Shorts: Bay Area

Jewish panel on capital punishment precedes execution

A panel discussion on the Jewish perspective on capital punishment will take place Monday evening, Dec. 12 at Congregation Kol Shofar in Tiburon.

The discussion is planned to coincide with the execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, which is scheduled to take place later that night.

Speakers include Rabbi Lavey Derby of Congregation Kol Shofar; Rabbi Alan Lew of Makor Or; Dr. Lola Vollen from the Life After Exoneration Program; Nina Rivkind, an attorney; Carole Hyman, Jewish chaplain at San Quentin State Prison; JT Gottlieb, a former San Quentin inmate and Gary Sirbu, an attorney.

The panel is sponsored by Progressive Jewish Alliance, Kol Shofar, Congregation Rodef Sholom of San Rafael and the Osher Marin Jewish Community Center in San Rafael. The discussion begins at 8 p.m. and participants are encouraged to carpool to San Quentin to join the vigil afterwards, should the execution take place one minute after midnight on Dec. 13.




South Bay conference takes on mental health

Tackling the sensitive subject of mental illness and the Jewish community, several local Jewish organizations are coming together to present a free one-day conference called "Yehi Or: Shining a Light on Mental Health/Mental Illness, Building a Caring Community."

The daylong series of lectures and workshops runs from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11 at Congregation Beth Am, 26790 Arastradero Road, Los Altos Hills.

Among the topics to be discussed are "When Kids Need Help," "Senior Moments, Senior Needs," "Coping When Someone You Love is in Pain" and "Coping When You are in Pain."

Speakers include Rabbi Richard Address, Union for Reform Judaism; Saul Wasserman, a South Bay psychiatrist; Rabbi Eric Weiss, Bay Area Jewish Healing Center; Anita Friedman, executive director of the S.F.-based Jewish Family and Children's Services; and Rabbi Janet Marder, senior spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Am.

In addition to Beth Am Women, sponsors include Bay Area Jewish Healing Center (a program of the Institute on Aging) and S.F.-based Jewish Family and Children's Services, in cooperation with the Department of Jewish Family Concerns of the Union for Reform Judaism.

For more information, call (650) 493-4661, email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or go online to www.jewishhealingcenter.org/mentalhealth.htm.




Centenarian refugee honored in East Bay

Jewish Family and Children's Services of the East Bay has honored Holocaust refugee Lucy Marx, 100, of Claremont and her late husband William Marx, dedicating the agency's new Holocaust Survivor Services office in their name.

The dedication was scheduled to take place Thursday, Dec. 8 at JFCS/East Bay's Center for Older Adult Services in Albany. Marx was to be there with her daughter Doris and other East Bay survivors.

Marx and her husband fled Germany in 1938 after he spent 10 days in Dachau. The couple settled in the Bay Area where he was a volunteer for many agencies, including the U.N. Information Office in Berkeley, the Department of Aging and B'nai Brith.

"With Holocaust survivors aging and their numbers diminishing, it is more important than ever that they have a place to feel connected," said Rita Clancy, JFCS/East Bay's coordinator for Holocaust Survivor Services.