Comings & goings
Maya Barak has joined SF Hillel as assistant director. Barak studied international relations at UC Davis, focusing on peace and security and became deeply involved in campus life through Hillel, Mishelanu, student government, Greek life and Camp Kesem. She formerly served as program director at the Maccabi Sports Camp.
Honors
Cantor Linda Hirschhorn will be recognized for her 36 years of service to San Leandro’s Temple Beth Sholom and the larger East Bay community. In honor of this milestone, Beth Sholom is hosting a celebratory concert on May 10 where Hirschhorn will perform. She is ordained through both the Renewal and Conservative movements and has led services across a variety of Jewish organizations in the Bay Area since 1970. She has released 11 albums of original folk, Jewish and world music as a songwriter, choral composer and storyteller. Her music is sung in choral concerts, films, dance performances, peace gatherings and more.
“Among Neighbors,” a documentary directed by Berkeley-based Yoav Potash and executive-produced by Anita Friedman, longtime executive director of S.F.-based Jewish Family and Children’s Services, won the audience award for best documentary feature at the 27th annual San Francisco Independent Film Festival (SF IndieFest) in February. The documentary combines real footage and hand-drawn animation to tell the chilling story of a small town in Poland both before and after World War II. It is based on research that Friedman and her family did on their roots and some of the secrets that were uncovered. SF IndieFest 2025 included 55 shorts and 35 features from 15 countries, with 34 films local to the Bay Area.
Rabbi Laurie Matzkin, chief experience officer of the Peninsula JCC, and Rabbi Ben Herman, senior rabbi of Mosaic Law Congregation in Sacramento, have been selected to be in the fifth cohort of 18Doors’ Rukin Rabbinic Fellowship. The group consists of 20 Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist and unaffiliated rabbis from the U.S. and Canada. The 18-month Rukin Fellowship equips rabbis with tools and training to advocate for greater interfaith inclusion in Jewish life and to engage more fully with interfaith couples and families.
Jeff Rosen, Santa Clara County’s district attorney, and Dan Gotesdyner, president of the Jewish Student Union at De Anza College, were honored at the Hillel of Silicon Valley’s L’dor V’dor 2025 event for their leadership in combating antisemitism. Rosen has been an advocate against antisemitism and hate crimes in Silicon Valley. Santa Clara County’s Hate Crimes Team, which is under his leadership, prosecutes hate-related incidents, educates the community and collaborates with local leaders. Gotesdyner has championed Israel-related programming and Jewish advocacy, organizing events such as a solidarity rally for an Israeli student and installing a bomb-shelter art exhibit to honor victims of attacks on Israel.
Team San Jose Maccabi athlete Gil Kalbfeld has been selected to represent the U.S. at the Maccabiah Games in Israel this summer on the 18U Hockey team. The Maccabiah Games, an international Jewish sports competition, will feature over 40 sports and host 10,000 athletes from 80 countries from July 8-22.
Happenings
Value Culture, the S.F.-based culture-focused nonprofit run by Adam Swig, hosted its annual “Soy Vey” event, a family-style Shabbat dinner celebrating Chinese New Year, with a menu of hybrid Chinese-Jewish dishes. The event was co-sponsored by JCCSF and took place Feb. 14 at Fang Restaurant, owned by chef Kathy Fang, who became nationally known after winning “Chopped” on the Food Network.
About 670 people attended Camp Tawonga’s 100th anniversary celebration event March 8 in San Francisco. The event featured multi-generational Tawonga families, a short program, music and dancing.
Opportunities
The East Bay International Jewish Film Festival is hosting a teen movie review contest with a $100 prize. Contestants under 18 will review the film “Unspoken,” about a Jewish day school student who discovers a love letter written to his grandfather by another man before the Holocaust. The review can be written or in digital reel form. Submit to [email protected] by April 1.