Federation Partners Making a World of Difference in Haiti

Two years after the devastating earthquakes shook Haiti, Federation and it's partners are doing a world of good! More news after the break from our friends at JDC!

Israel and Rosa Parks

The late Rosa Parks is well-known to students of history. In 1955 in Montgomery, Parks, who was black, refused to obey a bus driver's order to give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. Her actions led to the famed Montgomery Bus Boycott.


Israel, as a story posted today on the Wall Street Journal website notes, is facing its own bus controversy over the segregation of women for religious reasons. The report, like other stories on the issue, includes a reference to Parks. "For years, Israeli women have been pressured into moving to the rear of public buses serving strictly religious Jews. Now, in confrontations reminiscent of the era of Rosa Parks, women are pushing back," the story begins. The bus controversy is a tough issue for Israel, a democracy that continues to seek a balance between influential ultra-religious forces and its progressive, liberal ideals. This is not the first such clash in Israel's history, nor will it likely be the last. Israel, like our own great nation, is an imperfect country that at times has to struggle and work through unpleasant and challenging issues.

Click here for the WSJ Story

Help a Teen Win $36,000!

Do you know an outstanding teenager in our community who deserves to be recognized?

Nominate a teen today for the Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards, which annually honor up to 5 teens who have demonstrated remarkable leadership and are actively engaged in projects which embody the values of tikkun olam (repairing the world). Each recipient is awarded $36,000 for their college education or to further their work to make our world a better place.

Nominations must be submitted by January 6, 2012.*

Help us celebrate the power of teens to change the world by honoring a special teen you know or encouraging a self-nomination. Watch the video below to learn more:

*Nominations submitted before December 31, 2011 will be entered into a drawing to win a $360 donation to a nonprofit of the nominator’s choice.

AWARD ELIGIBILITY: The award is open to Jewish teens who are residents of California and are ages 13-19 at the time of nomination. Teens’ projects can help either the Jewish community or the general community, so long as they have not been remunerated for their services. Teens may be nominated by any community member who knows the value of their project—exept family members—or may also nominate themselves. For more information visit our website or contact the Project Coordinator for the Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards, Rachel Bloom, at (415) 512-6437 or rachelb@sfjcf.org.



The Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards are generously funded by the Helen Diller Family Foundation

Content via http://sfjcf.wordpress.com/2011/12/16/teen-36000/

Show us your inner Maccabee this Chanukah!

Show us your inner Maccabee this Chanukah!


Chag Sameach from your Jewish Federation!

The Jewish Federation of San Diego Elects New Board Chair!

The Jewish Federation of San Diego County has announced the election of Claire Ellman as new Board Chair to lead the Board of Directors.

Ellman succeeds Jan Tuttleman, who served as Chair of the Federation Board from 2009 – 2011.

Ellman currently serves as a board member of the Jewish Community Foundation (JCF) of San Diego County, co-chair of the Marketing and Fund Development Committee of the JCF, member of JCF Philanthropy Committee, member of Jewish Women’s Foundation, member of Joint Federation-JFS Community Healing Center/Chaplaincy Task Force, and a member of Jewish Education Services Council (JESC).

Ellman is a past trustee of the UJC (now JFNA) and has served on the board as major gifts chair, an executive member of women’s philanthropy, Celebrate Seventy-Five Event Co-Chair, co-chair of the 2006 San Diego Israel Emergency campaign of Jewish Federation of San Diego.

Further, Ellman’s past positions have included President of San Diego Jewish Academy,

President of the Agency for Jewish Education, Vice President of UCSD Hillel, chair of the UJC Day school committee, Board and Executive member of JESNA, and founding chair of Lipmann Kanfer Institute for JESNA.

Ellman is a Wexner Fellow graduate and was a member of La Jolla High School governance committee.

Ellman is married to David and they have three children and three grandchildren.

The Federation is grateful to departing Board Chair Jan Tuttleman, and is thankful for her many years of service, dedication and commitment.

The Federation Embraces a Family

For the third year in a row, Federation staff have embraced a family through JFS’ holiday program. This year the staff raised hundreds of dollars and was able to help bring a smile to one very big, very deserving local military family. The children will each receive many toys and clothes, while the parents will be getting their wish list items too. While staff will never get to meet the family, and the family will never get to meet their “Santa,” it is safe to say that during the holiday season, giving feels even better than receiving.

The San Diego Jewish Journal Talks Jewish Genetics

Twenty percent. You probably think I’m alluding to the economy, right? No, I’m talking about Jewish genetics, and that 20 percent isn’t a social class — it’s the fraction of Ashkenazi Jews who are carriers of at least one of 19 preventable genetic diseases.

If you knew your future child might be born with a genetic disease you could have prevented, would you prevent it? If you knew they might not live beyond early childhood, or that their quality of life would be dismal, wouldn’t you take every step possible to make sure that didn’t happen? What if you were that one in five, a carrier of a potentially life-threatening disease? Wouldn’t you want to know? Knowledge is power, as they say, and this isn’t one area I’d like to live in blissful ignorance.

By Jessica Hanewinckel