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The best job ever

Marc Klein touted the joys of retirement at an evening reception in his honor at the Contemporary Jewish Museum last week. “The best job I’ve ever had is the one I have right now — retirement is wonderful, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,” he quipped.

Paying tribute to the j. editor who retired in September after nearly 28 years at the helm of the newspaper were more than 100 Jewish community leaders, many of whom (like me) had wrangled with him over the years (with love, of course) for coverage of their varying events in the newspaper.

Looking and sounding relaxed and happy, Klein lauded his replacement, Sue Fishkoff, noting “No one could hope for someone better than Sue” to replace him.

Fishkoff made some brief comments, among other things asking the assembled to submit op-ed pieces and story ideas to j. Also, Dan Leemon, president of the j. board, read a proclamation from San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee to Klein in honor of his service to the community.

 

Kosher Thai — in Petaluma?

The B’nai Israel Jewish Center in Petaluma threw an almost last-minute dinner to raise money for the victims of the floods in Thailand. The event was put together in 10 days, unlike the usual fundraiser that takes months, reported Rabbi Ted Feldman, and raised $5,000 from 130 participants.

“I don’t think any synagogue kitchen, unless in Bangkok, has seen eight Thai people cooking a kosher meal,” he noted.

The rabbi’s wife, Ben, is from Thailand and has family living there. It was her family that alerted the Feldmans about the numbers of residents fleeing their homes due to the floods and helped implement food distribution to the victims.

 

 

Hillel’s new house

Bonnie Slavitt Moore told a crowd gathered to celebrate the grand opening of the new Hillel of Silicon Valley last month that “Hillel gave me my Jewish identity.” She attended the University of Wisconsin.

Slavitt Moore, president of the Hillel of Silicon Valley board, was among a number of dignitaries and community leaders who spoke at the grand opening. Alan Werba, chair of the capital campaign, acknowledged the philanthropic leadership of Eli Reinhard and unveiled a dedication plaque in honor of Reinhard’s parents, Elizabeth and Isidor Reinhard, and his uncle, Samuel Reinhard.

The new Hillel house serves students from San Jose State University, Santa Clara University and three community colleges: De Anza, Foothill and West Valley.

 

Short shorts ...

Lisa Fernandez writes that Temple Beth Abraham in Oakland is hosting a concert “featuring our congregants as the rock stars” to raise funds for the music program at the synagogue’s preschool, the Gan. Among the rockers are Cantor Jennie Chabon, Cantor Richard Kaplan, Ben Bernstein, Denise Davis, Jonathan Ring, Alicia Von Kugelgen and the temple’s Rabbi Mark Bloom singing “never-heard-before originals.”… Ira Krakhman of San Francisco was awarded a graduate fellowship at the Hornstein Professional Leadership Program at Brandeis University. Originally from Odessa, Ukraine, Krakhman lived in Israel for a year before moving to San Francisco and serving as the Jewish Agency emissary to the Bay Area Russian Jewish community … One of the “top 3 tweets of the day” from the Jewish Federation of North America’s General Assembly was this one, from UpStart Bay Area’s CEO and founder Toby Rubin: “Today we utilize & need the tapas approach to the Jewish community as opposed to the cholent approach.”

 

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