L.A. Women to Watch

L.A. Women to Watch
Three Los Angeles-area women were among 11 honored at the Women to Watch luncheon in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 8: Rabbi Naomi Levy, founder and leader of spiritual outreach and social action service at Nashuva; Lisa Rudes-Sandel, creator and founder of Not Your Daughter’s Jeans; and Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, executive vice-president and artistic director of OPI Products, Inc.

Convened by Jewish Women International, the gathering of several hundred people was the 11th annual celebration of extraordinary Jewish women from across the United States. Participants learned about the honorees during a morning symposium, “Up Close & Personal,” where they shared influences from their professional, family and Jewish lives.

“There isn’t anything you can’t accomplish if you don’t mind someone else getting the credit,” Sandel said, quoting her father.

Levy called Judaism the “greatest human potential movement,” and noted that “breaking all sorts of stereotypes … opens up Judaism for everyone.”

Fischmann said, “I just do what I do. It’s like I said to my husband, ‘If I didn’t do it, who would?’”

The gala luncheon and awards ceremony was narrated by actress Rain Pryor, and featured a musical performance by Galeet Dardashti, frontwoman for the band Divahn. Honorees gave short speeches, acknowledging the influences of mentors, friends and families.

Sandel, who had been collecting unemployment and living with a friend before she founded her company five years ago, advised attendees to “work on your confidence. If you’re scared, don’t show it.”

Levy provided the lesson of Chanukah as motivational principle: “It’s about trying when all hope seems lost.”

Fischmann spoke of having to “constantly recreate the balance of work and family,” but urged attendees to “believe in their dreams and never lose sight of their goals,” using her famous products as a metaphor. “The colors of OPI can change a look,” she said, “but can also color an outlook.”

Jewish Women International began life as the first women’s auxiliary of B’nai B’rith, and evolved into B’nai B’rith Women in 1957. The group became independent and took the name Jewish Women International in 1995.
— Esther D. Kustanowitz, Contributing Writer

Transfigured Night
When Arnold Schoenberg, the Austrian Jewish composer, wrote “Verklarte Nacht” in 1899, he might not have imagined its revolutionary atonality would be labeled “degenerate art” and banned during the rise of the Third Reich in Germany. Arguably more surprising is the fact that more than a century after it was written, Schoenberg’s musical portrait of sexual infidelity would be resurrected, matched with avant-garde choreography, and performed as if a play in a Los Angeles synagogue.

Yet this was the dream of Tina Finkelman Berkett, a Columbia graduate in dance who has performed with Mikhail Baryshnikov.

About one year ago, after working with a partner to assemble BODYTRAFFIC, her own dance company, Berkett set out to hire Guy Weizman and Roni Haver, two of the best known choreographers in Israel, to develop a routine to Schoenberg’s score. The result was “Transfigured Night,” a dramatic, narrative-driven dance sequence that combines modern dance technique with edgy, avant-garde style. The Los Angeles Jewish Symphony Chamber Ensemble (LAJS) joined the cast of six dancers for a Jan. 28 performance at Sinai Temple.

The show attracted a full house of 600, which included Schoenberg’s grandson, E. Randol Schoenberg, who introduced the world premiere event and also underwrote the participation of LAJS.