Son stories…

Jonathan Wornick and his wife Cristina, who live in the East Bay, have named their two sons after their personal heroes. Son No. 1 is Ezra Darwin, which “reflects our values of Judaism with a respect for science,” Wornick writes. Their new baby, Leo Herzl, gets his first name from Aldo Leopold, “a conservationist my wife admires,” says Wornick. About Herzl, he says, “As a dedicated Zionist (and AIPAC board member), I couldn’t think of a better name to bestow on my son.”

Ephraim Levy, also from the East Bay, reports that his son Daniel Levy, who was a member of the first graduation class of the Jewish Community High School of the Bay, stayed in Israel and joined the military after completing a Young Judea program there. He has completed his basic and advanced training and, his proud dad says, “is being considered for a commander course, an opportunity offered only to a select group of soldiers.”

Youth ambassadors to Israel

The America-Israel Friendship League, which sponsors exchanges between San Francisco and Israeli high school students, kicked off the 2007 Youth Ambassador Student Exchange on May 2 with a special guest, former Israeli ambassador to Turkey, Uri Bar-Ner. The San Francisco Unified School District is partnering with AIFL, and says Wendy Kenin, executive director of the group, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding affirming their long-time partnership. Among the guests at the event were Frances Berger, AIFL president; Alvin Romero Rivera, the Latino and Jewish president of the student advisory council who went to Israel with the group in 2005; author Donna Rosenthal, and JIMENA director Emily Blanck. Recruiting has begun for this year’s high school participants and for host families. Visit www.aifl.org for information.

Tit for tat…

A couple months ago, Danielle Fisher submitted an item to “Faces” about her dad, Rabbi David Kopstein, who is spiritual leader of a congregation in Hong Kong. And now, Kopstein has sent good news about Danielle’s husband (and his son-in-law), Alex Fisher, of Oakland. Fisher was one of 20 teachers chosen from hundreds in a national search to participate in the Toyota International Teacher Program in Costa Rica. A world language teacher at Granada High in Livermore, Fisher plans to start a pen pal program between Granada students and students at a Costa Rica high school that he visited, among other things.

Short shorts…

HYIM, San Francisco urban world beat recording artist and activist, is performing concerts in Chelmo and Swiecie, Poland on May 12 and 13 during Memory and Tolerance Weekend … Maxine Epstein, director of the San Francisco-based Jewish Community Federation’s (JCF) Marin Region, and David Bubis, formerly of S.F. and the JCF (now living in Los Angeles), will receive doctorates in Jewish Communal Service at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles on May 13. Rabbi Patricia Karlin Neumann of Stanford University receives a Doctor of Divinity.

Dr. Mitchell (Mickey) Golbus has been named chief medical and technical officer at Diamics Inc., a biotechnology company in Novato. He is responsible for clinical trials and the development of the company’s cervical screening system … Roselyne “Cissie” Swig is being honored at the May 12 Mills College Commencement with an honorary degree … Don Linker’s pastels are on display and for sale through May at Frank Howard Allen on E. Blithedale in Mill Valley. Said Linker succinctly: “Not a starving artist … proceeds to charity.”

This columnist can be reached at [email protected].