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Moving and shaking: Janet and Jake Farber honored; Aziza Hasan appointed by Obama and more

The inaugural Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles’ Jewish Community Lifetime Achievement Award Gala honored Janet and Jake Farber on Oct. 1 at the Skirball Cultural Center.
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October 15, 2015

The inaugural Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles’ Jewish Community Lifetime Achievement Award Gala honored Janet and Jake Farber on Oct. 1 at the Skirball Cultural Center. The award was in recognition of their setting the “highest bar for philanthropy and leadership in our community,” according to a Federation statement. 

Jake Farber, a World War II veteran, is a former Federation chairman, and his wife is a former president of Builders of Jewish Education in Los Angeles. Their daughter is Federation Valley Alliance Chairwoman Rochelle Cohen

The event raised approximately $1.2 million for Federation’s new L.A. Jewish Teen Initiative, a figure that includes a dollar-for-dollar matching grant courtesy of the Jim Joseph Foundation, according to Mitch Hamerman, Federation senior vice president of campaign management and communications.

Among the evening’s 450 attendees were Federation leaders Jay Sanderson, CEO and president; board Chairman Les Bider, who presented the award to the Farbers, and Julie Platt, general campaign chairwoman. Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe Bernhard of Adat Ari El, where the Farbers are members, was on hand as well.

Laurie Davis Gray and Steven Gordon; Amy and Harold Masor; Jill and Steven Namm; Virginia and Frank Maas; and Sharon and Leon Janks co-chaired the evening.  

Next year’s honorees will be Dorothy and Ozzie Goren, according to Federation.


Los Angeles interfaith pioneer Aziza Hasan, executive director of NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change, has been appointed to President Barack Obama’s third Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, according to a Sept. 24 White House statement. 

Aziza Hasan Photo courtesy of Aziza Hasan

“It is an honor to serve in this capacity,” said Hasan, who is Muslim, in a Sept. 25 email. She works to bring together Muslim and Jewish teenagers through NewGround, the award-winning organization she co-founded.

Hasan said she learned it is possible for people of different faiths to work together during her childhood.

“In many ways, my upbringing prepared me to join a team of change-makers to collaborate in building NewGround into the incredible organization that it is,” she said. “Striving to build a future where Muslims and Jews transform communities through the power of lasting partnerships.” 

The president’s council is charged with advising the government on issues related to “the work of faith-based and neighborhood organizations” according to whitehouse.gov. Currently, there are 18 members on the council, including Rabbi Steve Gutow, president of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.

In a statement, Obama said all of the appointees would work together to affect positive change: “I am confident that these outstanding men and women will serve the American people well, and I look forward to working with them.”


About 60 people, including members of the Latino community and members of the egalitarian congregation IKAR, turned out to Proyecto Jardin, a community garden in Boyle Heights, for a festive Aztec-influenced Sukkot celebration Oct. 4. 

“It’s a wonderful thing to see different people participating,” said Alisa Schulweis Reich, co-chair of the IKAR Green Action team, which is part of the IKAR Minyan Tzedek program and which co-organized the event. “It just has morphed in three years of doing it from an exercise in cultural diversity to feeling like a family coming together.”

Marcia Brous, mother of IKAR Rabbi Sharon Brous, blew a shofar at the event, which also featured live dancing by Danza Tlaltekuhtli. Other activities included creating Sukkot decorations, reciting blessings in English, Spanish and Hebrew, and the passing around of the lulav and etrog. 

Marcia Brous blows a shofar Oct. 4 at a festive Aztec-influenced Sukkot celebration. Photo courtesy of IKAR Green Action team

Erica Huerta, captain of the Danza dance team and a Mexican Jew, discussed traditions and values shared by both Jews and Aztecs, such as a commitment to “social justice, equality and care of the earth,” Schulweis Reich said in an email. 

Other attendees included Devorah Brous, Rabbi Brous’ sister, who is founding executive director of food justice organization Netiya.

IKAR is a synagogue that emphasizes social action. The synagogue’s Green Action team and Proyecto Jardin are frequent collaborators, according to Schulweis Reich. 


Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (LAMOTH) President Randy Schoenberg offered a crash course in genealogy research Oct. 11 as part of an event organized by 3G @ LAMOTH. 

L.A. Museum of the Holocaust President Randy Schoenberg leads a recent genealogy workshop. Photo by Ryan Torok

Schoenberg, an attorney who won a famous case involving a Gustav Klimt masterpiece that was stolen by Nazis from a Jewish family during World War II, addressed a crowd of approximately 50 people and reviewed a variety of genealogy websites that help people build family trees. The websites include geni.com, ancestory.com, geshergalicia.com and more. These sites offer assistance to those interested in discovering their roots in Poland, Hungary, Russia and elsewhere. 

Among those in the audience were Samara Hutman, LAMOTH executive director, and Jordanna Gessler, director of LAMOTH education programs. Gessler, a third-generation survivor, serves as co-chair of the 3G executive board. 

The event kicked off with sushi and wine in the museum’s atrium, with attendees gathering underneath the permanent exhibition, “Tree of Testimony,” which hangs on the wall in the lobby. Schoenberg’s lecture followed and lasted about an hour.

Moving and Shaking highlights events, honors and simchas. Got a tip? Email ryant@jewishjournal.com. 

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