Loyal blog readers know The Calendar Girls drew a whopping dose of flak from community members angered by our review of last summer’s “Justice Ball,” Bet Tzedek’s uber-hyped summer fundraising party, heavily attended by young lawyers.
Dikla and I think Bet Tzedek is one of the most deserving recipients of Jewish philanthropic money, but that doesn’t mean the relationship isn’t a bit tense after our critical post. To be clear, we were criticizing the party NOT the organization.
Still, I had to think twice when I attended their largest fundraiser of the year last week, Bet Tzedek’s Annual Dinner Gala (which I wrote about in The Circuit this week), when I found myself assigned to a nosebleed table in the outskirts of a 1300-person crowd. Eh, nothing a glass of wine or a piece of challah couldn’t ameliorate – only there was no wine on this table, or challah, or salad for that matter.
I approached a woman on the waitstaff and asked if there was a reason that my forgotten neighbors and I were bereft of food.
“We were given a list,” she said. “We were told not to put food on that table.”
Past demons reemerge to haunt me.
Since I really wanted to make amends with Bet Tzedek, The House of Justice, I went right up to the development director and basically said, “I’m hungry.”
Then I got myself a nice ringside seat at a board member’s table. All the better for my column. All the better for my column on Bet Tzedek.
Another evening highlight was running into Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher at the bar. Ms. Moore’s lawyer, Kevin Marks was being feted with a major award and his other client, Tom Waits provided the evening’s entertainment.
Now is it just me or is Demi wearing a Star of David?
