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MONDAY, JULY 28
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SATURDAY, AUGUST 2-SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 7
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2008 Temple Solel S'more Shabbat
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MON., SEPT. 29-THURS., OCT. 9
THE JEWISH CITIZEN
Former Navy base bursts with creativity
By Donald H. Harrison
 SAN DIEGO—Even though Alan Ziter is a walking encyclopedia of information about arts groups and their programs in San Diego County, he happily conceded he cannot keep track of all the synergistic interactions that are starting to occur in the arts and cultural district of Liberty Station, the former military installation known as the Naval Training Center (NTC)
Ziter came to the job as executive director of the NTC Foundation after having served for years as the executive director of San Diego’s Performing Arts League, an umbrella group for 150 arts organizations ranging from major establishments like the Old Globe Theatre, the San Diego Opera, and the San Diego Symphony to small storefront operations. He truly knows and understands the purposes of arts groups, and enjoys promoting them. He is a fine story teller.
But do you recall that famous experiment of hundreds of ping pong balls set in place by mouse traps? Toss one loose ping pong ball into that assemblage, and you set off a chain reaction where it triggers another ping pong ball which in turn triggers another until soon one sees nothing but a white blizzard of flying ping pong balls.
Creativity may not be running that rampant yet along the NTC Promenade, as the new arts district is known, but it is getting there. Right now there has been renovation and occupation of only six of the 26 buildings, which under the NTC Foundation’s arrangement with the City of San Diego are reserved mainly for culture, arts and non-profit organizations. Just imagine when the remaining 20 buildings, including former barracks and officers homes, are filled with tenants who, like those already there, relish the prospect of collaborative efforts with other groups, be they in similar fields or in disciplines seemingly far removed.
I previously wrote in this column about the interactions among the New Americans Museum, which is dedicated to telling the story of America’s immigrants, and its two neighbors, the Visions Art Quilt Gallery and the San Diego Watercolor Society. Ziter, over lunch at Solare Restaurant on the NTC Promenade and via a walking tour, more recently told me about some of the other collaborations that are also occurring on the landscaped grounds that run for blocks between Rosecrans Street and the boat channel leading to San Diego Bay.
In the same building where Solare offers a lunchtime menu of pasta and salads are such organizations as the Jenna Druck Foundation, ARTS-A Reason To Survive, and KIT (Kids Included Together). The Jenna Druck Foundation was named by Jenna’s parents, Ken and Karen, after their daughter was killed in a bus accident while traveling in India. Two of its major programs are to foster leadership skills among young women, and to help families like theirs cope with family tragedies.
KIT, which had its genesis at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, is a program started by community members Gayle and Don Slate to help organizations mainstream children with disabilities into activities offered to the general population. The program came to fruition during summer camp sessions held at the JCC, and now interacts with many more organizations. ARTS-A Reason To Survive, is a program enabling children facing adversity to grow and to express themselves through the arts.
 
On our tour, we stopped in the ARTS studios where founder Matt D’Arrigo told us how he turned to his art, and to his music, after receiving double blows of news, within two months of each other, that both his mother and his sister had cancer. His reaction was to “make a studio in my bedroom. I was up there every day, painting and listening and just escaping.” That was such a transformative process for me—the artistic process-that it just hit me: I would like to offer the same kind of transformation to others who are facing challenges—whether it is parents’ illnesses, or illnesses themselves, especially kids.
“I made a commitment to start a program that would be for children, for them to express themselves, gain self-esteem, heal and be empowered…. My sister, who recovered, bought me a book on how to start a non-profit organization…. We partnered with the Ronald McDonald House and with Children’s Hospital to bring to the children there preplanned art activities, and that is how the idea was born.”
But D’Arrigo’s dream always was to have a center of his own, where kids could have greater artistic choices. After his organization was recruited to NTC by Ziter, it established a program under which “individuals will come here and participate in media arts, performance, ceramics, music… and do what they want to do.”
One can sense the synergies that might occur among ARTS, KIT, and the Jenna Druck Foundation, with clientele of the two latter organizations, utilizing the resources of ARTS. But there are additional collaborations, says D’Arrigo. “We have a very strong partnership with Malashock Dance,” the modern dance group headed by John Malashock, who is well-known to the Jewish community as the creator of various programs for the San Diego Jewish Arts Festival.
“If kids want to do a dance program, we bring them to John’s studio and we do a dance program with them—a diverse program, including contemporary dance, hip hop. We have a performance space here, but the draw for the kids is to work at a professional dance studio, with professional dancers. These kids might never have had that experience otherwise.”
Similarly, he said, “we are working as well with the Watercolor Society, bringing the kids over there for the exhibits, learning from these professional artists.” The same is true, he said, with Quilt Visions. “So it becomes a campus. We can bring our kids there, and they can bring some of their students here.”
Rob Tobin is an artist in residence at ARTS, who encourages students to engage in portraiture and other artistic activities. One project with which our Jewish community is familiar is the large “Tree of Life” installation on the campus of San Diego Jewish Academy with its accompanying butterfly ceramics intended to represent the 1.5 million children slain in the Holocaust. Tobin said that some students in the ARTS program make ceramic butterflies to be added to SDJA’s collection and that, additionally, his mother, a school teacher in Connecticut, has encouraged her students to participate. The Tobins are not members of the Jewish community, but are moved by the symbolism of the project.
On the wall of one of ARTS studios are portraits executed by students from Hillcrest School, Barrio Logan College Institute, and the Monarch School; their subject matters being students from other schools and such places as the Mira Mesa Evacuation Center (during the recent wildfires) and the Ronald McDonald House.
Adding to the excitement and synergy of the arts groups along the NTC Promenade is the fact that the artists and participants in the programs represent many religious and ethnic backgrounds, each bringing their own perspectives and cultures into the process. For example, Ziter is of mixed Lebanese and French Canadian parentage; Jean Isaacs’ parents are Italian; Malashock is Jewish.
We walked from the ARTS studios a short distance to Dance Place where three resident dance companies have rehearsal rooms and office space: Malashock Dance, San Diego Ballet and Jean Isaacs San Diego Dance Theatre.
“There are 90 dance companies in San Diego, yet there is not one dance building that you can point to where you can say dance happens,” Ziter said. “We know where the Old Globe is, we know where the Symphony is, we know where the Opera is. But where does dance happen?” So NTC met with various dance groups and explained to them, “We can build this dance building; what do you need in this building, and who wants to be here? We found that there were a lot of groups that were young; they just didn’t have the budget to afford a full-time space, and they didn’t need full-time space. They just needed some space occasionally where they could rehearse. So we created dance place where John Malashock, Jean Isaacs and San Diego Ballet are now in residence in five of the rehearsal studios, but we have six other studios that are available for community use. In the last year and a half, 45 groups have used these studios for the dance rehearsal process.”
 
Currently, Isaacs, Malashock and San Diego Ballet together are offering a three-week summer course in which dancers can sample the different dance styles.
“We programmed it together,” said Malashock. “Some of the classes are ours, some are theirs, and it is a shared effort. We also have implemented a free day of dance, the day after Christmas, when everyone can come and take free dance classes all day long, with all three of the companies participating. It’s a way of getting the word out.”
Whereas one might expect dance companies to find a way of joint programming, Isaacs and Malashock were quick to tell me that collaborations occur with other NTC Promenade tenants. “Every day, there is something new, something new surfaces,” said Isaacs. “We just came over from the Quilt Visions Museum and their next opening, August 9, has a theme of human figures in quilts. So they have hired us to come and do some dance for the opening. We just went over there and scoped it out, and actually, one of the dancers, took a quilt that had 70 small figures on it, and she created a dance based on the figures on the quilt.”
“Those kind of collaborations, not just here in the dance building but with other, new entities that are coming in, have been incredible. Our fundraiser for ‘Trolley Dances,’ August 3rd, will be in the NTC Rose Garden, and then will go over to the Solare Restaurant.”
For ten years, Isaacs’ troupe has been performing contemporary dance along the route of the San Diego Trolley, with the idea of bringing dance out to the people. Dances are choreographed for the specific locations. The August 3 fundraiser to help pay for this year’s performances (September 27-28, October 4-5) will be titled the “Mad Hot Ballroom” where purchasers of $75 tickets will receive lessons in the garden in ballroom dancing, Latin dancing, salsa.
Ziter loves to tell the story about the garden, which is named for Sybil Stockdale, widow of Admiral James Stockdale, the one-time highest ranking Prisoner-of-War during the Vietnam War. One time, Stockdale received in a Red Cross package a photograph which his wife captioned as being that of his mother, who had taken a taxi in Coronado to take a dip in the water. Stockdale couldn’t make heads or tails of the message at first; if the haggard woman in the photograph was his mother, time had been tougher on her in freedom than it had been on him in captivity. And why would this woman, whoever she was, need to take a taxi in Coronado to take a dip in the water? If she were a mind to, she could walk to the beach. Then it hit him, the key words were “dip in the water.”
So Stockdale dipped the photo in some water and it peeled away to reveal a secret message that had been sent to him by Navy intelligence. It gave Stockdale instructions on how he could send back the names of his fellow POWs and other information about the prisoners. The secret message also informed Stockdale that if in the future, he should ever receive a photograph of his wife, in which there was also a rose (be it in a garden, or a vase, or anywhere else), he shouldn’t save the photo, but should dip it into the water, because it too would include a message.
The rose garden commemorates this story. It is located outside the NTC Foundation’s Visitor Center where there is a small museum in the Stockdales’ honor, and where the board room is made to look like an Admiral’s board room and is named for him. Although Stockdale never served at the NTC, he is a bonafide San Diego-area naval hero, who in one presidential election served as Reform party candidate Ross Perot’s vice presidential running mate.
But we digress, as creative people along the NTC Promenade are probably wont to do.
Malashock said that in addition to doing some programming with ARTS, and with the fellow tenants of Dance Place, he also recently suggested to the New American Museum the name of an artist with whom he had collaborated as a possible subject for a proposed exhibit on immigrant artists. “It was nice to make that link.”
The resident dance companies along NTC Promenade are quite excited about the possibility of the 1,800-seat Luce Auditorium, built in 1941 in honor of Stephen Bleeker Luce, being converted into a permanent dance theatre. Luce, an Annapolis graduate, was the founder in 1884 of the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.
The 20,000-square-foot facility (including a stage with proscenium) “was built just before World War II, and you had a time when the Navy base population shot up from 8,000 to 30,000 recruits, and so this was a central gathering point. There were a lot of lectures, presentations, movies on Saturday night, and good USO shows,” Ziter said. “Bob Hope did a broadcast on stage here; Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra were here; Kay Kaiser and his orchestra—in fact there was a spread in Life magazine about Kay Kaiser and his orchestra entertaining the recruits. At the time, it held 2,000 people but now it seats 1,800.”
Tom Hall, who for many years was the managing director of the Old Globe Theatre, did an analysis of the space to determine how it might be profitably renovated and utilized, understanding that as an historic building the exterior and certain interior features of the building had to remain intact.
“For performances,” said Ziter, “you have to do two things: to mitigate the noise from the airplanes flying overhead (NTC Promenade is under the normal departure pattern of Lindbergh Field), and number two you have to have air conditioning systems. There is a big swamp cooler right now. The goal would be to create a building within a building with a performance venue in front of 488 seats, and the back of the house could be divided up into maybe two different spaces with 250 seats each. In the end, you get a multi-stage, multi-venue facility all under one roof.”
Ziter notes that currently “there is no theatre that is adequately designed to be a dance theatre; if we could create that, we would be providing a great service to this community.”
Like the Garfield Theatre at the Jewish Community Center, said Ziter, the front portion of the proposed theatre could me made so that the auditorium style seating retracts into a wall, clearing floor space for tables. Such an arrangement might be perfect for cabaret style productions such as Isaacs’ troupe is doing in other places.
Currently there are no changing rooms back stage, nor is there a fly loft for raising and lowering scenery. But such needs could be accommodated in the refurbishment.
The study by Hall helps NTC Foundation “test the ideas with potential users and try to shop it to a donor or two and try to get them excited about the possibilities as well,” Ziter said.
Whereas maintenance of such a theatre might be too expensive for any single arts group, with the NTC Foundation owning it, and allocating dates to tenants and other arts groups, “it does put things within the realm of possibility,” said Isaacs. “Obviously being right next door to us, it would make an ideal space.”
“Perhaps,” I commented to Malashock, “you will get the place next door for your performances.”
“Not perhaps,” he responded quickly. “It is going to be the dance venue. It is going to happen.”
Thursdays with the Songs of Hal Wingard
 Editor's Note: We continue our presentation of the songs of Hal Wingard, moving this week to the songs he wrote on the themes of marriages that last—or don't. Here is a link to an index of Wingard's songs published by San Diego Jewish World. To hear Hal performing the song, click on its title.
#71, The Magic of Love
Who can explain that of all girls I knew,
When I came to choosing, I chose only you?
I know I'm in love, but hard as I try,
Knowing I love you doesn't tell why.
What is the magnet draws me to you--
The magic that makes me feel as I do?
Can it be cosmic, depending on stars,
Position of Venus in motion with Mars?
Or may it be psychic, pure ESP?
Who knows the answer? What can it be?
What is the magnet draws me to you--
The magic that makes me feel as I do?
Of all living beauties, "Miss World" is your name.
By splitting a neutron you won Nobel fame.
You built a skyscraper, authored ten books;
You hooked seven rugs and captured nine crooks.
Surgeons surround you to seek you advice.
Your cooking's exotic; your speech is precise.
You love with a passion, teach Sunday school.
Your daddy is rich. . .and I am no fool.
What is the magnet draws me to you--
The magic that makes me feel as I do?
#125, Camaraderie
I'm sitting in a crowded bar
Staring at my drink.
The noise of conversation drones
So loud I cannot think.
All around me pairs and groups
Engage in lively chat;
But I'm alone, the only one,
Who isn't where it's at.
Cam'raderie! Where can it be?
Cam'raderie! Where can it be?
On my left in suit and vest
A pair of earnest gents
Discuss each other's married life
And marital events.
Says one, "My wife lacks empathy.
Last night she went too far.
The door was locked when I came home
From drinking at the bar."
Cam'raderie! Where can it be?
Cam'raderie! Where can it be?
The other smiles and says, "It's true:
All wives are just the same.
Last night while I was at the pub
She played a spiteful game.
I came home late, all filled with love,
As sweet as apple pie,
And found her lying in my bed
Beside another guy."
Cam'raderie! Where can it be?
Cam'raderie! Where can it be?
By now I see my drink is dry,
Yet no one seems to care.
I long to have the comradeship
The gents beside me share.
But no one comes to chat with me.
Oh, what a friendless life!
I guess I'll have to head on home
To TV and my wife.
Cam'raderie! Where can it be?
Cam'raderie! Where can it be?
THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOKS
Author believes Israel's salvation is secular
The Hebrew Republic: How Secular Democracy and Global Enterprise Will Bring Israel Peace at Last by Bernard Avishail Harcourt, Inc., New York; ISBN 978-0-15-101452-1, 2008, $26, 268 pages
By Fred Reiss, Ed.D.
 WINCHESTER, California —Can peace be achieved in the Middle East? Political economist, Bernard Avishai, asks this question from Israel’s point of view in his newest book, The Hebrew Republic: How Secular Democracy and Global Enterprise Will Bring Israel Peace at Last. He gives the answer that peace is not likely until Israel becomes a secular democracy.
Although Israel is an open society, Avishai asserts that policies and institutions that were founded on the Zionist premise in the post-Holocaust years that Israel is a Jewish nation are hampering the peace process. Working-class, Hebrew-speaking Zionists founded Israel through such groups as the Jewish National Fund, which bought and sold land; union-owned industries; a world-wide organization, the Jewish Agency, which raised funds for the nascent state; a Jewish defense force; and Labor-Zionist schools. In addition, after the establishment of the State of Israel, the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, failed to approve a constitution.
Hence, Israel operates on the Fourteen Basic Laws, approved in 1949; the granting of the Orthodox Jewish rabbinate official state sanction; the adoption of the Law of Return; and the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty, approved in 1994.
He claims that these organizations, designed for a different age, which still hold power today, are incompatible with a secular democracy. For example, placing Jewish settlements in pre-1967 Palestinian territory is a holdover of early Zionism and keeping the Orthodox rabbinate as the sole source to legitimate Judaism is a holdover from the British Mandate.
Avishai argues that Israel will become a secular democracy when it recognizes first, that it has boundaries, which are accepted on a world-wide basis. Second, the Knesset must pass a Bill of Rights guaranteeing all Israeli residents access, including Israeli Arabs, to an impartial state bureaucracy. The Law of Return must be abandoned and replaced with standards for immigration and naturalization. Third, the Israeli government must guarantee equality of property rights. Avishai believes that the land, which is now more than ninety per cent publicly owned, should be converted to private ownership and suggests that this happen through impartial auctions. Finally, there must be a true separation between church and state.
Who will have the power to form a coalition government that can abandon its legacy institutions? The outcome depends on the answer given to a number of internal conflicts, including, to what degree should Israel rely on its military strength to end terrorism? Should Israel withdraw from lands that are part of its long religious history? Can a democratic Israel discriminate in favor of Jews, or to say it in another way, should Orthodox religious practice be state-sanctioned and the Law of Return abandoned? Finally, who should have access to the wealth generated by the global market place?
Avishai believes that only Israel’s centrist parties, such as the Kadima Party, which boasted Ariel Sharon, Shimon Peres, Haim Ramon, and Dalia Itzik as members, can persuade other moderate Israeli leaders and the voting public to abandon its outmoded institutions and out-of-date thinking.
The names of as many as twenty different political parties have appeared in some Israeli elections, so the “center” is both dynamic and illusive. Any coalition government must appeal to five classes of Israeli voters. The wealthiest group is made up of the Sabras, who generally have European origins. The second group is the Mizrachi Jews from North Africa. This group tends to be less wealthy than the first, naturally follow Jewish traditions and have an extreme dislike for Arabs because of the way they were treated during and after World War II. The newest constituency is the Soviet Jews who arrived in Israel during Glasnost. According to Avishai, they tend to be hyper-educated, hyper-secularized and hyper-nationalistic. The fourth population is the Israeli right wing. That is, the Ultra-Orthodox and those settlers who live on West Bank land, and finally, the Israeli Arabs.
Avishai concludes that once a powerful moderate core gives momentum to secular democracy, Israeli Arabs will have full voice in the government, access to land, education, and good-paying jobs. Educated Palestinians already feel a closer kinship to Israel then to other Arab counties and as part of the “system,” Israel’s Arab population will be much less likely to tear it down. Peace will prevail. Subsequently, the Economic Union and Israel will forge economic partnerships that can only benefit European citizens through Israel’s place in the forefront of technology and pharmacology. Peace will also benefit Israeli citizens through secure boarders, capital investments, and greater mobility.
The Hebrew Republic: How Secular Democracy and Global Enterprise Will Bring Israel Peace at Last is well conceived and well written. Whether you think that Avishai is a pie-in-the-sky dreamer for his naivete and linear thinking or a wise sage, he offers much material to ponder, particularly his perspective on the political, sociological and economic layers that have developed since the creation of the State of Israel leading to the reality that Israel finds itself in today. Peace and democracy are good things, so if Israel’s internal dialogue does not come to some reasonable conclusion soon, then a country that refuses to be driven into the sea, may be swamped internally.
ADVENTURES IN SAN DIEGO JEWISH HISTORY
Robinson-Rose House
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Old Temple Beth Israel |
Lawrence Family JCC |
Editor's Note: We are reprinting news articles that appeared in back issues of various San Diego Jewish newspapers. You may access an index of the headlines of those articles by clicking here. You may also use the Google search program on our home page or on the headline index page to search for keywords or names.
Shevous Services Feature Confirmations
From Southwestern Jewish Press, June 1949, page 1
 Confirmation services were held for fifteen young local men and women who had prepared themselves for the ancient Jewish ritual in ceremonies at Tifereth Israel Congregation and Temple Beth Israel Friday night, June 3. Both congregations were crowded for the events which were followed by lovely receptions prepared b the parents of the classes. Each graduate received prayer books, bibles, and certificates from their congregations. AT the Temple the gifts were presented by Nat Schiller, Mrs. M.D. Goodrich and Murray Goodrich while at the Synagogue presentations were made by Isador Jacobson, Mrs. Sidney Newmann and Alex J. Newman.
Top photo: Confirmants shown at exercises at the Temple Beth Israel are shown left to right: Barbara Mallon, Allan Goodman, Barbara Shames, Rabbi Morton Cohen (sic, Cohn), Florine Olf, Leonard Naiman, Roann Tepper and Donald Solomon. Bottom photo: Right: Jerry J. Levens, Betty Jo Kaufman, Ethel Dorris Schwartz, Gary Yale Breitbard, Edith Claire Press, Estelle Reva Berliner, Ada Picaizen, and Moses Shapov, who were confirmed at ceremonies at the Congregation Tifereth Israel.
Leaders Spur Activities to Complete 1949 Fund Drive
From Southwestern Jewish Press, June 1949, page 1
Led by the Women’s Division which concluded its “luncheon” drive last week, the United Jewish Fund 1949 “Year of Opportunity” Campaign has raised over $150,000.00 in pledges.
With fully 50% of last year’s contributors to be seen and $70,000 outstanding in larger gifts, the volunteer workers are continuing to intensify their solicitation so that every prospect will be seen within the next two weeks.
Two-hundred women were guests of Msdms. Jennie Burnett, Max Gardner, H. (sic, M.) D. Goodrich, Jack Gross, Rodin Horrow, Geoge Neumann, Sam Perlmutter, Abe Ratner, Victor Schulman, abe Sklar, Esther Sommers and Harry Snyder at a “no minimum” birthday party luncheon which raised $5,500 to bring the total women’s contribution to over $35,000.00 or 87 percent of the goal which they have set for themselves.
Recognized as one of the outstanding Women’s Division in the United States, the ladies, under the leadership of Mrs. Nathniel Ratner, chairman, and Mrs. Gabriel Berg, co-chairman, have had three luncheons starting with a $250 miminum given by Mrs. Selma Getz. Following that successful luncheon, Mesdames Samuel Ratner, Gabrial (sic, Gabriel) Berg, Saul Chenkin and Louis Steinman sponsored a $100 minimum luncheon for over one-hundred women.
The executive committee is now planning a “clean-up” section in order to see that every woman is given the privilege of contributing to this year’s campaign.
Chairmen of the various divisions in the men’s section of the campaign will intensify solicitation this week. All workers have been requested to complete their assignments and turn all of their cards in, either with the contribution or reports, according to Lou Steinman, co-chairman of the campaign. He advised workers “to turn in all cards even where there are refusals so that a committee could go back and see those individuals who have refused to shoulder their responsibilities.”
Among the leading trade division are furniture with Ben Harris, Victor Schulman and Harry Mallon as co-chairmen; wearing apparel with Its Penter, Sam Rasin (sic, Raskin); Al Newman and Milt Roberts as co-chairmen; Carl Esenoff, heading the professional division, stated that his division will be cleaned up next week.
Divisional chairmen are continuing to work and every effort is to be made to complete the campaign by June 15.
Yale Naliboff and Mrs. Harold Lehrer reported that over $5,000 was contributed by young people, with Hillel councillorship at State College still to make a full report. “Young People’s Division will continue working,” Naliboff said, “because we fully intend to make good our promise to send 88 children from Europe to Israel.”
In the outlying districts, Coronado, under the leadership of Arthur L. Cohen, has almost completed their job, and show an increase over 1948. Bill Schwartz and Harry Felson, reporting for La Mesa-El Cajon district, having covered most of their prospects, also show an increase in that area. Many new contributors have been uncovered in the Vista-Poway-Escondido district under the leadership of Harold Sobol, while Elmer Glaser in Oceanside has continued to contact his prospects for their contribution.
Leaders of the campaign urge every worker to go out and see their prospects now and request that every Jew in San Diego make his contribution now, either through the mail by forwarding to the United Jewish Fund, 333 Plaza, or by calling F-0171.
Hillel Awards Interfaith Scholarships at San Diego State College
From Southwestern Jewish Press, June 1949, page 1
A Catholic student and one of its own members were the winners of the two interfaith scholarships established by Hillel on the campus of the San Diego State College in order to reward students of any creed, race or color who have done the most to further the interfaith movement in the previous year. The names of the winners were announced at a public celebration sponsored by the Interfaith Council of the College on the night of Wednesday, May 25, at Scripps Cottage on the Campus. The first and largest of the awards, the $100.00 “Henry Weinberger Interfaith Scholarship” went to Barbara Wahler of the Newman Club (Catholic) of San Diego State and president of the Interfaith Council. The second award, the “Steinman” of $50.00, established or the first time this year, was given to Arline Blummer. Arline is Hillel’s representative in the Interfaith Council and served as secretary of this organization and of its governing body, the Administrative Cabinet. The candidates had been selected from written nominations by a Committee of Judges consisting of the faculty representatives of the four major faiths in the Administrative Cabinet of the Interfaith Council. The judges were Dr. John Paul Stone (Wesley Club, Methodist), chairman; Dr. Leonard Messier (Newman Club); Dr. Walter T. Phillips (Channing Club Unitarian) and Dr. Ernest M. Wolf (Hillel Counselorship), secretary. All the judges were present at the ceremony. The actual awarding of the scholarship was made by Dr. John Paul Stone, chairman of the Committee of Judges who acquainted the audience with the qualifications of the awardees by reading pertinent passages from the letters of nomination that had been submitted to his committee. Mr. Henry Weinberger and Mr. Steinman were present at the celebration and both of these donors transmitted their respective awards to the recipients in person.
The awarding of the scholarships was preceded by a program about “The Music of Faith.” This topic was treated in a talk by Dr. Frederick S. Andrews, noted local church organist and musicologist who is an expert in the field of comparative religious music.
The speaker took his very attentive and appreciative audience on an extended survey of the great liturgical music produced through the ages by the Jewish, Catholic and Protestant faiths. The talk was illustrated by a large number of beautiful recordings. The Jewish records used in the program had been furnished to the speaker by Hillel. They were selected by Dr. Andrews in collaboration with Dr. Wolf, Hillel counselor, from a small collection of Jewish records that are a part of the Hillel library at San Diego State College, established as a special project by the Birdie Stodel Lodge of the B’nai B’rith. The Hillel Councilorship would like to use this opportunity to ask for further donations of Jewish records of all kinds and of a record player to be used for future programs. For donations contact Sid Stokes, T-4410, or Dr. Ernest M. Wolf, B-7566.
Developing Youth Leadership
From Southwestern Jewish Press, June 1949, page 2
Thirty-five miles north of los Angeles in the beautiful Simi Valley are being trained the future leadership for the Jewish people of this area. The late Justice Louis D. Brandeis with great foresight once said, “We must protect America and ourselves from demoralization…our sole bulwark is to give to each generation of Jews a reason to raise their heads and taking their stand upon the past, to gaze straightforwardly into the future.”
And so was born the idea of Brandeis Camps in the United States. There are now three such camps…the original at Winterdale, Penn., in Hendersonville, N.C., and the third in Southern California.
Each year young Jewish men and women between the ages of 18 and 25 are chosen from cities throughout the west to spend four weeks at Brandeis Camp. Those fortunate enough to have been selected are acquainted fully with Jewish values, study the methods of democratic leadership and are trained as youth leaders for the American Jewish Community.
Campers are selected, mostly on a scholarship plan, on the basis of leadership potential. Since the rebirth of the State of Israel the picturesque 2000 acres at the Southern California Brandeis Camp has an especial significance as it so closely resembles the hills of Judea. In addition to bringing out the best in the campers, the summer spent at the Camp has proven an inspiration to those who have attended, and graduates from across the land are high in their praise of having discovered the joy of being free Jews in a free America.
In the past few years, Dorothy Rabinowitz, Chubby Silver, Mauri Frankston, Vilet Schechter and Maynard Horowitz have attended Brandeis Institute. Different organizations are sponsoring candidates who meet the qualifications. But who is to determine who is to go? There are so many potential applicants that we will soon face the problem of selectivity.
Before the date comes when an embarrassing situation arises and it is very close to that now… we feel that a local Board should be selected to recommend who should be sent to the camp. This Board should be composed of educators, leaders of organizational life, and members of various youth groups. The monies needed for sponsoring the young people should then be advanced by a central fund set up for that purpose. This is a very important project worthy of the best efforts our community can command. Let’s do it right and forget any politics in so doing.
 Nancy Harrison
cruise & tour specialist
(619) 265-0808
SAN DIEGO JEWISH WORLD THE WEEK IN REVIEW
Middle East
Key to Mideast peace not change among the Israelis but among the Palestinians by Shoshana Bryen in Washington D.C.
Australia
A Roundup of Jewish news of Australia by Garry Fabian
—Jewish scholar sees softening attitudes among Jews towards 'Messianic Jews'
—Alarm about Messianic Jews
—Star studded line-up for Sydney Jewish Writer Festival
—Makor Jewish Resource Library to expand
—Courage to Care - A tool to fight racism and prejudice
—Should Shoah education be made compulsory?
—From Jakarta to Perth
—Jewish Community Chatfest
—South African Community continues consolidation
Adventures in San Diego Jewish History
—April 1949: Caravan of Hope Arrives April 11th
—May 1949: Fund Leaders Attend Celebration of First Anniversary of the Republic of Israel
—May 1949: Hadassah
—May 1949: Beth Jacob Auxiliary
—May 1949: Nu? by Red Borscht
—May 1949: Ceremony May 30 {Decoration Day}
—May 1949: Personality of the Week (Levi Eshkol)
Arts
A lesbian comes out to the Orthodox followers of her father, the Rav by David Strom in San Diego
Israel's history, geography, customs for preschoolers before the High Holidays by Donald H. Harrison
Middle East
U.S. should heed Israeli lesson in Lebanon by Ira Sharkansky in Jerusalem
Some questions Obama should ask Abbas by Shoshana Bryen in Washington D.C.
The New York Times & 9th Commandment by Sheila Orysiek in San Diego
San Diego/Arts
Strom's klezmer hero helps save Pinsk by Donald H. Harrison in San Diego
Adventures in San Diego Jewish History
—April 1949:Our Policy
—April 1949:Introducing Our Columnists by Lewis Solomon and Ray Solomon
—April 1949:Leaders Herald Return of Jewish Press
—April 1949: United Jewish Fund Campaign For $309,000 to Open This Week
Lifestyles
Cane-raising at 60th college reunion by Natasha Josefowitz, Ph.D
USA
'Never Give In' is Arlen Specter's credo by Sheila Orysiek in San Diego
San Diego
San Diego, Tijuana to join in worldwide salute to Tel Aviv's 100th anniversary by Donald H. Harison in San Diego
Adventures in San Diego Jewish History
—August 7, 1947: Week at Palomar Closes Program
—August 7, 1947: Letter from Albert Hutler to Ray Solomon
—April 1949: Cavalcade To Trace Record of Lasker Lodge
—April 1949: J.W.B. Returns to San Diego
Middle East
Olmert's fingers on levers of power make those who would oust him quite cautious by Ira Sharkansky in Jerusalem
Judaism
Culture of death versus culture of life by Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal in San Diego
Stopping gossip—one hour at a time by Rabbi Baruch Lederman in San Diego
Adventures in San Diego Jewish History
—July 31, 1947: Pioneer Women
—July 31, 1947: Yo-Ma-Co
—August 7, 1947: Jewish Press to Suspend Publication: Decision Announced at Meeting of Representatives
—August 7, 1947: Announcement {Suspension of Publication}
—August 7, 1947: City-Wide Picnic at El Monte in Sept.
—August 7, 1947: Young Folks Zionist Group Formed
Arts
An errant yet charming father returns by Carol Davis in San Diego
Sports
A bissel sports trivia with Bruce Lowitt in Clearwater, Florida
Middle East
The heroes of Israel, from the Exodus hunger-strikers to Goldwasser and Regev by Judy Lash Balint in Jerusalem
San Diego
Making children smile, aiding world peace by Donald H. Harrison in San Diego
Arts
Nathan Detroit and friends trodding the boards at Moonlight Amphitheatre in Vista by Carol Davis in Vista, California
Chapter 17 of Reluctant Martyr, a serialized novel by Sheila Orysiek in San Diego
Adventures in San Diego Jewish History
—July 31, 1947: Lasker Lodge B.B.
—July 31, 1947: Jewish War Vets
—July 31, 1947: Jewish War Vets {Auxiliary}
—July 31, 1947: USO-JWB Activities
San Diego County Jewish Trivia: Balboa Park by Evelyn Kooperman in San Diego
Middle East
Bodies of Goldwasser and Regev return to Israel in post-Lebanon II war exchange by Ira Sharkansky in Jerusalem
Israel gives Hezbollah propaganda victory by Shoshana Bryen in Washington, D.C.
Arts
Questions propel play and Jewish director by Carol Davis in Solana Beach, California
Thursdays with the songs of Hal Wingard:
—#58, Dependency
—#60, Nurse!
—#324, Dear Mr. Spine
Adventures in San Diego Jewish History
—July 31, 1947: B’nai B’rith to Present Radios to Naval Hospital
—July 31, 1947:Camp Handicraft Exhibited at Reception
—July 31, 1947: 'CARE' offices move to new location
—July 31, 1947: Initial Meeting Accomplishes Much
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