Vegetarian seder at Beyt Tikkun
Beyt Tikkun is holding a community seder at 5:30 p.m. April 20 at St. Kevin’s Church, 704 Cortland Ave., San Francisco.
The event will feature live music from Achi ben Shalom, a catered vegetarian meal and reading from an innovative haggadah. Tickets range from $47 to $67.
For more information and to make reservations, visit www.beyttikkun.org.
Immortalize your story at the JCCSF
StoryCorps, a national oral history project, is looking for a few good stories.
On April 22 the organization’s mobile division will record interviews at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco for possible broadcast on National Public Radio.
Readers are encouraged to take part in this project by nominating their older relatives or loved ones for a 40-minute interview. To submit a nomination, visit www.jccsf.com.
Professor to lecture on Israeli security
While Israel’s military victories are well known, its diplomatic triumphs are hardly insignificant. At 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 15, Uri Bar-Joseph, the Richard and Rhoda Goldman visiting professor in Israel studies at San Francisco State, will deliver a lecture titled “Diplomacy and Force: A New Look at Israel’s 60 Years of Security Policy.”
Bar-Joseph will contend that diplomacy has contributed to Israeli security every bit as much as military action in his speech at Congregation Emanu-El, 2 Lake St., S.F. The event is free and open to the public.
Local authors join kids’ bookfest
Some of the Bay Area’s top writers, illustrators and storytellers of children’s fare will be at U.C. Berkeley on Saturday, April 12 for the 14th Celebration of Children’s Literature.
The free event kicks off at 11:30 a.m. at Tolman Hall on the Cal campus.
A number of Jewish literary figures will be featured including Marissa Moss, Elisa Kleven, Sarah Klise and Joel ben Izzy. For more information visit http://gse.berkeley.edu/admin/childlit.html
Slow down for Heeb seder in S.F.
Heeb magazine will host a “slow foods” seder April 20 at Foreign Cinema in San Francisco. Chefs Gayle Pirie and the aptly named John Cook will prepare a menu based on whatever they find fresh at the farmer’s market that morning.
Tickets are $75 and include dinner, wine and a four-issue subscription to Heeb. Proceeds will benefit the Chez Panisse Foundation, which supports public school programs that use food
to educate, nurture and empower youth. For more information visit www.heebmagazine.com/events or call (415) 341-6350.
No matzah at local Costco outlets
Apparently the bread of affliction inflicted poor sales on retail giant Costco, so there will be no matzah sold this year.
Costco had sold Aviv matzah from Israel for several years at an extremely low price — but perhaps not low enough. Store officials told j. they simply “weren’t producing enough sales.” None of the 51 Bay Area stores is carrying it this year (though it is still being supplied to outlets in the neighborhood of Orlando, Fla., and elsewhere in the Southeast).
While poor sales doomed Costco’s matzah enterprise, store officials note one can still purchase gefilte fish — in very large jars, no doubt — at the store.
Mitzvah Corps recruiting Reform teens
Applications are now being accepted for this summer’s Mitzvah Corps, which recruits hundreds of Reform Jewish teens for hands-on involvement in needy communities.
In addition to four domestic programs, Mitzvah Corps participants will also have the opportunity to travel abroad to take part in this program. In August, high school juniors and seniors will represent the Reform movement in Costa Rica as part of the Mitzvah Corps mission.
Mitzvah Corps is a program of the Youth Division of the Union for Reform Judaism. For more information or to register, go to www.mitzvahcorps.org.
Former federation executive wins award
Joanna Ballantine, executive director of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, has earned this year’s J.J. Greenberg Memorial Award, which honors foundation professionals who have demonstrated leadership in Jewish philanthropy. The award was granted at a gathering of the Jewish Funders Network in Jerusalem on April 3.
Formerly senior planning and allocations associate at the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation, Ballantine has served as executive director of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation for the past eight years. During her tenure, the foundation has launched such programs as the PJ Library, B’nai Tzedek Teen Philanthropy Program and the Grinspoon Institute for Jewish Philanthropy.
Early Yom HaShoah event in San Jose
“Three Untold Stories from the Holocaust: Women, North Africa &Asia,” an early Yom HaShoah event featuring stories from students and survivors, will be held at 4 p.m. Monday, April 14.
The free event will be hosted at Board Chambers, County Government Center, 70 W. Hedding St., San Jose. Information: (408) 299-5151.
Holocaust Remembrance Day falls on May 2 this year.
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California