Anniversary mazel tovs
Rabbi Roberto Graetz and Rabbi Judy Shanks have worked together for 18 years at Lafayette’s Temple Isaiah, and the congregation will recognize this — and honor the two — on April 23 and 24 at a Double Chai Celebration.
Among the activities, Rabbi Sally Priesand, the first woman to be ordained as a rabbi in the United States, in 1972, will speak at Friday night Shabbat services, reports Sherry Rowen, co-chair of the festivities.
Meanwhile, at the Jewish Home in San Francisco, residents and leadership are planning a 10th anniversary commemoration for the facility’s Rabbi Sheldon Marder on May 1. The day will include Shabbat services with Marder, his wife, Rabbi Janet Marder, and Rabbi William Cutter, plus a variety of other activities.
In his honor, the Jewish Home’s new Fifth Commandment Initiative (named after the commandment to honor our parents, in case you’re biblically rusty) will be kicked off. Jim Davis and Arlene Krieger are chairing the campaign, which will help fund Jewish life programs at the home.
And on April 25 in Cotati, Congregation Ner Shalom will celebrate a special milestone in the life of the synagogue’s home: the building’s 100th birthday. The celebration will include a fun, historical retrospective, plus music, food and dancing.
Sharing their knowledge
San Anselmo’s Woody Weingarten, former j. weekly managing editor, and his wife, Nancy Fox, were on KUSF’s “Love Letters Live” program last month. Fox talked about her piano-and-patter activities at senior facilities — she’s been tickling the ivories for the elderly for years — and Weingarten discussed the support group he leads for men whose partners have had breast cancer. He has written a book manuscript, called “Rollercoaster,” which details the ups and downs of surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and the aftermath.
In other book-related news, Leslie Shiner of Mill Valley has co-authored “A Simple Guide to Turning a Profit as a Contractor.” Visit www.moneymazebooks.com for info … Natasha Terk of Oakland published “Professional Writing Skills: A Write It Well Guide.” Visit www.writeitwell.com for info on this and a variety of other business-skills books … Tiburon author Michael Lipsey’s second book of epigrams, “I Thought So — Volume 2,” is available for those who “enjoy seeing things from a different angle,” according to the Web site, www.ithoughtso.net.
Next year in a cereal bowl
Marcia Smith (now of Encino), nana to Joshua Smith, a Wornick Jewish Day School first-grader, and Esti Smith, a Peninsula JCC preschooler, donated cases of kosher-for-Passover Crispy O’s to the day school to be sold as a fundraiser. The elder Smith “invented” the cereal when her son, Abe Smith (father of Joshua and Esti), wondered why there wasn’t a breakfast cereal for Passover.
Short shorts …
Knud Dyby, a Righteous Gentile who lives in Novato, celebrated his 95th birthday on March 28 … Marissa Mirbach, 14, of Los Altos Hills, was nominated for the San Francisco 49ers community quarterback award for demonstrating leadership, dedication and a commitment to bettering her community through volunteering with InnVision, a group that works with homeless and at-risk people in Silicon Valley … Peter Pollat is chairing the Jewish Home’s annual golf tournament dinner and auction at the Peninsula Golf and Country Club and Shirley Eisler is the banquet chair. You can check out the auction catalogue at www.jhsf.org/golf.
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