January 1, 2006

Vol. 2, No. 1 Louis Rose Society for the Preservation of Jewish History

Looking back over 2005: Growing membership, list of honorees,
schedule of events, recognition inside and outside our community

An interesting source of information for historians are year-end, or, in this case, year-beginning, reports, because they provide a means for measuring growth and accomplishment.  So we thought we'd share some statistics with you about the Louis Rose Society.  As we have not been in existence even a full year, these can be considered base-line statistics, for us to measure our progress against in the future. 

Membership—
By the close of 2005, we had grown to 191 member households or businesses. 

Honorees—
One hundred forty seven (147)  members thus far have honored 225 Jewish San Diegans or have conferred their rights to name  honorees to the Louis Rose Society's board of directors.  Forty-four (44) members have yet to designate an honoree.  By checking our membership list, you can quickly determine whether you have a choice pending. If so, please check our list of honorees to determine who already has been honored, and then choose someone else. So long as the proposed honoree is or was a member of the San Diego Jewish community, he or she is eligible. Send the name of your choice to Donald H. Harrison at sdheritage@cox.net.  {We don't have contact information for some members, so if you see someone you know who has not picked an honoree, please ask them to pick an honoree, and to email or phone  their contact information to the Society offices.}

Cash Revenue—
Since March 21, 2005, a total of $8,743.55 has been forwarded to the Jewish Community Foundation/ Louis Rose Fund by the Society and by individual contributors. The Society has another $59.11 in cash on hand for contingencies.  A check for $36 is in the pipeline between the Society and the Jewish Community Foundation.  Total 2005 cash revenues, therefore, were $8,838.66. 

In-Kind Contributions:
The Louis Rose Society benefited greatly in 2005 from in-kind contributions of goods and services. In some cases, these contributions were gladly accepted in lieu of our $36 membership fee.  The Society would have had to pay many times more than $36 for any of these contributions.

Expenditures: The Society spent $753.78 for the headstone for the previously unmarked grave of Henrietta Rose.  We also pay an administrative fee of $15 per month, or $180 per year to the Jewish Community Foundation. All other work done for the Society is strictly on a volunteer basis.

Public Officials: The Society was the subject of a Proclamation by Deputy Mayor Toni Atkins (then serving as Acting Mayor) declaring September 25, 2005 as Louis Rose Point Day.  The San Diego School Board adopted a resolution authorizing its participation in the ceremony dedicating Henrietta Rose's gravestone, with Board Member John DeBeck participating in the ceremony. Congressman Bob Filner named LRS Co-Founder and President Donald H. Harrison "Citizen of the Month" partially in recognition of the Society's activities.

Media: The activities of the Louis Rose Society was the subject of articles in 2005 in a variety of media including, but not limited to, Hillquest, KNSD-Television,  San Diego Jewish Journal, San Diego Jewish Times, San Diego Union-Tribune, Voice of San Diego, and Western States Jewish History.

Activities: Our first public event was September 25 when we held the picnic at Louis Rose Point to introduce the community to the location designated by the City of San Diego for the future monument to San Diego's first Jewish settler.  In November, with Norman Greene emceeing, we dedicated the headstone for Louis's daughter, Henrietta.  In December, Society members were led by Rick Kamen on a botanical tour of Rose Canyon.

Archive Project: We have indexed from our archives Jewish newspapers from the following years: 1922, 1935, 1939, 1940, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951 and 1952.  If you have any Jewish newspapers from the missing years, or those missing editions from the years already indexed, we would be delighted if you would donate them—or facsimile copies—to the Louis Rose Society, so that we may include their contents in the growing biographical encyclopedia of Jewish San Diego. Please contact Don Harrison at sdheritage@cox.net.

Oral History: Laurayne Ratner's interview of Richard Levi about his family's activities in San Diego County began in 2005.  Some of the material will be posted on the website on Levi's pages.

Coming Up In 2006: More activities, an appeal for volunteers,  a rotation in our archive project, and planning for a gala celebration of Louis Rose's 200th birthday in 20007 
 
Louis Rose Society Calendar:
Wednesday, January 4Don Harrison tells Women's American ORT about the Louis Rose Society and its namesake, Loma Santa Fe Country Club, 10:30 a.m. For details or reservations, please call Florence and Stan Sachs, 760 753-3090.

Saturday, January 7—Don Harrison delivers a d'var Torah about the Louis Rose Society during Ner Tamid Synagogue's morning Shabbat services., beginning 9 a.m.  For details or reservations, please call the synagogue at 858 513-8330

Friday, January 13—Jerry Levens and Raph Levens, both LRS members, tell about their father and LRS honoree, Rabbi Monroe Levens, at 6:15 p.m. Friday evening Shabbat services at Tifereth Israel Synagogue. Their joint lecture is part of Tifereth Israel's celebration of its 100th anniversary year. For details or reservations, please call the synagogue at 619 697-6001.


Tuesday, January 17—History in the Making: Israel's former  Prime Minister Ehud Barak is the featured speaker at the Men's Event of the United Jewish Federation at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, beginning at 5:30 p.m.  For details and reservations, please call the Federation at (858) 571-3444.

Sunday, January 22—Limmud, A Community Day of Learning: The Agency for Jewish Education sponsors a mega, all-day event promoting Jewish learning, with such speakers scheduled as Limor Livnat (Israel's Minister of Education) on "Building Jewish Community Through Jewish Education; Rabbi Nathan Laufer, "Leading the Passover Journey—A Hagaddah Workshop" and "A Mosaic Vision of Leadership"; Joshua Nelson, Jewish gospel music"; Rabbi Yehuda Fine, "Real Answers to Tough Questions: A Forum for Teenagers" and "Raising Kane & Jane: What Your Kids Are Doing When You're Not Around"; Rabbi Alan Lew: "Heart On A Leash: Zen and Jewish Strategies for Spiritual Awakening;" Noa Baum, "Israel-Palestine: A Land Twice Promised"; Dr. Sheldon Rubenfeld, "Medicine in the Third Reich': Avraham Maayan: "Israel An Evolving Story"; Zion Ozeri: "Images of the Jew: Photography and the Diversity of Jewish Life"; Paul Epstein, "Thrilling Theater for Tentative Teachers" and "Moving Midrash Mania for Madrichim"; Carol Starin, "The Great Idea Extravaganza;" and Vicky Kelman, "Celebrate Family/ Celebrate With Your Family."  Joshua Nelson & the Kosher Gospel Singers will conclude the afternoon with a rousing concert.   For details and reservations, please call the Agency for Jewish Education, 858 268-9200.

Sunday, January 29—Don Harrison leads a tour of Jewish Old Town, meeting at 1:30 p.m. at the Robinson-Rose House on the Plaza.  For details or reservations, please call Don at (619) 265 0808.  This meeting previously had been scheduled January 22, but was changed to encourage LRS members to attend the all-day January 22

Wednesday, February 8—Don Harrison tells the La Jolla Newcomers about Louis Rose and the Society named for him at an 11:30 a.m. luncheon at Sbicca. in Del Mar. For details or reservations, please call Brenda Schneider at 858 488-7595.

Sunday, February 26—Rick Kamen leads a botanical tour of Rose Canyon.  For details or reservations, please call Don Harrison at 619 265-0808.

Volunteer Opportunities with the Louis Rose Society
We have projects ranging in complexity from data entry (for our newspaper archive project, and keeping up our membership information)  to helping us plan future events.  We also would greatly appreciate help from volunteer graphic artists, fundraisers, and history researchers, to name just a few categories.  If you have time to donate, and are interested in deepening your knowledge of San Diego's Jewish community, please call Don Harrison at 619 265-0808, or email him at sdheritage@cox.net.

Archive Rotation
Up to now, we have focused on our earliest archives, indexing newspapers through June 13, 1952, and putting the stories contained therein on the pages of our LRS honorees as applicable.  We will now turn to more recent newspaper archives, specifically those of the San Diego Jewish Press-Heritage for its final two years of existence, 2002-2003.  The reason for this is to make information about the broad range of our honorees more quickly available than we could by simply indexing in strict chronological order.

Louis Rose's 200th Birthday—Although it doesn't come for 15 months,  planning already is underway for a series of events celebrating Louis Rose's 200th birthday on March 24, 2007. We are exploring a concert, lecture series and an exhibit in his honor.  Do you have some ideas you'd like to share?  We'd really like to hear them!  Again, contact Don Harrison at 619 265-0808 or sdheritage@cox.net