December 2009

From December 6-15, a group of California legislators are experiencing Israel, all for the first time. They are traveling with The Jewish Federation on a special trip that includes meetings with advisors to the Prime Minister, Members of Knesset, academics, journalists and others; visits to the Desalination Plant in Ashkelon, the biggest in the world, and an Israeli company that is developing utility-scale solar power plants; briefings in security issues by IDF officers; visits to Christian, Armenian and Jewish quarters of Jerusalem and meeting with leaders of each community, and visits to several successful programs funded by the Federation, Each legislator will share observations on their experiences.

Observations of Senator Curren D. Price, Jr.

The Los Angeles Jewish Federation did an excellent job of showing the story of how Israel came to be, the magnificent example of what Israel has become, and why we must stand by Israel a friend and ally with shared values as it seeks peaceful coexistence with its neighbors.

We admired the diversity of Israel at Rogozin School in Tel Aviv, where most students were the children of recent immigrants in a country made of many immigrants already.   Israel has since its inception in 1948, with open arms, taken in over 800,000 refugees and immigrants from Europe, North Africa, Iran, the former Soviet Union and the Arabian peninsula.

I was moved by the ancient walls of Jerusalem (including the “Kotel” or Western Wall of the Second Temple) and the ruins of Capernum and churches in Bethlehem and Nazareth.

From the the Ayalon Institute of Rehovoth to Masada, you are surrounded by thousands of years of history of peoples seeking freedom and sanctuary for their faith.

I also found Israel to be a world leader in technology and conservation.  

We toured cutting edge waste management plants, a landfill being turned into a park near Ben Gurion Airport and water desalinization plants that have turned Israel’s desert hills into flowering centers of agriculture, even as they conserve water.  

I was also struck by how little room for error there is for Israel’s security, when Israel is less than 9 miles wide at its narrowest point. I saw first-hand how rockets from Gaza militants affected the innocent civilians in Sderot and the importance of security from Hezbollah attacks along the border near the Golan Heights, the Kibbutzim of north Israel and the ancient Christian sites near the Galilee.

Visiting Yad Vashem, the national Holocaust memorial museum, drove home the point that we can never let another Holocaust occur again.

I understand now more than ever the role of Israel not only for the Jewish people, but for people all of faiths.  Further, the experience emphasized the desire of Israel, as a pluralistic Jewish state, to find a way to live in a secure peace next to a Palestinian state equally committed to peace.

This trip broadened my perspective.  I want to thank the Jewish Public Affairs Committee and the Los Angeles Jewish Federation for making this trip possible and allowing me to experience the hospitality of the Israeli people.

Curren D. Price, Jr.
State Senator
26th District

{ 0 comments }

[ed. note: We mourn the passing of Ed Sanders, former Federation chairman of the board. May his memory always be a blessing.]
Soon after completing his officer’s training in Georgia, but before he was shipped overseas during World War II, Edward Sanders received word that he was being sent down to Camp Fannin, Texas—a seemingly random assignment, yet one that would change the course of his life forever. It was there, in the small town of Tyler, Texas, that he first met and later fell in love with his wife, Rose Eisen. The problem was, it would be another two years before he returned from France, where he was stationed guarding a POW camp. But there was never any question in Ed’s mind: if he made it out of Europe alive, there’d be a wedding when he came home. When the war ended, Ed returned to Rose and plans for the wedding picked up steam, even though they both realized he’d been away a lot longer than they’d known each other. It might have been a gamble, but looking back on it now, as the couple approaches their 62nd wedding anniversary, Ed says of all his accomplishments, which have been both numerous and impressive, the fact that they’ve been together so long is the one he’s most grateful for. “And I am proud,” he says, “of our children, Susan and Michael, and our four grandchildren.” Ed says Rose has always been a major role model for him, especially when it comes to his interest in Judaism and the Jewish community. “I often refer to myself as a convert,” Ed says with a chuckle, “because it was my wife who was first deeply committed to the religion and the culture, not me. She got me going to services, and I discovered I liked them.” Ed’s synagogue experiences soon led to a greater interest in the Jewish community, and in the early 1960s, some years after the couple had settled in Los Angeles, he began to get involved with the Federation. At the time, Ed was working as a lawyer, and Larry Irell, a partner at his fir m, invited him to a Federation dinner. “I remember saying to Larry, ‘I can’t afford this! I was giving $25 at the time and the dinner was two or three times that. I had a young family and was just building a practice, so I didn’t really become active until our children went away to school.”

[Read more…]

{ 0 comments }

At just 26-years-old Seun Adebiyi is one of the most driven individuals you will ever meet. Seun has achieved nearly every life goal he has set for himself. He has a couple big ones left and sadly not a lot of time.

A Nigerian Yale Law School graduate, Seun was diagnosed with leukemia while training for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games last year. Now his goal is to register 10,000 people as bone marrow donors with DKMS, the largest bone marrow donor center in the world. His mission is to not only save his own life, but to save thousands of others, like himself in need of a life-saving transplant.

Download a kit @ www.dkmsamericas.org.

[Read more…]

{ 0 comments }

From December 6-15, a group of California legislators are experiencing Israel, all for the first time. They are traveling with The Jewish Federation on a special trip that includes meetings with advisors to the Prime Minister, Members of Knesset, academics, journalists and others; visits to the Desalination Plant in Ashkelon, the biggest in the world, and an Israeli company that is developing utility-scale solar power plants; briefings in security issues by IDF officers; visits to Christian, Armenian and Jewish quarters of Jerusalem and meeting with leaders of each community, and visits to several successful programs funded by the Federation, Each legislator will share observations on their experiences.

Observations of Senator Roy Ashburn

State legislators visiting Israel for the first time have been provided with a cordial and generous welcome to a complex country. Israeli people are warm and friendly and I’ve quickly learned have come from all parts of the world. Israel may be small in size, but she is huge in world significance as the central site of the great religions of the earth.

While we in America struggle with the issue of immigration, Israel is a showplace of immigrants with both amazing success and astounding challenges. This was no more clearly evident than at Rogozin School in Tel Aviv where children of very poor, recently arrived immigrants offer a visual of the spectrum of ethnic origins. Smiles, songs, and hopefulness filled the concrete courtyard of the school – and we could sense hopefulness, even in despair. [Read more…]

{ 0 comments }