February 28, 2008
Briefs: Seeds of Peace extends past Summer; BBYO offers cash incentive for summer camps
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The Jewish Federation of Los Angeles is engaged in a similar partnership with the Foundation for Jewish Camping and is independently offering camperships to first-time campers."We are confident that BBYO's year-round Teen Connection programming coupled with an invaluable summer experience will leave a lasting and positive imprint on the Western U.S.," said Jerry Silverman, president of the Foundation for Jewish Camping.
For more information visit www.jewishcamping.org/JWest, or call BBYO's JWest Project Manager Stefanie Szlamkowicz at (702)366-6591. For information on the Federation's camperships, contact campgrants@jewishla.org or call (323) 761-8333.
Donation Allows Library to Expand Its Shelves
The Jewish Community Library of Los Angeles, a department of the Bureau of Jewish Education, has much cause to celebrate. On the afternoon of March 2, the library will offer a birthday tribute to the late Ezra Jack Keats -- born Jacob Ezra Katz -- award winning author of "The Snowy Day" and "Peter's Chair." Guests are encouraged to bring a favorite Keats book.
Librarygoers can also look forward to a wider selection of books, music and film thanks to a $50,000 grant from the Goldie D. Ivener Charitable Trust. The library currently offers more than 30,000 books, movies, and music.
"We are grateful for this gift, which will have great impact, enabling the library to acquire more Jewish literature, Jewish music and film that every single member of the community is able to check out and use," said David Nimmer, Jewish Community Library chair.
Goldie D. Ivener, a former psychiatric social worker, artist, poet and philanthropist, created the trust to support a library in Israel and a program for women in the sciences and mathematics, said trustee Adele Zaslow.
For more information visit, http://www.jclla.org.
Young Judaea's Alternative Winter Break
For many students, winter break is a time for skiing, relaxing and hanging out with friends, but for a group of 40 Young Judaea participants, winter break was a time for community service and outreach. From Dec. 23-30, 2007, the Alternative Winter Break program, in conjunction with the Jewish Funds For Justice, thrust a group of teens into an intense community service environment where they spent five- to seven-hour days on various projects to reach their goal of 25 community service hours.
Students helped urban revitalization, environmental awareness and restoration working with three Los Angeles-based organizations -- L.A. Family Housing, L.A. Neighborhood Services and L.A. Eco-Village.
However, the Alternative Winter Break was not all work. The teens planned parties, interacted with other teens at L.A. Family Housing, reached out to neighborhood residents to teach them disaster preparedness through L.A. Neighborhood Services, as well as learned about the environment at the Shalom Institute's Israel Discovery Garden and L.A. Eco-Village. The trip culminated with a Shabbat dinner, reflection and relaxation session.
"Over the past few days at the L.A. Family Housing, I can solemnly say that I walked out the door leaving something behind. Whether it be the gifts given and received or perhaps just well-deserved attention directed toward the families and children," said Sean McDonald in his Alternative Winter Break reflections notes.
For more information visit, www.youngjudaea.org.
Diller Teen Fellows Connect With Israel
Sixteen 11th-grade students were chosen throughout Southern California to participate in the annual Diller Teen Fellows program. Founded in 1998, Diller Teen Fellows remain connected to Jewish communities worldwide through development of community service skills in the United States and Israel. During the year-long program, participants engage in weekend workshops, Shabbaton retreats, a three-week seminar in Israel, group and community service projects.
Among the high schools chosen were Milken Community High School, Agoura, Harvard-Westlake, YULA, Santa Monica, Marlborough, Arcadia, Windward, Chadwick, El Camino Real, Chaminade Prep and New Community Jewish High School.
The diverse teen leaders were chosen from a pool of more than 100 applicants throughout Los Angeles. For two months, from January to February, the fellows connected with teen leaders from Tel Aviv to explore and strengthen their leadership skills, Jewish identity and understanding of social justice.
For more information visit, http://www.jewishla.org/Diller_Teen_Program.cfm.
Bureau of Jewish Education Awards Deserving Educators
The Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Los Angeles awarded 13 educators and administrators for excellence in Jewish education on Oct. 24, 2007. Schools are encouraged to nominate teachers and administrators who are then observed by Bureau staff and awarded various monetary prizes.
Four Los Angeles area teachers were given Jewish Educator Awards along with a $15,000 cash prize by the Milken Family Foundation. The Lainer award, which provides an unrestricted $2,500 prize went to three teachers: Rocki DeGroot of Temple Isaiah, Alisa Fisher of Pressman Academy and Jo Karnofsky of Temple Kol Tikvah.
Three Early Childhood winners, who have taught from two to four years received $500. Winners included Sari Abrams of Pressman Academy, Michelle Princenthal of Temple Adat Elohim and Randee Norwood of Stephen S. Wise Temple, while two Smotrich Family Foundation award winners, Katherine Mueller of Congregation Tikvat Jacob and Samantha Pearline of Temple Beth Hillel were awarded $1,000, and the schools of which they are a part received an additional $500.
For more award information visit http://bjela.org/page.html?ArticleID=82466.
Briefs compiled by Celia Soudry, Contributing Writer
Milken High Gets More Scientific
Four ninth- and 10th-grade Milken Community High School students were chosen as winners of the Excellence in Science Awards, presented by the American Technion Society, Dec. 17, 2007. The awards banquet, which took place at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, honored students who displayed exceptional perseverance and innovation in science research topics. Technion-Israel Institute of Technology's professor Daniel Weihs was one presenter who spoke on the topic of "The Next Generation of Robotic Warriors-Micro and Nano Flying Vehicles."
Winning project topics included, "How Does Cigarette Smoke Affect the Growth and Development of Plants?" "Is Tooth Decay Increased by Soft Drinks?" "Does Side Dominance of Hands Match Fhat of Feet, Eyes and Ears?" "Is That Dominance Hereditary?" and "Wind Resistance Placed on Supertall Skyscrapers."
The American Technion Society, ranked among the world's leading science and technology universities, has teamed up with Milken to incorporate an added science component in the high school curriculum while promoting closer ties with Israel on campus.
For more information about the American Technion Society call, (323) 857-5575 or visit www.ats.org.
-- CS
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