Faces

Happy birthday, Lillian

Lillian Jankelson celebrated her centennial birthday last week with her two daughters, Suzanne Gerson and Louise Rosenberg. Gerson said they were surrounded by "a huge array of flowers — a bower" and munched a special cake while Lillian enjoyed greetings via phone and mail. The 100-year-old, who still lives in her own apartment in San Mateo, was born in Cleveland and moved to Los Angeles in the 1920s with her parents, then to San Francisco when she married Stanford graduate Marvin Jankelson. She began studying interior design at age 45 and worked in the field until retiring 50 years later, at age 85. Her work won awards and was featured in shows, decorator workshops and the magazine House Beautiful. She has five granddaughters and six great-grandchildren.




Music to help musicians

Cantor Rita Glassman of Congregation Sherith Israel in San Francisco was scheduled to perform a song she wrote called "Don't Give Up" this week at a benefit for New Orleans musicians, with pianist Dave Miotke accompanying her. Glassman notes that when asked to participate, she was thrilled to do so — as long as it was after the High Holy Days. The benefit was sponsored by a new nonprofit, Don't Stop the Music, that can be found at http://www.dontstopthemusic.org.




Challah, honey — and a candle

Worshippers at San Rafael's Congregation Rodef Sholom sanctuary service almost added a "Happy Birthday" chorus to the liturgy on Yom Kippur day. Corey Zipperstein, who led the service (which is held in addition to the clergy-led service at the nearby Marin County Civic Center auditorium), was celebrating his birthday. Hope he broke his fast with birthday cake. Mazel tov to Corey, Meredith Kahn and Joanne Green who put together a beautiful, wonderfully spiritual service.




Merit scholars and community relations

The 4-year-old Kehillah Jewish High School in Palo Alto announced that seniors Daniel Fisher, Sam Rosenblum and Eli Young are semifinalists in the 2006 National Merit Scholarship Program. They are among the top 1 percent of the state's high school seniors. Senior Ryan Wessels was named a Commended Student in the National Merit Scholarship Program and was presented with a letter of commendation by Rabbi Reuven Greenvald, the head of school.




Kehilla (without the 'h')

Berkeley's Kehilla Community Synagogue gets an A+ in community relations. When this reporter called their phone number listing from the 2005 "Resource," the kind person who answered the phone explained that the number had been changed — and he provided the new one!




Short shorts

Dorie Rosenberg of San Rafael reports that her son Josh Rosenberg is a radio talk show host at Mighty 1090, a sports station in San Diego. At 24, he's the station's youngest on-air talent ... Henry Shreibman will give more than 30 students in his comparative religion class at Dominican University an up-close-and-personal taste of Judaism when they join him for Shabbat dinner in his home this weekend ... Rebecca Bassin is joining the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation as director of leadership development ... "Solidarity's Secret" by Berkeley writer Shana Penn won the 2005 Best Book Award in Slavic Studies/Women's Studies from the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, Women's Studies Division.




Correction

In the Oct. 14 Faces, the location of Temple Sinai was stated incorrectly. The temple is located in Oakland. Faces regrets the error.




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).