Tzedakah extraordinaire
Helen Fixler of Oakland was more than a little astonished when she opened up an envelope from her old neighbors, who had moved to Denver, and $200 cash fell out. The accompanying letter asked her to donate the money to Israel. She called to confirm that there wasn’t a mistake because, she reports, the couple lives on a fixed income. They told her there was no mistake — they are upset about the recent war in Israel and want to help. They’re not Jewish and thought that she would know who to send the money to. Helen plans to forward the donation to Hadassah Hospital.
The Northern California Friends of Israel Society, which is made up of émigrés from the former Soviet Union, raised $9,000 to help victims of the recent war with Lebanon. The funds were distributed to 16 families, vice president Anatoly Elkinbard tells Faces. According to its brochure, the group was formed in 2000 when 60 people gathered in solidarity for Israel. Now there are 350 members and three chapters. Boris Rivkin serves as president and Lev Vagner is another V.P.
Interfaith info online
Bridges: Issues and Information for Interfaith Families, which has been printed three times a year since 1991, is going digital. It will be distributed online monthly, free to anyone who is interested. Send email addresses to HarriettH@sfjcf.org (and mention Bridges). Rosanne Levitt, who founded Interfaith Connection in the 1980s, chairs the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation’s Interfaith Outreach Advisory Committee, sponsor of the e-Bridges. Dawn Kepler, Karen Kushner and Helena McMahon, all professionals in the field, will contribute to it.
Around the agencies
Diane Portnoff, director of the Bay Area region of the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science for nearly 20 years, has taken a new position as national director of Major Gifts. Replacing her is Virginia Saifer, formerly development director for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for the greater Bay Area.
At the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay, Alison Maltz is a new campaign assistant, working with Women’s Philanthropy and the Business & Professionals divisions. Samuel Strauss is a new assistant to Rabbi James Brandt at the Center for Jewish Living and Learning, and his sister, Toba Strauss, is Youth Services director.
Short shorts …
Stanford University student Sarah Ruben has been named to the national board of directors of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. She is one of six new student board members … Gayle Zahler is new director of Jewish Family and Children’s Services’ Marin branch. A 25-year veteran of the agency, she was formerly director of the JFCS Émigré Program.
Rabbi Henry Shreibman was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He is the West Coast director of advancement and outreach for RRC … Rabbi Judah Dardik of Oakland’s Beth Jacob Congregation spent time this summer at the Eretz Hemdah Institute in Jerusalem, which, according to a press release, “is recognized throughout the world for providing answers to some of today’s most difficult questions of Jewish law, from a Zionistic point of view.” Anyone want to try to stump the rabbi?
A good husband
In a story in the Marin Independent Journal, Rosanne Cash (daughter of Johnny), notes that she is married to a Jewish man, John Leventhal. “Jewish men make very good husbands,” she says.
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California