Happenings
A delegation of Chabad rabbis gathered at San Francisco City Hall for the mayor’s proclamation of April 9 as Education and Sharing Day in honor of the 123rd Hebrew birthday of the seventh and final Lubavitcher rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Rabbi Shlomo Zarchi led a blessing over S.F. Mayor Daniel Lurie at the event.
Local quilters Diane Bernbaum, Rona Rothenberg, Nancy Bardach, Claire Sherman, Shirley Maccabee and Hope Alper contributed 10 handmade quilts to an Israeli project that donates them to people displaced from their communities due to the ongoing war. Alper hand-delivered the quilts to Israel.
Honors
Anita Friedman, who is the longtime executive director of S.F.-based Jewish Family and Children’s Services and its Holocaust Center and the board president of the Koret Foundation, was honored for her leadership and dedication to combating hate, advancing education and preserving Holocaust memory by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum at its Western Region Tribute Dinner on March 19 in Beverly Hills. Friedman is the child of Holocaust survivors and is co-chair of the Governor’s Council on Holocaust and Genocide Education, convened by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The award was presented by Susan Lowenberg, daughter of the late Holocaust survivor and longtime S.F. philanthropist William Lowenberg.
Stanford Taube Center for Jewish Studies graduate student Ostap Kin won an award recognizing outstanding poetry translation for the anthology “Babyn Yar: Ukrainian Poets Respond.” The anthology was co-translated and edited by Kin and has been selected by the American Association for Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL) as the best scholarly translation into English. Jewish studies core faculty member Gabriella Safran was also awarded an AATSEEL prize for best book in literary studies for “Recording Russia: Trying to Listen in the Nineteenth Century.”
The 2025 cohort for LABA Bay Area: A Laboratory for Jewish Culture has been announced. The fellows are multidisciplinary artist Hila Amram; artist, educator, art historian and writer Michelle Brenner; writer and playwright Maya De La Rosa-Cohen; filmmaker, journalist, educator and J. board member Samantha Grant; writer Rabbi Genevieve Greinetz; founder and creative director of the Tzimtzum community in Santa Cruz Rabbi Chel Mandell; filmmaker, photographer, musician and sound artist Chance Reiniesch; contemporary artist Ronit Shalem; fine art photographer Ari Salomon; and dance artist and educator Liv Schaffer. The program brings together artists from diverse disciplines and backgrounds for a year of text study and artistic creation. The theme for this year’s program is “Change.”
The first cohort of ElevatEd is graduating after an 18-month training and mentorship program. ElevatEd is an initiative to recruit, train, mentor and support over 300 new teachers in Jewish education in diverse communities. It is a project of the JCC Association, Jewish Federations of North America and the Union for Reform Judaism. Jewish LearningWorks was a local community partner that facilitated the program for educators at East Bay Jewish early childhood centers. The graduating cohort: Kellie Drago and Susan Sterling of Beth El Nursery School in Berkeley; Marianna Ballesteros, Fabiola Altamirano and Alisha Morris of Beth Sholom Preschool in San Leandro; Ashlynn Adams, Marsha Anderson, Vera Gordon and Meagan Snyder of Gan Ilan Preschool in Lafayette; Nicki Acland-Whear, Shardae Jordan and Mel Matas of JCC East Bay Preschool in Berkeley; and Tori Anklan, Carlota Buada Flores, Vivian Milne and Diana Saravia of Temple Sinai David Pregerson Preschool in Oakland.
Opportunities
The Peninsula JCC is accepting submissions for its seventh annual Community Art Show. Original paintings, drawings, photographs, mixed media, textiles, handcrafted jewelry, ceramics, glass, metal, wood and fiber arts works created by artists of all levels are welcome for consideration. Artists must be over 18 and live within 60 miles of the PJCC. All work must be original, created within the last four years, available for sale (PJCC retains a 20% commission) and ready for display. There is a nonrefundable entry fee of $20 per artist. Submit digital images of the art in JPG format, 300dpi, by May 5. The PJCC Community Art Show will be on display July 9–Sept. 16.