Jewish Community News

News: June 2007

Twenty-six-year-old James Magai Majak’s  two-bedroom apartment off of San Thomas Aquino in West San Jose is much like that of any other twenty something’s. There are bare walls, stained carpet and a bottle of Scope mouthwash in the bathroom.
    But unlike other 26-year-olds, Magai works two jobs, goes to school and wires the bulk of his income to relatives and friends living in refugee camps in Southern Sudan. More

Rabbi Julius leaves for Israel after 10 years at Congregation Sinai

Next month, Rabbi Eitan Julius of Congregation Sinai will make good on a promise he and his wife Ziva made to each other when they were first married—they will return to Israel. While eager to make aliyah, the move is about more than returning to the Promised Land. Julius says it is about returning to a simpler life, removing the 24-hour-a-day demands of the pulpit and embracing the unfolding of something new.
      “I loved pastoral care and teaching, and pound-for-pound, Sinai is a great group of people,” said Julius. “But at what point do you trust you have the faculties and enough of a nest egg, and step into the unknown?” More

Rocking out with Kehillah Jewish High School

The sun is not even up yet and a group of Kehillah Jewish High School parents are gathered at the Greg Kihn morning show radio station frantically snapping pictures.
   “I don’t even know if I’m getting anything,” one parent complains to herself in frustration.
     The attraction? Ten teenage musicians from Kehillah’s “Jam Band” preparing for their first live on-air performance on 98.5 KFOX. The live performance, broadcast to 236,900 listeners throughout the Bay Area, was awarded when “The Jam Band” placed as one of nine finalists in KFOX’s “School of Rock 2007,” an American-ido-style competition where community members voted on their favorite bands. More

Poland's Chief Rabbi speaks in Los Gatos

During a recent visit to Los Gatos, Poland’s Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Michael Schudrich, told visitors a common Polish story of the last half decade.
     A young man comes to him and says, “Rabbi, I want to become Jewish.” The man is a born Catholic, and for some reason, now feels called to Judaism.  Trying to be polite, Schudrich tells him he will have to keep Shabbos, wear teffillin, pray.  “Hoping to scare him away,” Rabbi Schudrich jokes.
    But the man perseveres. Months later the man visits his mother, who has heard about his Jewish pursuits. She lets her son in on a long kept family secret. Her maiden name had really been Bernstein. They had been Jewish all along. More

Community mikvah for Silicon Valley to open in September 2007

 In the Jewish tradition, a mikvah, the ritual bath used for purification and cleansing—is highly valued. Indeed, if a community does not have enough money to build one, it may even sell a Torah to obtain one.
    The Jewish Community of Silicon Valley will soon have its own mikvah at the Gloria and Ken Levy Family Campus—and fortunately, no Torah scroll needed to be sold.  More
       

Temple Emanu-El honors members of 50 years plus!

Helen Zimmerman, almost 101, hasn’t attended Temple Emanu-El regularly for sometime. But she’s still a member! And on April 30, she made a special trip to the temple for the first time in several years to be honored along with others members whose affiliation spans more than 25 and 50 years.
   With close to 300 in attendance, Tem-ple Emanu-El’s Rabbi Dana Magats admits he was close to tears just thinking of the many years the congregation has been a part of this community and of its impact on so many lives. More

Volunteers hold Shabbat Services at retirement homes

Like so many outreach services provided by Jewish Family Services of Silicon Valley, the Chaplain Aide program touches the lives of the isolated and frail seniors who are in retirement, assisted living and nursing homes. 
       In addition to monthly Shabbat services, Chaplain Aide volunteers provide holiday celebrations that incorporate some of the foods and symbols of each holiday. More

7th graders at Yavneh form philanthropy group

In lieu of bar and bat mitzvah presents, Yavneh students, their families and friends have been donating money to a philanthropic fund founded by the seventh graders.
      With more than $6,000 in the fund, the thirteen classmates organized as a board of directors, with a developed mission statement. Then they began the process of allocating the money.  Each student chose a charitable organization to represent. They interviewed the executive of the organization, analyzed the budget and wrote a persuasive essay. Finally, they delivered a presentation to the rest of the board. More

Jewish literature monthly book club

The San José Public Library’s West Valley Branch will host a free five-part reading and discussion series from August through December called “Let’s Talk About It: Jewish Literature - Identity and Imagination.”
     The series explores Jewish literature and culture through scholar-led discussions of contemporary and classic books on the theme of “Neighbors: The World Next Door.” The five works of history and fiction included in the series examine the relationships between Jewish communities and their neighboring cultures from Muslim Spain to Bolshevik Russia to contemporary America. More

17th Annual Brandeis Lunch with the Authors, March 28

The Santa Clara Valley Chapter of Brandeis University National Women’s Committee (BUNWC) will hold its annual Lunch with the Authors on Wednesday, March 28 from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the historic Del Monte Building, 100 S. Murphy Ave., Sunnyvale. The donation is $72, part of which is tax deductible. For information and reservations, call Joyce Mendel at (408) 238-7316. This event is open to the public. More

600 gather at Shir Hadash, urge health care reform

More than 600 people attended a mid-February event at Congregation Shir Hadash to urge county and state legislators to take action to reform the California health care system. State Assemblymembers Jim Beall (24th District), Sally Lieber (22nd District), and Ira Ruskin (21st District), as well as County Supervisor Liz Kniss agreed after the meeting to work on legislation to provide Californians with affordable health care. More

Pesach & Wine: what to drink with your meal

Whether Ashkenazi or Sephardic, there are certain dishes you just cannot avoid when it comes to seders. Fittingly enough given the holiday, I’ve broken the meal down into four different courses. The suggestions below don’t cover every possible idea, but they do try to give you some hints for why certain styles of wine pair well with certain kinds of foods. L’Chaim! More

Jewish Summer Camp Listing

Read a complete listing of Jewish summer camp programs in the Silicon Valley and surrounding areas. More

Helping the poorest students in Africa

Middle School principal Linda Hooper, the force behind the famous “Paper Clips Project” was the speaker at the recent Jewish Federation Annual Dinner. Until she visited South Africa, Hooper said, she thought the children in her rural Tennessee town were very needy. Indeed, seventy percent of them live below the poverty level. But after her trip, she realized that her students, like most American children, at least have choices. Children in Africa have none. More

Los Gatos Presbyterian Reverend Returns from Israel with “new perspective”

Reverend Mark Burnham, spiritual leader of the Presbyterian Church of Los Gatos, recently returned from a UJC- sponsored trip to Israel. In the face of a “pretty strong pro-Palestinian lobby” within the Presbyterian Church, Burnham said he returned from Israel with a new perspective. More

My High Holy Days in Africa

Lee Gerston is a junior at the University of California, San Diego. He spent his fall semester studying at the University of Ghana in Legon. Lee grew up in Los Gatos and attanded Yavneh Day School.

Buried in the lush trees of the Western Region of Ghana, near bordering Côte D’Ivoire, is the small town of Sefwi Wiawso (pronounced sef-SHWEE wee-OH-so). Sefwi Wiawso is not a typical Ghanaian town. Sure, the village is filled with dirt roads and brick houses, shaky electricity and honking taxis–all typically Ghanaian. But it also has something that no other village in Ghana has: a synagogue. More