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Jewish Journal

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Picture of Andrea Adelson

Andrea Adelson

Ages Up, Numbers Down at Heritage Pointe

January 2, 2003

The 169 residents of Orange County\’s only Jewish retirement home possess a varying range of physical and mental limitations. Yet, compared to the original occupants who moved in 12 years ago, new arrivals to Heritage Pointe are considerably older and more frail. The average age is 89.

That demographic shift is changing expectations about Heritage Pointe\’s targeted population, which is less independent than anticipated. Older residents are also likely to spur in the near future a broadening of services, such as a contemplated dementia unit. Yet, despite an over-60 county population of 13 percent that far exceeds the 4 percent state average, there is no waiting list for Heritage Pointe\’s 178 units, which average $2,600 monthly. Occupancy has declined to 88 percent, which administrators blame on a proliferation of newer, rival facilities that make the county one of the nation\’s most densely populated for senior housing.

Creative Ideas Tried to Fund Tuition Aid

January 2, 2003

While 100 percent subsidies are the exception among Jewish day schools, high tuition forces most campuses to extend financial aid to one-third or more of their students to ensure that no one is turned away who is qualified.

To cope with growing requests for financial aid, as well as routine budget deficits unmet by tuition, day schools around the country are trying an array of creative ideas. Filling annual deficits by fundraising is a heavy duty added to the workload of private school administrators and lay leaders, who are reluctant to scrimp on staff or enrichment programs to meet budget shortfalls.

Israel Trip Blossoms Into Philanthropy

January 2, 2003

For a self-described spoiled American — nails unerringly polished, paprika curls without a misdirected loop, ensembles color coordinated — Blossom Siegel\’s first visit to Israel was a transformative experience. It also was a boon to Orange County\’s Jewish community by awakening a tireless activist and philanthropist.

\”The first trip to Israel changed my life,\” said Siegel, who is the honoree at a scholarship fundraising dinner Jan. 25 for Irvine\’s Tarbut V\’Torah Community Day School at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Irvine.

When Siegel saw the Israelis financial and emotional needs on her 1985 visit, she came to the conclusion that vigorous American Jewish communities ensured Israel\’s lifeline.

Beth Sholom’s Engel Gets Kudos for Outreach

December 5, 2002

\”Intermarriage is a fact of Jewish life and it\’s time we opened our doors and made everyone welcome, not just Jews,\” said Monica Engel, who said that at her own synagogue that interfaith couples felt marginalized because of their ignorance of Jewish practices.

Eighth Concert for Eight Days

December 5, 2002

Dr. Gordon and Hannareta Fishman fell for Newport Beach in 1956 while he served as a medical intern in Long Beach. The couple even considered putting down roots until they inspected a local phone book. But their hope turned to disappointment and shock at finding three other opthomalogists already listed in Corona del Mar.

New Jewish Music

December 5, 2002

During Orange County\’s annual \”Chanukah Concert\”, a corner of Costa Mesa\’s Performing Arts Center is transformed into an all-Jewish music store featuring CDs recorded by some Reform cantors who participate in the performance.

\”They don\’t have much opportunity to put their CDs up for sale,\” said Dr. Gordon Fishman of Newport Beach, who co-produces the concert with his wife, Hannareta. She and some friends supervise sales, which this year include works by Ruti Brier, Nancy Linder, Shula Kalir-Merton and Arie Shikler. Also available are CDs by the Orange County Klezmers, who play at the concert intermission.

UCI Forum MERITs Response

October 31, 2002

A UC Irvine forum on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict last month exposed a rare rift over academic freedom within the normally collaborative Orange County Jewish community.

The four selected panelists at the Oct. 9 program were critiqued as a \”pro-violence platform\” by the Fullerton-based Middle East Reporting in Truth (MERIT), a grass-roots group organized to counter media bias. MERIT urged its members to press public officials for an investigation of the forum\’s sponsors and funding, describing the participants, who at that time had not yet been identified, as \”Palestinians who justify suicide bombers\” and calling the event \”propaganda\” for lacking mainstream speakers.

Prager vs. Lerner: A Clash of Politics, Values

October 31, 2002

That\’s the atmosphere expected at an upcoming debate between two of the Jewish community\’s most outspoken activists on each side of the political spectrum.

In Prager vs. Lerner, conservative talk show host Dennis Prager will debate Michael Lerner, editor of the leftist magazine Tikkun, on Nov. 7 as part of the Orange County Jewish Community Center\’s book festival.

\”They are thought-provoking speakers with polar-opposite views about nearly everything,\” said Arie Katz, founder of the Community Scholar Program, which is co-sponsor of the Nov. 7 \”We Beg to Differ\” debate at Newport Beach\’s Temple Bat Yahm.

Land of a Thousand Titles

October 31, 2002

Jonathan Foer\’s award-winning book, \”Everything Is Illuminated,\” is a fictionalized road trip to a Ukrainian shtetl, mirroring the young author\’s own family history quest. Crime fiction writer Rochelle Krich, the Orthodox daughter of Holocaust survivors, is starting a new series with the release of \”Blues in the Night.\” Howard Blum, a former New York Times reporter, chronicles the clandestine World War II exploits of the British army\’s Jewish Brigade Group in \”The Brigade.\”

This trio, along with five other visiting authors and several nationally known speakers, will share their stories and sign books in a series of O.C. events Nov. 7-24. Hundreds of autograph-hungry readers are expected at the fourth annual Jewish book festival, organized by Orange County\’s Jewish Community Center.

Storybook Chance

October 31, 2002

The trophy-hunting editor\’s instructions were explicit: before leaving, take your handbag into the restroom and snag a napkin with a vice presidential seal.

Robin Preiss Glasser, a former ballet dancer forced by injuries into a second career as an illustrator, was first intent on pocketing a job during an August 2001 trip to Washington, D.C. Simon & Schuster\’s children\’s unit was hiring an illustrator for \”America, a Patriotic Primer,\” but not without the assent of its author, Lynne Cheney, wife of the vice president, Dick Cheney. Nervously quaking alongside the publishers\’ emissaries at a lunch \”audience\” in the vice presidential residence, Glasser managed to establish a rapport with Mrs. Cheney, who consented to the pairing.

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