The Circuit

In the Pink

Lladró, the world-famous Spanish House of Porcelain, joined forces with the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation at a private reception at the Rodeo Drive Gallery recently to launch the new Lladró Pink Collection. A portion of the proceeds went to the foundation. Stephanie Medina Rodriguez, director of public affairs for KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV, was honored for her ongoing commitment to the organization. (From left) Lladró USA President Juan Vicente Lladró, Rodriguez and Linda Briskman, mayor of Beverly Hills. Photo by James Louis

Help for the Hungry

MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger provided a total of $305,000 in grants to 15 organizations working to provide relief for those affected by Hurricane Katrina. The grants span Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana and support programs that offer food services to the victims of the storm.

Grant recipients include the Greater Baton Rouge Federation of Churches and Synagogues, Baton Rouge, La., $15,000; and Jacob’s Ladder: A Relief Project of the Union for Reform Judaism, Utica, Miss., $10,000.

“MAZON is an expression of the American Jewish community’s belief that all of us, regardless of faith, are part of the same human community,” MAZON President H. Eric Schockman, said. “During this time of great need, MAZON’s 100,000 supporters have responded in great numbers, enabling MAZON to provide critical relief to the region.”

Since 1986, MAZON has granted nearly $36 million in support of anti-hunger programs and advocacy working to end hunger and supply aid to needy families throughout the United States, Israel and other countries.

Donations to MAZON for relief efforts can be made at www.mazon.org. or by calling (310) 442-0020.

Beary Nice

As part of her bat mitzvah community service project, Nicole Sabolic, 12, of Northridge led friends and family members on a teddy bear drive to neighborhood homes and stores to receive donations of money and stuffed animals as a way to brighten the day of Providence Holy Cross patients. Sabolic and 10 of her family members and friends handed out the teddy bears to the patients at the medical center.

Return of the Scrolls

When the Topanga Canyon Fire entered Las Virgenes Canyon on Thursday, Sept. 29, and began moving toward Congregation Or Ami, Rabbi Paul Kipnes acted quickly and removed the synagogue’s three Torah scrolls to his home.

By that evening, the Calabasas congregation on Mureau Road was included in the mandatory evacuation. Once fire crews successfully contained the area the next day, Kipness and Cantor Doug Cotler led a procession of congregants to ceremoniously return the sacred Torah scrolls to the ark before the start of Shabbat services.

Music for Daniel

Each year, a festival of music fills the earth around Oct. 10, Daniel Pearl’s birthday, to celebrate his life and promote tolerance and “harmony for humanity.”

“Music Days is a musical protest against the hatred that took Danny’s life, in which musicians and audience together reaffirm their commitment to sanity and humanity,” said his father, Judea Pearl. “As the music blends with hundreds of voices from all over the world, people are empowered with the awareness of who they are, and what they stand for in a world gone mad.”

Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter, was kidnapped and murdered by terrorists in 2002 in Pakistan. A classically trained violinist, an avid fiddler and mandolin player, he used his passion for music to form friendships across language barriers and cultural divides. His participation in musical groups in every community in which he lived, left behind a legacy of musician-friends around the globe.

Daniel Pearl Music Days uses the power of music to promote cross-cultural understanding and reaffirm a global commitment to humanity.

“Music Days carry special significance in Jewish communities, for they portray Jews as active seekers of peace and dialogue, in a spirit of a Jewish American journalist who earned respect on both sides of the East/West divide,” Judea Pearl said.

One such event, the American Youth Symphony’s performance of Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, Resurrection, was held in Royce Hall UCLA last week.

Over 35 countries are involved and approximately 200 concerts are performed as part of the series.

Pearl said he would like to see more participation in the future from the Arab and Muslim communities. This year Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan and Pakistan were involved.

For more information about Daniel Pearl Music Days, visit www.music-days.org.