who’s in town

Polish leaders

help launch

heritage project

The directors of three Polish cultural institutions were slated to meet this week with local Jewish leaders to describe their efforts to celebrate and revitalize Jewish life in their homeland.

The trio was scheduled to meet Thursday, Nov. 6 with Jewish community leaders in San Francisco and give a presentation Friday, Nov. 7 to an advisory board of the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture.

Founded by local philanthropist and Krakow native Tad Taube, the foundation is helping to fund the visitors' projects in Poland as part of a newly launched Polish Jewish Heritage Program.

The visitors from Poland were Janusz Makuch, founding director of Krakow's Jewish Cultural Festival; Joachim Russek, founding director of Krakow's Center for Jewish Culture; and Feliks Tych, director of Warsaw's Jewish Historical Institute.

The Taube foundation also hopes to co-sponsor Polish summer study tours for American students and inaugurate an exchange of art and historical exhibits between the two countries.

"Our program will build bridges between our shared past in Europe and a future that sustains Jewish life in America. At the same time, our life-affirming direction honors the memory of those who perished as well as those who survived the Holocaust," said Taube.

Also scheduled to attend this week's events were Krystyna Tokarska-Biernacik, the Polish consul general in Los Angeles, and Rabbi Michael Schudrich, a representative of the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation.

NIF head to speak

at Los Gatos service

Peter Edelman, president of the New Israel Fund, will speak at Congregation Shir Hadash in Los Gatos during Shabbat services at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14.

NIF is a philanthropy that promotes democracy and civil rights in Israel. A professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center, Edelman is also director of a clinic focusing on poverty policy in Washington, D.C.

Edelman will speak on the subject of "Israeli Children: Providing what God Requires and What Children Need."

Local entertainer Diana Shmiana will also present Jewish tales from Mizrahi and Sephardi communities, for the children. Non-synagogue members are welcome.

Shir Hadash is at 16555 Shannon Rd. Information: (408) 358-1753.