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Friday March 28, 2008

Shorts: Bay Area

Brandeis Hillel to honor Tiburon residents

Brandeis Hillel Jewish Day Schools will mark its 45th anniversary with a dinner-dance fundraiser honoring Tiburon residents Varda and Irving Rabin. The event takes place 7 p.m. April 5, at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco.

The parents of four Brandeis Hillel graduates, the Rabins are longtime supporters of the Jewish community. Irving Rabin served as founding president of Jewish Vocational Services and has sat on the boards of the AJCommittee and the Jewish Community Federation. He is currently president of the Judah L. Magnes Museum.

Varda Rabin is an Israeli-born psychotherapist who has served as Northern California chair of AIPAC, and has also sat on the board of the federation.

Tickets to the gala range from $165 to $4,500. For more information, call (415) 406-1035 or visit www.bhds.org. The online auction is www.bhdsauction.cmarket.com.

Cooking class to benefit Shalom Bayit

The executive chef of Palo Alto’s Evvia Estiatorio will lead a cooking demonstration as part of Compassionate Cuisine, an event seeking to raise money for Shalom Bayit’s new office on the Peninsula. Shalom Bayit is a Jewish domestic violence prevention agency for battered women and their children.

Chef Jim Wimborough makes Greek and Californian cuisine at Evvia Estiatorio, the sister restaurant to the acclaimed Kokkari in San Francisco. Participants will get to cook alongside the chef.

Compassionate Cuisine begins at 12:45 p.m. April 6. Space is limited and registration is required. Tickets cost $54. To register, or for more information: info@shalom-bayit.org or (650) 574-SAFE.

Izzy’s Sunnyvale cafe still kosher

Restaurateur Israel Rind has worked out an arrangement to keep his Sunnyvale eatery, Izzy’s Brooklyn Café, kosher — and open seven days a week.

Last year, Rind told j. he couldn’t afford to close his restaurant on Shabbat per the wishes of his Vaad HaKashrus supervisors, so he would forego supervision.

Supervision, however, has been taken over by Rabbi Yitzchok Feldman of Palo Alto’s Orthodox Congregation Emek Beracha. The café now serves no meat, but is still open every day and does no cooking on Shabbat

Introductory Yiddish for students of all ages

Stanford Continuing Studies — a program open to the public rather than one designed for students — is offering a course in Yiddish for the first time.

“Introductory Yiddish” will meet for 10 consecutive Mondays from 7 to 9 p.m. starting March 31. The course, listed as “YID 01” in the catalogue, has no prerequisites and will be taught by Jon Levitow, a Stanford visiting scholar in Yiddish.

Levitow, who received a Ph.D in English from Princeton, has taught Yiddish at Stanford for two years. He recently has published his English translations of works by Yiddish poet Yisroel Shtern.

“It doesn’t seem to me that [there are enough] Yiddish classes or groups [in the Bay Area], considering the number of Jewish people — and non-Jewish people — who might potentially be interested in Yiddish,” Levitow noted.

The number of Yiddish speakers in the world today is close to 1 million “and is probably growing,” he said. This course will welcome students at all levels, providing a review of basic grammar and vocabulary while also immersing students in Yiddish conversation and literature.

Cost of the course is $405. For more information, contact Levitow at jnlvtw@comcast.net or (408) 356-1367, or see continuingstudies.stanford.edu.

Fremont temple to kick off speaker series

Temple Beth Torah in Fremont has lined up scholars, artists and educators — who will be discussing everything from the roots of Israeli hard rock to creative ways of spicing up a seder — for its annual Spring Speaker Series.

Titles in the six-part series, which begins Tuesday, April 1, include “Who Killed Jesus?” and “What Really Happened in the Exodus?”

Lectures will take place Tuesdays at 7 p.m. through May 13 (except April 22) at Temple Beth Torah, Fremont. Admission is $12-$15 per lecture or $60-$80 for the entire series. Call (510) 656-7141 for more information.

Interfaith dialogue at S.F. Islamic Society

An interfaith panel discussion titled “Fractures Within the Abrahamic Faiths: Can We Heal Our Own Families?” will be held in San Francisco on April 6.

Panelists include James A. Donahue, president of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley; Rabbi Marvin Goodman, director of the Board of Rabbis of Northern California; and Mahmoud Ayoub, Olton Visiting Professor of Islamic Studies and Comparative Religion at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley.

The event takes place 4:30 to 7 p.m. April 6 at the Islamic Society of San Francisco. Tickets are $20 per person. For more information, contact Abby Porth at aporth@jcrc.org.

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