Circuit

Email | Print | Text - Text +

September 18, 2008

Nessah Young Professionals party like Paris Hilton; New VP for Masorti women

By Danielle Berrin

Nessah Israel Young Professional members at Area nightclub. Photo by Nejati Photography

Nessah Israel Young Professional members
at Area nightclub. Photo by Nejati Photography

Nessah Young Professionals Party Like Paris Hilton

Dubbed the "Glamour Summer Night," the Nessah Young Professionals' Aug. 26 annual gala drew more than 600 local Iranian Jewish young professionals and college students to the Area nightclub in West Hollywood, where they danced the night away to live music while also raising money on behalf of the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF).

Funds generated by the event this year were set aside for the creation of a mobile recreation facility -- a place to relax, socialize, exercise and check their e-mail -- for Israeli commandos, who aren't given enough time off from assignments along the Israel-Lebanon border to visit permanent FIDF recreational facilities.

"It is so very meaningful and heartwarming to realize that although we live in Beverly Hills, we are still able to have fun, mingle and raise enough money to build a mobile club for our brothers and sisters who are defending and protecting our homeland in Israel," said Simon Etehad, head of the young professionals group based out of Nessah Synagogue in Beverly Hills. "Some of those Israeli soldiers have just completed high school and are not even old enough to drink."

As in years past, the fundraiser's ultra-hip venue was donated by SBE Entertainment, which is owned by Iranian Jewish hotel and nightclub entrepreneur Sam Nazarian.

Nessah Young Professionals members said the recreational facility in Israel will also be dedicated in memory of Daniel Levian, a local Iranian Jew in his 20s who died last month in an automobile accident. In past years, the young professionals group has raised funds for other FIDF projects, including the LEGACY Program, which provides all-expenses-paid trips to attend summer camp in the United States for bar and bat mitzvah-age children who had a family member killed in action.

-- Karmel Melamed, Contributing Writer



Brandes' 'Quarrel' Opens Off-Broadway

Pico-Robertson playwright/producer David Brandes has turned his 1991 film "The Quarrel" into an off-Broadway play.

Co-authored by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, "The Quarrel" tells the story of two estranged friends -- a pious rabbi and a secular writer -- who reconnect in an accidental meeting after years of being separated by betrayal and war. What ensues is "a fierce battle of wits and a raw test of friendship, faith and tolerance," according to publicity materials.

The play opened last week at the DR2 Theatre in New York, where it will run through Sept. 28.



New Veep for Women's Masorti Movement

ALTTEXTTobie Rosenberg is in line to become vice president of the Women's League for Conservative Judaism. Among her many leadership positions in the Jewish community, Rosenberg has served on the board of directors of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and Valley Beth Shalom, as well as on the International Board and Torah Fund Cabinet of the Women's League.

Rosenberg will be installed at the 2008 biennial convention on Nov. 9 in Dearborn, Mich.

Founded in 1918, the Women's League is the umbrella organization overseeing 600 affiliated women's groups in Conservative/Masorti synagogues in the country.



ADL Reunion Brings Together Scattered Graduates

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reunited 100 graduates from its Glass Leadership Institute, a program established 10 years ago that grooms young professionals for leadership in the ADL. The purpose of the event was to reconnect graduates with the ADL, some of who have gone on to leadership positions within the organization and others who have become lay leaders in other areas of the Jewish community.

Each year, 20 to 25 young professionals in their late 20s to early 40s are nominated to the 10-month institute (formerly known as the Salvin Leadership Institute), which provides education on hate crimes, terrorism, Holocaust education and Israel advocacy. The institute has become a significant talent pool for the ADL, giving rise to new generations of lay leaders.

Current ADL regional board chair Nicole Muchnik is a graduate of the program, along with board officer Seth Gerber and former regional chair Murray Levin.

The ADL is currently accepting nominations for next year's class. For more information, call (310) 446-4243 or visit http://www.adl.org.



Tags and Sharing

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Share This Story

del.icio.us Favicondel.icio.us Digg FaviconDigg Facebook FaviconFacebook Google Bookmarks FaviconGoogle Bookmarks Reddit FaviconReddit StumbleUpon FaviconStumbleUpon Technorati FaviconTechnorati YahooMyWeb FaviconYahooMyWeb

Email
Tell a friend about this story by email

Discussion

We welcome your feedback. Please share your views and insight in The Jewish Journal Reader Forums.

Privacy Policy

Your information will not be shared or sold without your consent. Get all the details.

Related


Featured Stories

Tommywood
Wild about Diamond

David Wild wants you to know that he is an unabashed Neil Diamond fan. So much so that he has written a book titled, "He Is ... I Say: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Neil Diamond"

Bar & Bat Mitzvahs
Centenarian celebrates fourth bar mitzvah

"If my mother was here, she'd probably be saying, 'Dayenu, enough already,'" said Dr. Eugene Gettelman, who turned 100 in June. "She'd think I was meshugge for having a fourth bar mitzvah."

Israel
Discovery of King David-era fort stirs debate on size of kingdom

Some scholars argue that David's Jerusalem was merely a backwater village glorified into a mythical place by those they say penned the Bible centuries later. Others suggest that true to its biblical description, it was a genuine power overseeing a strong and united kingdom. The discovery of what is being called the Elah Fortress has quickly been used to reinforce the latter argument.

Cartoons
Yes, we can! No, you can't!

Television
Doing Jews right on TV—for better or worse

The Jewish character has become the American Jewish character, disassociated from an ethnic history and assimilated into American culture. And the assimilation hasn't only been for Jews.

U.S.
Shoah group halts talks with Mormons on posthumous baptism of Jews

At a news conference Monday, leaders of the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants, seated in front of panels listing names of Holocaust victims they say were baptized by the Mormons, said that 14 years of quiet negotiations have proven fruitless.

Religion
Agriprocessors closed—now where’s the beef?

The kosher meat market is in a tailspin as production at the Agriprocessors' meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, which had been operating at a fraction of its normal capacity since May, finally ground to a halt this week. The company, whose meat was sold under the labels

Los Angeles
Perfect storm for charities— contributions go down and requests go up

No one has gone unscathed by the convulsions of the global economy. Even the wealthy are losing money -- and if they cut their charitable giving, it is likely to ripple across the Jewish nonprofit sector

Torah Portion
Marriage is a Jewish issue

Parshat Chayei Sarah (Genesis 23:1-25:18) God is present when two people commit their lives to each other and become one family.

Calendar
Annie Leibovitz, Ed Asner, Shelly Berman, Lainie Kazan and Elliot Gould

Singles
True confessions of an online dating addict #16: Marathon date with Jeremy

Opinion
A Moderate Proposal

The start of the event was running late -- did I mention it was a Jewish event? -- and midway through our green room conversation, Hitchens pulled out a small bottle of Johnnie Walker Black. He emptied it into a 16-ounce clear-plastic cup and drizzled in some Crystal Geyser

Films
Survey Says:  Fewer Americans think Jews control Hollywood

The majority of Americans no longer believe that Jews control Hollywood. This is the news from a new poll released by the Anti-Defamation League that also suggests there remains a widespread conviction that there is an organized campaign by Hollywood and the national media to undermine religious values.

Music
Up-and-comer Dudamel takes on the Israel Philharmonic

Dudamel, who will be 28 when he replaces Esa-Pekka Salonen as music director of the L.A. Philharmonic next year, considers Leonard Bernstein a role model.