Slain soldier had local connection

An Israeli soldier who was killed in a June 25 attack had a local connection.

Lt. Hanan Barak, 20, of Arad, was the boyfriend of Orit Gino, who spent last summer as an emissary at the Peninsula Jewish Community Center summer camp in Foster City. She told the Jerusalem Post that they had planned to marry.

Barak was killed when members of Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees used an underground tunnel to enter Israel and attack soldiers near the Kerem Shalom and Sufa border crossings. It was the same attack during which soldier Gilad Shalit was taken hostage.




Father of murdered soldier receives award

Michael Berg, whose son Nicholas Berg was beheaded in Iraq in May 2004, will receive the "hero of forgiveness" award at Dominican University in San Rafael in August.

Berg, who is Jewish, was asked how he felt when American military forces killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who caused his son's death. He responded, "He has a family who are reacting just as my family reacted when Nick was killed, and I feel bad for that."

Berg will receive the award 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 6 at Angelico Hall, Dominican University, San Rafael.

The event is sponsored by the Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance. Information: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).




Elite offers chance to win ticket to Israel

The Israeli chocolate company Elite has launched a contest in which participants are eligible to win a free round-trip ticket to Israel.

The "Elite and the Promised Land Adventure Contest" will run for five weeks, based on ads in j. that start with this issue. The ads will showcase a specific tourist or historical locale within Israel that participants must identify and write about.

Elite, which is now a part of the recently merged Strauss-Elite food conglomerate, also offers tours of its factory in Upper Nazareth. Tours may be arranged by emailing .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).




Teen's marathon run aids Israel

Elana Weil's time of two hours, 40 minutes in the recent Palos Verdes Half-Marathon wasn't bad, but her take for Israel was even better.

The 17-year-old from Burlingame raked in $4,280 from 40 different donors to benefit the Diller Teen Program's "Doing Good Well" project and Israel's Schneider Children's Medical Center.




JCC East Bay offers poetry workshop

The Jewish Community Center of the East Bay (formerly the Berkeley Richmond JCC) will present "Sisters of Song: A Summer Workshop for Emerging Poets," open to girls between the ages of 13 and 19.

Israeli poet Yosefa Raz, a former Israel Defense Forces soldier and current teacher of writing in the Bay Area, will lead the workshop.

The workshop takes place 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Aug. 14-18, with a culminating poetry reading to be held 1 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 20, at the JCC East Bay, 1414 Walnut St., Berkeley.

The fee is $50, with scholarships available. For more information, call (510) 848-0237 ext. 130 or go to www.brjcc.org.




Cycle across Israel with new trip

The Israel Ride, a tour company that packages cycling tours across Israel, is planning a new "Cradle of Humanity" trip in September that stretches from Achziv to Masada.

With national parks and archeological, historic, religious and ethnic sites on the itinerary, the tour destinations include the Sea of Galilee, Nazareth, Beit Shean, Caesarea, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

From there, cyclists head south to the Dead Sea and Masada.

The Israel Ride's 14-day "Cradle of Humanity" cycling tour begins Sept. 18. The package price is $2,375, with some discounts available. For information, go to www.tourdeisrael.com.




$100,000 prize for young humanitarians

Nominations for the Charles Bronfman Prize will begin Aug. 1 and will be accepted until Oct. 31.

The Charles Bronfman Prize celebrates the vision and talent of an individual or team under 50 years of age, whose humanitarian work has contributed significantly to the betterment of the world. Their achievements should exemplify the Jewish values and regard for humanity that provide inspiration to the next generations.

The prize awards the recipient $100,000; the next winner will be announced in the spring of 2007.

Two young visionaries have received the prize since its inception. In 2004, the inaugural award was given to Jay Feinberg, now 38, a leukemia survivor who founded and is the executive director of Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation.

Alon Tal was the 2005 recipient. He founded the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in 1996, which recruits students from throughout the Middle East to pursue graduate degrees in environmental studies.

Nomination forms may be found at www.TheCharlesBronfmanPrize.com.