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Jewish Journal

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Picture of Andrea Adelson

Andrea Adelson

Life of a Footsoldier

April 3, 2003

Shmuel Marcus is a bit like the lucky son of an ambitious frontier storekeeper, who relies on family to staff a second storefront.

Since January, Marcus, 27, has operated Orange County\’s newest Chabad from a living room alcove of the second-floor Cypress apartment he shares with his 25-year-old wife, Bluma, and two young children.

Scion of an unusual family, Marcus has joined the equally unusual society of shluchim (emissaries). They are foot soldiers for a powerful ideology of outreach by the Chabad-Lubavitch branch of Orthodox Judaism. Trailblazers like Marcus must solicit their own financial support and, with their wives, make a lifetime commitment to remain in often-remote areas, ranging from Armenia to Zaire. In not-so-remote California, 20 new sites are planned this year alone in places such as Calabasas and Monterey. The Golden State already has the largest concentration of Chabad centers outside of Israel.

School Provides anAntidote to Grief

April 3, 2003

Even 56 years later, Irving Gelman recalls precisely the day of his U.S. arrival and exactly the contents of his pockets: April 19, 1947, and $5.60.

The date marked a miraculous fresh start for a man whose generosity would later ignite dramatic changes within Orange County\’s Jewish community.

Snooze-Proof Seder

April 3, 2003

Guests at one of Heidi Kahn\’s Passover potlucks stepped into a desert oasis. That year, her Irvine tract home was transformed with a Bedouin makeover achieved by suspending a tent inside. Another year, guests, who always contribute to the feast, were also asked to bring household goods and were put to work assembling care packages for Jews trying to flee the former Soviet Union.

Typically, the amphibian plague, one of many inflicted on ancient Egypt in the biblical story of Exodus, gets a star turn at Kahn\’s seder. Plastic frogs croak unexpectedly at arriving guests, who can fold origami frogs while waiting for latecomers. Some guests even don frog masks.

\”When you\’ve sat through a lifetime of tedious seders and create your own tedious seders, and then go to Heidi\’s place and play, no seder will ever compare,\” said friend and past guest, Gail Shendelman, of Irvine. \”I\’m spoiled for life.\”

Call of West Draws Rabbi to Challenge

February 6, 2003

Career management advisers would probably be appalled by Stuart Altshuler\’s decision.

Spurning job offers from synagogues in New York\’s Great Neck and Florida\’s Palm Beach, as well as rejecting the guaranteed incumbency of a large Chicago shul, last summer Altshuler departed for Mission Viejo.

Reform Shuls Object to Kol HaNeshamah

February 6, 2003

Objections raised by two established Reform congregations toa start-up alternative shul in Irvine has forced the new group to temporarily
postpone seeking admission to the Reform movement\’s national organization, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC).

Mrs. Judy: Rescuer of the Syrian Jews

February 6, 2003

For 28 years, Canadian Judith Feld Carr ran a clandestine rescue network that spirited most of Syria\’s Jews from captivity. Her little-known heroic feat rivals that of celebrated Holocaust saviors such as Oskar Schindler.

Jewish Film Fest to Make O.C. Debut

February 6, 2003

Terry Paule wanted her weekends to include Jewish-infused events, which she was hard pressed to find when she moved to Orange County in 2000.

Her Yen for CinemaSparks Film Fest

February 6, 2003

While spending five years in Hong Kong, Terry Paule turned to movie watching as an accessible medium that helped her stay current with trends in the United States and elsewhere.

Cuban Jews’ Plight Sparks Drive to Help

January 2, 2003

Tourist Cuba is a bit like a time-machine ride through a Cold War theme park. Vintage Detroit autos rumble past charming Havana hotels refurbished to their pre-revolutionary glory. Posters for featured movies at a film festival keep company with ones that blare slogans like, \”La Revolucion Siempre,\” or the revolution always.

Yet, when Roe Gruber and her daughter took a Havana apartment for a month last summer, the Tustin residents were able to escape the tourist cocoon. They learned new skills, like coping with Third World shortages by offering bribes for tomatoes and theater tickets.

Wendy Wasserstein to Give a Little Peek

January 2, 2003

Fertility therapy, Jewish identity, pressure to marry, single parenting. All are themes that flow through both the personal life and creative work of playwright Wendy Wasserstein, who won a Pulitzer Prize and Tony in 1998 for \”The Heidi Chronicles.\”

In a rare peek behind the curtains on Broadway, Wasserstein will share some scenes out of her own theater experience at the Newport Beach Public Library on Jan. 23 at 7 p.m. The $36 cost per person includes a complimentary copy of Wasserstein\’s latest book, \”Shiksa Goddess (Or How I Spent My Forties),\” essays chronicling challenges facing contemporary women in America.

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