They spoke Hebrew, Russian, Californian and New York. They wore black hats and sun hats, long dresses and short shorts. They noshed on falafel and chicken kabobs. And they sang, swayed and shvitzed in the 88-degree heat.
It wasn’t the Old City or even Fairfax Avenue. But on Sunday, Palo Alto’s California Avenue was suddenly a Jewish neighborhood, teeming with folks of all ages from Sacramento to Monterey, from Seattle to Tel Aviv.
With more than 100 booths, four stages, a multitude of food vendors and crowds filling three long blocks and several side streets, the third annual “To Life! A Jewish Street Festival,” a project of New Bridges to Jewish Community, was clearly a success.
Organizers claim it has become the largest single-day Jewish event in Northern California, drawing such entertainers as RebbeSoul, Neshama Carlebach, Adama and Vocolot. This year about 7,000 to 8,000 fairgoers filled the streets, according to Palo Alto police estimates.
Said at least one bystander, “I didn’t think there were this many Jews in the area.”
Carol Saal, who helped organize New Bridges to reach out to unconnected Jews, said the fair has “really exceeded all our expectations. We started out with maybe 30 agencies and programs. Now people are coming from all over.”
In fact, people from “all over” were checking out synagogue booths, and Mike Welch, wearing a long gray wig and dressed as Moses, was handing out necklaces and luring bystanders to the Promised Land of the future — the Albert L. Schultz Jewish Community Center in Palo Alto’s Jewish community campus.
Wendy Bernstein Lash, executive director of New Bridges, was also “very, very pleased. We’ve added cooking demonstrations, beefed up the kids’ area, increased the entertainment and there are more sponsors.”
She was particularly thrilled at the strong attendance at the cooking demonstrations, where six chefs demonstrated dishes from vegetable paella made with Israeli couscous to Moroccan cigars made with phyllo dough.
Louise Fiszer, Bulletin food columnist, put together a spinach salad garnished with pomegranate seeds. Demonstrating how to section a pomegranate and release the seeds, she said, “Wear red or black clothing because this stains.”
Not far from the cooking demonstration, hungry fairgoers lined up at Holy Land’s falafel and hummus booth, one of the most popular attractions.
Also drawing crowds was Yosef Yekutiel’s Yova Caps International, purveying goods from exotic kippot made in Uzbekistan to colorful tablecloths made in India, where the Israeli-born L.A. resident has a shop. With kippot starting at about $5 and challah covers at $15, the items were clearly bargains and the crowds were buying. In fact, sales at Yekutiel’s booth as well as at Holy Land were still going strong even after the fair ended at 6 p.m.
However, many of the artists selling more higher-priced goods, particularly paintings, said there were more spectators than buyers — perhaps a factor of the unseasonable heat or the recession. In addition, attendance was down from last year’s estimates at 10,000 to 15,000.
“It’s slow, very slow,” said Sulin Bell, a silk artist from Willits. “You don’t see many people walking around with bags. People are more interested in enjoying a nice Sunday afternoon than in purchasing.”
Others, including Valerie Jonas who represents Kakadu, an Israeli company that crafts objects for the home in hand-painted wood, said sales were good and that “people were having fun, except for the heat.”
At the far end of the street, Yair Moore and Ruth Finkelstein from Israel were showing the designs of Israeli painters, jewelry makers and other artisans. Unfortunately more than 80 percent of the works from Israel slated for the fair were not unloaded in San Francisco because of the dock strike and were taken to Japan. But like Bell, Moore and Finkelstein were trying to keep their spirits up.
Upbeat attitudes abounded in the children’s area, where kids created “stained-glass” windows with colored tissue paper, decorated plastic Kiddush cups and crafted Stars of David in clay.
On the children’s stage — one of four at the fair — the KlezKids from Seattle, a group of young singers, accompanied by musicians of all ages, performed in Hebrew, Yiddish and English, doing songs from “Tumbalalaika” to an upbeat version of “Oseh Shalom.”
A young boy wearing a “To Life!” cap and T-shirt that read “Seattle” in Hebrew stood in the front row of the chorus twisting his face and his lips but not singing.
“Maybe next year, he’ll sing,” said Wendy Marcus, director of the group, which was making its first road trip. The experience, she added, was “an unmitigated blast.” The group slept on the floor of Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills. “Last night was a symphony of snores.”
Later, watching the children’s choir from the South Peninsula Hebrew Day School sing “Dona Dona” in Hebrew and English, Israelis Danny Lustiger and Ludi Sani said they enjoyed seeing a broad show of Israeli and Jewish culture — and food.
“It’s good when your whole community is all in one place. It’s a very warm feeling,” said Lustiger, a Cupertino resident from Tel Aviv.
Karen Briskin, attending with her husband, Charles Briskin, the assistant rabbi at Beth Am, also enjoyed the feeling of community. Last year, when she attended for the first time, she and her husband had just moved to Redwood City and knew fewer people. “It seems less crowded,” she said, adding that she was able to have conversations with people she bumped into.
Charles Briskin said there was an element of fear at last year’s fair, because of the situation in Israel. This year, “I don’t hear any concerns about fear. It’s more about support for people in Israel.”
Like the Briskins, Lisa Joffe of San Jose saw the fair as an opportunity to connect with the community. “My husband and I moved to the area three years ago from the East Coast, so it’s nice to get out and be involved,” she said. “I go to a lot of fairs and festivals. Here it’s diverse. It’s not the same jewelry booth after jewelry booth.”
Ariel Dagan, who came from Massachusetts to display his Judaica ties, was pleased with the turnout — and his sales. He pointed out that his handcrafted silk ties, at $35, are relative bargains.
“Why do I do this? Because I’m trying to get people to feel good about their heritage.”