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CHai-lights
JUNE/JULY, 2015
Pacific Community of Cultural Jews
Orange County, CA 562/592-0999
PacifComm@aol.com, http://www.pccjews.org
NASA ALERT!
MEMBERS ONLY, AN OUT OF THIS WORLD OPPORTUNITY TO
VISIT THE NASA MUSEUMS AT JPL WITH NASA SCIENTIST,
LAURA TANENBAUM ON JUNE 05th AT 10:30 AM.
IF YOU HAVEN'T CONTACTED BRYON BARON ALREADY, YOU MUST
DO SO IMMEDIATELY TO BE INCLUDED OR FOR DIRECTIONS TO
NASA/JPL IN PASADENA!
714/639-4906 bryonbaron@sbcglobal.net
END OF THE YEAR MEMBERSHIP PARTY!!!
JULY 11th, 1:00 - 4:00 PM
at
THE CLUBHOUSE
2414 VISTA DEL ORO, NEWPORT BCH
GREAT ENTERTAINMENT!
GREAT FOOD!
GREAT FUN!
RSVP BY JULY 2nd
714/639-4906 bryonbaron@sbcglobal.net
MAY 2015
PAGE 2
CHAI-LIGHTS
PRESIDENT'S
MESSAGE
Happy summer every one!
Friday, May 29, 7:30 PM
THE PHILOSOPHERS' CAFE
at the home of
Suzy & Bryon Baron
(see page 3)
Friday, June 5th, 10:30 AM
MEMBER'S ONLY, GUIDED TOUR OF
NASA/JPL
(see page 1)
Tuesday, June 25th, 7:30 PM
FILM CLUB
After a dry winter, a cool spring, what will summer bring? Whatever the weather I hope you all
enjoy your summer.
We will wind up our activities for the year with
our members only End of Year Luncheon on July
11th. I hope all of you will be able to attend.
Food and entertainment is always wonderful.
I want to thank everyone who helped with this
year's holidays and other programs. We've had a
lot of fun. Soon we will start planningfor next
year. I invite all members to pitch in and help on
at least one holiday or other monthly program.
We all breathe a little easier when the planning is
shared.
Leslie
at the home of
Shirley Spiegle
(see Page 3)
DID YOU KNOW?
Sunday, July 5th, 9:00 AM
BOWERS MUSEUM TRIP
(see Page 3)
Saturday,July 11th, 1:00-4:00 PM
END OF YEAR MEMBERSHIP PARTY
at the
CLUBHOUSE
(see Page 1)
Friday, July 17th, 7:30 PM
THE PHILOSOPHERS' CAFE
at the home of
Bernice Stein
(see page 3)
Tuesday, July 21st, 7:30 PM
Jacob Wertheimer, grandson of American boxing champion
Muhammad Ali, became a bar mitsve in 2012 at Rodeph
Shalom in Philadelphia. The young man is the son of
Khaliah Ali, the champ's daughter, and her husband
Spencer Wertheimer. "I was born and raised as a Muslim,"
the mother said. "But I'm not into organized religion. . . .
My husband is Jewish. No one put any pressure on Jacob
to believe one way or another. He chose this on his own
because he felt a kinship with Judaism and Jewish culture." Grandpa, she added, "was supportive in every way.
He followed everything and looked at the Torah very
closely. It meant a lot to Jacob that he was there." Ali,
raised as a Baptist, joined the Nation of Islam in 1964 and
later converted to Sunni Islam and then Sufism.
FILM CLUB
at the home of
Shirley Spiegle
(see Page 3)
"The theme of Jacob's presentation was inclusiveness and
a celebration of diversity." -Khaliah Ali-Wertheimer
MAY 2015
PAGE 3
CHAI-LIGHTS
THE PHILOSOPHERS' CAFE
(Our Friendly Discussion Group)
THE PHILOSOPHERS' CAFE
(Our Friendly Discussion Group)
Friday, May 29th at 7:30 PM
Friday, July 17th at 7:30 PM
At the home of
At the home of
Suzy & Bryon Baron
Bernice Stein
RSVP by May 27th
RSVP by July 14th
Bryonbaron@sbsglobal.net
JStein7901@aol.com
Guests $10.00
Guests $10.00
FILM CLUB
FILM CLUB
TUESDAY, JUNE 25th, 7:30 PM
TUESDAY, JULY 21st, 7:30 PM
"CHARIOTS OF FIRE"
"THE HORSE WHISPERER"
Chariots of Fire is a 1981 British historical
drama film. It tells the fact-based story of two
athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a
devout Scottish Christian who runs for the
glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English
Jew who runs to overcome prejudice.
The Horse Whisperer is a 1998 American
drama film directed by and starring Robert
Redford, based on the 1995 novel The Horse
Whisperer by Nicholas Evans. Redford plays
the title role, a talented trainer with a remarkable gift for understanding horses, who is hired
to help an injured teenager (played by Scarlett
Johansson) and her horse back to health following a tragic accident.
at the home of
Shirley Spiegel
at the home of
RSVP by June 18th
Shirley Spiegel
dbf443@hotmail.com
RSVP by July 15th
Guests $10.00
dbf443@hotmail.com
Guests $10.00
MAY 2015
CHAI-LIGHTS
PAGE 4
Erasmus Hall High School
by
Greta Singer
In the 50's when I was teen ager in Brooklyn, the place to go to school was
Erasmus Hall High School. The "old gray school" as it was called in the school song,
was really old and built of Gothic gray stones. Erasmus was the oldest high school in the
country and dated back to 1786 when it was a private school called Erasmus Hall
Academy. The old academy building sits in the middle of a pretty green campus surrounded by the school buildings. The entrances to the campus are called the Bedford
Arch and the Flatbush Arch and are arch-shaped openings to the campus on Bedford and
Flatbush Avenues. The auditorium, which is on the ground floor, just inside the Flatbush
Arch, is called the Chapel.
There were many traditions and names of things at Erasmus when I was there that
seem silly when you think about it. But we students in the 1950's didn't think about it; we
were good little Jewish children, happy to be at such a well respected school and we were
busy getting the education our parents expected of us. The Chapel was the place where
the Christmas concert was held. For weeks before the date of the concert, the anticipation
was high. Because there was only one performance and there were 6000 students in the
school, only those who were given a ticket by a teacher could attend. The auditorium had
about a thousand seats. Some kids couldn't care less about attending the concert; they
used the time as a way to leave school legitimately. But most of the "good" kids were dying to go. Teachers gave out the tickets as a reward for good work or just because they
liked you. I have said previously that this concert was full of Christmas music, well played
to be sure, much of it praising Jesus, and the students were 90 percent Jewish.
Then there was Studio D, somewhere in a turret of the oldest part of the building.
Nobody was quite sure where it was, but some kids had a class there. It remained a mystery to the people who never were assigned to that room for a course. Also, we had a
basketball team that was the top team in the city. When our team played a game away,
some students were invited to attend. I am not sure how I got a ticket to the "Madison
game" but it was a special event. We went on a school bus to Madison High School
somewhere else in Brooklyn and cheered like crazy for Johnnie Lee and the rest of the
team. He was a good player who didn't let basketball stand in the way of his attending
Yale and becoming an engineer.
The cheer leaders at our games were only boys in khakis and white sweaters with a big
E on their chests. I had the feeling that cheerleading was considered un-ladylike by the
faculty and girls were not permitted to join the squad.
I can't leave out the gym and Olympic sized pool in the basement of one of the buildings. On the staircase from the locker room to the girls' gym was an enormous scale. Was
it placed there so the girls could every day weigh themselves and feel ashamed or worried
if they were a few pounds more than the chart listed on the wall beside the scale? The
pool was where you had to pass a swim test in order to graduate. The story was circulated that non-swimmers got their friends who could swim to take the test for them. After
all, everyone looks the same in a drab, one piece tank suit. On the far wall of the pool
was painted in three food high letters: DO NOT EXPECTORATE!. We were happy to comply if only we knew what it was we were being told not to do.
(Continued on page 5)
MAY 2015
PAGE 5
CHAI-LIGHTS
(continued from page 4)
The teachers at Erasmus were varied. Some were quite old and had been there for
many years. Those were the people who kept up the traditions of the school, silly as some
of them were. There were also a number of very fine teachers who were inspiring and
taught us well. I think I had a good education there. The principal was Col. John F. McNeil,
an officer in the army. He was away for a few months at a time doing something military
and when he came back to school, he arrived in his full uniform with lots of medals on his
chest. He addressed us in the Chapel and we all stood and cheered. We, of course, were
not sure what we were cheering for. Other notable people have attended Erasmus. Barbra
Streisand was there after I was, and Neil Diamond about the same time as I. Bobby
Fisher, the chess Champion and Susan Haywood the movie star, as well as others from
Hollywood. I am sure our school can claim countless doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers
and others who had done well in their lives.
The graduation exercises were held outdoors on the green campus and were
quite large with 1200 or so graduates each year. In those days there was very little attrition
and most kids graduated, although there was a general diploma for the students who
weren't going on to college. Today at Erasmus, things are very different. The neighborhood
has changed and most of the Jewish families have left that area of Brooklyn. For a while,
Erasmus was considered a "tough" school and then it was split up into a few smaller
schools, a plan which is thought of now as better for high schools in poor areas of the
city. It makes me sad that the school that was impressed with itself when I was a student
there has become a school that had to be saved. I guess things are always changing in
the big city
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
Sharon & Larry Machtinger
Suzy & Bryon Baron
Alice & Bill Selfridge
6/02
6/24
6/27
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Greta Singer
Norma Kellam
Nancy Okamoto
6/06
6/18
6/20
Debbie Penley
Debbie Jacobowitz
Shirley Spiegel
7/13
7/25
7/29
MAY 2015
CHAI-LIGHTS
PAGE 6
RECIPE OF THE MONTH
THE CHAILIGHTS IS NOW FEATURING A COLUMN WITH A NEW RECIPE EACH
MONTH. IT WOULD BE DELIGHTFUL TO GET JEWISH ONES, BUT THIS IS NOT
LIMITED TO THOSE.
IF YOU HAVE ONE YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE, PLEASE SEND IT TO: ALICE SELFRIDGE AT
seflfridga@gmail.com.
______________________________________________________
This is a soup recipe from the book 'How to Cook Without a Book'
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 med onion, chopped
1 lb. veggies, cut into bite size pieces
1 lb. meat of choice
1 lb. diced potatoes or 2 cans beans or 4 oz noodles or 1/2 cup rice
1 cup crushed tomatoes
4 cups chicken broth
spices, herbs and/or flavouring of choice
Heat oil in a Dutch oven. Add onions, saute to soften, about 2 min. Add remaining veggies,
meat of choice, starch of choice, tomatoes, broth, and dried herbs/spices. Partially cover and
simmer until veggies are tender---about 20 min. Add fresh herbs, salt and pepper to taste.
Enjoy
Sima
WANT AN ELEGANT AND MEANINGFUL WAY TO COMMEMORATE AN EVENT OR
HONOR SOMEONE?
HOW ABOUT CONSIDERING MAKING A DONATION TO THE PACIFIC COMMUNITY
OF CULTURAL JEWS? WE WILL CERTAINLY PUT YOUR MONEY TO GOOD USE
AND WILL NOTIFY THE PARTY IN WHOSE HONOR YOU ARE DONATING THAT YOU
HAVE DONE SO. TO MAKE YOUR DONATION, SEND A NOTE THAT EXPLAINS FOR
WHAT/WHOM YOU ARE DONATING AND THEIR CONTACT DETAILS, ALONG WITH
YOUR CHECK, MADE OUT TO PACIFIC COMMUNITY OF CULTURAL JEWS.
ADDRESS IT TO: BRYON BARON, 1141 TULAROSA AVE. ORANGE, CA 92866
REMEMBER OUR ONGOING CANNED GOODS FOOD DRIVE!
Bring one can to each event so that we can reach at least
200 lbs!
donated this year!
MAY 2015
CHAI-LIGHTS
PAGE 7
Tikkun Olam - Ending World Hunger
(Nineth in the series)
by
William Selfridge & Lawrence Machtinger, M.D.
Tikkun olam, the Hebrew phrase which means "repairing the world" (or "healing the
world") is a dictate that forms a part of our Jewish tradition. We, as humanistic Jews, must
take some of the responsibility that results in depriving children of basic food stuffs to survive. The World Bank estimates that 2.2 billion people live on less than $2 a day, a common
measurement of deep deprivation1.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), global animal agriculture uses up about 1/3 of the earth's entire land surface area as pasture land and
land for growing animal feed2. According to the USDA, 80% of the agricultural land, more
than 1/2 the water and 1/3 of the petroleum consumed in the United States is used to raise
animals3. Producing meat, dairy, fish and eggs is extremely inefficient, requiring many
times the resources needed to grow a nutritionally equivalent volume of plant foods.
For every 100 calories fed to beef cattle, you get back <3% as boneless beef, i.e., for every
100 calories in, you get only 3 calories out! If people raised and ate plants directly, rather
than using millions of acres to grow crops to fatten chickens, pigs and cows, we would have
enough surplus grain to feed 4 billion additional people, which would eliminate world hunger. We could also allocate much of the land currently under cultivation for re-wilding and
reforestation, which would combat global warming and relieve pressure on wildlife. With billions of humans on the edge of starvation every day, this jaw-droppingly wasteful way of
feeding ourselves essentially amounts to taking food out of the mouths of hungry children.
In the industrial world in 2003, consumers ate more than twice the global average-as much
as 713 lbs. of farmed animal products-per person per year4. To meet the daily nutritional
needs of a rapidly expanding population, Western countries must reduce its reliance on animal products and shift to a more plant-based diet5. As humanistic Jews we have to recognize our obligation to humanity and our planet and do what is difficult but right to alleviate
the hunger so pervasive around the world.
AUTHORS: Dr. L Machtinger is a pathologist and an animal rights activist. W. Selfridge is a retired engineer (BS &
MBA) and a recently-awarded, MS in Nutrition and Health Education.
REFERENCES:
1
THE WORLD BANK-Working for a World Free of Poverty (2015), Poverty Overview
2
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2006) Livestock's long shadow
3
United States Agriculture Department (2003) U.S. Agriculture-Linking Consumers and Producers
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2009). FAOSTAT Statistical Database
5
The Humane Society International (2008) The Impact of Industrialized Animal Agriculture on World Hunger
4
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (
MAY 2015
PAGE 8
CHAI-LIGHTS
OFFICERS
President:
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer:
Membership:
Hospitality:
Program Coordinators:
Publicity:
2014-2015
Leslie Zwick
Lee Jacobi `
Sylvia Rothman
Bryon Baron
Alice Selfridge
Zishia Kerr
Suzy Baron
Nancy Okamoto
Diana Bunin
Jerlesz@verizon.net
LeeJacobi@earthlink.net
sobaysyl@aol.com
BryonBaron@sbcglobal.net
selfridga@gmail.com
zkerr@socal.rr.com
bryonbaron@sbcglobal.net
nanokamoto@Roadrunner.com
DBF331@hotmail.com
Committee and board positions:
SHJ Representative:
Board Members At Large:
Newsletter Editor
Lee Jacobi
Dan Goldberg
Greta Singer
Shirley Spiegel
Karen Knecht
Bernice Stein
LeeJacobi@earthlink.net
danandgreta86@yahoo.com
danandgreta86@yahoo.com
Shirl-B@SoCal.RR.com
Knechtfour@aol.com
ChaiLights4You@aol.com
Good & Welfare/Sunshine
Alice Selfridge:
Madrikha :
Karen Knecht
Knechtfour@aol.com
Web Master:
Bill Selfridge
selfriwp@gmail.com
.
selfridga@gmail.com
Chai-Lights is published monthly by the
Pacific Community of Cultural Jews, Orange County, CA
Phone:562/592-0999 E-mail: PacifComm@aol.com,
http://www.pccjews.org
An annual (hardcopy) subscription may be purchased for
$18.00. to cover printing and mailing
For an electronic copy, please provide your e-mail address
Editor: Bernice Stein ChaiLights4You@aol.com
Affiliated with The Society for Humanistic Judaism and
The Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations
Chai-Lights
21152 Lockhaven Circle
Huntington Beach, CA 92646