Happenings
Regina Rummel, 93-year-old Holocaust survivor and longtime Corte Madera resident, spoke about her childhood experience in Nazi-occupied France at Redwood High School in Larkspur in March. Throughout the speech, Rummel spoke of her life as the daughter of a Jewish tailor living in Paris before her family’s move to the South of France amid rising antisemitism. During the war, her family hid for over a year in a barn owned by a non-Jewish family. She eventually immigrated to the U.S. and has lived in Marin County for over three decades. The event was presented by Chabad of Central Marin.
Osher Marin JCC has expanded to Southern Marin with a new location in Mill Valley. The building, which required extensive renovations, is now open to serve residents of Mill Valley, Tiburon, Belvedere, Strawberry, Sausalito and Marin City. The location includes preschool classrooms, a playground and a community gathering space for JCC programs including midweek musical matinees, JBaby music and Friday “Shabbat Shmooze.”
Congregation Sha’ar Zahav in San Francisco got to play host to 182 eighth-graders who visited as part of IsraelNow, a program sponsored by federations in Chicago, Cleveland, Metrowest New Jersey and Miami. With their travel plans to Israel canceled because of the war, the teens came to Northern California and stayed four nights at Camp Newman in Santa Rosa. While in San Francisco, they performed community service, toured the Castro neighborhood and visited Sha’ar Zahav to learn more about the Jewish LGBTQ community.
Tori Seidenstein, Ben Kaufman and Stephanie Brener, all of the Bay Area, were among more than 300 Birthright Israel Excel Fellows from North America and beyond who attended the recent Excelerate24 Summit in New York City. Birthright Israel Excel is a business fellowship for young Jewish professionals that offers college students a summer internship in Israel, followed by mentorships focused on professional development, Israel engagement and philanthropy.
Former San Francisco resident Dr. Raquel Gardner, director of clinical research at the Joseph Sagol Neuroscience Center at Sheba Medical Center, was featured in the Times of Israel for her research on traumatic brain injuries. Gardner, who moved to Israel in 2021, is leading efforts to raise awareness among colleagues to accurately diagnose and treat patients post-Oct. 7. Gardner formerly was an associate professor of neurology and a faculty member in UCSF’s Center for Population Brain Health and Global Brain Health Institute.
The HaZamir Silicon Valley Chapter performed with 34 other chapters from across the U.S. and Israel at Carnegie Hall on April 7. HaZamir is an international Jewish teen choir for high school students; the recent concert featured classical, contemporary and popular music, including “Acheinu” and “Am Yisrael Chai.”
Comings and goings
Rabbi Chayva Lehrman will be installed as the full-time rabbi at Am Tikvah in San Francisco on May 10 after leading the congregation for the past year. She received her rabbinic ordination in spring 2023 from Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in New York and held a rabbinic internship in Los Angeles. Lehrman will be installed by her mentor, Rabbi Evon Yakar of Temple Bat Yam and North Tahoe Hebrew Congregation. She will be the first settled rabbi for Am Tikvah, which was established in a 2021 joining of members from Beth Israel Judea and B’nai Emunah.
Congregation Emanu-El’s two senior rabbis are set to retire on June 30. Rabbis Beth and Jonathan Singer served the congregation together for 11 years and have been leaders in civic and interfaith matters. Rabbi Beth was instrumental in creating the San Francisco Black and Jewish Unity Coalition, and together both Singers served as rabbinic chairs for the Association of Reform Zionists of America. Rabbi Angela W. Buchdahl, senior rabbi of New York’s Central Synagogue, will give a guest sermon during the service on May 3 to honor the Singers.
Honors
Peg Sandel is to be honored for her decade of service to Brandeis Marin at the school’s annual Spring Simcha on May 11. Sandel has served as head of school since 2014.
Rabbi Dana Magat is to be honored April 19-20 during Temple Emanu-El’s gala weekend for his 25 years of service to the synagogue. He also serves as chair of the Interfaith Council on Economics and Justice for Santa Clara County, and has been president of the Cantors and Rabbis Association of Greater San Jose, and sat on the boards of Hillel of Silicon Valley, Chai House and the Pacific Association of American Rabbis.
Bottom left: Chava Roy, Tziporah Walfish, Mayan Moses and Dean of Jewish Studies Shifra Elman. (Photo/Courtesy Kehillah Jewish High School)
Kehillah Jewish High School’s Moot Beit Din team won first- and second-place awards in the national Maimonides’ Moot Court Competition. Veronica Galanter, Charlotte Kofman, Dov Morris, Mayan Moses, Chava Roy, Tziporah Walfish, Isaac Zucker and Zalman Zucker earned the school’s fourth national championship in the last six years. Students learn how to apply Jewish halachic law to contemporary issues, making thorough and convincing arguments for their positions based on close reading of texts and detailed analysis of their implications. Competitions are structured around a detailed case alongside a curated sourcebook of traditional and modern Jewish texts.
Opportunities
The JPAC Capitol Summit Student Scholarship Program is accepting applications for students interested in civic engagement and advocacy who want to participate in the summit in Sacramento May 14-15. College students and young professionals are eligible for funding, which may include registration, accommodations and flights.
The Diller Teen Fellows program is accepting nominations for sophomores who exemplify leadership qualities and are committed to Jewish values and making an impact. Each year, a group of 20 Fellows will develop leadership skills through monthly workshops, explore Jewish identity and bond as a group during three retreats, engage in tikkun olam through local volunteering, service-learning and a grant project, and travel to Israel for three weeks. Applications close April 28. n