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San
Diego Jewish World
Friday,
May 11, 2007
Vol. 1, Number 11
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San
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Israeli football fans, students and anarchists
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. |
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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 Advertisements 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.
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 |
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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.
In Turkey, the AKP government won an election that saw all the traditional
Nearly a million Turks from the 47 percent took to the streets - and some are
In France, an astonishing 85 percent of the voters went to the polls. After
years
In Israel, 150,000 or more people rallied in Tel Aviv after the Winograd
We in the U.S. are accustomed to large demonstrations against something
We hope the Turkish-French-Israeli wave is successful in those countries.
The foregoing article was provided by the Jewish Institute for National Security
"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.
 Torah
on One FootBy Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal Tifereth Israel Synagogue, San Diego ____________________________________ The land is God's; we are only caretakers
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.
DVAR TORAH: Behar-Bechukosai (return to top)________________________________________________________
The Mail Box Blues
Fifth in the 'Father of the Bride' series
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. 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.
Natasha Josefowitz ______________________________________________________________________________
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. 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.
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.
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. 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:
אּ“The
Offering,” representing a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem to express
gratitude for a plentiful harvest. דּ“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.
הּ“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. 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.
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Letter
from Jerusalem
Dance~The Jewish