Mass Entrance to

Celebrate Exodus

Russian community activist Si Frumkin reports that this year's Russian-language seders at Etz Jacob Congregation in Los Angeles were well-attended -- with 335 people attending the first night and 328 on the second night. Cantor Svetlana Portnyanskaya roused people to dance to "Hava Nagila." And Frumkin lead the services reading from the Russian haggadah, as well as excerpts from a variety of texts, including a speech by Albert Einstein and notes from a 15-year-old girl who was murdered at Auschwitz.

The Passover program could not have been pulled off without the support of sponsors Hillside Memorial Park and Cemetery, Midway Hospital, Stephen S. Wise Temple and The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles.

"The event was a success," Frumkin told the Circuit. "We hope to find a place for 1,000 people next year."

Let's Do Lunch,

Bruce Karatz.

Mr. Mayor!

Kaufman & Broad Chairman and CEO Bruce Karatz will discuss job marketplace hiring strategies and contemporary employer-employee relations at the Third Annual Jewish Vocational Service (JVS) Strictly Business Lunch on May 9. The luncheon will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Hotel Le Meridien in Beverly Hills. CNN's Jim Moret will emcee. Scheduled speakers include Mayor Richard Riordan and Andrea Van de Kamp, West Coast chairman of Sotheby's and CEO of the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County. Four Employees of the Year who changed their careers with the assistance of JVS will be honored at this year's event. Gap, Inc., which hired 75 JVS clients in 1999, will be named Corporate Citizen of the Year.

The L.A.-based Kaufman & Broad Home Corporation is one of the largest homebuilders in America.

For more information on the JVS Strictly Business Lunch, call Karen at (323) 761-8888, ext. 105.

Instead of Getting Him

Another Tie...

On June 11 -- the Sunday before Father's Day -- the Sixth Decade Council of The Guardians of the Jewish Home for the Aging will sponsor a Father's Day brunch fundraiser at the home. The event will benefit the home and include entertainment and gifts. For more information, contact the Guardians at (310) 479-2468 or e-mail guardians@earthlink.net.

Examining Schools of

Thought on the Holocaust

Starting on Wed., May 17, Holocaust expert Dr. Michael Berenbaum will explore some of the controversies circulating in the field of Holocaust studies and how they are affecting Holocaust scholarship. "The failure to bomb Auschwitz" and "the Americanization of the Holocaust" are among the scheduled topics of discussion during the four sessions, to run in May and June at the University of Judaism. For three years, Berenbaum has served as president and chief executive officer of the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. He is best known as the conceptual developer of museums who oversaw the creation of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. For more information, call (310) 476-9777, ext. 246.

Top, standing from left: Dallas Price, Julie Knapp, Judy Knapp and Vicki Martin; seated from left: Kathy Turner, "Sweet Alice" Harris and Donna Brown Guillaume.

Soboroff and the

Sensational Six

Six "remarkable women who have shown compassion, commitment and leadership in both their public and private lives" will be the year 2000 honorees of Big Sisters of Los Angeles' "Making Friends" gala on May 9 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The honorees -- Dallas P. Price, vice president of American Golf Corp.; Kathy Turner, managing director of Korn Ferry International; "Sweet Alice" Harris, founder of Parents of Watts; Judy Knapp, president of Knapp Industries; and Julie Knapp, designer of Jules Leather Apparel -- will all be presented with Leadership Awards by the Professional Associates of Big Sisters of Los Angeles. Mayoral candidate Steven Soboroff will serve as honorary dinner chair. All proceeds raised at the gala will benefit the nonprofit host organization. For more information on tickets, call (310) 553-9007.