The Circuit

Wish Upon a
Star

March 13 found celebrities doing the work for a change, as
television and sports stars chipped in for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Greater
Los Angeles’ 11th annual wine tasting and auction benefit, “Uncork a Wish.”

For more than 20 years, the organization’s mission has been
to grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions. The
do-gooder mood at Santa Monica Aiport’s Barker Hangar on March 13 was both fun
and uplifting. More than 100 wineries and 30 L.A. restaurants participated in
the event. Celebrity bartenders, such as L.A. Kings left wing Luc Robitaille
poured at a carved-ice martini bar and helped with the lively action.

The most visible celebs were “Entertainment Tonight” co-host
Bob Goen, who ran the live auction with Bonham’s and Butterfield’s auctioneer
Malcolm Barber, and special guest Brad Garrett of “Everybody Loves Raymond.”

With Goen and Barber standing by, Garrett kicked off the
bidding with an energetic start, auctioning off four VIP tickets to a show
taping and an on-set lunch with himself and “Raymond” star Ray Romano. Starting
the bidding at $5,000, Garrett soon was upping the ante, first raising the
prize to make those VIP tickets good for the final show taping and, after a few
more bids, to “lunch with the entire cast.” Garrett got a bid of $25,000 and
worked the crowd again: “Only kosher meals!” A final bid of $26,000 had them
settle on two winners, bringing the total donation for that item to $52,000.

Speaking afterward about his repeated participation with
Make-A-Wish over the years, Garrett said, “What we love is you see the money
work right away. It’s immediate.” — Keren Engelberg, Contributing Writer

Appointments, Appointments

Temple Adat Elohim, the Reform synagogue of the Conejo Valley
in Thousand Oaks, recently hired Richard Howard as their new executive
director. Howard has spent the majority of his professional career in the
nonprofit sector. Prior to joining the Adat Elohim he served six years as the
associate director of Community Housing Management Service, an institution of
the Episcopal Diocese, and as the assistant director of Housing for Single Room
Occupancy Housing Corporation, where he managed its 18 residential hotels on
Los Angeles’ skid row. He also worked as a program director at the Jewish
Community Centers of Greater Los Angeles.

Also in the Conejo, Heschel West Day School named Yuri
Hronsky as assistant principal and middle school director. The middle school,
expected to open in September 2005, will focus on community involvement and
secular and morals-based academics. Hronsky, who is an active participant in
the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education and a current educator at
Heschel, will be in charge curriculum development and faculty and student
recruitment.

Back in the city, Glenn A. Sonnenberg, president of Legg
Mason Real Estate Investors Inc., was sworn in as the president of the Bet
Tzedek’s board of directors on March 24. Sonnenberg has been an active member
of the board since 1996, serving as chair of the Budget and Investment
Committees for the 30-year-old public interest law firm.

In Culver City, the Kayne-Eras Center, an organization that
helps serve at-risk children, families and young adults in urban areas,
announced the appointment of Suzanne Kayne as chair. Kayne is deeply involved
in the Los Angeles business and philanthropic community, serving on the boards
of The Children’s Burn Foundation and the Blue Ribbon of the Music Center. She
is also a former boardmember of the Santa Monica YMCA.

Valley Girls on Stage

The Westside Jewish Community Center’s auditorium was filled
to capacity when the Valley Torah High School girls’ division staged three
performances on March 6 and 7 of “Dovid Meyer,” an emotional musical drama
about facing life’s challenges. The show was produced by Joyce Samuels and
directed by Brianna Samuels, with original music by Moshe Samuels. Esther
Stulberger, Racheli Friedman and Rachel Victor assisted.

Visionaries

JESNA, the Jewish Federation system’s educational
coordinating, planning and development agency, honored Shelley and Bruce Whizin
of Sherman Oaks and Ellie and Mark Lainer and Simha Lanier of Encino with the
2004 JESNA Vision Award at the first Jewish Education Leadership Summit in Fort
Lauderdale, Fla., from Feb. 8-11, which attracted more than 300 participants

The Whizins are vice president and president of the Whizin
Foundation. Both are dedicated to help perpetuate all aspects of Jewish life
and serve on various boards of local, national and international Jewish
organizations. They were honored for creating the Whizin Institute for Jewish
Family Life at the University of Judaism, which is forging new approaches to
Jewish continuity through Jewish family living.

The Lainers are actively involved in the Jewish community as
philanthropists and active volunteers. They were honored for the Lainer Interns
for Jewish Education, the longest-running program to recruit students and young
adults to careers in Jewish education.

The awards ceremony was a highlight of the leadership
summit, whose theme was Aseh Lekha Rav (acquire for yourself a master teacher):
Recruiting and Retaining a New Generation of Jewish Educators. The summit
focused on identifying practical strategies and solution for bringing
additional talented people into the field of Jewish education and creating the
culture of support in which these educators can grow and thrive.

Persian Town Hall

Los Angeles City Councilman Jack Weiss and Adeena Bleich,
his field deputy and Jewish-community liaison, organized a March 16 town hall
meeting for Iranian American Jews. The meeting brought together about 30
Persians and 10 senior city officials for a question-and-answer session at the
Museum of Tolerance’s Hertz Theater.

City officials, including three Iranian Americans, fielded
questions about cars vs. pedestrians in the Pico-Roberston area, where commuters
use side streets to avoid rush hour congestion elsewhere, and they explained
how city officials and policeman are kept abreast of Jewish holidays so that
they know to park police cars in front of synagogues. Weiss also informed the
attendants that city traffic officials have retimed local traffic lights to
make them more pedestrian friendly on Friday and Saturday. — David Finnigan,
Contributing Writer