Volume 2, Nu

mber 30
 
Volume 2, Number 240

 
"There's a Jewish story everywhere"
     
 


SAN DIEGO
JEWISH WORLD
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by Donald and
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Editor: Donald H. Harrison
Ass't Editor: Gail Umeham

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--------------------------

Recent contributors:

Sara Appel-Lennon

Judy Lash Balint

David Benkof

Shoshana Bryen

Cynthia Citron

Carol Davis

Garry Fabian

Gail Feinstein Forman

Gerry Greber

Ulla Hadar

Donald H. Harrison

Natasha Josefowitz

Rabbi Baruch Lederman

Bruce Lowitt

J. Zel Lurie

Rabbi Dow Marmur

Cantor Sheldon Merel

Joel Moskowitz, M.D.

Sheila Orysiek

Fred Reiss

Rabbi Leonard
Rosenthal


Gary Rotto

Ira Sharkansky

Dorothea Shefer-
Vanson


David Strom

Lynne Thrope

Gail Umeham

Howard Wayne

Eileen Wingard

Hal Wingard

Complete list of writers

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Today's Postings

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

{Click an underlined headline in this area to jump to the corresponding story. Or, you may scroll leisurely through our report}

INTERNATIONAL
/ CAMPAIGN 2008


Israel handled its bank crisis much better
by J. Zel Lurie in Delray Beach, Florida

Now it's nuclear India, front and center
by Shoshana Bryen in Washington, D.C.

JUDAISM

The dramatic story of the Kol Nidre
, by Cantor Sheldon Merel in San Diego, with a recording of him chanting the
well known Yom Kippur melody

A stereotype in time for Yom Kippur by Rabbi Simcha Weinstein in New York

ARTS

Third Story was about three too many by Carol Davis in La Jolla, California

ADVENTURES IN SAN DIEGO JEWISH HISTORY

—February 24, 1950: Labor Zionist Organization
—February 24, 1950:
Inside AZA by Leonard Naiman
—February 24, 1950:
Temple Beth Israel Sisterhood by Lillian Heiman
—February 24, 1950:
JCRA by Anna B. Brooks


COMMUNITY WATCH

Jewish Family Service:
Free Transportation To Yom Kippur Services for Older Adults!

San Diego Jewish Academy:
DeTar returns from Bronfman Youth Fellowship summer in Israel

Tifereth Israel Synagogue: Does the Torah Really Say That? - An Exploration of Midrash Agadah


THE WEEK IN REVIEW


This week's stories on San Diego Jewish World:
Monday, Sunday, Friday, Thursday, Wednesday, Tuesday (no edition: Rosh Hashanah)

UPCOMING EVENTS


Want to know about exciting upcoming events? As a service to readers, San Diego Jewish World flags most event advertisements by date.Oct. 8-Oct. 9

DEDICATIONS

Each day's issue may be dedicated by readers—or by the publisher—in other people's honor or memory. Past dedications may be found at the bottom of the index for the "Adventures in San Diego Jewish History" page.


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WEDS, Oct. 8-THURS., OCT. 9 Congregation Beth Israel High Holiday Services

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Does the Torah Really Say That? - An Exploration of Midrash Agadah

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CAMPAIGN 2008


Israel handled its bank crisis much better

By J. Zel Lurie

DELRAY BEACH, Florida—A quarter century ago in 1983, the banks in Israel were rapidly going down the tubes. For years the banks had been fleecing the public by selling them so-called inflation-protected dollar bonds. I had warned my daughter that the protection was an illusion but her husband said that everyone was buying them so he bought some too.

I don't know what caused the dollar bond bubble to burst but that's the nature of bubbles. At some point they reach a peak and explode like a pin prick in a balloon.  Bank Leumi's website says that In 1983 the public feared another devaluation of the Israeli shekel and everyone wanted his money in dollars now, causing massive runs on all the banks. Financial collapse was imminent.

The Israel government stepped in. They bought the three largest banks for 6.9 billion dollars. The government promised to redeem the bonds with interest in two years and the country returned to normal. The entrepreneurs continued to found new companies. The dot.com revolution erupted, The arts flourished. The gross national product jumped. Prosperity prevailed.

Israel is a capitalist and not a socialist country. The government was uncomfortable owning the banks, the life blood of the economy. As soon as the banks became profitable the government auctioned off its stock. By 2002, the government had sold 58 percent of Bank Leumi's stock and had more than recouped its original investment.

The managers of the banks retained their posts . In 1986, three years after the take over of the banks, the chairman of Bank Leumi arranged with his compliant board to retire with a golden parachute of five million dollars and an annual pension of $360,000,

News of the deal was greeted by a public uproar. The new owners, the government,  kicked out the board and cancelled the deal. When our government took over the Fannie and Freddy Macs and fired their chiefs, one of them was allowed to retire with over 40 million dollars.

With the same policy of protecting the Wall Street geniuses who transformed mortgages into tradable securities with derivatives and credit default swaps that no one understood,  Congress was asked by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to give him 700 billion dollars, which will have to be borrowed, to bail out the perpetrators of the financial mess.

Nothing in the bailout will actually help a home owner who can't pay his mortgage.

In Secretary Paulson's original draft he gave himself the power of changing the rates of any mortgages he takes over. But a bankrupt home-owner is unable to negotiate a reduced rate or extend the time on his mortgage. Secretary Paulson has opposed efforts to change the law and give the Bankruptcy Court the right to rework mortgages.

Congress took that right away in 2005. At the behest of the powerful lenders' lobby, Congress amended the Bankruptcy Law to forbid the Bankruptcy Court from renegotiating  mortgages and credit card debt.. Secretary Paulson is on record as supporting the change. He can insert a modicum of fairness into the extremely unfair bailout by changing his mind and  asking Congress to nullify that amendment.

Incidentally the major  cause of bankruptcy is high medical bills and not high mortgages. Take the fictional case of John Homeowner who makes a fairly good income of $75,000 a year. He has declared bankruptcy with a $200,000 medical bill -- his wife had a brain tumor and spent a month in the hospital -- and a $2,000 monthly mortgage payment. The surgeon had demanded advance payment before he would operate. John emptied his bank account, borrowed from his father, and neglected paying the mortgage.

The Bankruptcy Court's hands are tied. It can negotiate with the hospital but not with the mortgage holder. The bailout plan does not mention bankruptcy.

At the first McCain-Obama debate, which is now ancient history, I was amused at the vain effort by moderator Jim Lehrer to get the candidates to comment on the $700 billion bailout. He asked the question three times in different formulas. All three boiled down to  "That's a lot of money. How will it affect your program?" Three times both candidates evaded the question.

I was not amused by Obama's quiet eloquence. He was trying to look presidential and in my opinion he succeeded. But he forgot that he was in a ring with an opponent that had lead in his gloves.  Whenever McCain uttered one of the lies that has peppered his campaign, you could hear Obama muttering "That's not true."

He did not turn to McCain  forcefully: "John, you are lying and you know you are lying. I am tired of seeing your lying ad that I will raise taxes repeated over and over again. You are relying on the Nazi adage that if you repeat a lie over and over again people will believe it. That might have worked in Germany 75 years ago. All it will accomplish in the USA in 2008 is tarnish your honorable image as a war hero."

Such an outburst, Obama's advisors probably believe, would ruin Obama's efforts to look and act presidential. They are forgetting that John Kerry lost the last presidential elections by refusing to call George Bush a liar and not fighting the smears of Swiftboat liars.

When the moderator at the first Kerry-Bush presidential debate four years ago  said that Kerry had accused Bush "essentially of lying" about his Iraq war strategy, Kerry instantly demurred:

"I've never ever used the harshest word as you did just then and I try not to."

Bob Shrum. Kerry's chief stratregist told Patick Healy, New York Times columnist, that they wanted to force a debate on the issues and "calling Bush a liar would have taken us off in a different direction."

Bob Shrum was in error four years ago but Joe Klein, senior columnist for Time, hit the ball over the fence in a recent column. Joe Klein wrote about John McCain's campaign  has decided that it can't win on the issues so it has resorted to lies and diversions.

John McCain, Klein wrote, "has raised serious doubts whether he has the character to lead this nation, He has defaced his beloved military code of honor. He has run a dirty campaign."

Barack Obama has two more chances to hammer this home before the millions of voters who will be watching the debates.

Lurie’s column also appears in the Jewish Journal of South Florida

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THE VIEW FROM JINSA



SONGS OF OUR PEOPLE

The dramatic story of the Kol Nidre

To hear Cantor Merel chant Kol Nidre, please click here

By Cantor Sheldon Merel

SAN DIEGO—The drama of the Kol Nidre ceremony begins on Yom Kippur evening, the holiest day of the Jewish year.  After the ark is opened, the officers of the synagogue remove the white clad Torahs, and hold them in full view of the hushed congregation.   The cantor and choir then begin to chant the stirring music of the Kol Nidre.  As the echoes of the Kol Nidre finish reverberating in the sanctuary, the Torahs are returned to the ark, and then the Yom Kippur evening service begins!  

What a strange series of contradictions; Kol Nidre, a musical highlight that has become more popular than its text,  chanted at the very beginning of the service, and the evening service is even named, Kol Nidre.   This ritual with its majestic singing is so univerally loved, that Jews rush to “shul” to be in time to hear it chanted.   Although many other popular melodies are part of our worship services, none have maintained the same spiritual and mystic appeal as the Kol Nidre! 

You may ask, “since Kol Nidre may be the most dramatic moment in the evening service, why is it placed at the very beginning of the service, rather than in the middle, or the end?”
 
Probably, because   it is not a prayer at all, but actually a legal declaration from an eighth century Talmudic tractate, (Nedarim) written in Aramaic (like the Kaddish).  The text of the Kol Nidre  allowed a person to annul broken vows made to God, either consciously or in dreams.   Beginning in the middle ages, one could then annul these vows by appearing before a religious court, (Bet Din), and recite the Kol Nidre formula three times.  

It is made quite clear in the Mishna ,however, that  Kol Nidre could not release one from broken obligations made with his fellow men, “forgiveness must be sought directly from the person so wronged."

There are two versions of the Kol Nidre text; one recited in Ashkenazic congregations, renouncinng oaths broken between last Yom Kippur and this one.   Sephardic congregations, however, renounce broken promises between this Yom Kippur and the next.   During the Spanish Inquisition of the 15th century, the latter version proved more appropriate for Spanish Jews, who upon pain of death were forcibly converted to Christianity (Maranos).   They became  secret Jews, and could only partcipate in Yom Kipppur services with a clearer conscience by reciting the Kol Nidre formula before the actual beginning of Yom Kippur.

Musicologists trace the beginnings of an Ashkenazic melody as far back as the 15th century.  Its music development proceeded slowly through the centuries, and is now an amalgam of several ancient sources; liturgy, biblical cantillations, and even songs of German troubadours.   By the 19th century, the Kol Nidre melody was finally set, and professional cantors carried it to countless Ashkenazic synagogues in Germany and northern Europe. In traditional congregations, Kol Nidre is chanted three times, a trifle higher and stronger each time.  Except for the Sephardic tradition, this basic Ashkenazic melody is the same in synagogues across the land and overseas. 

Although chanted but once a year, Kol Nidre’s mystic aura, drama and melody continues to capture the imagination of the Jewish community.

Merel is cantor emeritus of Congregation Beth Israel in La Jolla. He may be contacted at merels@sandiegojewishworld.com




JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE

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Free Transportation To Yom Kippur Services for Older Adults!

SAN DIEGO (Press Release)—On the Go is providing free transportation to Yom Kippur Services for older adults age 60 and over who don’t drive. This service is a door-to-door shuttle—from the rider’s home to a synagogue in the rider’s neighborhood (see schedules below).

How Can You Help? We need your help in ensuring that our community’s older adults are able to observe the Holidays this year. Please help us spread the word by telling your friends, neighbors, relatives, and fellow synagogue members. 

On the Go offers individual rides, group transportation, and organized trips all year long. To learn more about On the Go, click here

Please Reserve Your Ride by Tuesday, October 7: (877) 63-GO-JFS •  (877) 634-6537

Holiday Schedules & Locations
College Area/Del Cerro/San Carlos/La Mesa (Riders must live in the following zip codes: 92115, 92119, 92120, 91941, 91942): Temple Emanu-El— Wednesday, October 8 • 6:00 – 7:30pm; Thursday, October 9 • 4:30 – 6:30pm.  Tifereth Israel Synagogue: Wednesday, October 8 • 6:00 – 8:00pm; Thursday, October 9 • 10:00am – 2:00pm 

University City/La Jolla/Clairemont (Riders must live in the following zip codes: 92037, 92111, 92117, 92121, 92122): Congregation Beth El: Wednesday, October 8 • 6:30 – 9:00pm; Thursday, October 9 • 9:00am – 1:00pm.  Chabad of University City: Wednesday, October 8 • 6:00 – 8:00pm; Thursday, October 9 • 10:30am – 1:30pm.  Congregation Beth Israel: Wednesday, October 8 • 6:00 – 8:30pm; Thursday, October 9 • 4:30 – 6:30pm.  Dor Hadash:
Wednesday, October 8 • 7:00 – 9:00pm; Thursday, October 9 • 5:00 – 8:00pm.
 
North County Inland (Riders must live in the following zip codes: 92064, 92127, 92128, 92129, 92131): Ner Tamid: Wednesday, October 8 • 6:00 – 8:30pm; Thursday, October 9 • 4:00 – 6:45pm.  Chabad of Poway: Wednesday, October 8 • 6:30 – 9:00pm. Thursday, October 9 • 11:00am – 1:00pm.  Temple Adat Shalom: Wednesday, October 8 • 7:30 – 9:30pm; Thursday, October 9 • 3:30 – 6:00pm.  Chabad of Scripps Ranch: Wednesday, October 8 • 6:00 – 8:00pm
Thursday, October 9 • 11:30am – 1:30pm.
   
Please Reserve Your Ride by Tuesday, October 7; (877) 63-GO-JFS •  (877) 634-6537



HBO's Entourage

A stereotype in time for Yom Kippur



By Rabbi Simcha Weinstein


Emily Gold: You want me to lie?
Ari Gold: That is the beauty of Yom Kippur, as long as you apologize before sundown it doesn't matter what you do!
-- Entourage (Season 3, “Return of the King” 2007) 

NEW YORK—Pity poor type-A Hollywood agent Ari Gold on the HBO show Entourage. He’s forced to fidget and sweat throughout Yom Kippur, unable to use his mobile phone to broker a major driven deal.

Ari Gold’s pushiness, sarcasm and neurosis conform to Hollywood’s popular notions of Jewish behavior and priorities. Even this flashy, success-obsessed character’s surname, “Gold,” is perfectly apt. Nasty stereotypes about Jews and their relationship with money die hard, because they got their start centuries ago. Since biblical times, Jews have been engaged in finance -- and the complex relationship Jews have with money goes back almost that far. Myths depicting Jews as moneygrubbers were popular in medieval and Renaissance Europe. Medieval Jews weren't permitted to own property or enter "respectable" professions, but they were allowed to act as moneylenders. Christian and Muslim rulers said lending money at interest was a sin, but they were happy to pawn off this “necessary evil” on their Jewish subjects.
 
In the phrase coined by sociologist Edna Bonocich, Jews around the world eventually became a “middleman minority,” one “standing between the peasant and the king, playing the role of middleman between producer and consumer, employer and employee, owner and renter, elite and masses.” Shakespeare and Dickens immortalized Jews as greedy and amoral, through their characters Shylock and Fagin.
 
Across the pond, American Jewish prosperity emerged from grinding poverty. Vaudeville stars were among the impoverished children of an estimated two million desperate Jewish immigrants. The Marx Brothers’ misbegotten upbringing became part of their legend, and in his memoir, Harpo recalled the adventures of "Minnie's boys" in their crowded apartment:
 
"But thanks to the amazing spirit of my mother and father, poverty never made any of us depressed or angry. My memory of my earliest years is vague but pleasant, full of the sound of singing and laughter, and full of people I loved."
 
Complicated feelings about money, success and security burrowed into the comedy routines of these early American performers. Jack Benny made a successful career out of the “Jewish cheapskate” persona, although the “Jewish” element was implied rather than explicit. In one radio routine, a thief holds up Benny at gunpoint and growls, "Your money of your life!" After repeated threats and a painfully long pause, Benny finally replies, "I'm thinking, I’m thinking..."

Jack Benny’s contemporary counterpart is Ari Gold, that rude guy we’ve all put up with, yacking on his cell phone about his “very important dealings.”

Gold is not evil so much as annoying. He can be petty, ruthless, insensitive, and materialistic, yet he cares deeply for his family, and at times his insecurity betrays his bullet-proof shell.
 
In that “Return of the King” episode, Ari is trying to broker a film deal, but the sunset deadline coincides with Yom Kippur. When he tries to negotiate with an orthodox studio head in the middle of services, he assures him: “This is time sensitive. God will understand.” His success represents the mirror opposite of that of earlier generation of assimilated Jews, who turned poverty into comedy. And yet the portrayal of Ari Gold is as unflattering as the old Jack Benny stereotype of the rich tightwad, and just as unfair.
 
For one thing, Judaism places great emphasis on generosity and charitable giving. The Talmud notes that charity equals all the other commandments combined (Bava Basra 9a). While the word "tzedakah" is most commonly translated into English as "charity,” it actually comes from the Hebrew word meaning "justice" or "righteousness.” Philanthropy is more than just an optional "good deed" – it's the absolute duty of every righteous man and woman.
 
Secondly, charitable giving is indeed a difficult goal for many Jewish people. Despite the persistent perceptions that all Jewish people are rich, the 2004 Report on Jewish Poverty discovered that almost 20 percent of New York Jews lived in poverty. So remember: for every Ari Gold living in luxury, there's a young Marx brother trying to scrape by.

In fact, there may be more of them, and fewer Ari Golds, now that America is experiencing an economic meltdown. Ironically, Wall Street is just a few blocks away from the old Lower East Side immortalized the saga of America’s Jewish immigrants. Literally and figuratively, maybe we haven’t come as far as we like to think.

Despite their often edgy dialogue and situations, contemporary comedies like Entourage can convey classic teachings: there is no connection between wealth and happiness (nor between an ethnicity and its material wealth). In fact, Ethics of the Fathers famously states, “Who is the happy person?  One who takes joy in his lot?” (4:1) Whether Jewish comedians are making fun of poverty or wealth, the one thing the comedy imparts is the necessity to laugh with awareness. 

Poverty and wealth are really just symptoms of security; if you can turn your symptoms into comedy, then you're not controlled by the symptoms -- you control them. That’s important to remember all year round, especially in these trying times, when security is so fleeting.

Maybe this Yom Kippur, we should all switch our cell phones off (not just to vibrate!) or better yet, leave them at home all together. We can use the uninterrupted hours to contemplate the true meaning of life. Now that’s a “time sensitive” project that God will really understand.
 
Simcha Weinstein is a best selling author. His latest book, Shtick Shift:  Jewish humor in the 21st century (Barricade Books), will be published November 2008. He can be reached at www.rabbisimcha.com




SAN DIEGO JEWISH ACADEMY



The students, faculty and staff of San Diego Jewish Academy join in wishing you L'shana tova! {To visit the school's website, please click on the advertisement above}




DeTar returns from Bronfman Youth Fellowship summer in Israel

SAN DIEGO (Press Release)—SDJA’s Jack de Tar just returned from the summer of a lifetime at the Bronfman Youth Fellowship in Israel. This prestigious leadership program is one of “the top scholarship programs particularly noted for producing the strongest candidates for highly selective institutions," according to the guide, "What it Really Takes to Get Into the Ivy League and other Highly Selective Colleges."

In their all-expenses-paid five weeks together, the Fellows encountered the land and people of Israel, studied Judaism and major issues in contemporary Jewish life, and learned about themselves and each other.



LAWRENCE FAMILY JCC, JACOBS FAMILY CAMPUS

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ONE OF THE THREE—
Scott Parkinson (as Zygote) and Charles Busch (as Queenie Bartlett) in The Third Story at La Jolla Playhouse. Photo by J.T. MacMillan.

ARTS IN REVIEW



Third Story was about three too many

By Carol Davis

LA JOLLA, California--After sitting through the two and a half hour (or so) production of Charles Busch’s Third Story now in its world premiere production at the La Jolla Playhouse, the woman sitting next to me asked me what I thought. (Once anyone sees a pen and notebook in your hand during a performance they automatically think you are an expert). I looked at her thoughtfully as we headed toward the exits, and told her “I thought the playwright had just given us ‘the bird.’”

Busch, who also penned Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife and Psycho Beach Party is, as one might imagine, just not your mainstream playwright. His personal M.O. is as interesting/or not as his works. He’s famous for dressing in drag and cross-dressing in his films. In Die, Mommie, Die! he won the Sundance Film Festival Award playing both Angela Arden/ Barbara Arden and his Tale of the Allergist’s Wife was nominated for a Tony in 2001. He usually stars in his works as he does in Third Story.  He is a novelist and screenwriter who describes himself as a gender illusionist.

His parents were first generation from Russia. His mother died when he was seven and was raised by an aunt who introduced him to theatre at a young age. He is also gay and Jewish. Now that last bit of trivia (the Jewish one) may account for the reoccurring theme in this, his latest play, Third Party. That is of the parent/child relationships, co-dependency and guilt! Now I’m not one to cast stereotypes on people, but let’s face it, we Jews do know how to place a good guilt trip on our children and we know how not to let go of them even in their adult years up to and including from the grave. It’s mixed in with our DNA. Just ask my kids.

Trust though, that this new play, skewed and funny as it may be to some, is a hodgepodge that meanders endlessly weaving three stories together and, in the final analysis, has one of our mother figures, the Witch Baba Yaga, flying off into the sunset on the wings of a big bird. (No, not THAT BIG BIRD!) Try the mythical Firebird!

Back to the stories: The first story finds us in a magical Russian forest (David Gallo) with what looks like the wicked Witch of the North (Busch is Baba Yaga) and some fairy tale Other (think Cinderella) who is in love but too shy to let the object of her love know. The Witch gives our shy heroine some “fairy dust’ to make her less shy. The second story takes place in Omaha, Nebraska, 1949 and is about an overbearing, out of work screenwriter mother named Peg (Mary Beth Peil is also Dr Hudson’s lab assistant) who used to write successful screen plays during Hollywood’s Golden age of film. She now wants to revive her career but can’t come up with an idea. The third story is about a mad scientist a la Mrs. Frankenstein (Jennifer Van Dyck) who clones people including an attempt at mob Boss Queenie Bartlett (Charles Busch). There’s another rambling story, if there ever was one. So be it.

In the least interesting story, Peg approaches her son, Drew (Jonathan Walker is also Steve, Queenie’s son) a onetime Hollywood writer who left his career behind to become a postal worker like his father (there’s a secret hiding out there). She begs him to collaborate with her so she can have one more hit before retiring into the sunset. She really has him by the (you know what’s) because he can’t say NO! Every time he tries to get out of it, she holds this secret over his head and he is drawn back into her vise.

The most confusing story is the one about the gangster moll. This one  seems to have been thrown in for good measure, or I missed something and the mad scientist story is probably the most bizarre and consistent.

The three stories and sub stories are a mish/mash of ideas whose author tries to interlace them together. They go on ad nausea but add up to less than their total parts. All the talk about parents and children goes nowhere even after the third try, the third story and the third fuzzy ending. There is the mother who doesn’t let go of her son, the mad scientist who won’t destroy an experiment gone bad, the Witch who transforms her shy ward into two princesses and a gangster Moll (Busch) who seems to know better than her son that his moll Verna, doesn’t jive with the likes of his mother’s wishes. Something is sadly missing like coherence.  But in the end, the ‘Bird’ still flies off into the sunset.

That doesn’t mean the cast, under the direction of Carl Andress doesn’t work hard nor the creative team doesn’t do yeoman’s work. Indeed they do, rushing off to change costumes (Gregory Gale), switching characters as fast as their costume changes while Lewis Finn’s musical 40’s and 50’ era sounds fit the tone and mood.  Jennifer Van Dyck is pretty convincing as Dr. Constance Hudson the repressed, mad scientist who created Zygote (Scott Parkinson), the experiment gone wrong. Busch is about as over the top as he can get as both Baba Yaga and Queenie Bartlett, without taking flight, but he does look good in Gallo’s costumes and Tom Watson’s wigs. Rebecca Lawrence as Steve’s moll and the princess is pretty convincing and Jonathan Walker makes the best of a boring Drew.

World premieres come and world premiers go. This one might take flight like BabaYaga or it might crash into the moon and cause another crater. It’s up to you to decide. My vote has already been tallied. 

Third Story continues through Oct. 19at the La Jolla Playhouse in the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre.

See you at the theatre.




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Monday, October 6, 2008 (Vol. 2, No. 239)

INTERNATIONAL
Democrats, please speak up on Israel! by Donald H. Harrison in San Diego

Israel's justice ministry in disarray about what to do about the Katsav scandal; by Ira Sharkansky in Jerusalem

JUDAISM
55-year quest resumed, circle completed by Sheila Orysiek in San Diego

ARTS
Dying City juxtaposes Iraq war, and wars we fight in our homes by Carol Davis in San Diego

ADVENTURES IN SAN DIEGO JEWISH HISTORY

—February 24, 1950: S.D. Birdie Stodel Bnai Brith, Chapter No. 92
—February 24, 1950: Tifereth Israel Synagogue
—February 24, 1950: Pioneer Women (Negba) Club
—February 24, 1950: Defy Income Tax Blues

COMMUNITY WATCH

Jewish Family Service: Free Transportation To Yom Kippur Services for Older Adults!

Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School: Soille Hebrew Day preschoolers enjoyed sounds, aroma of Rosh Hashanah

Tifereth Israel Synagogue: October 11 Midrash Shabbat Program: The Ushpizin


Sunday, October 5, 2008 (Vol. 2, No. 238)

INTERNATIONAL
Arab, Jewish children join in peace performance in Jerusalem; by Dorothea Shefer-Vanson in Jerusalem

NATIONAL/ CAMPAIGN 2008
RJC, NJDC unveil new ad campaigns (from news releases), with links to video clips

JUDAISM
What about the deeds we failed to do? by Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal in San Diego
Yom Kippur thoughts on foregiveness; by Rabbi Baruch Lederman in San Diego
SAN DIEGO
Award-winning religion writer urges clergy to become more 'relevant'; by Donald H. Harrison in San Diego

SPORTS
A bissel sports trivia with Bruce Lowitt in Oldsmar, Florida

ADVENTURES IN SAN DIEGO JEWISH HISTORY

—February 24, 1950: Who’s New
—February 24, 1950: Brotherhood In Action
—February 24, 1950: Toy Shower
—February 24, 1950: Jewish War Veterans Auxiliary by Binnie Brooks
—February 24, 1950: News of the Fox by John Kluchin
—February 24, 1950: Tifereth Israel Men’s Club

COMMUNITY WATCH

Jewish Community Foundation: Government and Philanthropy - Setting a Common Agenda

Jewish Family Service: Free Transportation To Yom Kippur Services for Older Adults

San Diego Rabbinical Association: San Diego Rabbinical Association tells Kever Avot/ Imahot service schedule

Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School: How Rosh Hashanah was celebrated in Soille’s Hebrew classes

Tifereth Israel Synagogue: Israel Advocacy and Israeli Dance



Friday, October 3, 2008 (Vol. 2, No. 237)

INTERNATIONAL/ CAMPAIGN 2008

Biden, Palin clash over whether Bush policies successful in Israel, Middle East; by Donald H. Harrison in San Diego

The shamelessness of the RJC; by Ira Forman in Washington D.C.

JUDAISM
Weighing ourselves on the moral scale; by Sheila Orysiek in San Diego

LIFESTYLES
How to embrace life in the midst of loss; by Sara Appel-Lennon in San Diego

DINING OUT
Chefs join a pair of fun fundraisers; by Lynne Thrope in San Diego

ADVENTURES IN SAN DIEGO JEWISH HISTORY

—February 24, 1950: Congregation Beth Jacob
—February 24, 1950: San Diego Bay City Bnai Brith Women
—February 24, 1950: Temple Beth Israel
—February 24, 1950: Daughters of Israel

COMMUNITY WATCH

Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School: Beautiful Rosh Hashanah creations made in Soille Hebrew Day’s art classes


Thursday, October 2, 2008 (Vol. 2, No. 236)

INTERNATIONAL
Suing the terrorists for their assets; by Larry Stirling in San Diego
Moviemaker tells impressions of Jews in Andhra Pradesh; by Jonas Pariente in Chebrole, India
A Bene Israel educator in Andhra Pradesh; by Sharon Galsulkar in Chebrole, India

CAMPAIGN 2008
Coping with a Conservative Supreme Court; by David Benkof in New York

ARTS
Thursdays With the Songs of Hal Wingard

#182, I'll Stay As I Am
#44, The Prince and the Rose
#265, Change

Christian production, This Beautiful City, presented at the Kirk Douglas Theatreby Cynthia Citron in Culver City, California

COMMUNITY WATCH

Lawrence Family JCC: Special event October 12: Israel Philharmonic Orchestra program, a prelude at the Lawrence Family JCC to the November 2 performance at the Civic Center

Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School: What’s happening in Soille Hebrew Day’s Middle School science classes?

ADVENTURES IN SAN DIEGO JEWISH HISTORY

—February 24, 1950: Hadassah Presents Fourth Annual Premiere March 26
—February 24, 1950: Letter to the Editor from Victor Schulman
—February 24, 1950: Jolly Sixteen

Wednesday, October 1, 2008 (Vol. 2, No. 235)

INTERNATIONAL
•Analyzing Olmert's stunning turnaround by Ira Sharkansky in Jerusalem
•Israel's flag waves over Wilshire Blvd by Cynthia Citron in Los Angeles
•U.S. staffs missile alert system in Israel by Shoshana Bryen in Washington, D.C.
•The Jews Down Under by Garry Fabian in Melbourne, Australia:
—New York boy's Melbourne bar mitzvah
—Novelist praised, slammed after sex-abuse allegations
—Australian students flock to Israel
—Melbourne Culinary Institution relocates
—Retail hub planned for Jewish adults with disabilities
—Turnbull pledges to stay true to Jewish community
—Three Perth women honoured
—ECAJ participates in national dialogue
—Community mourns education warrior

CAMPAIGN 2008
•NJDC's Forman protests RJC tactics; RJC releases new anti-Obama advertisement letter from Ira Forman and article by Suzanne Kurtz, both in Washington D.C.
•San Diego Council candidate Emerald found the way to her mother's Judaism by Donald H. Harrison in San Diego

JUDAISM
•But how do the fish like Tashlich? by Donald H. Harrison in San Diego

LIFESTYLES
•60th college reunion reignites memories of dating, USO dances, career expectations by Natasha Josefowitz, Ph.D.

ARTS
•Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, due in SD in November, provided Holocaust refuge by Eileen Wingard
• Holocaust testimonies surpressed by Soviets now in The Unknown Black Book by David Strom in San Diego

ADVENTURES IN SAN DIEGO JEWISH HISTORY
—February 24, 1950: Reform Congregations in Bid for United Religious Front
—February 24, 1950: Notice {Newspaper Merger}
—February 24, 1950: Mrs. Selma Getz Heads Women’s Division of UJF
—February 24, 1950: Allocations Committee Sets New Pattern

COMMUNITY WATCH
•Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School: Math Marathon at Soille Hebrew Day

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