Honors
Bay Area philanthropist Moses Libitzky received the National Leadership Award from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on March 12 at a dinner in Beverly Hills. Libitzky was honored for his role in educating about the Holocaust and the consequences of unchecked antisemitism and hate. Libitzky is the son of Holocaust survivors and was born in a displaced persons camp in Germany. He is deeply involved in the East Bay Jewish community, spearheading the development of a new Jewish campus. He also supports numerous nonprofits and charitable organizations, including the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund, the Helen Diller Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies at UC Berkeley, Hebrew Free Loan and the Holocaust Center of Northern California. He is also a major supporter of J. through the Libitzky Family Foundation.
Samuel F. Herzberg, senior planner for the San Mateo County Parks Department for 22 years, received the 2024 Sustainability Award from Sustainable San Mateo County. Herzberg has a long record of public and community service, including helping to develop a sustainability initiative at Peninsula Sinai Congregation in Foster City, which became certified as a “Green Business” by the San Mateo County Office of Sustainability.
Comings and Goings
After 15 years as program director of the Jewish Film Institute and San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, Jay Rosenblatt will be leaving JFI. The two-time Academy Award–nominated filmmaker plans to focus exclusively on his filmmaking. Ash Hoyle, a member of the curatorial team at the Sundance Film Festival, will be joining JFI as guest festival director for SFJFF44.
JFI also announced its 2024 filmmakers-in-residence: Emile Bokaer (“We Play Cinema”); Jeremy Borison (“Alliance”); Hervé Cohen (“This Little Song”); Emma Miller (“Father Figures”); Udi Nir and Sagi Bornstein (“The First Lady”); and Amanda Rubin (“The Third Reich of Dreams: Dreaming Under Dictatorship”). The yearlong artist residency provides creative, marketing and production support for emerging and established filmmakers whose work explores and expands thoughtful consideration of Jewish history, life, culture and identity.
The Z3 Project has announced the establishment of the Z3 Institute for Jewish Priorities, a research-based think tank to help transform the way the Jewish world talks about the next era in Zionism, diaspora-Israel relations and Jewish peoplehood. The think tank will be led by author and editor David Hazony, who will serve both as director and Steinhardt Senior Fellow. The Z3 Project and the Z3 Institute for Jewish Priorities are based at the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto.
Dan Alter is the new learning and engagement coordinator at the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life. Alter previously served as founding director of the East Bay Ramah Day Camp and as a longtime Jewish educator.
Happenings
The Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area celebrated its 75th anniversary with a gala on March 10. Over 700 people attended the San Francisco event, which was a multipart evening with speakers and guests including the Yau Kung Moon Lion Dancers, Ethiopian Israeli activist Ashager Araro, state Sen. Scott Wiener, S.F. Mayor London Breed, Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín and Belmont Mayor Julia Mates.
San Francisco gallery owner Jeffrey Fraenkel donated an heirloom silver Kiddush cup to the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience in New Orleans in honor of his father, Albert Fraenkel II (1928-2023), and his Uncle Francis “Shorty” Fraenkel. Albert had been the eighth-generation keeper of the family heirloom, which had been passed down from his great-grandfather, Felix Fraenkel, who brought it with him when he immigrated to New Orleans as a teenager from Rothbach, France, around 1852. The cup was made in 1677 and is now the oldest artifact in the museum’s collection, predating the city of New Orleans by 41 years. The Fraenkel Kiddush cup is on display in the museum’s “From Immigrants to Southerners” gallery.
J. staff writer Emma Goss was a judge for the Jewish Scholastic Press Association’s 2024 Jewish journalism awards. The competition recognizes excellence in the published work of high school students. Entries were judged on criteria including quality of writing and reporting, coverage of Jewish topics, courage and sensitivity in covering Jewish communities and overall journalistic excellence.
(Photo/Aaron Levy-Wolins)
J. news editor Gabe Stutman spoke on NPR’s “Here and Now” podcast about his extensive reporting of white supremacists based in the Bay Area, whose followers then began impersonating him at public meetings of local governments, spouting antisemitic and racist remarks on Zoom. Gabe was joined in the podcast by Jewish reporter Phil Barber of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat; both were also featured in a January San Francisco Chronicle article on the topic.
Two Northern California artists, Christopher Reiger of Santa Rosa and Heather Bronson of Gerber (Tehama County), are exhibiting their work in the 2024 Jerusalem Biennale “Jewish on Paper” exhibit, on view at Museum Hechal Shlomo in Jerusalem through April 29. “Jewish on Paper” features posters, prints and other designs and illustrations by some three dozen artists from around the world, plus reproductions of vintage works from the last 150-plus years.
Bay Area Jewish metal artist Aimee Golant has created a project to raise awareness of the sexual violence against and murder of Israeli women by Hamas on and after Oct. 7. Golant’s “Women in Kinship” necklace features a focal red garnet set in gold and silver. Golant says the stone’s color and shape symbolize women’s sacred space. Half of the proceeds from sales will benefit the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel.
Berkeley journalist and author Frances Dinkelspiel’s 2008 book “Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California” has been added to the New York Times California reading list. The list features nonfiction books and novels that are especially good at illuminating life in the state.
San Francisco-based Jewish LearningWorks celebrated 125 years of serving the community. The organization was founded in 1898 as the Jewish Educational Society and has had many names and services through the years, all with a central mission of supporting educators and building Jewish literacy.
Opportunities
The Bay Area-based KlezCalifornia is accepting proposals and distributing grants from the Yiddish Culture Fund, as part of the organization’s transition from producing Yiddish culture programs to facilitating and supporting the next generation of Yiddish culture leaders. Priority is given to projects that are small or new, in the Bay Area, or aimed at youngsters. Applications for proposal requests up to $3,000 are due April 15.
The Jewish Women’s Archive is accepting applications for the Rising Voices Fellowship, a national, 10-month program for young Jewish women and nonbinary teens in 10th through 12th grades who have a passion for writing, demonstrated interest in social justice issues and a strong interest in Judaism and feminism. Applications are due April 1.