Faces

Worth the wait

Betty and Jacques Adler, Sue and Dick Wollack, Nancy and Joe Blum, Carla Emil, Jessica Lewin, Doris Blum and Mark and Donna Blum returned recently from the San Francisco-based Jewish Community Federation's Jewish Journeys of Discovery trip to Israel. While there, the group arrived a bit late for its scheduled lunch session with Imad Shaqur, close adviser to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Shaqur, graciously accepted the group's apology, replying, "That's OK. I've been waiting 57 years, I can wait a few more minutes."




A life of community service

Rabbi Michael Robinson will be honored for his lifelong dedication to human rights and service to the community with the 2005 Tikkun Olam Award, given by the Jewish Community Agency of Sonoma County. He'll be honored Sunday, May 15, at the Friedman Center in Santa Rosa. Sheila Katz Feiwell, Judi Rosenthal and Monica Bass chair the evening.

When they interviewed him about the award, Feiwell reports, they learned that Robinson took his first steps toward a commitment to civil rights as an 8-year-old, boarding a segregated bus in the South where he grew up. A young black child got on at the same time and went to the back — the only place blacks could sit in pre-integration days. Seeing the injustice, Robinson also sat in the back and continued to do so each time he rode a bus, until the laws changed. "I realized the the law of land wasn't holy," he told them, "and there must be a higher law to answer to."




Kudos and mazel tovs

East Bay Federation leader Claudia Felson is taking a national leadership role when she joins Betsy Fels Pottruck as a member of United Jewish Community's National Women's Philanthropy Board. Betsy has been named Board Membership Mentoring Chair for the 2006 campaign, where her job will include mentoring members of the Young Leadership Cabinet.

Time Magazine called Craig Newmark of San Francisco a "Wizard of the Local Web" when they named him to the 2005 list of the World's 100 Most Influential People in the category called Builders & Titans. He's the founder of Craigslist, the Internet site for just about everything, now in close to 100 cities.

Peninsula residents Harriet and Manny Friedman received the Ner Tamid Award of the Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School in Foster City. More than 400 supporters, including the Friedman family, helped raise more than $400,000 for the school. The president of the school is Kathy Williams, and Mervyn Danker is head of the school.

Maria Benet's poems have been selected for publication by Sixteen Rivers Press. The Greenbrae resident has also written profiles for Congregation Kol Shofar. ... Marin resident Rachel Naomi Remen, a doctor and author, was named to the Marin Women's Hall of Fame. ... Intel Chief Executive Officer Craig Barrett was awarded the first Technion-Israel Institute of Technology President's Award for Technological Innovation last week for his company's contribution to the advancement and development of computers and communications.




Suzan Berns, a freelance writer and publicist, welcomes your submissions of cute, poignant or informational anecdotes about you and your organizations at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).