Chanukah festival to celebrate diversity

Those who plan to attend Be’chol Lashon’s Chanukah festival should be prepared to walk away with a multitude of handmade goodies with an international flair.

Co-hosted by Congregation Sherith Israel in San Francisco, the free holiday event will celebrate Jewish diversity with activities, food, candle-lighting and more, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 21.

Participants will have the opportunity to create tzedakah boxes to collect money for Jews in Uganda, jewelry, mitzvah cards, wrapping paper, clay menorahs and beeswax candles.

The celebration also includes Israeli dancing, Chanukah cookie baking, dreidel decorating and face painting. Multicultural cuisine will be served and jewelry, books and other gifts made by local artists will be available for purchase.

The Chanukah Festival will take place at Congregation Sherith Israel, 2266 California St., S.F. For more information, call (415) 386-2604 or (415) 346-1720.

Latke tent returns to Berkeley

Ready for latkes? Saul’s Restaurant and Delicatessen is hauling out its sidewalk latke tent, where crisp potato pancakes, made with organic eggs, will be freshly fried.

The tent will be up from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 20-22 outside Saul’s, at 1475 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. Latkes can also be ordered online at www.saulsdeli.com. Saul’s will serve Chanukah dinner specials inside from Dec. 21-28.

CCJCC coach named to Maccabi board

It’s the equivalent of a slam dunk for Barry Kleiman, the Contra Costa JCC’s first and current Maccabi basketball coach.

Kleiman was recently named to the board of directors for Maccabi USA/Sports for Israel. Though his exact role hasn’t yet been defined, Kleiman’s first task will be familiarizing himself with the 18th annual Maccabiah Games, which will take place in Israel next summer.

“Being asked to serve on this board is a great honor,” Kleiman said in a statement. “If in some way I can use the lessons of ‘team,’ so critical to success in the game, to positively impact others, then that honor will turn into an action that gives the honor true power.”

Kleiman, a resident of El Cerrito, led the Contra Costa JCC’s boys’ basketball team to a 7-0 performance at the Maccabi Games in San Diego in August., earning CCJCC its first gold medal along the way.

Have a hipster holiday with Heeb

Nothing says the holidays like Chinese food and danceable world music.

Heeb magazine’s free Heebonism Bash will be at the Make-Out Room in San Francisco at 8 p.m. on Dec. 24.

The Chanukah event will include Chinese appetizers, bacon-flavored lip balm and live music by New Villager. DJ Big Hoss will be spinning world and Jewish music as Jewish-themed films are projected on the club walls. There also will be free copies of Erran Baron Cohen’s remixed Chanukah album, “Songs in the Key of Chanukah.”

The Make-Out Room is at Mission and 22nd streets in San Francisco. For more information, visit www.makeoutroom.com.