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Friday April 13, 2007

Faces

by suzan berns

If the shoe fits …

The last time the JCF searched for a chief exec, Maxine Epstein, director of the group’s Marin region, recalls hearing that the new exec would have to fill some pretty big shoes. So she sent a pair of her finest pumps to two search committee members (one to each). She didn’t get an interview, but she did get a nice compliment: former Bank of America marketing guru Richard Rosenberg, who headed the search committee, told her it was a great marketing tactic.

You meet the most unusual …

Making a pit stop on the road between Jerusalem and Haifa, reports Rabbi Doug Kahn, the folks on the Jewish Community Relations Council’s GLBT mission to Israel saw a familiar face in the coffee line: former Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On learning that the group was a S.F. delegation of gays and lesbians — many visiting Israel for the first time — he commented, “Live and let live.”

Among the members of the mission were former S.F. Supervisor Leslie Katz, S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation’s Mark Reisbaum, Oakland Unified School District’s budget director Barak Ben-Gal, Gideon Hausner Day School board President Kathy Levinson and Mishkan HaLev Jewish Renewal Community co-founder Naomi Fine.

P.S. The casualness of Israeli mucky-mucks brings to mind the time a JCF mission bus gave a Druze Knesset member we met with (whose name escapes me) a lift home because his son had the car.

Mazel tov

Stanford University Hillel Director Adina Danzig was recognized for her commitment to supporting a pro-Israel agenda on campus by AIPAC at the group’s 2007 Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., last month. Presenting the group’s “Ally of the Year” award, AIPAC President Howard Friedman said Danzig “remained poised and confident in the face of a heated campus environment, helping students remain focused on pursuing a positive, proactive agenda.”

Short shorts …

Francesco Spagnolo and Sharon Bernstein (plus 2-year old Ariel) return to the Bay Area where Francesco will head the Judah L. Magnes Museum’s research department … Rabbi Chai Levy of Congregation Kol Shofar has been promoted to associate rabbi. She joined the congregation as assistant rabbi in 2002 … Ashley Wexler of San Francisco has turned her love for photography into a business with Under the Sun Photography. You can see her work (and hire her) at www.underthesunfoto.com … Warren Hellman and Lisa Stevens are co-chairing Jewish Vocational Service’s annual Strictly Business even, which will be held April 19 at the Westin St. Francis in S.F. Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz and Steven J. Silvestri co-chair the Business Leadership award and Natalie Berg and Linda Groah co-chair the Employee of the Year award.

ADL assistant director Amy Stein is leaving the SF office to head the ADL Denver satellite office in Boulder. While here, she focused on outreach to the Peninsula … Brian Barry, an executive chef with the Corporate Chef, has taken over operations at the Silicon Valley JCC. Earlier stints include Gramercy Tavern and Le Bernardin in New York and Aqua and Jardiniere in S.F. … Drake High School students (and Congregation Rodef Sholom members) Maggie Polachek and Rebecca Kannett founded a Save Darfur Club at their San Anselmo high school and convinced the principal to let them have a mandatory assembly about the genocide in Darfur. They raised $1,450 for UNICEF work in the region from students. The event featured photographer Mark Brekke.

This columnist can be reached at faces@jweekly.com.

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