 |
Birthday Cake, Anyone?
If you weren’t lucky enough to experience Israel's 60th birthday in Israel this year, come to the next best thing: Israel in the Gardens. The Sunday, June 1 event at Yerba Buena Gardens closely resembles the actual Israeli celebration, featuring all-day music, ethnic food, entertainment and fun for all ages.
New features have been added to this year's festivities:
- "A Taste of the Best of Israel," a fascinating interactive exhibit and comprehensive display of 60 years of Israeli achievement, including:
- Elaborate mind games from the Weizmann Institute of Science
- A Lego irrigation project demonstrating how Israelis make the desert bloom
- A replica of Israel's Independence Scroll inviting visitors to add their signatures to those of David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir – and to suggest improvements!
- Exhibitions that challenge participants to:
- Design aid missions to the world's needy
- Join arts and crafts workshops spotlighting Israel's multicultural society
- Compete in a game of Israeli Trivial Pursuit incorporating the exhibit's information
- Silent auction of Israel @ 60 birthday cakes baked by celebrity chefs, benefiting Operation Atzmaut, a project that helps Ethiopian-Israeli families in Sderot move towards greater self-sufficiency and integration into Israeli society. Sderot is a town on the Israel-Gaza border that has suffered from incessant missile attacks over the past seven years.
Other attractions for the day include:
- Main music headliner – The Idan Raichel Project, ethnically diverse Israeli band that blends Biblical psalms, Ethiopian melodies, Yemenite chants and Sephardic-North African-Mediterranean sounds with cutting edge production techniques.
- Shuk-style open air market, creating an authentic Israeli atmosphere, offering Israeli jewelry, art and crafts
- Teen Zone
- Mini Israeli film festival
- Children's interpretation of Israel @ 60 through music, dance, theatre, posters
- Israeli fashion show
- And, of course, flavorful temptations of both traditional Israeli and Mediterranean food and American-Jewish favorites
Bring your family and friends and join us from 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. at Yerba Buena Gardens for the largest Israel Independence Day celebration and Jewish cultural event in the Bay Area. Sponsored by the Federation's Israel Center. www.israelinthegardens.org
|
 |
Have You Inscribed Your Page in History?
The Jewish Community Endowment Fund has just published volume two of The Book of Life, featuring personal messages to future generations from members of the Endowment Fund's Living Legacy Society.
The Book of Life recognizes the foresight and generosity of the members of the Living Legacy Society, individuals who have established a permanent fund within the JCEF, either during their lifetimes or through their wills, to help ensure Jewish continuity from generation to generation.
Permanent gifts are the seeds that signers plant for the future, providing income for immediate use while the fund is preserved and grows. These gifts in perpetuity will help ensure that no matter what happens in the world, our community will have the resources it needs to sustain and enrich the lives of future generations, enabling our community to meet the challenges of the 21st century with Jewish values and traditions that are unshakable and deeply instilled.
Grants from these sources reach out to Jews struggling with poverty, aging and discrimination. They help launch new programs in Jewish education and culture. They respond to emergencies of every kind and provide key support for new building projects in our community.
The Book of Life is displayed prominently in the lobby of the Jewish Community Federation building at 121 Steuart Street in San Francisco. It is an ever-growing record of names and family stories – a collective portrait of our community and testament to chai, the unbroken chain of life for our people.
Everyone, regardless of means or walk of life, can be a member of the Living Legacy Society and sign The Book of Life. By giving form and substance to their dreams, each in his or her own way, these donors are enabling our community to meet the challenges of the 21st century with Jewish values and traditions that are unshakable and deeply instilled.
If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when? - Hillel
|
 |
Campaign Update with the Traegers: Giving with a Mission
We are back from the Israel @ 60 Mission, which took place April 30 through May 8. The Mission was the largest this community has ever sent to Israel, and was a unique opportunity to know Israel through three separate tracks – business, arts, and history. While participants chose a track for their focus, they were still able to sample a little of each aspect of Israel. All of us felt transformed by the experience.
The Mission also encompassed the week of Holocaust Day, Memorial Day and Independence Day. Being in Israel made the observances especially meaningful. Memorial Day in Israel is a much more personal experience: a somber day shared by everyone around you – all of whom have been personally touched by struggle and loss. The transition to the joy and unbridled celebration of Independence Day is at once startling and wonderful.
Although the decision was made by the Mission organizing committee not to solicit gifts from participants, we are very pleased to say that several participants felt moved by the experience to make a gift to the Federation.
Our campaign is now at $24.3 million, and we are moving ever closer to the $27.5 million we will need this year to provide funding for all the programs and services we support. In Israel, we had a chance to see some of the valuable and strategic programs there that we help make possible. And we must remember the many lives in the Bay Area and elsewhere that we touch with our gifts.
If you have given your gift this year, our deepest thanks. If you haven’t, we need your help now, before our 2008 Campaign ends on June 30!
B’Shalom!
|
 |
Federation Launches its own Blog
With an announcement on incoming CEO Daniel Sokatch, the Federation's blog launched last month, dishing to its readers insider news on our staff, events, and projects.
The blog was met with the most success during the recent Israel@60 Mission, when over 500 readers a day stopped by to catch the latest stories written by Mission participants, peruse photographs of Israel, and watch videos of trip participant San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.
A number of new writers from across the Federation have recently been recruited, so we are soon expecting to hear updates from the perspective of the Early Childhood Education Initiative, the Women's Alliance, the Israel Center, and more. Additional writers, especially those from our communities of volunteers and agencies are more than welcome to join our team.
To see what the buzz is about, come visit our blog at:
sfjcf.wordpress.com
You can also subscribe to our RSS feed at:
sfjcf.wordpress.com/feed
|
 |
Celebrate the Contemporary Jewish Museum's New Home
The Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM) will open its new Daniel Libeskind-designed building in downtown San Francisco on Sunday, June 8, 2008. The 63,000-square-foot facility will provide a home for dynamic exhibitions and programs that explore contemporary perspectives on Jewish culture, history, art, and ideas.
The Jewish Community Federation’s Endowment Fund is proud to have provided the initial funding to the Contemporary Jewish Museum beginning with its founding in 1984 when it was located at the Jewish Community Federation’s San Francisco building. Funding has continued since that time to the present day with contributions towards the construction of the Museum’s new home and its other programmatic activities.
Visitors who attend opening day (Click here to reserve your FREE ticket) will have the opportunity to enjoy lively music performances, family-friendly hands-on activities, and will be able to view the museum's new exhibitions:
- In the Beginning: Artists Respond to Genesis
- From the New Yorker to Shrek: The Art of William Steig
- John Zorn Presents the Aleph-bet Sound Project
Those eager for a sneak peak are invited to attend DAWN, an ALL-night cultural arts festival and celebration of the Jewish holiday Shavuot taking place at the CJM the night before the opening. Both the Federation's Young Adults Division and Israel Center TZAVTA division are community partners of this event.
To learn more about the museum and the DAWN celebration, please visit www.thecjm.org and www.dawn2008.org
|
 |
Other Events
Tuesday, May 27, 2008, 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Delancey Street, 600 Embarcadero, San Francisco (map)
Join the Women's Alliance for the installation of the incoming board, the Rookie of the Year Awards, a special opportunity to hear from Lisa Gurwitch, and Incoming Executive Director of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund. More...
Tuesday, May 27, 2008, 7:00 p.m.
Congregation Beth Am - Social Hall, 26790 Arastradero Road, Los Altos (map)
Please join us for a festive and elegant evening of honoring our valuable community leaders and volunteers. More...
Wednesday, May 28, 2008, 6:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Momo's, 760 Second Street, San Francisco (map)
BLC invites you to blend business with cocktails. Expand your network, find employees and new career opportunities and connect with other business professionals who share Jewish values. And, perhaps you'll get a little business done too. More...
Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th Street, San Francisco (map)
The San Francisco International Arts Festival presents a dance performance piece about a couple and the way they choose to live their lives. They live so close to each other; they easily unite into one person, but almost without looking. Shared bill with Dance Elixir. More...
Monday, June 2, 2008, 6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Jewish Community High School of the Bay, 1835 Ellis Street, San Francisco (map)
The Jewish Community Federation's Early Childhood Education Initiative is ready to present its findings on novel approaches and ideas for community-wide standards for Bay Area Early Childhood Jewish Education. More...
Thursday, June 5, 2008, 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
JCCSF, 3200 California Street, San Francisco (map)
Presentation of the Awards of Excellence, Dinkelspiel Award, and Helen Diller Family Awards for Excellence in Jewish Education; election of new and continuing Board members; honoring staff and lay leaders for their service; and welcoming the Federation’s new CEO. More...
Friday, June 6, 2008, 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Crossroads Cafe, 699 Delancey St., San Francisco (map)
Meet other new moms and dads, receive your complimentary Chai Baby gift box and learn more about the community. More...
Sunday, June 8, 2008, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Foster City, Mill Valley, Palo Alto, San Francisco
All are invited to come honor the accomplishments of our teen philanthropists as they announce their 2008 grant awards. All students entering 9th through 11th grades and their families are also encouraged to attend to learn what the Teen Foundations are all about! More... |
|
|
 |
