equipment, appliances. Should you need to file a claim, these steps will expedite the recovery process."

Letter from Jerusalem
By Ira Sharkansky

Abbas' response to plot on Olmert's life raises questions about Palestinian intentions

JERUSALEM—It is hard to determine if the Palestinians are players in a comic opera, simply nuts, or showing the effects of a culture shaped by a tragic history.

The latest flap concerns a plot that was supposed to shoot up the motorcade of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert when he was on his way to Jericho for a meeting with Mahmoud Abbas. Israeli intelligence uncovered the plans, and Olmert never set out on that trip. Israelis informed Palestinian authorities about the men involved, who included members of elite Palestinian Authority security forces. The Palestinians arrested some of them, but may never have asked them about the plan, and released them after a few days. We have seen this before. It is called the revolving door of Palestinian jails for individuals accused of taking part in operations against Israel. A big show is made of enforcement, and shortly thereafter the captives go home quietly.

When Israeli media began to expose this story, and some politicians suggested that there was no point in negotiating with an Authority that could not do any better to keep the peace, the Palestinians put on another show of arrest. Some of those involved are in Israeli hands, and they will not go free so easily.

No surprise in all of that.

And not too much in the news that a group of Israelis are campaigning to demand the freedom of Yigal Amir, who killed Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Reports are that they have enough money to produce and distribute 50,000 copies of a film meant either to de-demonize Amir, or turn him into a hero. Leaders of the campaign are remnants of Meir Kahane's Kach Movement, and a prominent spokesperson is Larisa Trembovler, a Russian immigrant who married Amir in absentia, and then was allowed conjugal visits by the Supreme Court against the decision of the Prison Authority. She is scheduled to produce a little boy sometime in the next month, close to the 12th anniversary of Rabin's assassination. That birth will get media attention, and give a push to the campaign. The organizers are putting the emphasis on Amir's service to the nation, according to them, insofar as the Oslo Accord that Rabin signed with the Palestinians was a national disaster, and should not be repeated by any subsequent concessions.

Politicians are pressing the media to avoid coverage of the Free Amir campaign. One poll indicates that 10 percent of the population supports the definition of some limit to Amir's life sentence, a formal step that must be taken before any body may consider his release.

If anyone reading this wants to participate in a celebration of Amir's release, I would not advise buying tickets any time soon. The movement in his behalf may be no more popular than the people who make an occasional pilgrimage to the grave of Baruch Goldstein. He was the American-Israeli physician who killed a few dozen Palestinians while they were praying, and then died at the hands of those remaining when he ran out of ammunition.

Is it worth pondering the source of Palestinian or Israeli extremists? For one we can look at conquest, or a lack of national independence, plus six decades or more of education and media emphasizing that it is all Israel's fault. For the other,

we might start with Jewish suffering culminating in the Holocaust, or some language in the Book of Genesis that all this land should be ours.

The supporters of Amir are more a sad curiosity than a problem. Israeli intelligence has a department that looks after Jewish extremists, and usually keeps them from doing any damage. More worrisome is the much larger number of Palestinian extremists, well represented among political and religious leaders. The source of potential assassins in their security services, and the revolving door policy of their law enforcement require us to ask if it is possible to reach agreements with such a people, or if it is even worth an effort.

Gates underscores threat of Iran and the jihadists in speech to JINSA

Ed. Note: This is the second of a three-part series covering the speech delivered by Secretary of Defense Gates to JINSA on October 15, 2007.

By Shoshana Bryen

On "the elusive Iranian moderate":

I remember back to November 1, 1979, when then-National Security Advisor Brzezinski was in Algiers... While we were there, the Iranian delegation asked to meet with (him). Brzezinski offered the Iranians - their Prime Minister and Defense and Foreign Ministers - recognition of their revolution, continuation of their partnership that had existed under the Shah - including military assistance to the new government, and focus on a common foe to Iran's north - the Soviet Union. They weren't interested. They only wanted us to give them the dying Shah. Brzezinski refused, finally saying that to return the Shah would be incompatible with our national honor. That ended the meeting.

Three days later came word that our embassy in Tehran had been seized, and two weeks after that, the prime minister and defense and foreign ministers with whom we had met were out of their jobs and/or in jail. Thus began my now 28-year-long quest for the elusive Iranian moderate.

We should have no illusions about the nature of this regime or its leaders - about their designs for their nuclear program, their willingness to live up to their rhetoric, their intentions for Iraq, or their ambitions in the Gulf.

Clear enough. As is his conceptualization of the nature of our war.

Where extremists have seized and controlled territory - in western Iraq or eastern Afghanistan, for example - the result has been misery, and poverty, and fear. The future they promise is a joyless existence - personified not by piety or virtue, but by the executioner and the suicide bomber. Symbolized by men kneeling not in prayer before their god, but kneeling and waiting for the executioner's sword.

The United States and many of our allies, the prospect of terrorism on a large or prolonged scale is a relatively new concept, one that we are just beginning to appreciate. For Israel, however, it is something that dates back many years.

Despite many tactical successes, overall strategic \success against violent extremism has been elusive. With the extent of the jihadist movement, with its breadth and numbers, even the most effective counterterrorism tactics can only reduce the number and lethality of attacks. Total elimination is infinitely more complex, part of an ideological struggle between the forces of moderation and extremism. It is a struggle currently playing out in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East.

At this end of this train of thought, and the end of his remarks, Dr. Gates returned to the U.S.-Israel relationship and our common political/military development, a stronger and more mature connection than the earlier "because it is right." He quoted Herzl:

"As a people, [the Jews] have long lost the taste for war. They are... fully content if left in peace."

And added what appeared to be a warning on behalf of both:

I think that is a fitting description of all the mature democracies in the world. We have no taste for war, no taste for the destruction and devastation that it creates. We are content to live in peace. But if we are not left in peace, if our security is challenged, we also know that there may be times when we have to defend in no uncertain terms our interests and our liberties.