With suicide bombings plaguing Israel and the Mideast crisis worsening, local Jews have scheduled a series of rallies, prayer vigils and gatherings to support the Jewish state.
A massive community rally in San Francisco’s Justin Herman Plaza at 3 p.m. Sunday is one of the week’s highlights. Others include a solidarity and peace vigil at Santa Rosa’s Congregation Shomrei Torah, a prayer vigil in Berkeley’s Martin Luther King Park and an interfaith service at San Francisco’s Congregation Emanu-El.
Local Jewish leaders, music and prayers will top the community rally agenda on Sunday in San Francisco. Titled “We Stand With Israel,” the event aims to promote solidarity, condemn terrorist acts by Palestinian extremists, denounce the growing anti-Semitism here and abroad, and support peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
It is sponsored by several Jewish organizations including the Jewish Community Relations Council and all three local Jewish federations.
Yitzhak Santis, the JCRC’s director of Middle East affairs, said that at this particular “moment in history” the rally serves as a chance for the Bay Area Jewish community to unite in spite of diverse political views.
“Unity is not uniformity. There is diversity within unity,” he said. “But when Jews are massacred at a Passover seder in Israel, synagogues are being burned down in France, Jews are being beaten up in the streets of Italy — or in Berkeley for that matter — it is a time for Jews to put aside their own differences and come together.”
Attendees are encouraged to bring signs with pro-Israel, pro-peace messages and to dress in Israel’s colors of blue and white or in America’s red, white and blue. For more information call the JCRC at (415) 957-1551.
Those in the South Bay who want to attend the Sunday rally can catch a bus at 1 p.m. at the Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center of Silicon Valley, 14855 Oka Road, Los Gatos. The ride is free, but reservations must be made via e-mail to the Jewish Federation of Greater San Jose, [email protected]
Sunday’s community rally will follow a 1 p.m. pro-Israel event at the Music Concourse in Golden Gate Park sponsored by Bay Area Russian Jewish organizations. That event — to be conducted primarily in Russian — will feature speeches by Russian community members as well as political figures.
“For Russian Jews what’s happening in Israel is not only political but most, and foremost, personal,” said Rabbi Shimon Margolin, one of the event’s organizers. “We don’t have to imagine what they’re going through because we went through it [in Russia] on an everyday basis. Most of us understand very well what it’s like to be hated for no other reason than being Jewish.”
On the same day in Santa Rosa Jews are invited to gather at 7 p.m. at Congregation Shomrei Torah, 1717 Yulupa Ave., for a non-liturgical service with Israeli poetry, song and prayer as well as brief speeches by area rabbis and Jewish leaders. The event’s organizer, Rabbi George Gittleman hopes the event will provide comfort for his community.
“I got a sense that we are all so distressed and feeling in some ways so helpless, but one thing we could do is come together,” he said. “Together our prayers will be more meaningful then they are individually.”
The synagogue can be reached at (707) 578-5519.
Meanwhile, in the East Bay — and also on Sunday — four Berkeley synagogues and Hillel are sponsoring a 7:30 p.m. prayer vigil at Martin Luther King Park opposite Berkeley City Hall. The vigil will promote “peace over confrontation,” said Rabbi Jane Littman of Congregation Beth El, which can be reached at (510) 848-3988. “We will pray for the safety of world Jewry and against anti-Semitism and hatred.”
At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, several religious leaders, including Presbyterian, Muslim, Jewish and Antiochian Orthodox, will participate in a prayer service at Congregation Emanu-El, 2 Lake St., S.F.
“We wanted to do something spiritual rather than political in nature,” explained Rabbi Stephen Pearce. “We really felt, with the outpour of demonstrations, we were not going to debate the issue. We were simply going to call on the community to come together in prayer and hope that God will somehow bring peace into the war ravaged region.”
Every faith, he added, has its own prayers of peace.
“This is not just about meditation,” he said. “We are raising our voices to heaven for divine inspiration and divine help.”
For information call Emanu-El at (415) 721-2535.
At 7 p.m. Thursday, Consul General of Israel Yossi Amrani will give a talk and engage in dialogue at Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, 290 Dolores St., S.F. Call (415) 861-6932.
In the East Bay a long-scheduled festival to celebrate Israel’s 54th anniversary on Sunday, May 5 has been altered to include a 12:45 p.m. community solidarity gathering. That event, featuring music, entertainment, cooking classes and kosher wine tastings will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Contra Costa Jewish Community Center, 2071 Tice Valley Blvd, Walnut Creek. For information call the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay at (510) 839-2000.
“In Jewish tradition, life goes on,” said Riva Gambert, one of the festival’s organizers from the East Bay federation. “So even in this time of emergency it’s important that we also celebrate Israel’s achievements and its being a vibrant, democratic nation.”