Photos: Israel in the Gardens 2009

On June 7, 2009, the Jewish Community Federation, in conjunction with 1000s of its friends, celebrated Israeli and Jewish culture at Israel in the Gardens in San Francisco.  I brought my camera along to document the day.  Below are a few of my favorites.  If you would like to see more, be sure to visit: http://sfjcf.smugmug.com/IsraelCenter/805570

Entry into the Tel Aviv Jaffa Orange Project.

Boy enjoying the Circus School Acrobats.

Teens from the Tzofim Friendship Caravan.

Children's artwork from the Bechol Lashon kids craft area.

61 doves.

Hanging out at the Yavneh Day School table.

Ronit Jacobs, the amazing woman who has been running Israel in the Gardens for the past four years.

The Jews Got Talent finalists waiting on stage to find out who won the competition and the trip to Israel.

The crowd enjoying Ivri Lider in concert.

Co-workers Angela and Zach kickin' it in the Federation booth.

Remember, there are many more photos of the Gardens at:
http://sfjcf.smugmug.com/IsraelCenter/805570

If you took photos or videos at the event, we would love to see your shots as well.  Please post a comment with the link to your gallery.

I can’t wait for Israel in the Gardens this Sunday!

Headliner Ivri Lider

Shalom!

Israel in the Gardens is coming up this Sunday! On June 7, 2009, over 20,000 people will gather at Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco to celebrate Israel and Tel Aviv at 100 and we can’t wait to see you there!

This year we truly outdid ourselves and there is something for everyone to do, see, taste, enjoy, and dance to.

Below you will find the Top 10 event highlights that we are most excited about.  You can also get the complete schedule for the day and more at www.israelinthegardens.org.

Lastly, we’ve already updated our Facebook and Twitter statuses to read “I can’t wait for Israel in the Gardens this Sunday!”  Please help us spread the word by doing the same.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Lehitra’ot,

The Israel Center

Top 10 Israel in the Gardens highlights:

10.  Cheering for the Jewish Got Talent contestants as they compete in the grand finale.

9.  Flirting at the Bay Area Singles Havurah meet-up.

8.  Making music, tumbling around, and working on crafts in the kids area.

7.  Chillin’ with the Israeli Scouts Friendship Caravan and Unpopable at the Teen Zone.

6. Buying a Tel Aviv Jaffa Orange art piece and shopping at the shuk.

5.  Participating in the Flash Mob.  Wait, were we supposed to tell you about that?  Guess you’ll find out what we are up to at 1:30 p.m.

4.  Dancing the night away at the Tzavta After Party.

3.  Watching new Israeli films at Contemporary Tel Aviv Short Films Festival taking place inside the Contemporary Jewish Museum.  Admission is FREE.

2.  Enjoying a FREE concert by this year’s musical headliner Ivri Lider!  If you aren’t already a fan, get acquainted with his music at: www.ivrilider.com

1. Celebrating Jewish culture, Israel’s 61st anniversary and the Tel Aviv centennial with 20,000 friends!

No date yet for Israel in the Gardens? No problem…

…join other Bay Area singles at Israel in the Gardens!

About a year and a half ago, the Bay Area Jewish Singles Havurah Meetup group started hosting monthly Shabbat dinners.  The  group quickly grew in popularity, drawing in those who had a hard time meeting other Jewish singles.

This Sunday, meeting Jewish singles should be easy.  The Havurah is organizing four separate meet-ups at Israel in the Gardens.  All singles around ages 35-50 are welcome to join them at one or all of the events.  They are hosting tours of the Contemporary Jewish Museum (sold out),  getting together for a picnic lunch, watching the concerts together, and dancing at the after party.

To learn more and to get involved, please check out:

• The j. weekly article:
  “Connecting up: Events for singles means double the fun”
• The event page for the Havurah at the Gardens
• The Bay Area Jewish Singles Havurah Meetup group

Follow us on Twitter: @JewishBayArea

In following the footsteps of Oprah Winfrey, Ashton Kutcher, and the millions of people that got there before them, the San Francisco based Jewish Community Federation is now on Twitter.

You can follow us at:
@JewishBayArea
http://twitter.com/JewishBayArea

A few of our other internal programs are also on board with accounts of their own:

@IsraelCenter
@ECE_Initiative
@IsraelinGardens

As for other local Twitterers, we highly recommend:

@jewishsf - The j. weekly
@sfJbay – News & events pertinent to the Bay Area Jewish community

And for other Jews to follow, check out the “JTA’s 100 Most Influential Jewish Twitterers.” The article covers the most influential Jewish individuals, organizations, and news wires.

If you know of anyone else our community should be following, be sure to leave a comment below.

Tel Aviv from Sand to Rock

For the past week, the Israel Center and the band YaRock have been on tour, bringing remixed Tel Aviv music to the Bay Area.  Their program, consisting of classics from by Naomi Shemer and Shlomo Artzi, as well as modern hits from bands like HaDag Nahash, has received a warm welcome and dancing crowds.

The “Tel Aviv from Sand to Rock” tour has one final stop, a FREE concert at Stanford.  All are welcome to attend.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009 – 7:30 pm
Stanford University
Dinkelspiel Auditorium – map
www.israelinthebay.org/sandtorock.htm

Day of Remembrance

From darkness into light, that is our journey this week. In one seven day period the commemoration of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust remembrance day) to Yom HaZikaron (commemoration of the Israeli soldiers who have fallen so that Israel may stand strong), to Yom HaAtzma’ut (Israeli Independence Day). How blessed we are to live in this time where we can reflect and celebrate life in such an intense way. It is because of those who are no longer here, that we have life, community, and the land of Israel. It is because we remember, and never forget, that lives that are no longer are blessings in our midst. It is because so many died that we as a people still live.

Close your eyes, can you hear it?

The rapid staccato of machine gun fire.
The deafening sound of an air raid siren.
The piercing scream of an incoming missile.

In honor of Israel’s fallen soldiers.

This April 28th at 11:00 a.m. we, the Women’s Alliance, in partnership with United Jewish Communities, invite you to observe 2 minutes of much needed silence.

Silence in commemoration of Yom Hazikaron
Because words cannot express our gratitude.

Judith Goldkrand
Women’s Alliance President

Bay Area FSU émigrés take pilot leadership trip to Israel

A group of Former Soviet Union émigré young adults from the Bay Area recently visited a program in Israel aimed at engaging and assimilating immigrants much like themselves.

One of the highlights of their pilot leadership trip was a meeting with community leaders and educators for Bina B’Shchuna (Bina in the Neighborhood), a SF Federation supported project. One Bina program of particular interest to the group was Gvanim Olim, designed to engage immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in Israel with Jewish heritage and to help them integrate into Israeli society.

Participant Leon Kofman was impressed that the organizers of the program “really help new immigrants get acclimated in their new country and provide a nice environment where people with limited background in Hebrew language, culture and religion can gain better understanding without feeing ashamed by their lack of knowledge.”

Alex Rayter voiced what many of the participants felt about the value of the program to Israeli pluralism. “It is important,” he said, “that this organization allows Jews who are secular to learn about and come in touch with age old Jewish traditions and thought. It allows them to extract what they see as useful and beneficial to them and allows them to grow and develop as Jews, learn about their culture and people, without forcing them into a permanent lifestyle that is not a fit for them.”

The trip, organized by the Federation’s Israel Center in collaboration with JAFI and UJA Federation of NY, provided the group of 20 FSU émigrés from San Francisco and New York with an unforgettable nine days in Israel. If you are interested in hearing more about the trip or to learn about additional programs for Russian Jewish young adults, please contact Sasha Belinski, JAFI emissary for the FSU émigré community at the Israel Center, at 415.512.6285 or alexandrab@jafi.org.

From King Tut to Stem Cell Research: A Jewish Perspective

In the North Peninsula, a new study group is forming with five of the most dynamic Bay Area Jewish scholars at the helm. In this provocative series, partnered with Lehrhaus Judaica, participants will explore an eclectic collection of topics, from Israel’s foreign policy to cutting-edge explorations of genetic therapies to the golden age of Tutankhamun in the time of the Patriarchs. Each evening promises to be unique, as the group shares the pleasures of Jewish learning and build community with an all-star lineup.

The study group includes the four following sessions:

Thursday, March 26 – Then and Now: Egypt and Israel on the 30th Anniversary of the Peace Treaty

Akiva Tor, Consul General, State of Israel

In 1979, Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin signed the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty, making Egypt the first Arab nation to officially recognize the Jewish State. How was this diplomatic miracle achieved, and what are the implications and manifestations of this agreement today? Consul General Tor will re-visit this dramatic moment in time, and assess the current relationship as part of Israeli foreign policy.

Thursday, April 30 – Stem Cell Research: Exploring Future Prospects, Examining Perspectives from Jewish Tradition

Arnold Kreigstein, M.D., Ph.D., Director – Institute for Regeneration Medicine, University of California, San Francisco

Rabbi Dorothy Richman, Executive Director
– Berkeley Hillel Foundation

Regenerating injured tissues and organs might sounds like science fiction, but today, UCSF’s program in regeneration medicine is at the threshold of developing cell-based approaches and therapies to treat prevalent and chronic conditions including Parkinson’s Disease, Diabetes, cancer, heart disease and more. Dr. Kriegstein will outline the exciting potential of this research and share in dialog with Rabbi Richman regarding its implications from the perspective of Jewish values.

Wednesday, May 13 – F.D.R., The New Deal, and American Jews

Marc Dollinger, Ph.D, – The Rhoda and Richard Goldman Chair in Jewish Studies and Social Responsibility, San Francisco State University

Professor Dollinger will examine the rise of American Jews from the margins of society to the center of social welfare policy and debate. With Franklin D. Roosevelt’s election in 1932, Jewish social workers helped redefine the nature of poverty and crafted many of our nation’s most important social reform measures. With our nation confronting many of the same challenges today, we will have an opportunity to compare and contrast Jewish responses to poverty – then and now.

Wednesday, June 24 – The Golden Age of Tutankhamun: A Preview of the Landmark de Young Museum Exhibit

Jehon Grist, Ph.D, Executive Director – Lehrhaus Judaica

Discover the history and culture of Egypt’s 18th Dynasty, culminating in the nine year reign of the Boy King. Along the way, we’ll ask a number of intriguing questions, only recently answered by Egyptologists: who were Tut’s parents? Who was his wife and did he have children? Was he murdered? Our virtual tour of the exhibit will also introduce you to Tut’s empire in Canaan, the land that would later become Israel. Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs opens June 27, 2009 at the de Young Museum.

This program is a unique collaboration between Lehrhaus Judaica and the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties. It is made possible through the generous support of the Federation’s Jewish Community Endowment Fund.

Study groups will meet evenings from 7:00pm to 9:00pm in private homes in the North Peninsula area. The program tuition is $80 per person for all 4 sessions, which includes as course reader with introductions to each assignment. Participants will be asked to make a gift to the Jewish Community Federation 2009 Annual Campaign.

A similar 4-part study group will also be offered in the South Peninsula.

For further information, and to register, please contact Denise Ron
at (650) 349-1523 or northpen@sfjcf.org

Summary of all coverage at Agassi-Goldman BLC breakfast

If you didn’t get a chance to attend today’s Jewish Community Federation’s Business Leadership Council (BLC) breakfast at San Francisco’s Palace Hotel, or you didn’t take any notes, we’ve got a summary of Shai Agassi’s keynote speech, Richard N. Goldman receiving the Business Leadership award, and a few videos of the attendees, including Agassi and Goldman.

Richard N. Goldman and Shai Agassi

• VIDEO: What can the U.S. start up community learn from Israel?
• VIDEO: Israel meet Mayor Gavin Newsom. Mayor Gavin Newsom meet Israel.
• How to develop an oil independent transportation system, the Shai Agassi way
• VIDEO: President Bill Clinton unwittingly develops Better Place’s business model
• VIDEO: Richard N. Goldman wins first 2009 Business Leadership Award

Article author and interviewer David Spark (@dspark) is a veteran tech journalist and founder of Spark Media Solutions, a firm that helps companies build their industry voice through storytelling. His technology report, The Spark Minute, can be heard every day on Green 960 and 910 KNEW in San Francisco.

What can the U.S. start up community learn from Israel?

Today I met Pascal Levensohn, Manager and Founding Partner of Levensohn Venture Partners at the Jewish Community Federation’s Business Leadership Council (BLC) Breakfast at San Francisco’s Palace Hotel. Since Levensohn does so much VC work in both the Bay Area and Israel I asked him what can the start up community in the U.S. learn from Israel and vice versa.

Article author and interviewer David Spark (@dspark) is a veteran tech journalist and founder of Spark Media Solutions, a firm that helps companies build their industry voice through storytelling. His technology report, The Spark Minute, can be heard every day on Green 960 and 910 KNEW in San Francisco.