{Names with links are honorees of the Louis Rose Society for the Preservation of Jewish History.  If you would like to honor a member of the San Diego County Jewish Community who is  not living in your own household, you can write a tax-deductible check for $36 to the Jewish Community Foundation/ Louis Rose Fund, and send it to the foundation at 4950 Murphy Canyon Road, San Diego, CA 92123.  Be sure to designate on the memo line of the check whom you would like to honor.  Additional honorees may be designated for contributions of $18 (chai) to the Louis Rose Fund)

By Donald H. Harrison
A David Amos, music reviewer for the San Diego Jewish Times and conductor of the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra, reviewed Zina Schiff's recent performance of the "Music of Terezin" at the San Diego Jewish Music Festival and also her most recent CD, Elijah's Violin.  Here's Amos on Schiff's virtuosity.  "Needless to say, the performances were constantly moving and polished. I was touched by Zina's obvious deep affection and involvement with the music, which translated into satisfying renditions."  Concerning the CD: "...you will hear insightful, intelligent and satisfying music by composers such as David Amram, Abraham Edelstein, Menahem Avidom, Efrem Zimbalist, Paul Ben Haim, Julius Chajes and Paul Kirman.  These are new horizons in classical music that many experienced and avid music lovers have yet to explore."  

C Ian Campbell of the San Diego Opera has programmed Camille Saint-Saens opera, Samson and Delilah, based on the hair-razing encounter of the well-known biblical couple.  Other operas next season will include Boris Gudunov, Il Trovatore, Wozzeck and The Marriage of Figaro.

Sarah Cooper has been designated by her parents, Dan & Jane Schaffer,  as the 383^rd honoree of the Louis Rose Society for the Preservation of Jewish History.  Cooper taught 8^th grade history the Bishop’s School in La Jolla, her alma mater.  A graduate of Harvard University, Cooper’s senior thesis on architect Irving Gill was published in the Journal of San Diego History asa two-part series in 1997 and 1998.  Cooper is moving to the Pasadena area to teach at La Cañada Flintridge School.

D Rabbi Wayne Dosick and his wife Ellen Kaufman Dosick, MSW, have been among the pioneers of the Jewish renewal movement in San Diego.  But they won't lack for company Aug 14-20 when they participate in a spiritual retreat in the redwoods near Santa Cruz in a program sponsored by the Alliance for Jewish Renewal.  The Dosicks will be joined by numerous Jewish clergy including Rabbi Elliot Ginsburg, Rabbi Shefa Gold, Rabbi Nadya Gross, Rabbi Victor Gross, rabbi Diane Elliot, Rabbi Shaya Isenberg, Rabbi Burt Jacobson, Rabbi Laura Durham Kaplan, Rabbi Itzhak Marmorstein, Rabbi Leah Novick, Rabbi Marcia Prager, and Cantors Richard Kaplan and Jack Kessler. Lay persons also are welcome to attend the retreat which is offering registration through the website www.ruachhaaretz.com 

E Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort of Chabad of La Costa—a frequent contributor to jewishsightseeing.com—will begin hosting a new radio show, LeChaim To Life with Rabbi E, from 8 to 9 p.m. on Radio Station KCBQ, 1170 AM.   He says "this  new and unique show will be "Conversational, Educational, and Inspirational!" 

G Dan Gardenswartz, president of the San Diego Regional Anti Defamation League, has announced that four Catholic educators who have been studying the Holocaust, Catholic-Jewish relations and other issues of interest to both communities have been selected to participate in a July 9-19 visit to Israel along with 26 other educators from throughout North America.  The local educators and their affiliations are: Cyndi Croft from Santa Sophia Academy, Don DeAngelo from Cathedral High School, Maria Jacoby from St. Theresa’s Academy and Sister Rose Anne McGinn from St. Rose of Lima.

Rabbi Sheila Goloboy, who as an assistant rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel found herself the only rabbi there between the period of Rabbi Ben Kamin's departure and Rabbi Paul Citrin's arrival, will be soloing again soon—as the new rabbi of Wood River Jewish Community, a Reform congregation in Sun Valley/Ketchum, Idaho.

H The last years of Rabbi Chaim Heilpern, who died in San Diego in 1974 a virtual unknown, but who was once the rabbi of the Bournemouth Hebrew Congregation in England, is the subject of a continuing inquiry by his nephew, David Romney, a resident of Vancouver, British Columbia.  Anyone with information about how the rabbi spent his last years here will please contact jewishsightseeing publisher Don Harrison at sdheritage@cox.net.

M Rabbi Scott Meltzer of Ohr Shalom Synagogue became the 382nd honoree of the Louis Rose Society for the Preservation of Jewish History upon the designation of Melanie Rubin, adult and seniors program director at the Lawrence Family JCC.

Susie Meltzer, aunt of the aforementioned rabbi, presided June 13 over her first board meeting as president of Ohr Shalom Synagogue.  Her board members include Debbie Berlin, Doreen Casuto,  Rita Cohen, Mark Goldberg, Barbara Haislip, Linda Kucinski, Jack Maizel,  Rocky Reid, Mark Strauss, Janet Tiger, Leonard Warren, and Teshy Wellman. 

Joel and Arlene Moskowitz of La Jolla  have good reason to kvell:  their daughter 
Danielle Ambrose, who is a vice president for wealth management of Merrill Lynch in Century City, was named, in a  front page/lead article, as one of the Top One Hundred Women Financial Advisors in the June 12 edition of  BARRONS.  She appears 35th from the top and is the second youngest in the entire list....

N Leon Natker of the Lyric Opera knows that Fiddler on the Roof has been a crowd pleaser for generations—a "Tradition," so to speak— so the sometimes cantor will be staging the musical from March 16 through April 1, 2007, at the Stephen & Mary Birth North Park Theatre.  Other productions in the upcoming season will include The Merry Widow, Don Pasquale, and La Rondine.  Ticket information is available at (619) 239-8836.

P Next time someone tells you a sabbatical is just a fancy academic word for a vacation, ask Rabbi Deborah Prinz of Temple Adat Shalom if she would agree with that idea.  After having a sabbatical in Europe, she has come home with enough lectures to fill a large notebook.  On June 23, she spoke about the synagogue of Hamlin (with reference to the Pied Piper); on July 7 she'll be talking about Jews on the Chocolate Trail; on July 14 about Inheritance Rights and the Holocaust; on July 21 about Holocaust memorials in Europe; on July 28 about Reform Judaism in Europe and on Aug. 4 on the use of the organ in Jewish services.  Okay, I'll give you chocolate as maybe something to do with a vacation, but the rest of the subjects sound like real hard research to me.

R Ernest & Evelyn Rady, who only four years ago gave $30 million to UCSD's Rady School of Management, has given exactly double—$60 million—to Children's Hospital and Health Care Center which, as of now,  takes his name as the Rady Children's Hospital and Health Care Center.  Other Jewish philanthropists whose large gifts have benefited San Diego in recent years include Irwin & Joan Jacobs who gave $120 million and $110 million respectively to the San Diego Symphony and the University of California, and Sol & Helen Price who donated $70 million to the San Diego Foundation.  So let's see... 30, 60, 70, 110, 120...that's $390 million to the general community from major Jewish philanthropists since 1998.

Jeffrey Ressler and Jean Gaylis are co-chairing the 2007 Limmud—The Day of Learning— sponsored by the Agency for Jewish Education. Their committee often has to wrestle with tough questions such as should a female singer be invited to give the closing concert of Limmud?  On the one hand, there are egalitarians in the non-Orthodox movements who believe Jewish singers  like Debbie Friedman would enhance the event.  On the other hand, there is the kol isha doctrine in Orthodoxy, which holds that a man ought not to hear a woman singing if she is not his wife.  Another thorny question deals with whether "big name" speakers should be shared with synagogues or other Jewish agencies.  On the one hand, the expenses of bringing such speakers could be shared. On the other hand, if the "star attraction" appeared elsewhere it could lessen the crowd for Limmud.   No decision ha been made on either issue, but the debates are instructive about what kinds of issues face organizers of Jewish affairs.

Although his pulpit is in Florida, who can blame Rabbi Jack Riemer for returning every summer to his alma mater, Congregation Beth El.  Let's weigh the options.  On the one hand, summer in Boca Raton; on the other summer in San Diego. Okay, no contest.  And that's lucky for us because Riemer, whose sermons are considered models by other rabbis, loves to teach.  On the Sundays of July 23, 30, August 6 and 13, he'll offer a series at 10 a.m. on the "strangest books in the Bible"—Kohelet (Ecclesiastes), The Song of Songs, Joshua and Numbers (Bamidbar)

S Rocky Smolin of Beach Access Software wants all the aspiring children's book writers in our community to know that the Association of Jewish Libraries once again is sponsoring its Sidney Taylor Manuscript Competition.  A $1,000 prize will be given for the best fiction manuscript aimed at readers between the ages of 8 and 11.  Deadline for submissions is December 31, 2006, with the prize to be awarded next April.  More information is on the web at www.jewishlibraries.org, then click on Awards, then click on Sydney Taylor Manuscript Award. 

T Mickey Targum, principal of the High School of Jewish Studies, aka "Hebrew High," is trailblazing a once-a-month seminar for 11th grade students, to be held on a Sunday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Agency for Jewish Education.  Recognizing that the students often prefer to study on week nights during the critical 11th grade, on which many college admissions are based,  this program will enable the students to remain connected to their Jewish friends and also to explore issues of relevance as they begin contemplating moving from home to college. Once the pressure of the 11th grade is over, the students as high school seniors will resume regular Hebrew High school classes.   The October through May program for the 11th graders will cost $180