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Jewish Journal

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November 3, 2016

Cubs fans, like the Jews, now face the challenge of success

Leave a Comment / Culture, Sports /

For years, I’ve told anyone who would listen that the Cubs were the team of the Jews. I’ve written two blog posts about it during the past month alone.

Long suffering. Faithful. Bound to tradition. Hoping for redemption, to no avail. It was all there.

Until now. For the first time since my great-grandfather’s bar mitzvah, the Cubs are World Series champions.

So as I was leaping around my living room at 12:30 this morning shrieking in joy, an uncomfortable thought passed through my head: From now on, what will it mean to be a Cubs fan?

Our identity had forever been tied to futility. While the Yankees are known as the Bronx Bombers, the Cubs had been called the Lovable Losers, famous for selling out Wrigley Field even when they lost 100 games a season. The milestones we remembered were not our distant world championships but our years of epic collapse: 1969. 1984. 2003. 2008. Otherwise rational people — including me — believed in a curse tied to a goat going back at least to 1945.

So how do the Cubs now deal with success? Maybe they can ask the Jews.

Yes, the Jewish people still face myriad threats, as any Jewish nonprofit executive will eagerly tell you. Anti-Semitism is rising, or at least more visible, in America and Europe. Israel faces recurring waves of terror and has few allies. And there is no shortage of infighting among Jews.

But compared, say, to 1908, the Jews are doing pretty well. Despite its problems, Israel is a regional power with a growing economy. There is barely a Jewish community in the world awaiting rescue. In America, though anti-Semitism may be inching up, overall it’s still at historic lows. If Merrick Garland is ever confirmed for the Supreme Court, four of its nine justices will be Jewish. And in Europe, most governments now denounce anti-Semitism rather than perpetrate it.

Remarkably, most conversations about “Jewish continuity” deal not with physical threats but with the challenges posed by radical acceptance into the mainstream.

This newfound success hasn’t prevented any number of Jewish leaders from “shreying gevalt,” or raising alarm, over crises both foreign and domestic. Millions of dollars are raised to combat everything from delegitimization of Israel on campus to promoting Jewish inmarriage.

Still, some Jews have embraced the success of their people. Groups like Avodah and the American Jewish World Service have tried to leverage Jewish affluence to help non-Jews in need. Hillel International, a legacy organization, has taken a proactive stance against sexual assault — hardly a problem limited to Jews. Even the Jewish federations, the umbrella charities for Jewish giving, have debated how much to spend on specific Jewish issues and “tikkun olam” — a shorthand for universalist causes — and regularly send emergency funds to global disaster victims. Israel sends medical teams to crisis sites worldwide.

Jews in America still remember their tragedies — from the destruction of the Second Temple to the Holocaust — but the days committed to their memory are increasingly ritualized because the catastrophic effects feel distant in this age of Jewish safety.

Nearly 20 years ago Alan Dershowitz asked the question: “Can Jews survive their success?” The challenge, he wrote, is “to move the Jewish state of mind beyond its past obsession with victimization, pain, and problems” and emerge with “a Judaism that is less dependent on our enemies for its continuity, and that rests more securely on the considerable, but largely untapped, strengths of our own heritage.”

Not to equate the two, but perhaps Cubs fans, too, will have to adjust to a new identity and a new story that we tell ourselves. My dad will always remember 1969, and I’ll always get a stomachache when I think of 2003, but they will remain only as memories, not as portents of failures to come. Being a Cubs fan, like being a Jew, will mean accepting our blessings along with our curses.

Plus, the Cubs still are the team of the Jews. It appears their messiah has come, and his name is Theo Epstein.

Cubs fans, like the Jews, now face the challenge of success Read More »

Calendar: November 4-10

Leave a Comment / Los Angeles, What's Happening /

FRI | NOV 4

KYLE RIABKO: BURT BACHARACH REIMAGINED

Kyle Riabko is the star and creator of this off-Broadway hit show. Riabko plays the guitar and will perform arrangements of some of Burt Bacharach’s most beloved and famous hit songs, including “I Say a Little Prayer” and “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head.” 8 p.m. Also Nov. 5. Tickets start at $39. The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. (310) 746-4000. SUN | NOV 6

OPEN MIC AND ART PARTY!

Join Mc ‘n’ Mac, Jim McCauley and Mary MacQueen, in celebration of scripture art by Joe Bazile. There will be the art of Barbara Mendes as well. Bring your vocal talent, poetry, music, whatever you have and want to share with the crowd. 4 p.m. Free. Ivan Gallery, 2701 S. Robertson Blvd., Los Angeles. (323) 533-6021.

CAL-ISRAEL INNOVATION EXPO

This three-day xxpo will showcase the next generation of Israeli change-makers who are fostering global innovation, cross-cultural education and professional development. Topics include drone prototypes, renewable energy systems, medical devices, mobile technology and cyber technology. A diverse group of companies, speakers and attendees will be present. This event is in collaboration with TAMID Group and Blackstone LaunchPad. 10 a.m. Free. USC Ronald Tutor Campus Center, 3607 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles. ” target=”_blank”>templejudea.com/mitzvahday. 

CHRISTOPHER NOXON

” target=”_blank”>jewishwomenstheatre.org.

MON | NOV 7

JEWS AND PASTRAMI: A DELI LOVE STORY

Delis always have been a popular hangout for Jews, a place to relax and connect with their community in a non-religious way. The kosher deli even became a trendy celebrity hangout in the entertainment districts of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami. Ted Merwin, author of “Pastrami on Rye,” will share a history of the Jewish deli and its depiction in American pop culture. Dinner included. 6 p.m. $18. The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, 6505 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. RSVP necessary: jewishla.org/FedConnect. (323) 761-8291. ” target=”_blank”>jnetonline.org.

ISRAELI DANCE CLASS

Join Lior Haykeen and Sagi Azran for a professional and fun learning opportunity.   No experience necessary to enjoy an evening of dancing! 7:30 p.m. beginners circles and lines; 8:30 p.m. intermediate circles and couples; 10 p.m. circles, couples and lines. $12; $5 for students. MATI, 19626 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana. (818) 456-8527. WED | NOV 9

“MEKONEN” SCREENING AND CONCERT

” target=”_blank”>mekonen.jerusalemu.org/ucla.

Calendar: November 4-10 Read More »

19th-Century Berlin Torah restored at B’nai David-Judea

Leave a Comment / Judaism /

V’zot haTorah — the scroll was hoisted into the air, pinky fingers stretched toward the split-column poetry of Parshat Ha’azinu, and one of the Los Angeles Jewish community’s original sifrei Torah testified to the words of God and Moses for the first time in more than a decade.

The Berlin Torah, as the scroll is referred to due to its city of origin, is a testament to the survival and spread of Jewish tradition. Written almost two centuries years ago, it became a staple of L.A.’s first minyan in the 1850s, which convened in the home of the city’s first kosher butcher.

A modest late-afternoon crowd at the Modern Orthodox congregation B’nai David-Judea celebrated the recently repaired Torah’s rededication during Shabbat Mincha between Yom Kippur and Sukkot.

“One of the unusual features of sifrei Torah in general is the way in which the craftsmanship links us to traditions centuries old,” said B’nai David-Judea Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky. “When a sefer Torah is literally a link to generations past, the feeling of being part of this grand historical sweep of Jewish history is amplified.”

The process to make the pasul, or invalid, scroll into a kosher one took less than 20 hours to complete, and was underwritten by B’nai David congregants Albie and Debra Cohen in memory of the former’s parents. It cost less than $1,000, according to Rabbi David Rue of the Los Angeles Beit Din, who led the restoration efforts. He said that aside from sewing together a torn seam, the flaws he corrected were minor and, for the most part, cosmetic.

“There’s some wear and tear,” Rue said. “Some words are fading. But the only reason it was pasul was it was torn.”

Ensconced now in one of the most populous and diverse Jewish communities in the world, the scroll’s characteristics reveal its roots in what was once a great European melting pot. Because Berlin’s community held two branches of Ashkenazic tradition —Nusach Ashkenaz (the German custom) and Nusach Polin (Polish/Lithuanian custom) —the Berlin Torah’s columns are 60 lines long in accordance with German practice and its words are inked in Polish script.

A selection from Parshat Chukat in the Berlin Torah. In the first row pictured here, the word l’moav is squeezed to fit the end of the line. Four lines below, the letters reish and mem are stretched out. Limiting end-of-line accommodations is an aesthetic challenge for any sofer, or scribe. Photo courtesy of David Rue, illustration by Louis Keene.
A passage in the newly rededicated Berlin Torah. In the first row above, the word l’moav squeezes to fit the end of the line. Four lines below, the letters reish and mem stretch out. Limiting end-of-line accommodations is a challenge for any sofer, or scribe. Photo by David Rue, illustration by Louis Keene.

Rue said the scroll originally belonged to one of the great Jewish pioneers in American history, Joseph Newmark. A Prussian immigrant who also founded the first Ashkenazic synagogue in New York City, Newmark arrived in Los Angeles in 1854, where he started a retail dry goods business and served as the city’s shochet, or ritual slaughterer.

After hosting a minyan in his home for several years, Newmark helped found Congregation B’nai B’rith in 1862 and served for a few years as its lay rabbi before bringing in a pulpit rabbi from San Francisco. The Berlin Torah was one of the Orthodox synagogue’s three scrolls.

When B’nai B’rith joined the Reform movement — it’s known to today’s Jewish Angelenos as Wilshire Boulevard Temple — Newmark’s sons wrested back their father’s scrolls and founded a new congregation, Etz Chaim. (They were returned with little resistance, Rue said, because B’nai B’rith met only on Friday nights.) In the 1930s, Etz Chaim became Judea congregation, which merged with B’nai David in 1975.

Newmark’s three Torahs — one of Bavarian origin, one from a Jewish community along the Rhine River and the Berlin Torah — are still among those at B’nai David, but the Berlin scroll is the only one of the three in use. The Bavarian is damaged to the extent that it would cost more money to fix than it would to purchase a new one; the Rhine’s restoration, though not as expensive, would still cost a few thousand dollars by Rue’s estimate.

Though Rue rated the Berlin sofer’s penmanship as “fair, not great” based on the amount of stretching and squeezing of letters to fit words at the ends of lines, “the quality of the materials used to write it were very good,” he said. The key to its impressive durability, he said, was top-notch tannery and excellent ink. If the klaf — parchment taken from the skin of a kosher animal — isn’t tanned properly, oil can rise to the surface over time and cause letters to change shape or slip. Weak ink runs and fades.

Rue read from the scroll in the 1990s when he was working at B’nai David, so he knew that even if it was not structurally intact, its contents — the 79,976 words of the Five Books of Moses — would be in decent condition. Still, he checked, rolling and inspecting it from the first bet to the final mem. Ultimately, most of the instances in which Rue brought quill to parchment were light reinforcements — a fine line getting extra shading here, a chipped letter patched up there.

Kanefsky said the Berlin Torah has been added to the regular main-sanctuary rotation for reading on Shabbat and on special occasions like Rosh Chodesh or fast days. But because “it’s very big and very tall,” he said — most modern sifrei Torah are only 48 lines — it won’t be traveling to shivah minyans.

It’s not the oldest sefer Torah in use in Los Angeles — consider that Temple Beth Am has a Portuguese scroll that’s more than 500 years old, according to former president Mark Wolf — nor is it even the oldest in its own ark. B’nai David has a 350-year-old scroll from Beirut, clad in a silver jacket. But the Berlin Torah’s return to use still is cause for significant celebration.

Ha’azinu’s timeless verse seemed appropriate for the occasion.

“Remember the days of old,” the portion reads. “Consider the years of generations.”

19th-Century Berlin Torah restored at B’nai David-Judea Read More »

Castro leaving Jewish Family Service after 35 years

Leave a Comment / Los Angeles /

Paul Castro, the president and CEO of Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles (JFS) who has worked at the social service agency for more than 35 years, has announced his retirement, effective December 2017.

The 64-year-old L.A. native’s story is not that of the typical leader of a Jewish nonprofit — starting with the fact that he is not Jewish. Of Mexican descent and raised Catholic, Castro’s first home was in Watts. He lived there through the violence of the 1965 Watts riots. 

The riots were enough to convince his mother and father, a painter on a maintenance crew who earned his high school equivalency certificate when Castro was in college at Cal State Fullerton, to move the family to Whittier. Castro graduated with a bachelor’s degree in ethnic studies and earned a law degree from Loyola Law School, though the self-described social activist never took the bar exam.

 “Time passes and you don’t do it,” Castro said during an interview in his Koreatown office. 

He began working at JFS in 1980 after he responded to an advertisement. The organization had been a Jewish counseling agency, before public funding expanded its scope of work, and Castro’s first position with JFS focused on state funding for keeping seniors home instead of in nursing homes, which was right up his alley. 

 “In my culture, we don’t send grandparents to nursing homes,” Castro said.

The organization at that time was headquartered on Fairfax Avenue, at the Freda Mohr Multipurpose Center. The area felt like the Lower East Side of New York, Castro said, with bubbes pushing baby strollers and chickens hanging from the windows of kosher butcher shops. He’d never seen anything like it. The sights, he said, were “alien” to him.  

The JFS budget was $2 million when Castro began working there. Today it exceeds $30 million. The organization, like many others, endured difficult times, particularly during the recession from 2008 to 2011, he said, but it has managed to continue providing help to the hungry, the elderly, Holocaust survivors and others.

Castro, who was appointed CEO in 2001, said some of his experiences at JFS that have most shaped his worldview are professional trips to Israel as well as interactions with Holocaust survivors, who receive home care through JFS and social support through its Café Europa initiative. Not being Jewish never got in the way of him thriving at JFS, he said.

 “Almost from the day I got there, to the agency, it wasn’t about Jews helping Jews, although that happens. It was really about Jews feeling responsible for the greater community, as well, to the extent they can be useful and helpful and have impact,” Castro said. “I never felt I was not part of that thinking. I felt from Day One that I was part of that and the community has always made me comfortable with that idea.” 

Immediately after Castro became CEO, JFS, a beneficiary agency of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles that serves approximately 100,000 people every year, assumed responsibility over key Jewish Community Center (JCC) services, including what is now known as the SOVA Community Food and Resource Program, the Israel Levin Senior Adult Center and the Westside JCC’s Social Day Care Center for seniors and people with disabilities. John Fishel, Federation president at the time, said Castro displayed strong leadership abilities.

 “First of all, he’s accessible. If we had an issue and wanted to talk about something that was service related or organizational, [or about] relationships, he was always ready to do it,” Fishel said. “I found him to be one of the real professional leaders in our organized Jewish community and I have nothing but wonderful things to say about him.” 

The JFS leader, who announced his retirement on Oct. 13, said his work isn’t finished. Castro hopes to raise the additional funds needed to begin the rebuilding of the Freda Mohr Multipurpose Center, which will become the JFS Lois and Richard Gunther Center. It will house the organization’s administrative offices and consolidate much of its outreach work into a single location. Of the $25 million needed for the project, $17 million has been raised, he said. 

Additionally, he will assist with the organization’s national search for his successor. Joining the board eventually is a possibility, but he does not plan to do that immediately out of the belief that the new CEO needs space to implement his or her own vision. He cited the example of his predecessor, Sandra King — who appears in a framed photo in Castro’s office along with Castro and King’s predecessor, Arnold Saltzman — who waited a decade after her retirement before joining the board.

 “One of the things I know from experience with my conversations with my colleagues who have agencies like mine is that when a new CEO comes in, you need to give him space. I don’t know if I would necessarily stay involved in things; I would stay a few steps back, let the new person establish themselves,” Castro said.

What’s next for him includes spending time with his four granddaughters and moving to Northern California with his wife, Nikki Cavalier, clinical assistant professor in field education at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work and former director of the JFS Freda Mohr Multipurpose Center — the two met while working together at JFS.

He said the decision to leave is bittersweet.

 “I’m not sure how that will feel,” he said of his forthcoming final day. “But I think I’ll look back and feel like my work and my life have a lot of meaning because of my tenure at JFS.”

Castro leaving Jewish Family Service after 35 years Read More »

Jewish Democrats see Florida as Hillary’s blue wall

Leave a Comment / Election 2016, Jewish Insider, United States /

This article originally appeared on “>email to nearly 50,000 target Jewish households in Florida sharing a video of past and present Israeli and Jewish community leaders praising Clinton and her commitment to Israel’s security.

The video, a project of the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) and its newly-created super PAC “Jews for Progress,” features quotes by former President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Knesset Member and former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Senator John McCain.

“I am convinced Secretary Clinton, like her husband, have more than proved their loyalty not only to Rabin and his memory but even more so to Israel’s security and wellbeing,” Rabin wrote, urging undecided voters to watch the video and draw their own conclusions.

Last week, the NJDC sent out its first “>email and on social media and formatted into an audio-version robocall to 110,000 households.

In an“>showed Clinton leading Trump by 43 points among Jewish voters in Florida. But the poll and an internal poll conducted over several weeks showed that Hillary Clinton was underperforming among Jewish voters, even when compared to President Obama’s level of support in 2012.

Modeled after NJDC’s successful 2012 campaign called ““>interview with Jewish Insider last year, NJDC’s chairman Greg Rosenbaum boasted that Florida ended up in the Obama column in 2012 due to a concentrated effort to mobilize Jewish voters in the last weeks of the campaign. An exit poll conducted by pollster Mark Mellman showed an increase of support from 59 to 71 percent – a twelve point shift in seven weeks, which was about 144,000 additional votes. The President’s margin of victory in Florida was less than 1 percent – 70,000 votes

The Clinton campaign and their supporters are hoping that the concentrated efforts among persuadable Jewish voters will bear fruit and prevent Trump from winning Florida, a state he needs to win to become president.

Trump held three rallies across the state on Wednesday and is expected to return before next Tuesday. Clinton, President Obama and Vice President Biden also making GOTV campaign stops over the weekend.

Jewish voters represent 3 to 6 percent of the electorate. Trump is ahead by 0.7 percentage points, according to the RealClearPolitics average.

Jewish Democrats see Florida as Hillary’s blue wall Read More »

Trump supporter accuses Clinton of being anti-Semitic

Leave a Comment / Election 2016, Jewish Insider, United States /

This article origally appeared at “>worked with the Trump campaign on drafting new language on Israel in the GOP 2016 platform.

Defending Trump, Ballabon argued that there’s “nothing Trump’s ever been accused of remotely that can touch the corruption of Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation which right now is under investigation and which has enriched the Clinton family to the tune of $250 or $230 million dollars. I think having her in charge violates every possible concept of decent behavior that the Jewish community holds dear.”

While the charges about Clinton are completely unfounded, the Republican presidential nominee was, in fact, accused of fueling racism and anti-Semitism. “I’m not saying that Donald Trump is a racist or an anti-Semite but the racists and anti-Semites have come out of the woodwork during this political season to support him,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said back in June.

Trump has also been condemned for  Trump supporter accuses Clinton of being anti-Semitic Read More »

Beverly Hills City Council condemns UNESCO resolution

Leave a Comment / Los Angeles /

Beverly Hills City Council has condemned the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) resolution that, adopted Oct. 13, denies the Jewish connection to the holy sites of the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.

Approved Oct. 18, the Beverly Hills resolution calls for “UNESCO to rescind the resolution in question and to acknowledge the deep historic Jewish connection to holy sites in Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.”

“My hope would be other cities would follow. It clearly is symbolic, [but I hope] other cities and other levels of government will join us in condemning this blatant act of anti-Semitism,” Mayor John Mirisch, who attends Temple of the Arts in Beverly Hills, said in a phone interview. “It really is chutzpah — no other way to describe it — to deny a deep relationship between the Jewish people and the holy sites in Jerusalem.”

Four members of the five-member council supported the resolution. Beverly Hills vice mayor Nancy Krasne abstained from the vote.

“I believe in the separation of church and state, and to me we’re crossing over the line, so I’m not going to support it,” Krasne, who is also Jewish, said during the City Council meeting.

The council requires three votes in support of a resolution in order for it to be approved.

The Beverly Hills City Council vote followed a statement released Oct. 17 by Congressman Ted Lieu of California’s 33rd district, which includes Beverly Hills, describing the UNESCO resolution as “bigoted.”

The Beverly Hills vote underscores the ongoing partnership between the city and the State of Israel. In 2015, officials signed a memorandum of understanding that formalizes partnerships in areas related to water shortages, cybersecurity and culture.

The Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles, which has helped facilitate ties between the city of Beverly Hills and Israel, applauded the recent vote by Beverly Hills City Council.

“The Consulate General of Israel in LA would like to express its deepest appreciation to the Beverly Hills City Council for opposing UNESCO's resolution that ignores Jewish ties to the Temple Mount and Western Wall,” Maya Kadosh, consul for public diplomacy and culture at the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles, said in a statement.

Beverly Hills City Council condemns UNESCO resolution Read More »

Moving and Shaking: Cedars-Sinai gala, Boyle Heights walking tour and more

Leave a Comment / Los Angeles, Movers & Shakers, Moving & Shaking /

At its Board of Governors Gala at the Beverly Hilton hotel on Oct. 20, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center was celebrated as much more than just a hospital for celebrities and Jews.

“Cedars Sinai, unfortunately, has always been termed the celebrity hospital. That is a complete falsehood,” Vera Guerin, chair of the Cedars-Sinai board of directors, told the Journal. “Cedars-Sinai is a hospital for all people. The care is the same for everyone. It’s the very best because it will always try to make itself better and improve, and give the very best it can to the community.”

The event, which drew about 900 attendees, honored actor Sylvester Stallone with the Heart of Hollywood Award and philanthropists Beny and Adele Alagem with the Philanthropic Leadership Award.

Sylvester Stallone (left) received the Heart of Hollywood Award, and Matthew Morrison was the featured performer at the Cedars-Sinai 2016 Board of Governors Gala.

Stallone attended the event with his wife, Jennifer. The two are supporters of Cedars-Sinai programs focused on underserved children. The Alagems, meanwhile, are supporters of numerous causes, including Cedars-Sinai, March of the Living and Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. Beny Alagem owns the Beverly Hilton.

The event raised about $2.1 million for the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute, which is focused on stem cell research. Jay Leno was the evening’s master of ceremonies and Matthew Morrison (“Glee”) was the featured performer. The gala co-chairs were Paul Guerin and Robert Barth.

Jimmy Delshad, the former mayor of Beverly Hills and an attendee at the gala, said Cedars-Sinai transcends its stereotypes. “Cedars-Sinai is very unique,” he said. “It’s the top of the line for services, not only for Jews but for the entire community.”

On Oct. 23 nearly 60 people attended the Jewish Journal’s walking tour of historic Boyle Heights. Photo by Julia R. Moss

Nearly 60 people attended the Jewish Journal’s inaugural “Wandering Jewish LA: A Walking Tour of Historic Boyle Heights” event on Oct. 23.

Led by Avishay Artsy, a reporter for KCRW-FM and a contributing writer for the Journal, the tour included several firsthand recollections of the Boyle Heights Jewish community between 1920 and the late 1950s, when 70,000 to 90,000 Jews lived in the area.

Don Hodes, an 87-year-old retired school superintendent who lived in Boyle Heights from 1932 to 1954, animated the tour with colorful stories of his childhood escapades in the neighborhood.

“My cheder [Hebrew school] was the pool hall,” he told the attendees.

The tour, which began and ended at the Breed Street Shul, included a number of stops in front of buildings that once housed legendary Jewish businesses — such as the original site of Canter’s Deli, Phillips Music Company and Solomon’s Judaica and Hebrew Bookshop, the first Judaica store in Los Angeles.

Among the speakers and participants on the tour were Dean Zellman, grandson of Elmer Zellman, founder of Zellman’s Menswear, a landmark of Boyle Heights that closed in 1999 (where “everyone got their bar mitzvah suits,” Hodes said); Stephen Sass, founding and board president of the Breed Street Shul Project and president of the Jewish Historical Society of Southern California; community activist Shmuel Gonzales, a Boyle Heights native whose family has been in the neighborhood since the 1890s and author of the blog “Barrio Boychik”; and Art and Victoria Torres, president and chief financial officer, respectively, of the Boyle Heights Historical Society.

 “My favorite part of the day was meeting members of our community who grew up in Boyle Heights, listening to their stories and hearing about how their families came to L.A. from Europe,” said tour participant Adina Hirsch, 30. “I hope there are more events that connect the current Jewish community of Los Angeles to our Jewish roots and history in the area.”

The tour was sponsored in part by a grant from the California Humanities foundation.

— Julia Moss, Jewish Journal Staff

Heath Blumstein, executive director of Israel Cancer Research Fund Los Angeles. Photo courtesy of Israel Cancer Research Fund

Heath Blumstein has been appointed executive director of Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) Los Angeles, effective Oct. 1. In the position, Blumstein will focus on raising funds for and awareness of an organization that, according to a press release, has awarded grants “totaling more than $59 million to 2,300 Israeli cancer projects via fellowships, project grants, career development awards and professorships.”

“Heath brings real passion and energy to ICRF,” said Eric Heffler, executive director of ICRF National. “His commitment to Israel and to the Jewish community are evident in the significant contribution he has made serving the philanthropic communities of Los Angeles and Phoenix over the last several years.”

Blumstein has worked at both Jewish and non-Jewish nonprofit organizations, including The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, where he was campaign director at the Federation’s Valley Alliance, and Free Arts of Arizona.

“I am honored to join this inspiring organization,” Blumstein said. “Through expanded funding, we can continue to support the vital research that is needed to treat and ultimately cure cancer, while playing a critical role in helping to keep Israel’s finest scientific talent in Israel.”

Deborah Lipstadt at “Denial” Q&A. Photo by Ryan Torok

Following a Sept. 29 screening of the film “Denial,” academic and author Deborah Lipstadt (“History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier”) participated in a Q-and-A at the Pacific Theatres at The Grove, moderated by the Jewish Journal arts and entertainment editor Naomi Pfefferman.

 “Denial,” inspired by Lipstadt’s book, follows a 1996 court case between Lipstadt and Holocaust denier David Irving, who sued Lipstadt for defamation following the publication of her book “Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory.” Lipstadt won the suit, widely considered a pivotal moment in debunking Holocaust denial.

 “We wanted to present to the judge that we thought the Holocaust was a fact, and we were proving David Irving was a liar,” Lipstadt said at The Grove.

Additional participants in the panel included the film’s director, Mick Jackson, and its producers, Gary Foster and Russ Krasnoff.

 “Truth is different than opinion,” Jackson said in emphasizing one of the film’s themes.

Rachel Weisz portrays Lipstadt in the film, which was released in a limited number of theaters on Sept. 30. During the Q-and-A, Lipstadt recounted being pleased when she found out Weisz would be playing her. The two were in constant communication throughout the production as Weisz attempted to get to know her character, Lipstadt said.

Attendees at the screening, organized by the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (LAMOTH), included Anti-Defamation League Regional Director Amanda Susskind, LAMOTH President Beth Kean, LAMOTH honorary director E. Randol Schoenberg and many Holocaust survivors.

Sherry Lansing, former studio executive and a member of the University of California Board of Regents, where she chairs the health services committee, attended the Oct. 27 event. Photo by Ryan Torok

Moving & Shaking highlights events, honors and simchas. Got a tip? Email ryant@jewishjournal.com.

Moving and Shaking: Cedars-Sinai gala, Boyle Heights walking tour and more Read More »

Obituaries: Week of Nov. 4

Leave a Comment / Obituaries /

Leo Hyman Candioty died Oct. 17 at 96. Survived by wife Esther; daughter Linda (Russell) Candioty-Wirth; son Ed (Donna); 4 grandchildren; 3 great-grandchildren; sister Sylvia Cohen; brothers David (Ninette), Mitchell. Mount Sinai

Philip C. Colman died Oct. 1 at 93. Survived by daughter Jane (Lloyd); sons Marc (Joy), Barry (John Preston); 4 grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Ronald Ceymore Deutsch died Sept. 4 at 84. Survived by daughters Stephanie Sarah, Leslie (Tim Fofonoff); 2 grandchildren; brother Warren (Elaine). Mount Sinai

Evelyn Farb died Oct. 9 at 92. Survived by daughter Leslie (Peter) Mainstain; son Marshall (Jayne); 3 grandchildren; 1 great-grandchild. Mount Sinai

Nona Fein died Oct. 8 at 67. Survived by husband Barry; sons David (Lauren), Nicholas (Whittney); brother Joe (Mary) Bernhard; sister Liz Bernhard; 1 grandchild. Hillside

Helen Feldman died Oct. 6, 2016 at 90. Survived by daughter Laura; sons Thomas, Richard; 6 grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Gerald Fields died Oct. 9 at 87. Survived by wife Roberta; sons Darran (Gloria), Craig; sister Sonya Dexter; 3 grandchildren. Hillside

Alden Glickman died Oct. 10 at 85. Survived by wife Iris; sons David (Dario), Adam; stepsons Andy (Lorie) Helman, Bran (Janine) Helman, Marc (Su Kung) Helman; stepdaughter Stacy Helman; 10 grandchildren. Hillside

Henry Gold died Oct. 4 at 80. Survived by wife Rosalyn; daughter Wendy (Paul) Humphrey; son Evan; 2 grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Helen Goldwater died Oct. 8 at 89. Survived by daughters Terry, Lynn (Joseph) Thyparambil; son David; sister, Maxine Golan. Mount Sinai

David Goodman died Oct. 10 at 51. Survived by mother Louise Fischer; brother Jeff (Karen). Hillside

Helen Grumer died Oct. 8 at 102. Survived by sons Carl (Janet), Elliott (Laura McCormac), Robert (Sheri); 2 grandchildren. Hillside

Rebecca Kelly died Oct.  4 at 90. Survived by sons Joseph (Shelly) Kwait, Ron Kwait. Mount Sinai

Rose Kolinsky died Oct. 14 at 100. Survived by daughter Susan Kolinsky Levy; son Gary (Marlene); 5 grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Ronald Lachman died Oct. 5 at 80. Survived by son Hank; sister Mary; brother Robert. Hillside

Morton Lavin died Oct. 16 at 95. Survived by daughters Sandra (Ted) Mezo, Nadine Groten; 4 grandchildren; 3 great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Evelyn D. Lehner died Oct. 9 at age 92. Survived by daughter Sharon Stussman; sons Frank Tepper, David (Sue) Tepper; brother Albert Lehner. Mount Sinai

Jack Levin died Oct. 10 at 94. Survived by wife Carmen Juanita; sister Iris Glickman; stepson Clyde Reese; stepgrandson Kevin (Paula) Reese. Hillside

Lois Susan Levine died Oct.  6 at 90. Survived by daughter Laura J. (Peter); son Daniel (Libby); 3 grandchildren; 3 great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Barbara Levy died Oct. 16 at 81. Survived by son Richard; 2 grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Ruth Lipsky died Oct.  6 at 101. Survived by sons Max (Sandi), Aaron (Yonsuk); 4 grandchildren; 2 great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Ida Mandelberg died Oct. 8 at 95. Survived by daughters Marsha (Barney) Brenner, Judi (Paul) Cohen; 5 grandchildren; 1 great-grandchild. Hillside

Ruth Ornest died Oct. 6 at 85. Survived by daughters Laura (Rick) Ornest-Leslie, Cindy; sons Mike (Marti), Maury; 3 grandchildren. Hillside

 Arnold Rudin died Oct. 10 at 94. Survived by wife Beverly; sons Michael, Ralph (Rita), Jay (Elyse); sister Rae Moss; 5 grandchildren; 2 great-grandchildren. Hillside

David Silverstone died Oct. 9 at 56. Survived by wife Lisa; sons Matthew, Michael; mother Marlene; sisters Debra (Dane) Evans, Laurie (Mar) Benesh. Mount Sinai

Richard Slavin died Oct. 10 at 83. Survived by wife Linda; daughters Jennifer (Michael) Robin, Katherine Ilene (Marc) Gordon; 5 grandchildren;  brother Larry Slavin. Mount Sinai

Barbara Naomi Tober died on Oct.  4 at 73.  Survived by husband Neal; sister Linda (George) Solovay. Mount Sinai

Walter Tucker died Oct. 16 at 84. Survived by his son Curtis; daughters Cathy, Carin Wishne; 4 grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Carrie Latt Wiatt died Oct. 3 at 58. Survived by daughter Isabella Morgan; mother Miriam; father Arron Latt; sister Andi Price. Mount Sinai

Edith Willins died Oct.  5 at 103. Survived by daughter Paula (Larry) Verbit. Mount Sinai

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Israeli intelligence agencies see downside in Mosul advance

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Israel’s intelligence agencies are closely monitoring the advance on the ISIS bastion in the Iraqi city of Mosul, and they are not optimistic about the outcome either for Iraq or themselves.

A report issued Sunday by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC), a security think tank, predicts a long siege and sectarian bloodbath in Mosul and an increased likelihood of ISIS attacks on Israel and its vulnerable neighbor Jordan.

“This fear on Israel’s part is based on an assessment that conditions exist in Jordan that can turn significant portions of the population into Islamic State supporters,” said Shlomo Brom, formerly the director of the Israeli army’s strategic planning division. “The uniqueness of the Islamic State phenomenon lies in the fact that it expanded beyond the borders of one Arab state, both in its ideology and its operations.”

Citing ISIS activity in Kirkuk, al-Rumba and Sinjar, the ITIC report says that “terrorist attacks and guerrilla warfare can be expected to continue in other arenas to divert attention and resources from the campaign for Mosul and to raise the morale of ISIS’s supporters in Iraq and Syria and beyond.”

Israel’s connection to the Mosul area traces back to the British Mandate period before the proclamation of the state, when a pipeline ran from the oil fields in Kirkuk through Jordan to the port of Haifa. The assumption is that ITIC reports are based on human, signal and open source intelligence. 

Israel has long maintained a policy of providing covert military assistance to Kurdish groups, and in the past decade extended increased humanitarian aid to the both Kurds and Yazidi Christians in northern Iraq. 

The updated ITIC assessment for Mosul concludes that the conquest will take months with ISIS resisting the advance by using hit-and-run tactics to compensate for the larger forces assembled against them.

Like Hamas in Gaza, ISIS has dug a substantial network of tunnels to stage surprise attacks and abduct invaders while they blend into the civilian population, who they use as human shields.

The report raises doubt about the ability of a heterogeneous coalition carrying out the attack on Mosul to effectively conduct itself “the morning after” conquest of the city.

Sunday, as Shiite militiamen said they were sending some 15,000 fighters to join the battle, the ITIC warned religious factionalism will complicate the “liberation” of Mosul. 

“Overcoming the massive tangle of religious-sectarian rivalries between the city’s Sunni residents and the Shiite Iraqi regime is likely to impede rebuilding of the city, managing daily life for its large population and the establishment of a functioning local services,” the report says.

Israel’s army has tended to downplay the threat of ISIS military activity in Syrian parts of the Golan Heights and in the Egyptian Sinai since they are largely directed at Cairo and Damascus instead of Tel Aviv. 

But the country’s intelligence agencies are more sensitive to the ISIS threat. Over the past two years, ISIS has made its influence felt in Gaza and the West Bank and successfully recruited several dozen Israeli Arabs.

Just as the assault on Mosul began, Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet, announced the arrest of an Arab-Israeli couple who had joined ISIS. In the indictment brought before a court in Haifa last week, the agency charged 41-year-old Wissam and 30-year-old Sabarin Zabidat on felony counts of illegal travel to an enemy state and enlisting in ISIS.

Court papers include interrogation transcripts from Wissam Zabidat who said he underwent military training and indoctrination with ISIS in Iraq.

According to the service, Wissam participated in “operational activity in the framework of guarding Daesh [ISIS] installations close to the combat zone and participated in raids on Iraqi Army positions.”

During one such raid, he was wounded in the foot and was evacuated to an ISIS hospital in Mosul. Following the injury, Sabarin took to social media to contact her family in Israel and arrange for ransom funds to escape the caliphate.

“It should be emphasized that the phenomena of Israelis leaving for Syria and Iraq is grave and dangerous,” said a Shin Ben spokesman.

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