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Siman tov, Dan!

The joyous sounds of “siman tov u mazel tov” resounded from the library of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation on June 18. The occasion: Dan Goldberg of San Francisco turned 95!

The “Torah gang,” which meets Fridays at 8 a.m. at the federation building to (of course) study Torah, was celebrating their “maven and friend,” writes Maury Edelstein.

“Dan has been an inspiration for us for about 25 years,” Edelstein said, noting that before this group began, Goldberg led a B’nai B’rith Torah study group for some 25 years.

Futbol anyone?

Mal Warwick of Oakland, who usually travels the world teaching direct mail marketing to nonprofits, has picked up another job — selling futbols (aka soccer balls).

His new venture, One World Futbol Project, will distribute special balls designed to withstand harsh conditions in places such as refugee camps, conflict zones and poor communities throughout the world.

He said his plan is to sell the balls online under a buy-one, give-one model “that will permit us to give away free as many balls as we sell.” The group will offer heavily discounted rates to agencies that agree to distribute them free in needy communities.

Visit www.onefutbol.com for more info. P.S. Warwick says there’s a series of photos online of Triton, a lion from the Johannesburg Zoo, playing with a One World futbol.

Maira and Milton

Maira Kalman sold egg slicers, “inedible mint humbugs” and other “ephemera” in a little space she named “Milton” at the opening of her show at the Contemporary Jewish Museum earlier this month.

Milton is a conceptual space for whimsy and exchange, reports the museum’s Rachel Petru, and there will be more Milton sessions coming up, including author Daniel Handler playing the accordion Aug. 19. By the way, Kalman’s ephemera are now available in the museum’s shop.

Short shorts …

Claire Axelrad of San Francisco has been named Outstanding Fundraising Professional of the Year by the Association of Fundraising Professionals–Golden Gate Chapter, reports proud hubby Felix Berenberg. Axelrad, who has served as development director at Jewish Family and Children’s Services and the JCC of San Francisco, is currently at the San Francisco Food Bank … Educators Noah Zaves of Midrasha Hebrew High and Camp Tawonga and Noemi Hollander of the Berkeley Midrasha are participating in the Jewish Women’s Archive’s Institute for Educators in Newton, Mass., this month …  Alex Feldman of San Francisco was elected president of the Marin Merchants Association. He was formerly membership chair and vice president … Lisa Sobel is the new director of communications and assistant to the rabbi at San Jose’s Temple Emanu-El … Julian Cox, a leading authority on photography, is the founding curator of photography for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco thanks to a gift from the John and Lisa Pritzker Family Fund … “How Films Help Us Talk About Israel (…Or Not)” is the provocative title of a free, lunchtime panel discussion offered by the S.F. Jewish Film Festival at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, July 29 at the Castro Theatre. Participants include U.C. Davis professor Ari Kelman, Ellen Schneider, who was the producer of PBS’s acclaimed POV series, and several directors of films in this year’s festival.   This columnist can be reached at [email protected].