The Circuit: ADL Deborah Awards Dinner, Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin honored Read More »
Many people change careers throughout their professional lives, though few do so as they approach their 80th birthday. No one must have told that to Ralph Montview.
Spry and sharp, Montview, 79, is hoping to launch a career as a transportation consultant. His graduation in May from California State University, Fullerton (CSUF), with a master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering has brought him one step closer to reaching his goal.
Montview earned the university’s 2010 Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Award, a distinction given to an outstanding older graduate who best models a desire to continue and share intellectual pursuits. His master’s thesis, “Urban Transportation, Issues and Solutions,” lays out his original blueprint for making Orange County’s transit system greener and more efficient.
“All I need to know is where you start from and your destination,” he said. “Based on that, I can come up with a transportation system. I know where to widen streets, where buses are needed, etc.”
His research is gleaned from extensive surveys he conducted with hundreds of local commuters and from insights provided by vehicle manufacturers, oil companies and decision-makers. He processed the data with computer software he developed. The result is a unique take on a treelike transit plan that includes a deeply dug underground system that can resist damage from earthquakes.
This is not the first time Montview has sought to reconfigure a regional transit system. Nearly 50 years ago, he had ambitious plans to develop emerging transportation corridors in Israel, where he lived after World War II.
Born in Siedlce, Poland — a town that once had a Jewish population of nearly 50 percent, according to an 1897 Russian census — Montview was set to begin the second grade the morning the Nazis invaded his town. With his father taken away and his home destroyed in an ensuing bombardment, he was sent to live with his grandparents but ended up in and out of five different Polish Catholic and German orphanages.
Often chastised by the other children for being Jewish, he spent much of the war hiding in the streets.
“To survive on the streets, it takes a terrific sense of survival, courage, determination and just hope,” he said. Reduced to skin and bones, he rummaged through garbage for bits of food and kept warm by covering himself with paper. He learned he could conserve energy by lying in a fetal position. Throughout the harrowing experience, he gleaned courage from the memory of his father, who often told his young son, “Courage lost, everything lost.”
When the war ended, Montview, then 14, entered France illegally and later immigrated to Israel as part of Aliyat Ha Noar (Youth Aliyah), the Jewish Agency’s initiative to bring Jewish children to the fledgling state of Israel and provide them with job training. He spent time at three kibbutzim but said he was often mistreated and found the living conditions poor. After his military service, which he spent patrolling the Syrian and Lebanese border and then later working as a medic, Montview taught himself draftsmanship. He worked in Beer Sheva before landing a low-level job with Israel’s Ministry of Housing, where he worked his way up to urban planner, despite his lack of formal professional training.
“I was doing architectural work, which I learned on my own,” he said. “I only attended the Technion when there were free lectures.”
In 1962, he submitted a plan to the ministry proposing a system of tunnels that would run through Haifa Bay to ease traffic through the city. But that was just the beginning. He envisioned a 25- to 30-year renewal plan that included rebuilding the Port of Haifa, cleaning up the beaches and building bypass roads around Haifa Bay. He also had plans for Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, but the lack of progress on his initiatives left him frustrated and disillusioned. In 1963, he left Israel for New York. He earned a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from City College of New York in 1974 and moved to Orange County in 1977 to take a job with the aerospace firm Interstate Electronics.
Nearly 50 years later, he looks with irony and a hint of disappointment as Israel nears completion of the Carmel Tunnels project, a set of tunnels that will reduce road congestion in the Haifa area.
“I made a mistake,” he said. “I should have taken my plan to the City Hall where I had connections. My father knew the family of the mayor of Haifa, and whenever I had a problem, I’d go over to him and he’d take care of it. You have to have protectzia,” he said, referring to the Hebrew word for “connections.”
Montview retired from professional life in 1990 but performed volunteer work in the community, including speaking to school-age children about the Holocaust and serving as motivational speaker for high school students at risk of dropping out. In 1999, quadruple coronary bypass surgery nearly killed him.
“Nobody believed I’d survive,” said Montview, a congregant at Anaheim’s Temple Beth Emet. “The HMO expected me to die. But I wasn’t going to wait for the Angel of Death. I hadn’t been working for a while, and I wanted to update my skills.”
Determined to get back on his feet and return to work at the age of 70, Montview registered with the California Department of Rehabilitation and studied HTML and Java at Cypress College, earning a certificate in network administration. When he was told he was “unemployable,” he entered the graduate program at CSUF’s College of Engineering in 2006.
More than 30 years after he last studied engineering in a university setting, Montview found himself in a brave, new scientific world.
“There are six methods now to do structural analysis. When I studied, there were only two. Fluid mechanics — I never had it before,” he said.
Despite the new concepts and working with instructors and students — often 50 to 60 years his junior — Montview says the most difficult part of studying at what U.S. News & World Report lists as one of the nation’s top 100 engineering colleges was physically getting to class. The 10-mile drive to campus sometimes took up to two hours by bus, but it was these commutes that inspired his thesis and potential new career.
Montview’s instructors are a bit surprised by his ingenuity, but not by his success.
“He has a lot of prior experience, and he put that experience into his work,” said engineering professor Jeff Kuo, who taught Montview in several courses. “He looked at things from different angles. That’s extraordinary. It’s different than what a typical student would do.”
While his formal studies just ended in May, Montview’s creative juices are just beginning to flow. He envisions building future bridges with heavy-duty transparent tubing that can withstand earthquakes. He has devised what he says is a more energy-efficient means of desalinating water, and he’s got ideas for improving wind turbines. With his thesis complete, he is busy preparing abstracts in order to present his ideas at
academic conferences, and he hopes to begin consulting with the City of Anaheim’s Department of Public Works.
Slowing down is definitely not in the cards.
“I need to be creative all the time,” he said. “It’s my nature. As long as I live, I will learn and I will have ideas.”
Holocaust Survivor Graduates With Honors at 79 Read More »
The exasperating thing about parenting books is that most of us cherry-pick our own issues and then put the books on a shelf, never to be looked at again. With few exceptions (“The Blessing of a Skinned Knee” by Wendy Mogel and “Queen Bees and Wannabes” by Rosalind Wiseman), they are crashing bores to read.
Most of them are redundant and often present solutions that are impractical or unrealistic. For the most part, I found “You’re Not the Boss of Me: Brat-proofing Your Four- to Twelve-Year-Old Child” by Betsy Brown Braun (HarperCollins, $15.99) to be in that category.
In fairness to the author, she acknowledges and even recommends that you use the book for the purposes of your own particular needs, and she gets major “props” from me for that. In the first chapter, “How to Use This Book,” Braun generously exonerates the reader (and we all know who we are) who finds it impossible to read these things cover to cover. Instead, she suggests that we “begin with the chapter whose subject matter interests you the most, or one that screams, ‘My child needs me to know this right now!’ ”
However, in her introduction, she makes a case for the proposition that a child’s obnoxious behavior now may be an asset later in life. This was presented in a much more lyrical and interesting manner by Mogel in her discussion of the role of yetzer hara (evil inclination) in the development of middot (good character traits) in children and adults, pointing out that all human curiosity, ambition and sparkle depend on it.
For parents who are clinging to the flotsam of hope that their outward-appearing sociopathic 7-year-old might turn out to be a systems analyst instead of John Wayne Gacy, Mogel’s fascinating chapter devoted to this topic offers so much more than the passing paragraph offered by “You’re Not the Boss of Me.” That’s pretty much the problem with the entire book: tired topics done better by others.
Another maddening thing about these kinds of books is that they’re contradictory. Braun’s book states, “Working with hundreds of families, I have seen that the children who go through their growing years with the least sense of entitlement also have specific character traits such as independence and self-reliance.” Although certain kinds of “entitlement” can assuredly be a handicap toward hard work, as discussed in Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “Outliers,” it can also be an asset.
“[M]iddle-class children learn a sense of entitlement,” Gladwell writes. “That word, of course, has negative connotations these days. But [Annette] Lareau means it in the best sense of the term: ‘They acted as though they had a right to pursue their own individual preferences and to actively manage interactions in institutional settings; they were open to sharing information and asking for attention. … Even in fourth grade, middle-class children appeared to be acting on their own behalf to gain advantages.’” In other words, without being bratty or obnoxious, these kids learned how to be proactive and resourceful when faced with obstacles. Those are valuable tools and things not to be discouraged in a child.
Many parenting books give you a “script” of things to say to your child for every situation. They don’t work. I’ve found that even small children recognize that Mommy or Daddy is talking funny, and the older child will downright mock you.
The most interesting thing in this book is the way Braun frames the evolutionary reasons for our problems with our kids: The fact that in ancient cultures, everyone in the family worked. Children felt essential and contributed to the success of the families’ survival. Today, the child is catered to and, as such, is almost a small deity in our midst. All roads lead to his or her nourishment and happiness.
Finally, Braun presents the “52 Cures for Affluenza.” I must say that even though, again, not particularly enlightening, it’s almost worth the price of admission.
Laraine Newman is a founding member of The Groundings and an original cast member of “Saturday Night Live.” She is the mother of two daughters, 15 and 18 years old.
Give Parenting Book’s Author a Time-Out Read More »
Before he came to Los Angeles to die, my cousin Lloyd lived in a courtyard apartment in Oakland. He was 34. That year, the doctors diagnosed his twitchy arm and
trippy legs as Lou Gehrig’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He saw a specialist at UC San Francisco who believed in telling The Truth: Lloyd’s perfect surfer’s body would grow slack and useless. His witty, insightful speech would slur, then disappear. His bodily functions would give out one by one. He would become a helpless man. And then, within two years, he would die. Lloyd was my cousin. He was also my best friend. He was four years older than me, but we shared a devotion to absurd humor, mysterious women, wine beyond our means and excellent food.
At first, friends told Lloyd his ALS was Epstein-Barr virus, a disease causing debilitating weakness that a lot of driven, successful yuppies seemed to be getting. We knew that it couldn’t be that — neither of us was remotely successful or especially driven. I was writing unproduced plays, supporting myself as a cook and caterer, dreaming about being a writer. Lloyd had a day job doing page layout for a weekly thowaway sports magazine and was dreaming of being a musician. Or a writer. Or an artist. He was good at it all. But he was, like me, best at dreaming.
While Lloyd lived in Oakland, I shared a Lower Haight Street townhouse with two men I never quite figured out. One of them worked for a medical messenger service, transporting false teeth. The other stayed home and experimented with sourdough bread recipes, reading Tolstoy during the hours and hours it took the dough to rise.
We were all of a kind, men bubbling up around 30, waiting for some wild yeast to waft in through the window, land on our lives and transform us into something fully risen.
Long before he took ill, Lloyd and I spent whatever money we had left over after paying rent on eating well. We ate burritos made with handmade tortillas at La Perla, a family-owned storefront in the Mission District.
We bought toe-curling, overripe taleggio from one of the precious gourmet stores springing up like crocuses from the grave of old hippie Berkeley. On payday we’d splurge for a meal at Oliveto, or go back again and again to eat the salad with ginger and garlic and raw peanuts at the only Burmese place we’d ever seen. One workday morning, we breakfasted on pancakes at the Eagle Cafe, and followed through on our dare to wash them down with Anchor Steams. For dinner, we met up at a Hunan place in Chinatown, trading future savings for immediate greens with garlic and chili. That was how our 20s got away from us — in restaurants.
Eventually I moved, first to Israel, then to Los Angeles. That’s where I was living, as a newlywed, when Dr. Truth broke the news to Lloyd. I flew up to hang out with him. We ate out once, at a Nuevo-Mexican place.
By then, Lloyd was on a regimen of vile, gut-wrenching Chinese herbal tea. Even so, he buckled and drank some Herradura with me in honor of the time we took a train through Mexico’s Copper Canyon, drinking tequila in bars where men wore actual six-shooters.
At the restaurant, Lloyd asked me to take him to the men’s room and stand right behind him at the urinal so he wouldn’t fall backward. When another man walked in and looked at us with disgust — Couldn’t you guys find a room? — we faked a moment of loud sexual ecstasy. After that, Lloyd found it easier to take meals at his bungalow apartment in Oakland. He could barely chew, was losing weight rapidly, and most of his meals consisted of cans of Ensure, which he said tasted almost as good as the Chinese herbs.
The night before I was to return to my life in Los Angeles, he asked me to cook real food. I didn’t know how much longer Lloyd would live. I didn’t know how much longer he’d be able to swallow solid food, how many more meals we would share.
My wife and I kept a kosher home, but I chose to make what I knew Lloyd would love: grilled fresh squid, the spicy Italian seafood stew cioppino and sourdough bread. The two of us sat down to eat, a bottle of zinfandel — far better than I could afford — between us. He scooped up a piece of rockfish from the cioppino, chewed it very slowly and smiled.
“Ah,” he said, and his blue eyes lit up.
Lloyd would live another year, and we would eat together often, but that was our last perfect meal. It was the closest I’ve ever gotten to understanding what Christians mean when they speak of a sacrament, the physical manifestation of a spiritual reality.
When he died, I was beside him. Lloyd’s last words to me were, “This is it.”
You would think that instant would be the one lodged most prominently in my memory, but it isn’t. My mind always goes back to the squid, the cioppino, the zinfandel. Those, at least, are real. His death never seems to be.
______________________________________________________
Lloyd’s Cioppino (Kosher Version)
This is the version of cioppino I made for Lloyd, minus the shrimp, mussels, scallops and clams). If you want to go authentic, substitute some of the fish for a mix of fresh, cleaned shellfish.
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 stalk celery, diced
1 small carrot, diced
one-half c. olive oil
2 bay leaves
1 t. fresh oregano
1 t. fresh thyme
1/2 t. crushed red chili pepper or more to taste
1 t. salt
fresh ground pepper
2 cans high quality Italian peeled and crushed tomatoes
1 T. tomato paste
1 c. Italian dry white wine or Prosecco
2 c. water or fish stock
3 pounds mixed ocean fish and shellfish, cut into large chunks (Use a mix of very fresh filets of rockfish,cod,halibut,sea bass,mullet, tuna, albacore
—don’t use salmon or very oily fish)In a large soup pot, heat olive oil until almost smoking. Add all vegetables and herbs, except tomatoes, and saute until soft, about 10 minutes. Add wine, cook 3 minutes, then add tomatoes, fish stock or water, bring to boil, then lower flame and simmer 20 minutes, until flavors meld.
Add fish, stir once to blend, cover and simmer until fish is cooked, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low simmer until ready to serve.
Serve in big bowls with a squeeze of fresh lemon and a drizzle of great fruity olive oil, and plenty of great sourdough bread.
Sonia Abrahams died Feb.10 at 76. She is survived by her husband, Paul. Malinow and Silverman
Pearl Alexander died Feb. 28 at 82. She is survived by her daughter, Myrna (John) Hamill; sons, Steven Howard and Abraham Jacob (Ellen); and three grandchildren. Mount Sinai
Ben Baseman died Feb. 25 at 93. He is survived by his wife, Naomi; daughter, Netta (John) Shelton; sons, Morris, Sam (Brenda) and Gary; and three grandchildren. Mount Sinai
Lillian Foster Becker died March 3 at 91. She is survived by her daughter, Lois Hirt; daughter-in-law, Norma Foster; four grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. Groman
Ruth Canter died Jan. 3 at 89. She is survived by her daughter, Susan Bercutt; and sister, Muriel De Roy. Malinow and Silverman
Jordana Cooper died Jan. 28 at 35. She is survived by her parents, Ronald and Evelyn; brother, Jason; and grandmother, Gloria Silverman. Malinow and Silverman
Claire Drasin died March 1 at 96. She is survived by her daughter, Stephanie Mc Bain; son, Richard (Randi); and three grandchildren. Mount Sinai
Esther Elkman died Feb. 14 at 91. She is survived by her son, Robert. Malinow and Silverman
Harryette A. Feistman died March at 59. She is survived by her siblings, Charleene (Steve) Feldman, Melissa Abramovicz, Suellen (Christer) Martensson and Charles (AnnMarie). Mount Sinai
Celia Feldt died Feb. 3 at 93. She is survived by her brother, Hy Uritz. Malinow and Silverman
Marty Hasen died Feb. 23 at 79. He is survived by his wife, Eileen; sons Rick (Lori Klein), Jeff (Kathryn Riley) and Darryl; and three grandchildren.
Charles Holdaway died Feb. 6 at 74. He is survived by his wife, Barbara; daughter, Julie; son, Richard (Kimber); four grandchildren; sister, Anne Marie (Larry) Marinoni; and brother, Karl (Jan). Malinow and Silverman
Walter Jacobs died March 1 at 80. He is survived by his wife, Roberta; daughter, Karen (Jim) Berry; sons, Neil G. (Joan) and Lon E. (Susan); and nine grandchildren. Mount Sinai
Martin Kaplan died Jan. 28 at 88. He is survived by his daughters, Deborah (Mark) Attanasio, Elaine (Ed) Schlissel, Gail Westheimer and Wendy; sister, Helen Lenetsky; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. Malinow and Silverman
Sol Kaplan died March 3 at 96. He is survived by his daughter, Denean; sons, Fred and David; eight grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai
Mildred Kessler died Feb. 8 at 86. She is survived by her husband, Bernard; daughters, Robin (Rabbi Stephen) Einstein and Honey (Ralph) Amado; son Gary (Gayle Belin); nine grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; sister, Anita (Kermit) Baumoel; and brother, Lionel (Lucille) Fendel. Malinow and Silverman
Paul Liener died Jan. 27 at 84. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy; daughter, Joyce Liener-Sine; two grandchildren; sister, Rose Steinman; and brother, Irvin. Malinow and Silverman
Marilyn Mamann died March 7 at 66. She is survived by her husband, Elliott; and daughters, Nicole and Raquel. Mount Sinai
Henry Marks died March 7 at 62. He is survived by his wife, Natalie; and daughters Sarah, Johanna and Marissa. Mount Sinai
Fred Newman died Feb. 26 at 95. He is survived by his wife, Rose; daughter, Marilyn (Errol) Stambler; son, Brian (Melinda); and six grandchildren. Mount Sinai
Helen Ontman died Feb. 8 at 101. She is survived by her son, Philip (Rosemary). Malinow and Silverman
Eileen Perlmutter died Feb. 24 at 79. She is survived by her husband, Joseph; daughter, Lisa (Steven) Kelman; son, Michael (Ursula); four grandchildren; brother, Ron (Ellen) Reisner; and sister, Lois Plevin. Mount Sinai
Elayne Ratner died March 2 at 83. She is survived by her daughter, Stacy Ann (Richard Gralitzer); sons, Scott (Connie) and Sanford (Hilary); five grandchildren; and sister, Helen King. Mount Sinai
Ralph Raymer died March 4 at 84. He is survived by his wife, Joyce; daughters, Joann Albrecht, Barbara (Mark) Witzer and Judy (Bonnie) Grey; stepson, Travis (Amber) Shain; and 11 grandchildren. Mount Sinai
Sandra Richman died Jan. 26 at 67. She is survived by her sister, Carlie Fasset. Malinow and Silverman
Isaac (Gidor) Rodrig died Feb. 20 at 86. He is survived by his wife, Levana; daughter, Shulamit (Elliott Levitch); and two grandchildren. Chevra Kadisha
Lillian Rothfield died Feb. 25 at 84. She is survived by her daughter, Deborah (James) Whitney; sons, Andrew (Linda) and Kenneth (Caroline); six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai
Gertrude Saffren died Jan. 25 at 94. She is survived by her sons, David, Bernard (Genie) and Robert (Joanne); seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Malinow and Silverman
Fran Sanker died March 9 at 88. She is survived by her daughter, Eileen (Grady Dahlstrom) Edmondson; three grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai
Miriam Satin died March 5 at 88. She is survived by her sons, Scott (Jamie) and Kenneth (Sandra); and seven grandchildren. Mount Sinai
Roberta Schorman died Jan. 26 at 71. She is survived by her husband, William. Malinow and Silverman
Barry Seeman died Feb. 25 at 61. He is survived by his sons, Michael (Rochelle) and Dan (Marissa Boyd, fiancee); two grandchildren; and mother, Charlotte. Mount Sinai
C. Neil Shepard died March 3 at 74. He is survived by his daughters, Lori (Sheldon) Shepard-Johnson, Dana (Steven) Shepard-Merriam and Marla (Eric) Shepard-Olive; six grandchildren; one-great grandchild; brother, Bruce; and sister-in-law, Liliane. Mount Sinai
Matilda Siegel died Feb. 14 at 86. She is survived by her husband, Herman; daughter, Janet (Harvey) Wolf; sons, Ronald and Leonard; seven grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and brother, Morris Angel. Malinow and Silverman
Gladys Silver died Jan. 30 at age 90. She is survived by her husband, Alexander; daughter, Deanna; sons, Brian, Richard and Jesse; brother, Murray Wolfe; 13 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Chevra Kadisha
Bernice G. “Bobbie” Silverstein died March 6 at 84. She is survived by her husband, Albert; daughters, Debra (Donald) Kingston and Barbara Thompson; four grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai
Manuel Silverstein died March 7 at 82. He is survived by his cousins, Helene Mercatous and Sanford Levy. Mount Sinai
Libby Sklamberg died March 7 at 76. She is survived by her daughters, Leigh (Nimrod) Halkin and Leslie; son, Lorin (Michael Williams); five grandchildren; and brother, Mort Weinreb. Mount Sinai
Rabbi Joseph Smith died Feb. 11 at 89. He is survived by his wife, Henrietta; daughter, Penina (Edward) Van Gelder; son, David (Roz) Smith Soref; five grandchildren; and brother, Bernard (Edith). Malinow and Silverman
Pearl Rose Spiszman died March 2 at 83. She is survived by her daughters, Shelley (Mark) Lutter and Jackie; one grandchild; and companion, Phillip Yaffi. Mount Sinai
Milton Stillerman died Feb. 6 at 85. He is survived by his daughters, Susan Patton and Wendy (Andy) Einhorn; son Mark (Rachel); and two grandchildren. Malinow and Silverman
Bonnie Lyn Tobin died Feb. 25 at 54. She is survived by her sisters, Teri (Steven) Greenberg and Janet (Bruce) Rotstein. Mount Sinai
Murray Trager died Jan. 27 at 83. He is survived by his sister, Sally Price. Malinow and Silverman
Leon Wallace died Jan. 24 at 85. He is survived by his daughter, Heather Gilbert; sons, Stephen Omohundro and Rodney Wallace; and two grandchildren. Malinow and Silverman
Seymour Matanky died Feb. 19 at 83. He is survived by his wife, Sylvia; daughters, Cindy Quale, Jami (Vandi Linstrot) and Tamy (Keith Becker); sons, Gary (Constance) and Randy (Viviane Hosdan); and eight grandchildren. Malinow and Silverman
Guisela Melcer died Feb. 13 at 78. She is survived by her daughter, Lilliana; son, Adrian; four grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; sister, Susana (Jorge) Jirikils; and brothers, Louis and Jose Utenberger. Malinow and Silverman
The Jewish Journal publishes obituary notices free of charge. Please send an e-mail in the above format with the name, age and survivors of the deceased to {encode=”obits@jewishjournal.com” title=”obits@jewishjournal.com”}.
If you have any questions, e-mail or call (213) 368-1661, ext. 116.
Obituaries: May 28-June 3, 2010 Read More »
California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. has joined a lawsuit to force the Norton Simon Museum to return two 500-year-old paintings to the heir of a Dutch Jewish art dealer.
At stake are “Adam and Eve,” painted on two wooden panels by 16th century German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder. They were looted by the Nazis, then displayed in the home of Hermann Goering, Hitler’s air force chief, and purchased some 40 years ago by the Pasadena museum.
Plaintiff in the case is Marei von Saher, daughter-in-law of art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, demanding the return of the paintings, appraised last year at $24 million.
Brown joined the dispute this week by filing a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, in support of von Saher’s petition to have the case heard by the highest court.
Von Saher, who is not Jewish, lives in Greenwich, Conn., and to the layperson it may appear odd for the California attorney general to side with a nonresident against a California institution. But the underlying legal implications are more complex, explained Los Angeles attorney E. Randol Schoenberg, an international authority on looted art, who is serving as local counsel to the New York law firm representing von Saher.
In contention is a California law that extends to the end of 2010 the statute of limitations for heirs of Holocaust victims to file for restitution.
The law was declared unconstitutional by a federal appeals court because it infringed on the U.S. government’s exclusive right to deal with foreign policy matters.
In filing the brief in the von Saher case, Brown argues that the California law is valid because it does not affect foreign policy but rather rests on the state’s right to regulate museums and galleries.
The Norton Simon Museum is contesting von Saher’s claims and in a lengthy statement traced the provenance of the two paintings through ownership by the governments of the Soviet Union, Germany and the Netherlands to a Russian-American family, which sold them to the museum in the early 1970s.
The statement concludes by declaring that “the Norton Simon Art Foundation is confident that it holds complete and proper title to ‘Adam and Eve.’ ”
Calif. Attorney General Joins Fight to Return Paintings Stolen by Nazis Read More »
Connecting to Jewish life on U.S. college campuses will be the focus of a panel discussion for graduating high school seniors and their parents. Rabbi Nicole Guzik of Sinai Temple in Westwood will moderate a panel of current Jewish college students and recent graduates on June 2, 6:30-8:30 p.m., at the University of UCLA Hillel office.
Titled “Jewish Life on Campus: Where to Find It and How to Be a Part of It,” the program will present students and their families with the many ways students can become involved in Jewish life, such as through Hillel, Birthright Israel, Jewish fraternities and sororities, social activities and sports. The panel may also address anti-Semitism and anti-Israel activity, a growing problem on some college campuses. Following the discussion, Beverly Hills licensed marriage and family therapist Lucy Rimalower will lead a session for parents, “Letting Go.”
Representatives from StandWithUs and Koach, the college outreach project of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, will be available to answer questions about their work on campuses.
The program is free and open to the community.
“The main point [of the program] is that there are different ways to be Jewish on campus,” said Marilyn Stern, a Sinai Temple member who conceived and developed the event. “Everyone has a different level of Judaism, and we’re reaching out to the community. We want people to know there’s a smorgasbord of opportunities, and they can pick and choose.”
“Going away to school can be overwhelming,” said Sinai board member and co-organizer Lisa Pompan. “We hope the program can give them some comfort and resources.”
The event is being sponsored by Sinai Temple’s College Connection and Hillel at UCLA. For information, call (310) 481-3246 or e-mail {encode=”collegeconnection@sinaitemple.org” title=”collegeconnection@sinaitemple.org”}.
Jewish Life on Campus: A Program for Students, Parents Read More »
The Hebrew Charter School Center (HCSC), a national organization based in New York, is giving away $950,000 to groups establishing and growing state-funded dual-language charter schools.
HCSC is seeking grant proposals from groups in various stages of developing charter schools with an emphasis on Hebrew language. Grants are available to explore the possibility of applying for a charter, for those preparing applications, for start-ups, and for established schools looking to grow and improve.
Charter schools are funded by the state but are administered independent of local school districts.
There are currently two Hebrew-language charter schools in Florida and one in Brooklyn. A school in East Brunswick, N.J., has been awarded a charter. Dan Gerstein of the Hebrew Charter School Center says about a dozen other groups or individuals are in various stages of exploring and developing a Hebrew-language charter school.
The Albert Einstein Academy is set to open in Santa Clarita this fall. Originally conceived as a Hebrew-language charter, the school has since added Arabic and Spanish programs as options for students. The academy is accepting applications for grades seven, eight and nine for fall 2010 and hopes to add grades 10 through 12 in succeeding years, with 75 students per grade. It is currently applying for a charter to open an elementary school as well.
Students at Einstein will be required to take Hebrew, Spanish or Arabic for four years, and can also choose Greek or Latin as a second language.
While many parents look to Hebrew-language charter schools as an affordable alternative to Jewish day schools, Jewish educators and Hebrew charter school proponents emphasize that charter schools do not offer a Jewish education. As publicly funded schools, they cannot promote Jewish religion. They can teach Hebrew as a language, with Judaism and Israel as a cultural context for the language.
The Hebrew Charter School Center was founded by the Areivim Philanthropic Group in 2009 to advance the movement. The group supports communities in developing new schools and helps increase capacity for start-ups. It provides resources for existing schools and is committed to nurturing educators to lead the schools.
For more information on the grants, visit {encode=”http://www.hebrewcharters.org/index.php” title=”hebrewcharters.org/index.php”} or call (212) 302-8800.
Grants Available for Hebrew Charter Schools Read More »
Despite a challenge from homeowners, the Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) voted on April 27 to recommend changes to Chabad of Oak Park’s Conditional Use Permit that could allow the Orthodox congregation to expand its occupancy rate and activities.
“I’m not saying that we got 100 percent of what we wanted, but we are very happy,” said Rabbi Yisroel Levine, spiritual leader of Chabad of Oak Park.
Neighbors who voiced opposition to the expansion plans expressed concerns over parking, safety and noise.
MAC board member Derek Ross said that he only became aware of the house-based synagogue when homeowner complaints came in and the permit came up for review. “I never even knew there was a synagogue there,” he said.
The synagogue, located in a residential home in the 5900 block of Conifer Street for the past 16 years, is used for Shabbat services and limited classes; it also features the only mikveh in the Conejo Valley.
Chabad of Oak Park requested a 20-year permit that would allow for a maximum occupancy of 145 people on Shabbat — up from its current 70 — as well as an increase in its weekday and Friday night occupancy (from 10 to 40) and the addition of Sunday morning services.
During the April 27 meeting at Oak Park High School, which drew more than 250 people and ran until midnight, MAC approved the increase for Friday services but set Shabbat occupancy at 127 people and extended Chabad of Oak Park’s permit from a five-year renewal process to 10 years. MAC denied the request for the addition of Sunday services, but allowed for up to 10 people and four cars in the home’s driveway on weekdays for mikveh use and other activities.
MAC makes its recommendations to the Ventura County Planning Commission, which has final say on the permit. Levine said that his community is working with the county to establish a hearing date.
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Veggie tamales are hot at the new Wellington Square Certified Farmers Market, and spice has nothing to do with it. The new market is vegetarian, and the usual fare filled with pork, chicken and beef are nowhere to be found. What you will discover are the hot-selling varieties filled with roasted green chilies, sweet corn and goat cheese.
The market, which has been open every Sunday since March, is the only certified farmers market out of 200 in Southern California that is entirely vegetarian. Although not kosher, the market’s absence of meat has already been noticed by some shoppers who observe some level of the dietary laws, or who are vegetarian or vegan.
“It’s quasi-kosher,” said Judy Katz, a recent Sunday morning shopper who finds the market convenient and likes the fact it is meatless. “It’s one of the reasons I’m here,” she said.
The market, which meets in the Smyrna Seventh-day Adventist Church parking lot at 4394 W. Washington Blvd., just west of Crenshaw Boulevard, in the historic West Adams neighborhood, was organized by co-managers, Kathy Lewis and Lora Davis to bring “good food into the neighborhood,” Davis said. That the market is vegetarian “came out of the request of the church,” the nonprofit market’s sponsor, Davis added.
“They have a huge belief in health,” Lewis said.
“We had been approached to have a market before,” church general manager Marva Berry said. “But because of the meat, we said ‘no.’ ” When she asked Lewis and Davis to keep the market meat-free, “they agreed,” Berry said.
Seventh-day Adventists look to many of the same Bible verses as Jews for what is acceptable to eat. They do not eat pork, other “unclean meats” or shellfish, and they believe that a vegetarian diet is healthier.
That the market can be held at the church on a Sunday is also a result of a convergence of Bible interpretation. Like Jews, Seventh-day Adventists observe the Sabbath from Friday at sunset to Saturday at sunset.
Only a few of the 20 to 25 merchants who sell produce and products at the market have had to make adjustments to sell at the meatless market. Mom’s Specialty Foods vendor Jacob Briseno said his company already sold Middle Eastern foods such as fresh tzatziki sauces, roasted garlic hummus, kalamata olives and halvah, that fit right in.
Ann’s Bakery of Port Hueneme was already baking various vegetarian products, including coconut macaroons made with vegetable oil or butter, and the shortening in Mid-City bakery La Maison du Pain’s raisin brioche pastries, as well as the rest of its baked goods, were also suitable for vegetarians.
Others, like Bohol in the Wall, a Filipino grill that usually sells barbecued beef and chicken skewers, have had to make some changes. At the Wellington Square market, Bohol offers “veggie patty specials” and a noodle dish, pancit, normally served with shrimp or sausages, for which chef Patrick Concon has created a tasty meatless tasty version.
Several vendors offer an array of fresh vegetables suitable for making carrot kugel or Israeli salad. And the purple and red anemones purchased there on a Sunday were still fresh several days later.
Wellington Square Certified Farmers Market is open Sundays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., 4394 W. Washington Blvd., Los Angeles. Free parking is available.
Vegetarians Rule at New Farmers’ Market Read More »