Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "berkeley"

Young Jewish Professionals Shake the Lulav for Sukkot NextDor...and Then Save the Deli

2010-09-24T23:58:27Z

Sitting on the edge of wonder, it is time to build the sukkah and dine under the stars with the region's young Jewish professionals, leaders, community, family, and friends. It’s harvest time. In Sacramento, perhaps more than many cities or regions around the world, we can very much identify with the spirit of Sukkot.

Tomorrow evening, Friday, Sept. 24, join NextDor and PJ Library in Sacramento for a Shabbat Sukkot dinner together! We'll dine outside in the sukkah, learn about Sukkot traditions, shake a few lulavs, and read stories. PJ Library is even providing the food! This event is the evening before NextDor's own big Sukkot dinner, so take advantage of both chances to make friends and enjoy dinner under the sky.
PJ Library has also asked NextDor members to read stories for the kids (they will supply the books). Send your RSVPs and questions to SacramentoPJLibrary@live.com.

Both UC Davis JLSA (Jewish Law Student Association) and KI have additional Shabbat celebrations, including comedian Simon Kaufman at KI brought to you by Rabbi Kaufman and family.

On Saturday, NextDor unfolds its 3rd Annual Sukkot Extravaganza at a private home in East Sacramento on the edge of the Fab 40’s. There will be a havdallah and the traditional Sukkot blessings followed by a tasty potluck & lots of socializing under the beautifully decorated sukkah.

We request that each person bring a food dish or bottle of wine to share with the group. If you are interested in bringing a Sukkot-inspired dish, please check out http://itotd.com/articles/322/the-foods-of-sukkot/ for ideas. To receive the address of the event, please contact Patricia Leonard via email at patricialeonard@nextdor.org.

Lastly on Sunday, go Save the Deli! Have you read the book? If not, eat your way to deli heaven, and enjoy the manna falling from the skies, literally. That’s right, Congregation Beth Shalom is flying in deli and bakery from the likes of Katz’s in NYC and Cantor’s in L.A. for the 33rd Annual Sacramento Jewish Food Faire. And someone’s riding the 80 to hit up Saul’s in Berkeley. Head out to Carmichael between 9 a.m.-3 p.m. More details NextDor!
Blog NextDor about your favorite traditions or any of the experiences you host at your sukkah or activities from your synagogue. There’s a lot going on across the region.
And thanks for your support!
-Patricia Leonard, Co-Chair Education and Programs NextDor
-Jason Weiner, Co-Chair Membership
-Ryan Lewis, Vice-Chair NextDor
-Brian Fischer, Chair NextDor

Immigration and Native Americans in Film - Tuesday Evening at the Crest

2010-07-27T07:53:49Z

Immigration is obviously both a hot button topic and the hot potato of American politics. It's also the focus of three short documentaries that play at the Crest Theatre on Tuesday evening on the fifth day (of ten) of the 11th Annual Sacramento Film & Music Festival. Coincidentally, all three films were made by students at either Berkeley or Stanford and they complement each other to form a fascinating program.

"Iraq in the US" has a unique Sacramento connection, focusing on the lives of Iraqi refugees who have been relocated here to build new lives. "New American Soldier" tells the stories of several green card holders who joined the US military to become eligible for citizenship - complete with all of the hazards that entails. "Arpaio's America" investigates the policies of Sheriff Arpaio in Arizona who interpreted that state's Human Smuggling law to target the immigrants rather than the human traffickers. It also features Russel Pearce who authored the recent and highly controversial Arizona immigration law.

The three immigration documentaries are followed by an exclusive Sacramento screening of "Reel Injun" - a feature length documentary that examines how the Hollywood film industry has depicted Native Americans through the decades, including interviews with Jim Jarmusch, Adam Beach, Clint Eastwood and others.

The evening begins at 5pm with a complimentary dinner served by Rubios and the screenings begin at 6pm and 8pm. The double program of film, as well as the dinner, are covered by a single $10 ticket.

The full Festival schedule can be found at www.sacfilm.com/schedule.html.

Nobel Peace Prize nominee Mu Sochua visits Sacramento

2009-09-18T05:02:02Z

Mu Sochua had a request of her audience: "I ask you to please monitor [my] case, because it's very very likely that I will go to jail," the native Cambodian said in a speech in Sacramento.

The social worker and women's rights and democracy activist was a Nobel Peace Prize nominee in 2005.

About 40 people gathered Monday at noon in a conference room at the U.C. Center in Sacramento to hear Sochua speak. In the speech, presented by the World Affaris Council, she spoke about ending the sex trafficking of women and children, opposing land grabs and reforming the corrupt Cambodian court system.

Sochua came to Northern California in 1973. She earned a degree in psychology from San Francisco State and a master's in social work from the University of California at Berkeley in 1981. Before she could return to Cambodia, Sochua learned that her parents had been killed by the Khmer Rouge, the regime responsible for the deaths of more than a million Cambodians.

Sochua returned to Cambodia after 18 years of exile to help the government rebuild after the Khmer Rouge lost power. She is an outspoken member of Parliament, and spoke about her recent defamation lawsuit against Prime Minister Hun Sen of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).

"He said that I go around, grab men and take off my shirt," Sochua said. It's an insult that usually would not be challenged by a woman in a society rife with gender inequality, she explained, but added "that cannot be tolerated. The issue here is dignity."

"That situation was reverse, actually," Sochua said. "An official in the military who was campaigning for the ruling party assaulted me at the marketplace and my shirt came undone."

But before the prime minister could be brought to trial, he countersued Sochua's lawyer. "The Cambodian Bar Association put so much pressure on my lawyer that he would have been disbarred," Sochua said. "Then he left me without defense, apologized to the prime minister and joined the prime minister's party."

So Sochua defended herself in court.

In what she called a show trial in which no investigation was conducted, Sochua was found guilty of "speaking out," "speaking on behalf of women," "spreading disinformation" and "suing [the prime minister]," she said. After not paying a $4,000 fine and being stripped of her legislative immunity, Sochua, a member of Sam Rainsy, the leading opposition party, could face life imprisonment when she returns to Cambodia.

"That's why I'm going from place to place, talking to people like you," she said. In a recent meeting with Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, Sochua urged the United States to send a high level delegation to assess civil rights issues in Cambodia.

"If I were imprisoned, the situation would bring more attention to donors and the world community," Sochua said. "That is the symbol for struggle for justice, it will speak loud[est]."

Hers is not a poor country, Sochua said, citing Cambodia's natural resources and more than $1 billion of foreign aid per year. She pointed out that $53 million of that money comes from the United States. "It's just badly managed, losing about $500 million a year to corruption and a lack of political will."

Moderator Robert Cassinelli, on the board of the World Affairs Council, spoke of the importance of Sochua's speech. "I would like to thank Mu Sochua for illuminating something which is a [part of the] human condition: human rights and gender issues," he said.

A young Cambodian American asked what Cambodians in the United States can do to help reform the Cambodian justice system.

"I hope that you will take some action, because you can," Sochua said. "I would like you to go and write a letter to your legislators and ask your government, 'What are you doing in Cambodia?' "

Audience member Samedi Thach called for action. "I hope everybody listens to her and writes the letter she asks for and keeps tabs on her to make sure that she doesn't disappear and what she's fighting for doesn't go away.

"Instead of staying here and living the American Dream, like a lot of Cambodians, she's actually trying to make changes in Cambodia," added Thach, a 24-year-old Cambodian American living in Sacramento. "Knowing that she's going to go back to face 20-to-life, or assassination, it makes her message more powerful: She's willing to go back and be a martyr for the cause that she believes in."