Most fathers would bristle at the thought of theirteen-age daughters facing mortal combat on a regular basis. Not sowith Dr. Bernard Weinstock.
“My dad always yells, ‘Keep your hands up, keepyour hands up,'” says his 18-year-old Adele Weinstock.
But then again, Adele Weinstock is no ordinaryteen-age daughter. She is an internationally recognized black belt intaekwon-do, and she has toured the world, sparring and power-breaking(popularly known as karate-chopping through brick or wood).
“My dad forced my sister and I to start martialarts at an early age,” says Weinstock. “I’m a chronic asthmatic, [so]I didn’t think of myself as a paragon athlete.”
By the age of 12, Weinstock entered a slew oflocal opens, winning her first national tournament at 14, when shecompeted as an adult.
In Ireland, following victory at an internationalopen, Weinstock’s team was feted in a St. Patrick’s Dayparade.
Says Weinstock: “The girl that I defeated was theUK national champ for heavyweight…. I gave it everything I had[and] I almost got disqualified for excessive contact.”
Despite the danger, Weinstock has suffered nodamage during actual tournaments. She has also managed to maintainhonor-student status at the Vivian Webb School in Claremont.Weinstock, who grew up in the three-Jew town of Lompoc, is lookingforward to attending Wellesley, where they have a prominent Hillelprogram. In the immediate future, she would like to make the 1999U.S.A. national team for the world championship.
Weinstock attributes healthy portions of hersuccess to trainer Gary Morris and founder Robert Wheatley at theWheatley Taekwon-do Academy, and to her father, a martial artsenthusiast and tournament physician. She also praises her superiorteachers at the Webb School and credits George McNear for steeringher in the direction of becoming an ambassador or historyprofessor.
So how do the boys at her school react when theyfind out she’s a lethal weapon?
“They’re very cool about it,” she says, laughing.”They tease.”
— MichaelAushenker, Community Editor
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Honoring a ‘Rugrat’
Learning and cartoons may seem to most parents tobe mutually exclusive. But fortunately, there are exceptions.”Rugrats,” the popular children’s show on the Nickelodeon cablenetwork is one of them. On May 26, Kathrin Seitz, a Nickelodeon vicepresident, will be honored at a Westwood Kehilla banquet for hercontributions in creating positive Jewish role models on twoNickelodeon cartoon shorts: the “Rugrats” Chanukah special and a “HeyArnold” bar mitzvah episode.
Seitz served as a supervising producer on thehigh-rated “Rugrats” series, and oversaw several regular episodes aswell as specials, including the Emmy-nominated “Rugrats” Mother’s Dayspecial. She also worked on the first “Rugrats” feature film, due outin November.
Seitz, a single mom, isn’t Jewish but is raisingher 12-year-old son, Alex, in his father’s faith — he’s preparingfor his bar mitzvah at University Synagogue in Brentwood. Seitzherself grew up among Jews in Great Neck, N.Y., and considers herselfan honorary member of the tribe.
She pushed for the Jewish-themed cartoons becauseshe thought that there aren’t enough Jewish programs on TV.
Seitz is being recognized with the “Tikkun Olam”community award as part of Westwood Kehilla banquet’s theme,”Repairing the World One Day at a Time.” The Modern Orthodox shul isalso using the event to begin fund raising for a permanent home andis honoring two of its congregants, Susan and Alvin Schnurr, with theNer Tamid Award.
For more information on the evening, contactbanquet chair Elana Samuels at (310) 832-0200.
— Ruth Stroud, Staff Writer
Hollywood Goes Bowling
What are thechances of running into United Talent Agency’s Dan Aloni, CreativeArtists Agency’s Jill Cutler and Endeavor’s David Lonner in a darkalley? Pr-e-t-ty high if you were at the Sports Center Bowl on arecent Saturday night. The alleys at the Studio City hangout weredarkened (save for some flashing disco strobes) to set the “clubbin'”vibe at the Matzah Bowl, an event thrown by United Jewish Fund’sEntertainment Division Outreach Program. Lanes were alit withphosphorescent bowling balls and glow-in-the-dark pins, like afantasy sequence out of “The Big Lebowski.”
Director Karen Sternfeld and Event Chairs JonBaruch, Gary Pearl and Michael Schenkman oversaw the privatebowling-and-pizza party, where Hollywood’s movers and shakers movedand shook to cuts off the “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack.
Among the many rolling in the aisles: RobGolenberg and David Lubiner from William Morris Agency; KarenKaufman, E! Entertainment’s director of sales, internationaldevelopment; and entertainment lawyers/Outreach staffers RandyMendelsohn and Hillary Bibicoff. NatWest VP Myles Nesten knocked afew beers back to K.C. and the Sunshine Band’s “Get Down Tonight.”And the ubiquitous Steven Price rubbed elbows alongside fellow indieproducers Shawn Mendel and Scott Einbinder.
In a nutshell, no shortage of entertainment execsto plug the holes of those bright-pink bowling balls. Now if theycould only fix the ones gaping through the plots of all thosemovies…
— MichaelAushenker, Community Editor
Staff members of the United Jewish Fund’sEntertainment Division Outreach Program have a ball at the MatzahBowl.
Photo by Nathan Sternfeld
