BBYO awards Bay Area native
Eitan Milgram, a native of San Jose, has been named the BBYO alumnus of the year. The honor is awarded annually to a former member of AZA (BBYO’s boys’ group) who, as an adult, embodies the qualities of fraternity, tzedakah, honor and loyalty. As a teen, Milgram was a member of Morris Adler AZA #1855. He was president — aleph godol — of his chapter and also vice president of membership — aleph moreh — of BBYO Central Region West. Milgram, who now lives in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, serves on AIPAC’s national council, is involved with Chabad at Chestnut Hill and Jewish Family and Children’s Service, and is a former member of BBYO’s board.
Grants for education
As part of its mission to support and advance excellence in Jewish education, the New York–based Covenant Foundation has awarded grants to three Bay Area nonprofits. San Francisco’s Citizen Film and its founders, Sam Ball, Sophie Constantinou and Kate Stilley Steiner, received $150,000 over three years for a project to partner with Columbia University’s Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies. The Berkeley afterschool program Edah received $150,000 over three years to develop the Jewish Learning Innovation Corps. Oren Massey is the executive director. Mill Valley’s Tiffany Shlain and her company Let it Ripple received $45,000 for a Jewish-themed version of her short film “The Science of Character.”
Raising generous kids
Speaking of Jewish education … Brandeis Hillel Day School’s seventh-grade tzedakah project in San Francisco is featured in a new book by New York Times personal finance columnist Ron Lieber. Lieber commits an entire section of “The Opposite of Spoiled: Raising Kids Who Are Grounded, Generous, and Smart About Money” to the Tzedek Project, according to BHDS’ Rachel Freeman. The project has seventh-grade families pooling the money that would have been spent on b’nai mitzvah gifts for one another, and instead donating it to nonprofits that the students choose after a semester of research. The Marin campus has a similar program.
D.C. fun
Former J. editorial assistant and San Franciscan George Altshuler got in line at 11:30 p.m. at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (where he now lives, teaches and freelances) the night before hearings for the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) were to begin. It was “a quintessential D.C. experience,” he told the New York Times, which quoted him in a March 4 article. Altshuler — No. 25 in line — was among 45 members of the public admitted. “The hearing itself was fascinating to watch,” he told J. “A lot of recognizable faces, including Nancy Pelosi and Paul Ryan, were in the audience.”
Short shorts
Jonah Eisenberg, a Napa High School senior, has received Congregation Beth Shalom’s Young Mensch Award, which comes with a $5,000 scholarship toward the first year in college. In his winning essay, Eisenberg wrote about his “mensch mentor” Max Schleicher, “my Hebrew teacher and personal example of integrity and dedication to the Jewish community.” The award was established to recognize the good work of teens and young adults in the Jewish community … Deborah Strobin is a winner of a 2015 Immigrant Heritage Award, presented by the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation to celebrate individuals and institutions whose work exemplifies the valuable contributions made by immigrants today. Her memoir, “Uncommon Journey — From Vienna to Shanghai to America,” recounts her family’s escape from Nazi Austria during World War II.
This columnist can be reached at [email protected].