Justice Ball, Friends of Sheba and CUFI

On July 14, more than 80 guests attended a sold-out breakfast salon for Friends of Sheba Medical Center at Los Angeles’ Hillcrest Country Club. 

The event featured professor Michal Schnaider-Beeri, a world leader in the study of Alzheimer’s disease and the director of the Joseph Sagol Neuroscience Research Center at Sheba Medical Center.

Philanthropists Jean and Jerry Friedman, supporters of Friends of Sheba Medical Center, a Beverly Hills-based nonprofit that raises awareness and funds for Israel’s Sheba Medical Center, Tel HaShomer, hosted the breakfast. 

The gathering celebrated Sheba’s recognition by Newsweek magazine as one of the top 10 hospitals in the world.

Schnaider-Beeri’s keynote presentation focused on how Israel is positioned to become the source of preventing Alzheimer’s disease. A major focus of her research is how diabetes and the metabolic syndrome trigger dementia and Alzheimer’s. She also addressed the critical role new technologies play in the early detection of the disease. 

Guests included Dina Leeds, Soraya Nazarian, Myrtle Sitowitz, Rosalie Zalis and Alexandra Gleysteen, executive producer of Shriver Media and Maria Shriver’s Alzheimer’s nonprofit, The Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement.

Also attending were members of Friends of Sheba’s board of directors, including Jean Friedman, Marianne Berman, Helene and Ben Boston, Parvin Djavaheri, Dr. Harry Green, Barbara Lazaroff, Adrian Miller, Judy Flesh Rosenberg, Agi Schwartz, Judy and Aron Shapiro, Judie Stein and Lynn Ziman. 

Rising members of Friends of Sheba’s young leadership division, Sheba 2.0, joined the event, too, to learn and lend their support.

Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel has welcomed Yifat Mukades as its Hebrew school director. 

Mukades brings more than 20 years of experience in Jewish education according to the Westwood-based community.

“We are excited to announce that we have selected Yifat Mukades as our new Hebrew school director,” a statement from the congregation said. “Yifat has a master’s degree in Jewish education [from American Jewish University], with a concentration in Israel education. She has extensive experience in teaching Judaic studies and Hebrew, and will be joining our Hebrew school full of energy, out of the box ideas, and love for teaching our children.”

Born and raised in Israel, Mukades previously spent 20 years working in advertising as a media director for large companies around the globe. For the past three years, she has served as the assistant director of Valley Beth Shalom’s Etz Chaim Learning Center.

“She always brings her Israeli upbringing and experience to bear when teaching her students,” the Sephardic Temple website says.

She currently resides in Thousand Oaks.

More than two dozen Latino Christian pastors and leaders gathered on July 15 at the Latin American Bible Institute college in La Puente for the first in a series of pro-Israel speaking events organized by Christians United for Israel (CUFI), the largest pro-Israel organization in the country.

The event, titled “Why Israel?” was led by CUFI’s National Hispanic Outreach Coordinator, Rev. Peter De Jesus, who said the gathering was just the first in a series of events that was geared toward encouraging Southern California’s Latino Christian community to support Israel and fight growing anti-Semitism in the country. 

 “Together, we shared why it is imperative that we Christians stand in solidarity with the State of Israel and the Jewish people in Israel, the U.S. and beyond amidst the growth of anti-Semitism in the Middle East, our own nation, and around the world,” De Jesus said. 

Los Angeles-based Iranian Jewish activist Karmel Melamed also spoke to the crowd about the violent anti-Semitism Iranian Jewry has faced at the hands of Iran’s ayatollahs since 1979 and the growing threats to Israel and America’s security from the Iranian regime.

De Jesus said CUFI will host the group’s second annual bilingual “Night to Honor Israel” in late September at a Compton church where both Jewish community and multiethnic Christians in the Los Angeles area will be invited to celebrate their common support for Israel.

— Karmel Melamed

Calabasas teenager Lindsay Lipman was named a recipient of the Jewish Sports Heritage Association’s (JSHA) Michael Freedman Outstanding Jewish High School Athlete of the Year Award.

Lipman, a 2019 graduate of Viewpoint School, was a four-year starter on her
school’s varsity soccer team. She was the captain as a junior and senior, and her
team won the league title two consecutive years. This fall, she will play for
NCAA Division III Washington University in St. Louis.

The JSHA educates about the role Jewish men and women play in sports. Its 2020 Jewish High School Athletes of the Year, announced last month, also include Estee Ackerman of Yeshiva University High School for Girls in New York.

The two will receive their awards during the JSHA 2020 induction ceremony on April 26 at Temple Israel of Lawrence in New York.

Bet Tzedek New Leadership Council hosted the 23rd annual Justice Ball on July 13 at Poppy in West Hollywood. 

More than 400 young professionals spent the night on the dance floor entertained by guest DJs Denise Love Hewett, Madame Gandhi, Classixx and Fred Matters. 

The event raised more than $125,000 to benefit Bet Tzedek’s work to provide free legal services to Los Angeles’ most vulnerable individuals. “Bet Tzedek attorneys and advocates help people of all communities and generations secure life’s necessities,” according to the Bet Tzedek website. “Wherever people are in crisis, Bet Tzedek’s core services and rapid response programs provide stability and hope.”

Attendees included Bet Tzedek New Leadership Council Executive Committee members Alex Menenberg, Ari Stiller, Kim Chemerinsky, David Mark, Harry Rimalower, Ava Badiee and Andrew Hendel.

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Email ryant@jewishjournal.com.