Exploring S.F. Jewish roots
The great-great-grandfathers of actress Helen Hunt and Frances Dinkelspiel were colleagues in the 1870s and helped bail out a failing bank. Hunt’s ancestry and Jewish roots were explored on the March 23 episode of the NBC show “Who Do You Think You Are?” Dinkelspiel, author of “Towers of Gold,” and Marc Dollinger, Richard and Rhoda Goldman Chair in Jewish Studies and Social Responsibility at San Francisco State University, used census documents, old newspapers and other historical material to trace Hunt’s ancestors.
“I loved teaching an Academy Award–winning actress about her Jewish roots,” says Dollinger. “It was for me the best part of the academic’s job: translating what we learn in the ivory tower in a way that is meaningful to people.”
Hunt learned that after emigrating from Bavaria to New York City in 1845, her father’s grandfather, William Scholle, heard the call of the Gold Rush and crossed the country to San Francisco, where, being an enterprising Jewish guy, he opened a store selling clothing to miners. He was so successful that he, along with Dinkelspiel’s forebear Isaias W. Hellman, Levi Strauss and others had the money to save Nevada Bank that eventually became Wells Fargo.
Scholle’s daughter (and Helen’s great-grandmother) Florence married a New Yorker named Rothenberg and moved to Pasadena after her husband died. In the early 1920s, when anti-Semitism was on the rise, she changed her name to Roberts. You can watch the show online on the network website (http://bit.ly/H0Rnbs).
A moving testimony
Possibly the most moving part of Jewish Family and Children’s Services’ annual Family Matters Gala on March 25 was the very personal remarks by president Nancy Goldberg presenting the Going the Extra Mile Award to the agency’s palliative care staff and volunteers. The department was closely involved with Goldberg and her husband, Larry Goldberg, who died in January, notes Robert Miller, JFCS publicist. Also honored at the event were Gerson Bakar, for helping the agency open Shupin House for adults with developmental disabilities, and Sophie Macks, a San Francisco high school volunteer in JFCS’ YouthFirst programs. Debbie and Scott Kay of San Francisco chaired the gala.
Book notes
David Perlstein of San Francisco writes that Kirkus Reviews gave his new book, “Slick!” “a coveted star as a book of remarkable merit. And … they will publish an interview with me in the April 15 issue.” It’s a satire on the politics of the Middle East. Sandra Feder has written “Daisy’s Perfect Word,” a children’s book. She will read from it at Book Passage in Corte Madera at 4 p.m. April 21. And Jennifer Futernick of San Francisco has published “I Never Expected This Good Life,” a memoir that includes her poetry. The three, plus Deborah Newbrun, author of “Spirit in Nature: Teaching Judaism and Ecology on the Trail,” are guests of Rabbi Eric Weiss on the KPIX television show “Mosaic” on April 18 at 5 a.m.
Short shorts
Phyllis Kleid reports that human rights activist Ron Naymark ended his talk to Congregation Beth Shalom of Napa by donning a “magnificent hand-embroidered Jewish ceremonial robe,” which was given to him by the Jewish community of Dushanbe, Tajikistan … At the Marin JCC, Steve Roberts said his favorite part of his seder is when his wife, Cokie Roberts, Nina Totenberg, Susan Stamberg and other NPR folks sing “Go Down Moses” and other Passover songs.