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Friday February 9, 2007

Shorts: Bay Area

JFCS grant will aid young domestic violence victims

The Avon Foundation has awarded a $35,000 one-year grant to Jewish Family & Children’s Services of the East Bay for a program that assists children exposed to domestic violence. The program falls under the auspices of the Avon Foundation Speak Out Against Domestic Violence initiative.

The Family Violence Intervention program at the East Bay JFCS will provide services to children up to age 18 who have been victims of domestic violence. The program aims to extend assessment, mental health treatment and case management services to older siblings of children age 0 to 5 who are already eligible for services, as well as to other children who fall through funding gaps.

Said Carol Singer, JFCS director of parenting and youth services, “We are proud that the Avon Foundation shares our mission and has chosen to support our program. With these funds we will be able to provide services for some of the most vulnerable victims of domestic violence.”

For further information, contact Singer at (510) 704-7480 ext. 244.

Rabbi conducting weekend seminar on Jews and Arabs

Rabbi Sherwin Wine will conduct a weekend seminar on “Jews and Arabs: Past, Present and Future” at Kol Hadash, El Cerrito’s Humanistic congregation, from Friday to Sunday, Feb. 23-25.

Lecture topics will include “Jews and Arabs Before Zionism,” “Jewish and Arab Nationalism,” “Arabs in Israel” and “Prospects for Peace.”

Wine is the founder and dean of the Society for Humanistic Judaism.

The program is open to all, and prices vary. The event will take place at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave., El Cerrito. Call (415) 543-4595 for more information.

Throngs attend Synaplex events

More than 500 people from across the Bay Area attended Synaplex Shabbat events at a handful of local synagogues.

The program, designed to draw Jews with varying interests through temple doors, featured events such as wine tastings, “Torah on the Trails,” storytelling, and Muslim-Jewish dialogue.

“The events provided us with the opportunity to explore Judaism from a variety of unique angles while creating a strong and proud religious community,” said Rabbi Mark Bloom of Oakland’s Temple Beth Abraham. “Many of the participants told me, ‘We should do this every week.’”

For more information, visit www.synaplex.org.

JCCSF hosts émigré mother-daughter event

The JCC of San Francisco will have a bilingual mother-daughter Shabbat for the émigré community at 7 p.m. Friday, March 16.

The event will begin with a short Shabbat service by Rabbi Eve Ben Ora, followed by Israeli and Yiddish dancing. Russian performers, poets and musicians will also entertain the audience.

The Shabbat is open to the public but is targeted at the émigré community, since speakers and entertainment will be in Russian and English, coordinators said.

Coordinators are creating a book of mother and daughter stories, poems, letters and other writings. Writers will be entered into a raffle for a mother-daughter spa day. To enter, write a paragraph (or more) about who your mother or daughter is to you, what is special about them, what you love most about them, or share a story from their lives. To submit an entry or for more information, write to Elina Shcop at elina_shcop@yahoo.com or call (415) 518-8588.

Pre-registration is required. Tickets cost $40 and are only available before the event. To sign up, contact Lena Meltser at (415) 292-1271.

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