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San Diego Jewish World

Friday
, May 11, 2007    

Vol. 1, Number 11

 

 

Israeli football fans, students and anarchists
raise questions about biases in Israeli media

By Ira Sharkansky

JERUSALEM—Three current events raise questions about media bias, public opinion, and who makes the ultimate decisions. Oops, no one makes "ultimate decisions." They are always subject to change. But some are ultimate for the time being.

One: football fans broke through restraining fences in order to reach the playing field and celebrate their team's victory. They trampled several of their own, including two boys who remained unconscious for the better part of 24 hours. Television pictures showed hundreds of males ranging from sub-teens to the middle-aged with body language showing great effort and some pain. Some of those who made it over the bodies of their comrades jumped, did cartwheels, and swung from the goal posts in ecstasy, while 30 ambulances maneuvered around them to collect the injured. 
5/11 /07 SDJW Report

International and National
*Israeli football fans, students and anarchists

Commentary: Turkish, French, Israeli demonstrators protest in favor of  better governments

*Filner salutes 25th anniversary of Vietnam
Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C.


Judaism
Torah: The land is God's; we are only its caretakers

*Second thoughts about a take-out meal

Jewish Living
*Father of the Bride: Mail Box Blues

*Things I don't understand I ask our daughter the doctor, or son the lawyer.

Arts & Entertainment
*Celebrating Lincoln Kirstein's centennial

*Keshet Chaim dance troupe to bring rainbow of movement to Jewish Music Festival here

Daily Features
Jews in the News

Jewish Grapevine

For Your Reference
San Diego Jewish Community Calendar

San Diego Jewish Community Directory


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Anderson Travel
There were commentators who urged calm among the fans, but the weight of coverage was understanding of their emotions, and critical of the police for not assuring their safety.
 
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Letter from Jerusalem
__
By Ira Sharkansky____

 
Other views prevailed among league managers. They decided to punish the team and its fans by requiring that its next four games be played away from home, with its fans not to be allowed into the stadiums. There has already been a minor riot protesting the injustice of the decision.
 
How to screen those buying tickets in order to exclude the team's fans? Perhaps by the looks of those looking for combat. It will not be easy. All teams' fans look about the same. 

Two: the strike of university students entered its third week. These young men and women, most likely from families with above average incomes, want to reduce tuition, ideally to zero. There is a government commission at work, considering by how much to increase tuition. Currently the bill is the equivalent of US $3,000 per year. A typical three-year BA at a university ranked among the best in the world costs $12,000. There are scholarships, loans, and work-study programs for students who cannot meet the costs out of savings, family resources, or
 

 


 

 

 

current income. As elsewhere graduates are likely to earn substantially more over their careers than those with less education.

The media and public opinion are mostly with the students. Resolution of the dispute is complicated by considerable faculty support of the students, faculty opposition to the same government commission on account of other issues it is considering, and a government too preoccupied with other things (mostly its own survival) to make protracted efforts to solve this. Among the difficulties, the prime minister is also serving as temporary finance minister, due to the finance minister's suspension while under investigation for suspected criminal activity. Without a full-time finance minister, it is more difficult than usual to deal with an economic controversy.
 
Three: a group of about 200 Jewish "anarchists" and Palestinians attacked part of the barrier working its way through the West Bank. These attacks are standard events, occurring one or more times each week. The barrier inconveniences Palestinians and enrages some Israeli Jews, even while it makes it difficult for our neighbors to annoy us by drive-by shootings, suicide bombings, stabbings, and car thefts.
 
Five reservists who had the job of protecting the barrier were outnumbered by media personnel called by protesters to their event. We saw replay after replay of the pushing and shoving employed by the soldiers. Most dramatic was the picture of an officer who jabbed his weapon into the stomach of a young Jewish man who was trying his best to be violent. It hurt. The young man fell on the ground and held his tummy. Later we saw him leaving the hospital, upright and in no apparent pain.
 
Within hours politicians were concerned about the soldiers' overreaction, and a senior officer ordered the suspension of the man photographed jabbing his weapon.
 
Other judgment may prevail. The event is bringing forth an investigation. Substantial military and political voices are expressing support for the five soldiers who had to deal with 200 protesters. Public sympathy for Palestinians and Jewish anarchists is not assured.
 
What is the message in all of this?
 
We wanted a Jewish country. We got a Jewish country. The prophets will serve as national icons until the Messiah arrives. Justice is a prime value.
Those who are outside of the elite (like football fans) claiming to be weak or supporting the weak (like students, Palestinians, and Jewish anarchists) have at least a short term advantage in public disputes. Whether they rule is a more complicated question. Our ancestors granted the prophets holy status as critics of the well-to-do and the rulers. We never let the prophets govern.


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Commentary

Turkish, French & Israeli demonstrators
protest in favor of  better governments


By Shoshana Bryen

WASHINGTON, D.C (JINSA)—It was Peter Finch in "Network" who told his
viewers to stick their heads out their windows and yell, "I'm as mad as hell, and
I'm not going to take this anymore!" The response was astonishing - unless you
live in Turkey, France or Israel.

In Turkey, the AKP government won an election that saw all the traditional
secular parties ousted from parliament (they fragmented and none reached the
10 percent threshold required for seating). AKP rules alone; the opposition is
ineffectual and 47 percent of the electorate is unrepresented. Last month, AKP
nominated the foreign minister to be the new President of the Republic, a post
filled by election in the parliament, so his nomination was seen as tantamount
to his election. The presidency is not tremendously powerful, but neither is it a
sinecure. Most important, the president appoints judges and rectors of state
universities. Since both are traditionally secular, an AKP president can have
an impact on their future disposition and thus an impact on the nature of
Turkish society.

Nearly a million Turks from the 47 percent took to the streets - and some are
still there; a final rally is scheduled for Izmir on Sunday. They protested the
nomination (since withdrawn) of course, but they also find that representation
is denied them in the halls of government because of failures in the secular
political leadership. The rolling protests are as much a rebuke of those parties
as they are a denunciation of the AKP.

In France, an astonishing 85 percent of the voters went to the polls. After years
of increasing violence - particularly, but not only against Jews - economic
turmoil and political malaise, French voters demanded to be heard, demanded
to be led. President Sarkozy responded, "I am going to give the place of honor
back to the nation and national identity. I am going to give pride in France
back to the French people."

In Israel, 150,000 or more people rallied in Tel Aviv after the Winograd
Commission report issued a devastating description of the Israeli
government's lack of leadership. They demonstrated on behalf of NO candidate,
NO political party and NO program. People of the political left, right and center
(notably excluding party leaders) demanded leadership, soul searching, |
responsiveness and responsibility from their government.

We in the U.S. are accustomed to large demonstrations against something
concrete - the war, the president, segregation. We are also accustomed to
nasty governments permitting frenzied demonstrations against our friends
and ourselves (or Danish cartoonists), often to let off steam that would
otherwise be directed against them. But we rarely see democratic countries
in which "the people" simply demand better from their government and
their politicians. It is a very good thing.

We hope the Turkish-French-Israeli wave is successful in those countries.
Democracy not only requires that people vote, but that they care. A bit of
that would go a long way in our own country as we enter the political silly
season (which seems permanent now). "We the People" have an obligation
to demand that our politicians do better, be better and lead better as they
steer the ship of state, or hope to.

The foregoing article was provided by the Jewish Institute for National Security
Affairs (JINSA). Bryen is JINSA's director of special projects.

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Filner salutes 25th anniversary of Vietnam
Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C.


WASHINGTON, DC (Publicity Release) —Congressman Bob Filner has co-sponsored H.Res.326, a resolution in the House of Representatives that commemorates the 25th Anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

"The Vietnam Veterans Memorial honors the more than 56,000 men and women who lost their lives serving the United States during the Vietnam War," said Filner, chairman of the House Veteran Affairs Committee.  "It has served as a place of respect and remembrance for the family and friends of those who lost their lives in this conflict and has helped to heal old wounds."

More than 3 million troops served during the Vietnam War, and 153, 303 were wounded in action.  An estimated 4.4 million people visit the Memorial each year, leaving over 100,000 items to remember the sacrifice of those who fought and paid the ultimate sacrifice for their country.  Private and corporate donations of $8.4 million were used to construct the Memorial. 

"Veterans Day 2007 will mark the 25th Anniversary of the dedication of the Memorial.  I urge everyone to take a moment on this day to express our gratitude to those who lost their lives, both in Vietnam and in the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," Filner concluded.


The foregoing article was prepared by Congressman Bob Filner’s office.


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Jews in the News          
 
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 News spotters: Dan Brin in Los Angeles, Donald H. Harrison in San Diego, and you. Wherever you are, send a summary and link to us at sdheritage@cox.net.  To see a source story click on the link within the respective paragraph.
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*White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten was given a difficult assignment by President George W. Bush: Find common ground with the Democratic Congress on funding the war in Iraq.  Carl Hulse and Jim Ruttenberg of the New York Times News Service have the story in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*
Legislation by U.S. Rep. Susan Davis (D-San Diego) to repeal an exemption in federal law that helped backers of a proposed Orange County-Northern San Diego County toll road won approval on a 30-27 vote of the House Armed Services Committee. The story by Terry Rodgers is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*
Attorney Howard Dickstein who represents some of California's gaming tribes said a proposal to turn the state lottery over to a private company could result in the tribes stopping their payments to California for exclusive gaming rights within certain areas.  Ed Mendel has the
story in today's San Diego Union-Tribune. State Sen. Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) is not ruling out the idea, however.  A story by Evan Halper in the Los Angeles Times quotes him as saying "The notion of trying to find creative ways to retire state debt sooner rather than later I think is worth exploring."

*
Dan Glickman, chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, says because of smoking's addictive effects, a proposal is under study to give "R" ratings to movies that otherwise would be "PG" if they include scenes with characters smoking.  Frank Ahrens of the Washington Post has the story in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*
U.S. Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) believes an investigation of violence against trade unionist in Colombia is necessary before any trade agreement with that country can be fast-tracked.  Congress seemed more disposed to speedy consideration of trade agreements with Panama and Peru, although some Democrats told Democratic Whip Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) they would like time to read the fine print of such trade agreements before they come to the floor of the House for a vote.
Molly Hennessy-Fiske has the story in today's Los Angeles Times.

*
Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in a meeting with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarek laid plans for a visit of Arab ministers to Israel to discuss a Mideast peace proposal offered by Saudi Arabia.  Michael Slackman and Mona El-Naggar have the story in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*
Theodore Maiman, who developed the laser 47 years ago, has died at age 79.  John Johnson Jr. wrote the obituary in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in testimony just made public, said that the Israel Defense Forces did not fight well in Lebanon, but that the war was necessary.  Amy Teibel of the Associated Press has the story in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*
California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner said he will scrutinize very carefully All State Insurance's plans to increase homeowners' insurance premiums by 12 percent for the company's 900,000 customers in the state. Blaming wild fires, the company also said it would cease selling any more homeowner insurance in California.
Marc Lifsher and Kathy M. Kristof  have the story in today's Los Angeles Times.

*
Bryanna Schwartz, co-editor of the The Nexus, the student newspaper of Westview High School in the Rancho Penasquitos area of San Diego, is building herself quite a resume for a future job in journalism.  The newspaper won "best of show" at a recent national high school journalism convention.  The story by Blanca Gonzales is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune

*
When record producer Phil Spector met the woman he is accused of murdering, Lana Clarkson, at an exclusive lounge at the House of Blues, the hostess did not know who he was and tried to deny him entry, a prosecution witness testified.  Matt Krasnowski of Copley News Service has the story in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*U.S. Reps. Robert Wexler and
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, both Florida Democrats, sharply questioned Attorney General Alberto Gonzales during a hearing yesterday of the House Judiciary Committee. Wexler was concerned that Gonzales declined to tell the panel who had initiated the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys around the country, including Carol Lam of San Diego. Wasserman Schultz complained the Justice Department has not pursued voter fraud cases in Florida. Richard B. Schmitt has the story in today's Los Angeles Times.

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The Jewish Grapevine
                                                   
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AROUND THE TOWN—Joel & Arlene Moskowitz, whose O'Henry-like story of giving up things for each other ran on this site recently, will be among the performers of the Pacificaires in concert at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 3, at Pacific Beach Middle School, 4876 Ingraham Street, San Diego.

JEWISH LICENSE PLATES—Originally when our number one license-plate spotter Melanie Rubin espied this one, she thought it was a funny spelling for "liberal."  Not so, the owner later informed her.  In Yiddish liebe means "love," so the meaning of this plate is "Love RL."

David Knetzer
shared the Ginjeet plate with us, explaining the word "is Israeli slang for redheads."  He adds that the plate is on the car driven by his favorite redhead. We're happy to add this to our online collection of Jewish plates, and invite readers to send in their contributions. 


Do you have a simcha that you would like to share with the Jewish community?  Send in notices of birth, bar/bat mitzvah, wedding, special anniversary, or other special events, honors or celebrations (with photos if you have them) to the San Diego Jewish World.  There is no charge for items used in our Jewish Grapevine section.  Our email address is sdheritage@cox.net

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Torah on One Foot
By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal
Tifereth Israel Synagogue, San Diego
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The land is God's; we are only caretakers

This year the United States has experienced catastrophic weather. A horrendous tornado recently flattened Greensburg, Kansas, and drought like conditions have helped spawn numerous fires in Florida, Southern California, and Catalina.

Although some still question the phenomenon of global warming, I am a believer. From the studies and articles I have reviewed, and after watching former Vice President Al Gore’s documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, I am convinced that humanity’s release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is having a profound affect on our planet.

This week’s parasha contains the laws of the Yoveil, or Jubilee year. Every fifty years all lands that the Israelites sold went back to their original owners. Although this law prevented the accumulation of great wealth by a limited number of individuals, this was not its purpose.

The Yoveil reminded the Israelites that they did not own the land. In the Torah God tells the Israelites: "But the land must not be sold beyond reclaim, for the land is Mine; you are but strangers resident with me." (Lev. 25:23)

The land belongs to God and human beings are merely its caretakers. They could not do anything they wanted with earth and its resources. They could enjoy them, but they could not abuse or destroy them. It was their obligation to pass the earth to future generations in better, and not worse, condition then they found it.

The earth still belongs to God and we are only its caretakers. As caretakers of this planet we have an obligation to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, pollution, and protect natural resources.

We have inherited a beautiful world. Let us make sure that our grandchildren and great-grandchildren and all future generations will be able to derive as much sustenance and pleasure from it as do we.
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Rabbi Baruch Lederman

 Amazing tales of Judaism
                                                                      
                                                                          Congregation Kehillas Torah, San Diego         

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Second thoughts about a take-out meal

DVAR TORAH: Behar-Bechukosai

When we walk in the ways of Torah, amazing things will happen, some of which we will see during our lifetimes, some of which we will not see during our lifetime— but they will happen— as the following true story illustrates:
 
Joe was a very successful Israeli. A son of holocaust survivors, he rose from a childhood of poverty, and by the mid 1980s, built up a huge successful hi-tech company. One day his wife called, asking him to pick up some meat on his way home from the office. He stopped at a trendy take-out place to order basar lavan (pork). As he stood on line, he began to feel uneasy. He began to remember a story he had heard from his parents. He always knew this story, but now it took on heightened meaning:
 
Joe's maternal grandfather was Rav Shraga Feivel of Hungary. Rav Shraga Feivel was captured by the Nazis about a year before the war ended, and imprisoned at a slave labor camp. After a year in hell, Rav Shraga Feivel was about to be free. The war was over and the allied forces were going from camp to camp, liberating the prisoners. They
could already see the smoke of the allied forces marching their way. Freedom was mere hours away.
 
At that moment, the Head SS Officer gathered the Jewish prisoners together and announced, "The war has ended. In a few hours you will all be free." "All but you," he said, pointing to Rav Shraga Feivel, "You must pass one more test. You must eat this piece of pig's meat. Only then will you be allowed to go free. Refuse and I will shoot you in the head right here and now."
 
The tension was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. Rav Shraga Feivel had been meticulous all through his stay at the camps, not to eat unkosher meat. He didn't even eat soup which might contain meat. Rav Shraga Feivel proclaimed, "I will not eat chazir fleisch (pork)."
 
A shot rang out, and Rav Shraga Feivel's soul was returned to its creator.
 
And now 40 years later, Rav Shraga Feivel's grandson stood thinking to himself, "I am waiting in line to pay money to eat that which my grandfather gave his life not to consume. All he had to do was eat that one small piece of pork, and he would be set free. He would be allowed to return to his family - yet he wouldn't do it. I have everything, I am free to live with my family and have anything I want; yet I am about to purchase this meat."
 
"Either my grandfather was crazy, or I am crazy - and I cannot believe that he was crazy," thought Joe as he got off the line and went to buy dinner elsewhere.
 
When he got home, he spoke to his wife about his feelings and the emptiness he had been experiencing. They both had to acknowledge that despite all their material prosperity, a certain spiritual emptiness gnawed at him. They were missing something but never knew exactly what. They spoke for a long time about values and what is important in life. They decided to attend an Arachim Seminar. Joe was enthralled by the seminar— it penetrated the murky mysteriousness of G-d, Torah and Judaism. It rocked his world and shook his
soul.
 
Afterwards, Joe ran up to them and said, "Why isn't this incredible message getting out to the whole world?" They explained that though they had a terrific 'product,' they lacked the money, manpower, and marketing to do so. Joe would not hear of this. Right then and there, he became the General Director of Arachim— a title which he still proudly holds to this day.
 
Joe, now known as Yossi, lives a completely observant life with his wonderful family. He has estimated that since the 1980s, 60,000 children have been born to families that were re-JEW-venated by Arachim.

Dedicated in memory of Yosef ben Simcha by his brother Dr. Alfred Salganick

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The Greene Line
 
                                           Norman Greene
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The Mail Box Blues

Fifth in the 'Father of the Bride' series


SAN DIEGO—After a while, I dreaded going to the mailbox.

So what is the rule? You send out wedding invitations and at least 20% will be regrets, right? That’s what you think. Try throwing a wedding in February when it is cold and snowing around half of the known world. They all think that San Diego is like Miami in the winter. They all want to come.

There are little lessons that you learn in life...usually the hard way...and this was one of them.

I had worked very diligently on the wedding guest list to pare it down to a manageable size. Of course, there were those virtually uncontrollable aspects such as the in-laws-to-be’s list and the bride and groom’s list of friends and associates.

I must say, my new in-laws were very sparing in their list, but they have a very large family. My son-in-law-to-be works in a large medical group and most of his associates are married. Just multiply by two. Then there were the couple’s friends, some married and most with significant others, which I found out meant they might have had two dates with the same person. I guess today that is significant enough.

As it happens, our relatives come in no short supply either. Even though the years have taken their toll, with only one Aunt left, there seemed to be no shortage of cousins, first, second and third. My friend Gary claims I have at least one cousin in every state and he may be right. I also have them in France, too. And yes they were coming even before an invitation was mailed.

Guess it snows in Paris, every decade or so.

There are invitations you want to send and there are those you "have to" send. We had our fair share of both. At the risk of offending some friends and relatives, we spent many long hours discussing who should be on our master list, how many invitations should be ordered, who could safely be cut. How can you invite one sister, but not her brother; one associate, but not his partner; one board member, but not the whole list, etc., etc. ?

Looking over my computerized master list, my daughter complained that she didn’t even know cousin so and so, but I had been invited to her wedding and her children’s weddings. How could I not reciprocate? I accused my daughter of inviting people she had just met on the street and in a few cases that was so. She just had to invite most of her runners group, she said.

For my part, I had to invite a number of second cousins, but they wouldn’t come, I reasoned, they have young families and too many expenses. Sure. And they wanted to bring their kids, too.

And so it went. We eliminated neighbors, old friends with whom we were out of touch, some family to whom we weren’t speaking, business associates, board members, congregants, and so on. It wasn’t that we had any animus toward any of them, there just wasn’t a hall big enough to house them all, not to mention money to pay for it all.

We decided that among the invited guests, we would only invite out of towners to the rehearsal dinner and the morning after brunch. That didn’t eliminate many folks since the groom’s family and most of our own were all out of towners.

Then the rsvp’s started flowing in. To my surprise, they were mainly positive. Wonderful! The Wrobels are coming in from northern France. Fantastic! Stephan is flying in from London. Half of Fort Meyer/Naples are planning to attend. From Rhode Island to Michigan, Seattle to Georgia, the affirmative responses poured in. There was nary a negative response.

It was an embarrassment of riches. My wife and daughter felt well loved.
I felt poorer with every trip to the mailbox.Almost no one said that magic
word: "NO!"

Then there were the calls asking us if one guest could invite a new friend, or be accompanied by a sister we had never met. One cousin wanted her young daughter and her new beau to be invited. Several questioned whether the invitation to this "glamorous" black tie affair could be extended to their very young children.

What was even harder was trying to figure out the seating chart for 307 guests. I have 15 Greene first cousins who graced us with their presence. The tables maxed out at 12. Politically, who should be left out of that mix? That kept me awake for several nights. I couldn’t have two tables of Greene first cousins, because the Club’s extended ballroom could only hold 31 tables and we were at our limit. No sense fooling around with the fire department.

Mixing and matching personalities is an art. We all worked at it for days. My daughter, a bit of a match-maker herself, wanted to be sure to seat just the right young singles with just the right young singles. That was an ever changing production.

I must say that as father-of-the-bride all the seating problems occupied more of my energy than the hours spent hoping he would pop the question. Being an active father-of-the-bride is no easy chore. It’s not for sissies.
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Doing It Better
         
Natasha Josefowitz


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Things I don’t understand I ask our daughter the doctor, or son the lawyer
 

LA JOLLA, Calif.—Lots! Some are mundane, some mechanical, some biological, some economic, some political, some universal.

The everyday things I don’t understand are some mathematical formulations (I got a D in Statistics but A’s in everything else, so they graduated me anyway.) There are many obtuse articles on economics that Herman reads and then explains to me; our daughter the doctor tells me the medical reasons for whatever is bothering me; our son the lawyer does the same when we struggle with taxes. I don’t understand why politicians make the decisions they do—their errors in judgment seem so obvious to me.

As a practicing social worker, I was privy to many kinds of mental and physical illnesses and always professed that one does not have to have lived through the same experience as one’s clients to understand their problems and help find solutions. Yet, in reading the newspaper, I cannot understand how a person can abuse a child or rape or torture someone—that is because my brain does not lack those sections that allow for empathy or restraint.

So indeed I live in a world that can be quite puzzling at times. Actually, I don’t really understand how I can dial my cell phone in some restaurant in La Jolla and reach my son who happens to be walking down a street in London. Now I don’t call people’s cell phones and start with “Hello,” I start with “Where are you,” and most often it is not where I thought they were.

I know, I know, satellites circling around the globe picking up signals and transmitting signals. Telephone wires were amazing enough, with our voices running from telephone to pole to pole, and now everything is wireless…even more mysterious.

How about the computer? One click and I have Google, and next click—the world of information about anything and everything. I shall never get over my amazement.

I asked a few friends what kinds of things they cannot understand—How radios and televisions work was a frequent answer and also trying to understand people from other countries like the importance of honor in some Arab countries or the importance of revenge. One friend said he did not understand himself. Other answers include the stock market—particularly hedge funds, how airplanes stay up, how our organs function, why we believe in what we believe in, and why don’t the children call more often?

But the most mysterious of all is how the universe works. If our brains could figure out the universe, that universe would be so simple that our brains would not have evolved enough to figure it out, so the universe is so complex that our limited brain capacity cannot understand it.

No one even knows what gravity really is—Newton admitted to making it up as he went along.

If we don’t really understand gravity, how can we know about dark matter and dark energy? Do they exist? Can we ever reconcile general relativity and quantum mechanics? (Not that I understand either one!) Quantum Theory says that particles can pop in and out of existence and so our universe would have popped into existence—we have theories of parallel universes and intersecting ones, and a superposition of universes according to Stephen Hawkins. Will we know more when the Large Hadron Collider begins operation this November or the International Linear Collider circa 2020 or the next supercollider around 2030?

I read that the universe is 13.7 billion years old and all of its components—galaxies, stars, planets are moving away from each other at a greater and greater acceleration.

Now if this isn’t mind boggling, I don’t know what is.

There are things no one understands and things some experts do but most people don’t. And then there are all the things I think I should understand but don’t, but am too lazy or limited to try and give up perhaps too quickly, feeling guilty that I don’t make more of an effort to understand this universe I happen to inhabit at this moment in time. Yet I also accept my limitations and so live contentedly in my ignorance.

Natasha Josefowitz's column also appears in the La Jolla Light.

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Dance~The Jewish C~o~n~n~e~c~t~i~o~n
            by Sheila Orysiek

 Celebrating Lincoln Kirstein's centennial

Had Lincoln Kirstein stopped with his contributions to the ballet, the funding and founding of New York City Ballet, it would have been enough to secure his place in every book that records dance history.  However, that was only one of his many contributions to almost every field of art both as a sponsor and as a participant:  dance, painting, sculpture, architecture, music, film and literature. This entire month celebrates the one hundredth anniversary of his birth.

Born to a prominent Jewish family in Rochester, N.Y., on May 4, 1907 he lived in Boston, the son of Louis Kirstein of Filene’s Department Store.  He earned a Bachelor and Master’s degree from Harvard during which time he founded an important literary magazine: Hound and Horn.  He was also part of the team, along with Edward M. M. Warburg, which founded the Museum of Modern Art. 

Like many others who became world renowned names in dance, his first exposure to the ballet was a performance by legendary ballerina Anna Pavlova in 1920 as she constantly toured to major cities as well as the far corners of the world.  Kirstein was hooked for life.

Kirstein first met George Balanchine in Paris in 1933 and invited him to the United States.  In discussing his proposal to found an American ballet company, Balanchine’s famous response was:  “But, first a school.”  This historic response and subsequent events are detailed in Jennifer Dunning’s book: But First a School, The First Fifty Years of the School of American Ballet which is the vocational school of New York City Ballet.  Kirstein funded the school and remained its president until his retirement in 1989.

The goal of the school was a company, an American ballet company, using American dancers in a particularly American style.  The journey began with several changes of names: American Ballet Company, Ballet Caravan and American Ballet Caravan.  But it was not until Kirstein returned from active duty in the military during World War II, that Ballet Society was founded in 1946 and finally in 1948 they were invited by Martin Baum, chairman of City Center of Music and Drama in New York to establish a company known as New York City Ballet.  Kirstein became the Company’s general director until his retirement in 1989.

His private life included marriage to Fidelma Cadmus, and service in the United States Army in the European theater of operations as an interpreter, courier and driver for General Patton.  After his military service he returned to Europe to aide in the location of works of art looted by the Nazis, his knowledge of art an incalculable asset.

Lincoln Kirstein wrote hundreds of articles, books and essays on all phases of the arts including criticism, fiction, poetry, history and autobiography.  He founded the Dance Archives of the New York Museum of Modern Art which became the basis for the Dance Collection of the New York Public Library, one of the greatest collections of dance material in the world.

Kirstein’s love of art spanned the globe but was particularly appreciative of the art and culture of Japan, at times he took up residence in that country.  He presented several American tours of renowned performing arts companies from Japan such as the Grand Kabuki.

In recognition of Kirstein’s extensive appreciation, contribution and involvement both intellectually and monetarily in so many fields of art, he was the recipient of numerous awards including New York City’s Handel Medallion, Order of the Sacred Treasure, Fourth Class, Government of Japan, Britain’s Royal Society of Arts, and the Gold Medal of Merit Award of the National Society of Arts and Letters.

Upon his death in New York City on January 5, 1996, the eminent British critic Clement Crisp wrote: "Lincoln Kirstein was a man of protean gifts and immense intellectual and organizational energy. He was one of those rare talents who touched the entire artistic life of their time: ballet, film, literature, theater, paintings, sculpture, photography – all occupied his attention. These many and other seemingly disparate concerns were united by a guiding intelligence which was uncompromising and uncompromisingly generous and served as the artistic conscience of his era. This was the essentially American quality of his work: that desire to ameliorate and inspire a society to the goal of a more humane and imaginatively rich world. To a grand extent his work was as intermediary between the arts and a vast public who benefited from his genius."

But this month it is the centenary of his birth that we celebrate.

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Keshet Chaim dance troupe to bring rainbow of movement to Jewish Music Festival here

SAN DIEGO (Publicity Release)— The 8th Annual San Diego Jewish Music Festival, sponsored by the Private Bank of Bank of America and presented by the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture continues with the American-Israeli contemporary dance troupe Keshet Chaim (“Rainbow of Life”) at 8 pm Saturday, June 2.

The group’s repertoire is inspired by Jewish life in many lands and covers a vast span of history from the time of Solomon and Sheba to the present.  Artistic Director and Choreographer Eytan Avisar and his company transcend generations of Jewish thought and emotion through a mosaic of music, dance and color.

Keshet Chaim dancers and musicians, with Israeli singer Gilat Rapaport, capture the vibrant music, exhilarating dance, and costumes of Spain, Yemen, Eastern Europe, ancient Israel, and even the Jews of the American West.  Using contemporary dance vocabulary inspired by folk traditions, Keshet Chaim pays homage to the diversity of the Jewish experience. 

“The range of ethnicities and traditions that make up the Jewish people is extraordinary,” said Keshet Chaim executive director Genie Benson.  “Few communities in the world are as wide-reaching.”

The program will include:

“The Offering,” representing a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem to express gratitude for a plentiful harvest.

“Spirit of Israel,” a dynamic dance bringing a message of “Shalom,” or “Peace,” with traditional music.

“Chassidic-Russian Dance,” an imaginative meeting of the Chassidic Jews and their sometimes mischievous wives, where they disguise themselves as Russian peasants.

“From Spain to Jerusalem,” marking the 500-year anniversary of the Jews’ expulsion from Spain, using the music, flavor, and costumes of the Spanish Jews.

“The Yemenites: Immigrants of the Magic Carpet,” an artistic interpretation of a Yemenite wedding ceremony, featuring the clash of the traditional and modern generations and the final blending of both.

 “Sababa Ba Midbar: Celebration in the Desert,” expressing the Jews’ celebration of life even after 40 years of learning to survive in the desert.

Keshet Chaim’s mission is to express the spirit of Judaism and Israeli culture throughout the world and to combat prejudice and anti-Semitism by educating through the arts.  The company operates under the belief that cultural diffusion and dissemination of artistic values are keys to the betterment of society.  Keshet Chaim has become a pioneer in the development of Jewish dance and seeks to focus its mission by teaching the richness of the cultures within their community to Jews and non-Jews alike.

The company began in 1983 and is presently the major professional company of Israeli folk dancers in the United States.  The ensemble represented Los Angeles twice at the Karmiel Festival in Israel, to great acclaim.  Travels have included Moscow, Israel, Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Texas, Florida and extensively in California.  They have performed locally throughout the region for many organizations, festivals and schools. 

The foregoing article was provided by the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture.

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