I would like to announce a winner in the Jewish Community Hero’s campaign.  Ok…maybe not.  But I would like to announce that Beach Hillel and our long time leaders Rachel and Rabbi Yonah Bookstein (who has won the popular vote of the above mentioned contest) have been recognized and rewarded for our stellar program.  After years of hard work and community building, Beach Hillel just received word that the allocation from the Jewish Federation is increasing 300% to $26,000.

The leadership of the Allocations Committee of the Jewish Federation of Greater Long Beach and West Orange County made a difficult decision this week.  They decided that despite the terrible economic situation, it was time to reevaluate the criteria used (in part) to determine which of the beneficiary agencies would receive what amount of funds.  Beach Hillel has traditionally been the recipient of the smallest amount of Federation funds in our community by a long long long shot.  Hillel received roughly $8K from the annual campaign.  The Hebrew Academy was next up the list bringing in $30K.  JFCS received about $60K.  So Hillel’s allocation was somewhere between embarrassing and disheartening. Or maybe insulting…. It certainly did not shout “hey Beach Hillel…you guys are a great partner! Thanks for looking after the college students and coming up with programs, such as the Jewlicious Festival!”

So my Jewish Community Heros of the fiscal year are the members of the Allocations Committee and the Board of Directors.  Either body could have sat back and done what has been done for years.  But by breaking with the status quo and being willing to make reasoned change, the Board showed remarkable leadership.  Their decision is going to hurt other organizations and the client base they serve.  No doubt that Jewish Family and Children’s Service in Long Beach needs funds.  They are seeing cuts in donations and grants at a time when people are literally walking in the door with empty pockets, suffering the effects of unemployment and stress.  I feel for Wendy and her team.   Same with Rabbi Newman.  I don’t feel that Hillel won and am not pleased that we saw an increase while others will need to figure out how to deal with the impact to their operations.

However, Hillel needs to function in order for our community to have a future.  Years of Federation leaders have opted not to fund Hillel, artificially inflating the amount of funds available to other organizations.  It is unfortunate that it took an economic crisis to cause the Federation’s leadership to reevaluate.  But history shows that during recessions things tend to shake themselves out.

So to all of the Board members who spoke out in favor of raising Beach Hillel’s funding level, I want you to know that I appreciate your efforts.  I understand what kind of character it took to make a decision like this.  If we fulfill our mission of helping to connect Jewish college students to the community, to their history, and to Israel, they will return the investment somewhere, some time.

For months I’ve felt like a quarterback with the ball on my own one yard line…at 3rd down and 10.    As board president, the funding is a big relief–I’m  now playing the game from the 20 and can again focus on moving forward.

The Long Beach Jewish Federation’s Board and Allocation’s committee….my Jewish Community Heros hard at work.

Rabbi Yonah is perhaps the most amazing force in the “young” Jewish Community. He is brilliant. He is enormously talented. He has a global following. He is the undisputed leader in the Jewish Community Heros Award voting contest. He will win the popular vote by a margin of something like 2:1.

I will be stunned (and thrilled) if he wins the $25,000 award.

So who will the “committee” pick?  The “Jewlicious Festival” Rabbi running amazing religious and social programming in the sprawling, laid-back, and diverse Southern CA and world-wide via the web?  Or the independent JCorps”social entrepreneur” who is bringing together young Jewish adults, and in the process strengthening the Jewish communities they serve?

What about the other three candidates?  Despite having a deep appreciation for the work of Rabbi Engel (I don’t know Rabbi Mendel or Devora Benjamin) I just cannot see a committee of the UJC trying to decide among Chabad programs, despite the broad impact they have in their communities.

While I would not count Rabbi Yonah out of the money, my gut is leaning towards Ari Teman.  He is the only independent volunteer in the top five on the leaderboard.  I have a feeling that the UJC and Jewish Community Heros judges will find that an easier selection than any of the other top five candidates.

The Jewish Community here in Long Beach does not have the resources of NY,LA or any other major city with a sizable Jewish Community.  We have very few donors capable of writing a check for $25k.  The impact of Rabbi Yonah winning and bringing a donation that large to our relatively small Jewish community will be substantial.  I hope that the committee accounts for this when they decide where the money will go.

BTW–Interesting that two of the (currently) top 5 on the leaderboard are Rabbis who have made their reputations for their work here in Long Beach CA.  In fact, both have spent time as the campus Rabbi for CSULB, one of the largest universities in the state.  Could Long Beach be the next epicenter for Jewish Life in the US?  Eh…probably not. But we’re doing a great job with what we have!

Over at Jewlicious.com, “themiddle” wrote an interesting piece about Jewish day schools. Having enrolled a 6th grader in Tarbut V’Torah (TVT) last year, I’ve jumped into the day school experience a bit later than many. Themiddle’s post very accurately reflects what we’ve seen, experienced, and questioned.

Focusing on only a part of themiddle’s post:  few Jewish families in Long Beach (where we live) send their kids to Jewish day schools.  The only two schools within a 30 minute drive are the Hebrew Academy and TVT. A third school closed its doors at the end of the last school year due to finances.  I’ve often wondered why more parents don’t send their kids to Jewish schools.  The answer, as themiddle notes, is in part due to finances. In our community, it may also be in part because TVT is a 30 minute drive, and the Chabad run school, no matter how good it is, is…well…a Chabad run school.

So in our community, only those who are very committed to Jewish education  or those who have specific requirements for their children’s education, will seek out one of the two options.  Generally speaking, only those that can then afford to pay the price of admission do so.  I had a hunch that there were more people in our part of town willing to look at TVT as an option, and bet that one of the main reasons people were not exploring the very solid education at TVT is that they did not know it existed.  Fifteen families showed up to a parlor meeting we hosted on TVT’s behalf–their largest parlor meeting ever (I’m told.)  Several families enrolled this year. Ah…themiddle is right!  His suggestion#6:  Getting the word out in collaboration with other organizations works!

Themiddle goes on to make other recommendations about community organization of Jewish day schools.  He is right, but I think there is more to the story than he discusses.  He is dead right that Federation dollars need to be reallocated.  Many of the overseas needs have shifted, and the domestic Jewish communities are, in many cases, in trouble.  Our own institutions including JCCs and synagogues are hurting, and our infrastructure is aging as quickly as the generation who built most of it.

With declining dollars and increased needs, we must rethink how we meet our Jewish children’s educational needs.  This goes beyond the day school and secular education and crosses into how synagogues educate children.  As themiddle notes for day schools, competing synagogues and their religious schools have redundant infrastructure.  Is there any reason other than politics and proprietary membership lists that synagogues could not share resources?  How often are vast sanctuaries fully filled?  Could systems, software, and even teachers share responsibilities across organizations?

I’ve encouraged our local Jewish Federation and JCC to step back and reevaluate their mission based upon the current needs of the community.  No organization is thinking broadly about the “cradle to grave” needs of our Jewish community in detail.  There is no organized method of recruiting Jewish families as they move to the community or have children and helping guide them from one station in life to the next.  In our community, neither of our large early childhood education programs makes an earnest effort to involve parents in educational and volunteer efforts specifically designed to keep them in the fold “for life”.  As such, many families who walk in the door with young children, walk out when they enroll their children in public kindergarden.  Others exit post-bar mitzvah.  The parents and their dollars go with them.

So I say to themiddle, you are right, AND we need to think more broadly.  Not only do we need to involve more people and organizations in the management and marketing of our day schools, but we need to have a more cohesive approach to providing for the needs of  educating all Jewish families.  We will never (barring some future nationwide rise in anti-semitism in the US) enroll most Jewish kids in day schools.  So we must make after school programs attractive, affordable, and convenient.

Most after school Religious School programs exist today as they existed a generation or two ago, but with fewer hours a year available given the proliferation of other extra curricular activities including sports. Religious education needs to be fun for and relevant to kids.  It needs to incorporate “modern” technologies from the web, ipods, and cell phones.  But most synagogues are too small and many educational systems too entrenched to do it on their own.  Federation leadership:  this is one of those times you should be scratching your head saying “hey…an opportunity to build future donors!”

Themiddle’s suggestion #13 is something I also agree with completely.  We need to do a better job of crossing Jewish denominations. We seem to have built very high walls between different denominations and movements to the point where fear and misinformation are common.  I’ve met Orthodox people who, after attending a Bat Mitzvah of a relative are astounded that a Conservative synagogue says the same prayers in roughly the same fashion as does their own congregation.  I’ve met members of Reform congregations who are simply unaware of the basic practices of Kashrut and who have a fear of their child becoming too Jewish if they expand their Jewish knowledge base.  I know many members of Conservative congregations who have no idea what the Hebrew prayers they recite really mean.  Perhaps economics will drive us together to rethink and rebuild.  I won’t hold my breath.

Meanwhile…I thank those families who have contributed to TVT, the Hebrew Academy, and  the countless other Jewish day schools.  While all funds make a difference,  I especially thank those (See suggestion#4) who really wrote the big checks, donated buildings, land, and otherwise had a significant impact.  You’ve made it possible for our son and many others to be educated in a Jewish environment and get a solid secular education as well.  I hope he appreciates it as much as we do.  I suspect we won’t know for many years.

A note to non-Jewish readers: this is an odd topic.  It may seem somewhat racist or exclusive to seek to educate Jewish kids in Jewish schools. I’ve written a companion primer on being a Jewish kid in public schools and why some parents choose Jewish day schools.

(This is a follow up to a previous post about Jewish Day Schools–the post right above this one.  I figured that readers may not be familiar with all of the issues Jewish families face with public schools.  So…here you go.)

Jewish kids are often a minority in a classroom, school, and district.  It can be extremely difficult to be THE Jewish kid.  For those of us who observe even a modest portion of Jewish rituals and holidays, schools are just not set up to accommodate us.  And I understand why.  But there are things you may take for granted that cause us great pain.

Our “High Holy Days” of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur generally fall within the first few weeks of school. There are several other Jewish holidays that follow along within the next few weeks.  Jewish kids need to make the choice between missing school or not observing their holiest of days.  No kid in the USA ever has to decide whether to miss school in order to attend Christmas services or to be with family across the country.

No minimally observant Jewish kid will ever receive the perfect attendance awards given out by most schools.  Our kids simply cannot qualify.  After all, many of our kids will miss as many as three days of school in the first weeks of the new school year–and that assumes they don’t catch whatever flu is going around at the time!

The Jewish sabbath (Shabbat) begins on Friday evening at sundown.  (All Jewish holidays start at sundown–and it’s generally the day before the day written on your calendar!)  For families who traditionally have a Shabbat meal together or go to religious services, this again causes Jewish families to have to make tough decisions:  should we let our kids go to the Friday night football game?

Shabbat is, for observant Jews, the holiest of days.  It is so important to us that we have it every week.  Traditional Jews refrain from most activities on Shabbat. They don’t drive, spend money, cook, etc….  Time is spent with family, or in synagogue, learning, praying, reading, and relaxing.  A Friday night football game is one of those American high school experiences that helps build camaraderie and reputations.  Telling a kid they cannot be part of that teenage experience is hard for parents, and a killer for the teenager who cannot join “everyone” else.

Unfortunately, there are instances where school administrations actually schedule major events on the Jewish holidays, even when they have a choice not to, and even when there is a significant Jewish population.  My high school did this.  A local elementary school scheduled their first major event for Friday Sept. 18, 2009–Rosh Hashana.  Any reason to do this?  When we’ve asked, we’ve been told that they won’t change the date because that’s the day they’ve put on the calendar.

Jewish schools close for the High Holy days and other holidays.  All of them…even those that you’ve never heard of, and most of us don’t celebrate.  Jewish schools close a bit early on Friday afternoons so students and staff can be home and prepared for Shabbat without rushing.  Jewish schools play sports any days except Friday afternoon through Saturday night. Jewish schools never schedule events on our holidays.  Nor do they ask our kids to sing overtly religious Christmas carols or participate in other activities that are contrary to the beliefs of the child and his or her family.

Most people are understanding.  Most teachers are helpful.  Some are assholes.  I can’t begin to remember how many times I’ve heard of teachers who knowingly schedule major tests on a major Jewish holiday and then treat the student horribly when they ask for some consideration.  Think about it:  how many times did you have to discuss your religious beliefs or observances with your teacher?  Odds are that if you are of a Christian faith, you’ve never even considered the need to do so as it relates to your ability to attend class or complete your school work.  Jewish kids often need to identify themselves as Jews within the first days of meeting a new teacher.  From personal experience, I can share how difficult it can be.  Especially if you happen across one of those asshole teachers. One of mine told me I’d burn in hell.  I couldn’t wait to tell my next teacher I was Jewish and would be missing class for a Jewish holiday.

Everything above is only one significant piece of the issue.  Another is that being Jewish and observing Jewish holidays takes a lot learning.  For starters, our Torah (“Old Testament” as it is known in some quarters) is written in Hebrew, as are many of our prayers.  Depending upon the branch of Judaism a family follows, prayers may or may not be in English.  Guess what that means?  Learning Hebrew. And there are really two forms of Hebrew:  biblical and modern.  Modern Hebrew is what is used every day as the primary language of Israel.  Biblical Hebrew is just that: the language of prayer and our Torah.  It is as different from Modern Hebrew as Shakespearian English is to Modern English (the language…not the band!)

Learning Hebrew is difficult, especially as the Hebrew letters do not resemble English letters at all.  It’s a whole new Alef Bet (Alphabet in Hebrew.)  When Jewish kids celebrate their Bar Mitzvah (boys) or Bat Mitzvah (girls) they often read from the Torah (girls usually do not do this in very observant families) in front of their congregation.  Reading is not always an accurate description. Chanting or singing is really what is done.  But the Torah has no vowels nor musical notes.  Can you imagine learning to sing in another language and then do it without the aid of the basics?  Learning these skills along with Jewish history, Jewish texts, and of course secular subjects that are required of all students takes far more time than would be available outside of a Jewish Day school.  Some Jewish day schools immerse their students in Jewish life  in all aspects of study.  Others, such as the school my son attends, has a Jewish environment, teaches Hebrew and Jewish History, but distinctly separates and focuses on secular subjects.

I could go on.  So to summarize thus far, Jewish parents often send their kids to Jewish day school because it is just works better for them and their family values.  There is not generally a desire to be separated from non-Jews (though this certainly does occur) but simply a reality that leading a Jewish life means being in an environment where Jewish observance is an integral part of the school.

Back to public schools for a moment.  I attended public schools.  One of my kids attends a local public high school. I understand how schools operate and understand the complexity of dealing with kids of various ethnic and religious backgrounds.  However, there is often an assumption that goes something like this:  we’re a Christian nation so what do you expect?  And to some extent, that is true. To be clear, I don’t expect that a school district with few Jewish kids would shut down on a major Jewish holiday the way schools in parts of NY and LA do.  However, I do expect basic consideration.

Remember too that the demographics of this country are changing. Look to Europe if you need a reminder that just because this has been a predominantly Christian nation doesn’t mean that it always will be.  There are already neighborhoods in some cities, or even school districts, where Islam, for example, is the dominate religion.  The best way to insure that all of our kids in public schools get a solid secular education is to insure that our school districts keep religion out of the classroom.  You may vote for prayer in school today, only to find that you don’t recognize the prayer read in your school next year.  Just a thought.

So why is one of my kids in a Jewish school?  Are we rebelling against public education?  Eh…I wish I could take the credit.  In a way I guess I can given that we lead an active Jewish life.  But in this case…our son wanted to attend a Jewish so that he could be around more people like him and fit in.  And at the end of the day, isn’t that what most kids want?

The ground breaking of a large research and development complex called Advanced Technologies Park is about to begin right on or near Ben-Gurion University (BGU). The  development will cover 41 acres and more than four million square feet of “technology space.” The first of twenty three buildings is set to start construction in the very near future.

BGU and Advanced Technologh Park

BGU has a reputation as one of the leading institutions in a country that is clearly turning out graduates capable of creating and building industry. It is also located in the middle of what was basically flipping nowhere.  It is now, however, connected to other parts of Israel via the high speed rail.  In the long list of places to fight over, the Negev isn’t usually high up on the list.  I’m sure that will change one day as Israel makes the desert bloom…

Combine the high tech and modern university with a politically mild atmosphere, and it would seem like an ideal opportunity for business. I imagine that as Israel expands and invests in the Negev,  more and more opportunities will arise, which means more people, which means more industry, which means more opportunity. It also means that the hotel that is planned for this development is going to be in a relatively great location.  Did I mention the huge IDF telecommunications and R+D center also being built adjacent to the University?

Seems like a great opportunity for a hotel company to set up shop.  Can anyone think of a hotel company owned (historically and primarily) by a Jewish family that has no current presence in Israel?  There is that little company called Hyatt that comes to mind.

I’ll grant you that building a hotel in Be’er Sheva isn’t as sexy as building one on the beach in Eliat or Tel Aviv. But here’s hoping that Hyatt might look to the future, as Israel has done, and build their next hotel along side BGU.  That one of the world’s leading developers is overseeing the building of this massive project is no guarantee of success, but it’s a pretty good indicator.

It seems odd that Hyatt would be absent from Israel but has built and operates hotel properties in places such as Saudi Arabia, Dubai, the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Jordan…..  So Hyatt, don’t pass up a Grand opportunity.  This may just be a Hyatt Place kind of place.

A few months back an Israeli man walked into the patio of our synagogue. A small group of us were hanging out under the olive tree trying to get some shade. Our congregation’s BBQ had wrapped up, so we were just relaxing when he appeared and told us he was moving from Israel. He was trying to decide where to live. We suggested Long Beach, of course. That’s when he let on that his wife was with him, but she was waiting in the car. We invited them both to join us for the best Kosher BBQ this side of…Compton?

In the last few months I’ve gotten to know Eyal a bit. He has made a few business trips back from Israel trying generally get settled for life in Southern California. That means buying cars, renting a house, getting kids enrolled in school, bank accounts, and a lot of things we take for granted everyday.

Eyal and I have hit it off and I’m glad to have a new friend. But I just don’t want him to stick around too long. Part of me fears that he and his family will find the easy life here in our part of the world to hard to resist, and another Israeli family will have left Israel.

It’s easy for me to have this opinion as I’ve never lived in Israel, and I have only a romanticized notion of what it takes to live in a small country with less than welcoming neighbors, and an apparent (still needed??) affinity for socialism. Should I fear that Israelis coming to the States will ultimately make the country (Israel…not the U.S.!) weaker? Will it actually do so? I have to admit that I don’t know.  But given the unkind story told by history, having a strong Jewish homeland is important to me.  And given the effort made to help Jews move to Israel, it seems counter-productive when a family of five packs up and leaves Little Satan for the Big Daddy Satan.

As an aside:   Our friend Jolene is headed TO Israel.  She arrives on September 8th.  We can all watch her arrival (along with a plane full of other soon to be Israelis) live at http://www.nbn.org.il/live/ .  It’s a pretty amazing site to see.

So the natural question is “if you think that it’s so important to have Jews in Israel, why aren’t you there?”  And I don’t really have a good answer other than “I just didn’t think about it in time.”  And that’s probably not an entirely truthful answer either because I don’t know if I would have had the nerve to pack up and go.  I’d like to think I would have, but I’m still sitting here in the LBC worrying from afar about those who are leaving there for here.

So Eyal and family, I welcome you to Long Beach and look forward to spending time with you all.  I’m here for you.  Just make sure you don’t stick around too long.  Unless you want to.

Not being able to fall asleep tonight, I decided to load something onto my iPod and went indirectly to the Judaism section (right after downloading Car Talk) of iTunes.

I was very surprised to see near the top of the Featured “Judaism” podcasts, titles including “Messianic Shabbat: Torah teacher Mark McLellan” and “Messianic Jewish Teaching: Beth Israel Messianic Synagogue.”  Rounding out the top 12 was “Yeshua in Context: by Derek Leman (who claims to be a Messianic Rabbi and says “I believe that Judaism not centered on Yeshua (Jesus) is missing the life of the tree.”

Hold on.  By our definition of our own people and and by our tradition, this kind of content is not about being Jewish.  In fact, given the specific attempt by organizations such as the Southern Baptists to welcome Messianic Jews into their fold in an attempt to convert Jews (on top of allocating mucho dinero to do it on their own)  it isn’t much of a stretch to argue that this content is in direct conflict with Jewish tradition, culture, and learning.  It’s kind of like finding podcasts entitled “Loving your Little Boys” in the “Kids” section of iTunes–only to discover that the real subject is pedophilia.  Ok…kids are the subject matter but…um….

My hope is that we can convince Apple to re-categorize this kind of content.  Where should it go?  I’m not going to voice an opinion on that.  So long as the misleading content is removed from “Judaism” I really don’t care.  As Apple has recently been taking a fairly heavy hand in determining what is appropriate for their App Store, perhaps they will show some love to the people of the book too.

For people unfamiliar with Jewish traditions, or who are trying to learn about Jewish beliefs and customs, the inclusion of messianic content is horribly misleading.  (Perhaps Rabbi Yonah will comment with why, for anyone interested.) I was once at a hotel and watched as dozens of people walked by wearing their kippot and tallitot.  After a few minutes of watching my fellow Jews wander past, I had a feeling something wasn’t quite right.  Though the crowd had all the outward appearance of being Jews, they were not.  This messianic congregation was celebrating Yeshua.

Singing “God Bless American, waving an American flag, watching football and eating apple pie doesn’t make someone American. Right?  There are traditions and laws defining who is an American, and we don’t exactly give other nations the right to redefine who we are.  Why shouldn’t we, as Jews, have the same control over defining what is Judaism and what is not?

Our friends over at Apple might want to wander over to the Cupertino public library (do they still allow books in Cupertino?) where they can find the venerable Dewey Decimal System.  In that system, category 200 is “Religion.” Categories 225 – 287 are all categories of Christianity.  Judaism has it’s own category (296) as do other religions.

Contact Apple via iTunes: Click on   Podcasts: Audio Podcasts:Judaism.  Then click on any of the messianic content. In the upper right you’ll find a link to “Report a Concern”

Apple Public Relations     (408) 974-2042

Apple Corp   (408) 996-1010

When I first saw www.jewishcommunityheros.org I was impressed that the UJC had finally created something online that was really interesting.  It was a great viral way to get people involved.  I even nominated someone who I have a lot of respect for.  He’s (Rabbi Yonah Bookstein) doing pretty well in the voting and I hope he wins.

Having watched the site religiously, my enthusiasm is starting to fade.

Don’t get me wrong.  I think the concept of identifying and recognizing leaders or heros in the Jewish community is a fantastic idea.  In my community alone I can name dozens of people who have been serving the community for years and are heros even if never nominated.  Eugene Schlessinger, a survivor, became a wealthy man and has been raising funds for a variety of organizations for more than fifty years.  Barbara and Ray Alpert give to every cause in town.  Sandy Horowitz gives more than she should to Israel and children’s causes.  These people are volunteers who give of themselves simply because they have a calling to do so.

Other people have callings as well.  Rabbis.  Federation Executives.  Staffs of congregation and JCCs, and the hundreds of other organizations that help keep our communities functioning.  And I think they should all be moved into a separate category in the Hero’s voting.  (Federation employees and employees of other agencies are already excluded from the campaign.)

If the purpose of this Hero’s project is ultimately to showcase the work being done in local communities by “all of us” then it seems kind of unfair (?) or unjust (?) to have put the Eli Winkelmans of the world and their causes (Challah for Hunger) up against someone who is paid for their time and effort, no matter how much love and dedication they have to the Jewish community.

Maybe the Leaderboard is the real problem. Or the prize associated with being atop the leaderboard.  The leaderboard puts an emphasis on winning THE prize.  Winning THE prize means the fewer people who are nominated, the better.

If the emphasis was on nominating the MOST Heros, it would be a whole different contest.  If we were restricted to only one vote per Hero, then there is a chance people might actually read the profiles of some of the other nominees instead of simply following the link sent to them by their nominee’s friends or PR committee.

So in summary:  change the emphasis to nominating.  If there is to be a prize, break the categories in two (volunteers and professionals).  Maybe restrict voting to once per nominee per voter–or give a multiplier of votes to a person for every new Hero nomination they create (i.e. 2 votes per nomination.)  The concept is fantastic, and the execution is excellent.  I’m looking forward to a rules change in a future iteration.

Oh…and don’t forget to vote for me  Beach Hillel and Jewlicious Festival would be at the top of my list for the winnings.  But seriously…there are people who have done a lot more than I have…so go read their profiles and vote for them.  Or nominate someone right now.

Years ago, Robert “Bob” Levinson wrote a book about Jews in the California Gold Rush.  Bob Levinson was, among other things, the Cantor of Congregation Beth David in Saratoga CA, until a car crash ended his life.  Bob was about 40.  We created an AZA chapter in his memory.  We also took an interest in Bob’s work and set out to find some of the cemeteries he wrote about.

I don’t remember ever reading Bob’s book.  I picked it up from my parent’s house over the weekend.  My son and I had just returned from the Sierras and on our way we stopped at the Gold Rush era Jewish cemetery in Sonora.

I expected to find the cemetery overgrown with weeds as it was when our AZA group first found it in the early 80s.  It was actually in nearly perfect condition, which is great, though I think part of me wanted to see it in need of care so that I could come to the rescue with a collection of hoes and rakes.  Given that the temperature in Sonora in July can hover around 100 degrees, I got over it pretty quickly.

There is a sign just inside the entrance (which is locked) that indicates the oldest known Jewish Gold Rush cemetery plot in that part of the Sierras–dated 1853.  Somebody in 1853, in a remote mountain foothills town, carved a tombstone almost entirely in Hebrew.

I cannot imagine what it took for some of these Jewish pioneers to leave their homes in Europe or on the East Coast of the young United States and travel boat (generally) all the way around the tip of South America. The journey took months, if all went well. Since Levi’s had yet to be invented, I’m fairly certain that nobody showed up in a pair of jeans and a CK tshirt, so the odds are they stood out.

I’m interested to learn more about their stories. How they had the resources to create and maintain the basic facilities of Jewish life. How, with few women and fewer Jewish women, they created families.

During one of our trips to a Jewish cemetery in what was, I believe, the very small town of Jackson, there were signs that a developer planned to build directly on the cemetery site. I don’t know what every happened.

I am hopeful that today’s Jewish community will take an interest in those who took the first steps of Jewish life here in CA. Those early settlers made it easier for those of us who followed in CA, especially in places like San Francisco where they helped build the early infrastructure and commerce.

If you are ever passing through places such as Sonora, Grass Valley, Napa, Oroville, Nevada City, jackson, Marysville, Mokelumme Hill, El Dorado County…find the historic cemetery and stop by. Make sure that it is being cared for. If not, give me a call. Maybe we can get the old Bob Levinson AZA gang back together for a road trip.

For the average Jewish family in America, the phrase Mishloach Manot or Shalach Manos is not part of our vocabulary.  Most of us have probably never heard the phrase or know what the tradition behind the phrase means.  Purim for us was the time when, as kids, we dressed up and paraded around our temple or JCC.  Maybe we have a fleeting memory about Purim, not Chanukah, as the holiday when gifts were traditionally exchanged.

For reference, Shalach Manot(s) is the mitzvah of giving gifts of food to others.  It is closely tied to the mitzvah of giving tzedaka.  Read the Book of Esther for the details  As Purim teaches us, among other lessons, the impact of actions of one persons on an entire community can be profound.  The giving of Shalach Manot helps perpetuate the sense of community and interdependence as do so many of our traditions ranging from the requirements of a Bris, Minyan, Wedding, etc….

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We have neighbors we’d never met even though we’ve lived around the corner from them for 13 years.  We know they are Jewish from the mezuzah that is clearly visible from the street.  Does the sign in the window say “Jews vote Democratic?”  I can’t recall exactly.  We once met their grown son who had taken over a furniture business from his parents.  It may have been David who told us that his parents were Holocaust survivors.  Or that’s what we recall.  We met David’s mother the other night.  She is a survivor.  Her husband was born here in the U.S.

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I learned about Shalach Manos when I received a basket the size of a small vehicle from our new friends Allen and Deanna Alevy.  I learned more as the president of the Beach Hillel advisory board when our director Rachel Bookstein and her husband Rabbi Yonah spoke about putting together baskets to deliver to members of the community who had been supportive of the efforts of Beach Hillel and the Jewlicious Festival.  Over the last several years, we have received baskets from the Alevy and Beach Hillel families, but have never actually given one.  Honestly, even as a recipient of the baskets, I was never too familiar with the traditions of when, where, what, why, and how to do a basket.  It turns out, there really isn’t much to know.

At Temple Beth Shalom in Long Beach, Rabbi Dov Gartenberg and/or others arranged for the congregation to assemble Shalach Manot baskets one evening–probably on Purim.  By the time I joined the assembly line, most of the goodies had already been put into bags and wrapped in cellophane. Part of my interest in making a basket was that I wanted to deliver one.  Actually, I had to deliver one.  Some little voice in my head was telling me to deliver one of the goodie baskets to our neighbors.  I was a bit fearful as I did not know how they might react.  As survivors, did they try to forget most things Jewish?  The mezuzah kind of had me thinking otherwise, but I was uneasy.

As we drove into the neighborhood and passed our street, I told the kids that I wanted to deliver the goodies to our neighbors.  It was late in the evening, and the house was mostly dark.  I asked one of the kids to quietly deliver the bag to the front step.  It wasn’t important to me that the family know that the bag came from us, so I had attached Rabbi Dov’s card.  Then we went home and more or less forgot about it.

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A few days ago that little voice in my head said it was time to take a walk.  I asked Stefanie if she wanted to join me.  We took the dogs around the first block. Normally we’d go home.  I suggested going around the second block.  She agreed.  A minute later we saw an older woman dropping a letter in the mail box on the street corner and walk back to her house. 

We stopped and introduced ourselves to Lilly.  We spoke for quite a while and learned a little about her life.  As we spoke, Stefanie asked if they remember receiving a goody basket a few months earlier.  Lilly’s face brightened.  She said “yes…and I called the Rabbi to thank him.”  She went on telling us that she had forgotten about the tradition completely here in the U.S., but that as a child she remembers how important it was and how her community would exchange gifts.  She said with her accent “we called it Shalach Manos.”  That was, of course, before they were taken away to the camps when she was 14 years old.

She told us how excited she was to receive the bag of treats.  She brought them into her house and shared the story and Hamentashen with her husband Gabrielle who was very sick at the time.  He died weeks later.  In telling the story, it was so clear that what was for me the simple act of delivering a bag of food, turned into reconnecting this wonderful old woman with a tradition and a community that was stolen from her more than 65 years earlier.  My eyes tear up thinking about it.  I can imagine her remembering her parents, sister, and friends putting together their own Shalach Manos baskets and taking them door to door in their town.

I wonder about the path I took that ended (or maybe started) when we made the late night delivery.  I suppose it could all be coincidence.  But I think I’d rather believe that my first participation in the mitzvah of Shalach Manos was very intentional.