Passover postscripts

Chanan Rose writes from Jerusalem, where he is currently studying, that he and his study partner Yoel Clark flew to Belarus where they made two seders for 30 Jews in the small town of Orsha, just outside of Minsk. The two are Bay Area natives, but they had never met until they moved to Israel.  Rose is a graduate of the Jewish High School of the Bay in San Francisco, and Clark of Tehiyah Day School in El Cerrito …

Patty Stanton of Greenbrae writes that her nephew, Daniel Goodman, joined their family’s seder from Boston, where he’s studying at MIT, via Skype. Will a laptop or an iPad join Miriam’s Cup and the orange as the next contemporary addition to the seder table? …

Bob Jaffe closed his Grand Bakery in Oakland during Passover to revamp its interior. Ken Katz, author of the neighborhood’s newsletter, wondered if Jaffe’s chocolate-dipped macaroons would be available after Pesach. “They’re so sinfully rich, it gives an entirely new meaning to the concept of ‘Jewish guilt,’ ” Katz wrote.

Celebrating chai

Congregation Rodef Sholom in San Rafael will honor Rabbi Stacy Friedman on her 18th anniversary with the congregation at Shabbat services at 7:15 p.m. May 20. Rabbi Michael Barenbaum, now emeritus, but senior rabbi when Friedman was hired, and Rabbi Lee Bycel, a former associate rabbi at the congregation, will be special guests at the service. Since joining the synagogue as associate rabbi, Friedman was named senior rabbi, got married (to Frank Friedman) and had two sons. Honorary chairs of the celebration are Anna and Alexander Lushtak, Duff and Carol Kurland and Fred Levin and Nancy Livingston.

Winning! (in a good way)

San Francisco native Dan Feyer, now living in New York City, is the winner of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament — again, writes Marsha Cohen, Dan’s mother. The 35th annual tournament was directed by New York Times crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz … Tuvya Bergson-Michelson, a fourth grader at  Nueva School in Hillsborough, took first place in the California Geographic Bee by correctly answering the question, “What country is the only predominately Muslim country to have a currency called rupee?” It’s the first time in 20 years that a fourth-grader — the youngest age participants  — took first place. Tuvya’s parents are Nathaniel and Natasha Bergson-Michaelson. P.S. The answer is Pakistan.

Short shorts …

The Peninsula’s Alan Garber, a professor of medicine and economics at Stanford and also the university’s prestigious Henry J. Kaiser professor, has been named provost of Harvard University. “He would probably not want to draw attention to himself (that’s the kind of guy he is), but I can’t help it! I’m his proud sister and our parents aren’t around to kvell,” writes Deborah Garber of Petaluma … Stephanie Rosekind of the Peninsula reports that her son Barry Rosekind organized teams at Columbia University and Barnard College to compete in the inaugural National Hillel Basketball Tournament. He’s a sophomore in a dual program at Columbia and the Jewish Theological Seminary … Los Altos’ Tzipor Ulman was selected as one of 12 educators to present her STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) teaching innovations at the first STEMposium, held April 1 at the California Academy of Sciences … Roselyne “Cissie” Swig is co-chair of the opening night gala for American Conservatory Theater’s world premier of “Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City.” The musical theater production is based on the TV miniseries, which was based on the writings of Maupin.

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