What’s Happening: Dance, Deli and Discussion

FRI MARCH 15

YJP Shabbat Dinner
Shabbat dinner with Young Jewish Professionals (YJP) draws career-minded women and men who are committed to Judaism. Network with ambitious 20- and 30-somethings while enjoying a four-course dinner and open bar. Ticket prices increase as the crowd size approaches capacity. 6:30 p.m., bar opens. $60-$90. Online purchases only. Pat’s Restaurant, 9233 Pico Blvd., Los Angeles. (310) 692-4190.

Mensch Awards
Hungarian Holocaust survivor Bill Harvey; renowned musical conductor Zubin Mehta; the late Leon Bass, a black American soldier who encountered the survivors of Buchenwald as a soldier in a segregated unit; and the refugee-aid organization HIAS are honored by the Mensch Foundation. The Temple of the Arts program is dedicated to Hungarian Jewry and the memory of Elie Wiesel, who the Nazis deported from Hungary in 1944. A Hungarian Shabbat dinner is served and Mensch Foundation Founder Steven
Geiger discusses the state of Hungarian Jewry. Rabbi David Baron leads Shabbat services featuring the 40-voice Spirit of David Black Gospel Choir. 6 p.m., dinner. 8 p.m., Shabbat services. $75 donation requested for dinner. RSVP at menschfoundation@yahoo.com. Temple of the Arts at the Saban Theater, 8440 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills.

“Venezuela”
The Tel Aviv-based Batsheva Dance Company returns to UCLA’s Royce Hall to perform “Venezuela,” a new work by Ohad Naharin, the group’s choreographer for 28 years. He created the two 40-minute sections in juxtaposition where dances explore the dialogue and conflict between movement and the content it represents. 8 p.m. March 15, 8 p.m. March 16. $39-$99. UCLA Royce Hall, 10745 Dickson Court, Los Angeles. (310) 825-9646.

SAT MARCH 16

Discussing Anti-Semitism
While leaders in Washington debate anti-Semitism, Israeli-American community leader Adam Milstein discusses how anti-Semitism is anti-American during a Shabbat shiur at Valley Beth Shalom. Milstein, a Haifa, Israel, native, is a real estate investor and philanthropist who has been named among the world’s 50 most influential Jews. He is also the co-founder of the Israeli-American Council, which seeks to strengthen the State of Israel and serve as a bridge to the American-Jewish community. Noon-2 p.m. Free. Valley Beth Shalom, 15739 Ventura Blvd., Encino. (818) 788-6000.

SUN MARCH 17

“A Taste of Heaven: The New Jewish Deli”
“The Jewish Deli,” an episode of the PBS food documentary “Migrant Kitchen,” screens at Wilshire Boulevard Temple. The episode highlights Wexler’s Deli, which is putting a spin on traditional deli nosh. A Q-and-A session with Micah Wexler and Micah Kassar, the co-owners of Wexler’s, along with the documentary’s producers, Antonio Diaz and Lara Rabinovitch, follows the screening. Wexler and Kassar explain why they left the field of fine dining to enter the deli world. A Wexler’s Deli spread of its house-smoked, hand-sliced fish, bagels and nosh is served after the screening. 4 p.m. $18. Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Westside Campus, 11661 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles. (213) 388-2401.

MON MAR 18 

“I Shall Not Be Silent”
Born into a Prussian family at the start of the 20th century, Joachim Prinz was one of the early Jewish models for civil rights activism for African-Americans, speaking before Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech during the 1963 March on Washington, D.C. His life story of resistance is told in the documentary “I Shall Not Be Silent,” which screens tonight at Kehillat Ma’arav. A discussion follows the showing of the film. 7-9:30 p.m. $5, suggested donation. Kehillat Ma’arav, 1715 21st St., Santa Monica. (310) 829-0566.

WED MAR 20

“What Did American Faith Communities Stand For?”
A U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum panel examines the question “What Did American Faith Communities Stand For?” during the rise of Nazism. Jewish Journal columnist Dan Schnur moderates a discussion featuring Suzanne Brown-Fleming, director of International Academic Programs at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; Stephen Haynes, a professor of religious studies at Rhodes College; and Jody Myers, a professor of religious studies and director of the Jewish Studies Interdisciplinary Program at Cal State Northridge. A reception follows. 7:30-10 p.m. Free. Registration required. Westwood United Methodist Church, 10497 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. (310) 556-3222.

Have an event coming up? Send your information two weeks prior to the event to ryant@jewishjournal.com for consideration. For groups staging an event that requires an RSVP, please submit details about the event the week before the RSVP deadline.