Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "hanukkah"

Casspi celebrates Hanukkah with community

2009-12-12T04:55:19Z

Sacramento Kings forward Omri Casspi scored a career-high 20 points Wednesday, grabbed eight rebounds and notched two assists. Thursday, he noshed and schmoozed with about 200 people at a Hanukkah party at Memorial Auditorium put on by the Jewish Federation of the Sacramento Region.

Casspi sat in the lobby for nearly an hour signing autographs, talking to fans and posing for photos. He also spoke of how he celebrates the Jewish holiday in Israel.

"I usually (celebrate it with) a small group of family, we get everybody to come together, light the candles, sing songs and pray together," he said. "Usually we do that all week (and) on the last night, we go to my grandparents' house, invite all the family and go out together."

Casspi said he misses his father, but is happy his mother, brother and sister could come to Sacramento to celebrate Hanukkah with him. "I'm not a religious person, but I love to pray to God and celebrate all the holidays," he said.

Casspi ranked sixth on www.NBA.com's rookie rankings this week and teammate Tyreke Evans ranked first. He sounded happy about his first season with the Kings.

"It's great we have a young team," he said. "It's (a) very talented (team) and throughout the season, we're only going to get better."

Thursday's celebration included another guest from Israel, Lior Suchard, who provided what he called "supernatural entertainment." His one-hour performance blended magic, comedy and reading the minds of audience members.

Aside from honoring In addition to Casspi, the Jewish Federation honored three generations of Jewish activists -- Lou Weintraub, Dr. E. Scott Rosenbloom and Brian Fischer -- for community service. A man dressed as Judah Maccabee, founder of Hanukkah, passed a ceremonial torch to each of the three men, who then spoke.

Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem after the Maccabees triumphed over the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BC. The first of eight nights of celebration began Friday at sundown with the lighting of the first candle on the Hanukkah menorah, or hanukkiyah.

"It was great fun. We came because we wanted to support the community," said Anne Eisenberg, 69, of Congregation B'nai Israel. "They honored good people (who) work for the community and deserve it. The community only works because of volunteers."

Eisenberg's husband, Hal, 70, said their Hanukkah celebration will be different this year because their children are in France. They mailed Hanukkah presents and potato latke (pancake) recipes to them and will chat online via Skype during the gift opening.

Mike Singer, 64, a member of Congregation Mosaic Law, said he enjoyed the celebration, adding that Suchard was an astonishing entertainer. The board president of the California State University, Sacramento/UC Davis Hillel House for Jewish students described his ideal Hanukkah present.

"We've already raised $3 million for a new UC Davis/Sac State Hillel House," he said. "What we need is $1 million more."

The fun continued late into the night with plenty of gelt (Hanukkah chocolates) to be eaten, dreidels (Hanukkah tops) to be spun and Hanukkah children's book to be read.

Photos by Anthony Bento of Anthonybento.com

Hanukkah welcomed by Governor Schwarzenegger

2009-12-11T21:07:34Z

Chabad's menorah lighting ceremony was held in the Rotunda and the east steps of the California State Capitol this morning. Today is the start of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights.

Several Jewish leaders spoke, children sang and presents were handed out. The Governor, and the people of California, were presented a Menoorah plaque from Rabbi Boruch Shlomo Cunin, Chabad of California. It was inscribed: "The tallest candle on the menorah is the one that serves to kindle others."

"As we light this menorah today I encourage all Californians to reflect on its message of light, hope and freedom and to share that message with others," Schwarzenegger said.

Here are some photos from the event:

SacPress Photos | Kati Garner

2009 Community-wide Chanukah Party Honors Three Generations of Community Leadership

2009-11-23T21:23:10Z

From the distinct smell of cooking Latkas (potato pancakes), the sound of the spinning dreidal against the hard wood floor, to the timeless visual of the burning of the Menorah candles, Chanukah provides us sensual imaginary that is forever emblazoned in our minds and memory.

Derived from the Hebrew verb "חנך", the literal translation of “Hanukkah” means “to dedicate,” celebrating the Jews regained control of Jerusalem and the rededication of the Temple.

This year, as we commemorate the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE, we must also remember our local commitment, our dedication to our local community.

Honoring three generations of community leadership, the 2009 Community-wide Chanukah party will highlight the “passing of the torch” as we honor Lou Weintraub, Skip Rosenbloom and Brian Fischer for their commitment and dedication to our Sacramento community. Through quiet leadership and unwavering vision, our three honorees have contributed to the Medical, Land Development and Business landscapes which have helped shape not only the Jewish Community, but the Sacramento Region as a whole.

Lou Weintraub was Brooklyn born and went to CCNY where he majored in Chemistry. This was depression time and jobs were hard to find in New York, so off he went 2,000 miles away to El Paso, Texas, for a job in synagogue administration which he held for four years.
Eventually he went back to school, to the University of Pennsylvania, where he received his Master’s, just in time to enter the Army. There he spent the next four years honing his skill as a Clinical Psychologist.

Utica, New York was his first post-war job where he spent two years working as a Jewish Federation Executive and went to San Francisco where he spent eight years as a community organization consultant to Jewish Community organizations in the ten Western states and Western Canada.

Next, he moved to the San Francisco Jewish Federation where he worked for the next 23 years and was its Chief Executive Officer upon retirement. He later started his own consulting firm Weintraub Associates, Inc., specializing in fund-raising, community organization and non-profit management.

He served as consultant to the United Way of the Bay Area and managed a campaign for their new building. He was also consultant to the American Red Cross in San Francisco and served as its interim Chief Executive until a permanent CEO could be found.

His move to Sacramento came in small steps. Roslyn, his later to be wife, lived here and the commuting between San Francisco and Sacramento began. And it was during the commuting period that Lou found the time to earn a Certificate in Financial Planning from UC Davis.

Lou has been very active in the non-profit field since moving to Sacramento some eighteen years ago. He has delivered food to the home-bound for Meals-A-La Car and has been on the Boards of both the Community Services Planning Council and the Friends of the Sacramento Public Library. He is currently the Vice-Chair of the Emergency Food and Shelter Board, and is a congregant of Mosaic Law Congregation.

Dr. E. Scott Rosenbloom, better known as “Skip”, is a B’nai Israel congregant, a physician, a former health plan Medical Director, and a businessman, with a broad-based perspective on the health care system and expertise in the issues of quality and medical necessity for care. His experience encompasses a seven-year practice in occupational medicine and emergency medicine. He founded a managed care company, and he provides managing and consulting services for a wide range of regional businesses. Dr. Rosenbloom received his medical degree from Northwestern University in Chicago and his Master of Public Health degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Rosenbloom currently sits as the President of the Jewish Federation of the Sacramento Region.

Brian Fischer is co-founder, brand creator, and past Dir. of Business Development, Sales, and Marketing for downtowngrid.com.

After five years of building that well-known online-and-on-the-ground experience in hyper local marketing and community building, he has set new challenges behind the scenes as the current CEO & Chief Inspiration Officer of Playpen Incubator, where work is play, one of Sacramento's most dynamic media, marketing, and technology incubators that will launch new entities for years to come across the region and well beyond.

During its inaugural year, Brian devotes himself to the start-up and evolution of NextDor as a gateway Jewish social network online and through monthly events to develop the next generation of Jewish leadership across the 6-county region. He hopes that NextDor will prove replicable to other regions struggling to be relevant to Jewish young adults and professionals. He acts as co-organizer and brand creator of the Big Nosh for a Better Sacramento.

In addition, he facilitates monthly industry and community discussions for the Urban Design Alliance & American Institute of Architecture's 4th Wednesday Dialogues that fuel Sacramento's vision of its 25-year future.

He is known as an emerging entrepreneur in business innovation and social activist as founder of 100minds, a grassroots economic developer in Oak Park, predicated on his interpretation of Tikkun Olam.

His favorite title is Dad and he considers no challenge greater, sweeter, more human or more humbling than being a father to Violet and step-father to Ahrianna.

Join us as we honor three generations of Sacramento leaders at the Memorial Auditorium on December 10th, 2009 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. We will celebrate the MAGIC of the festival of lights with an exclusive performance by Lior Suchard, an internationally acclaimed “supernatural entertainer” who uses the power of the mind to dazzle and humor the crowd. In addition, new Sacramento King and the first Israeli player in the NBA, Omri Casspi, will join us to comment on his first month in the NBA and to sign autographs and take pictures with the fans in attendance.

For more information, to buy tickets and to see an exclusive community invite by Omri Casspi log on to www.jewishsac.org. Tickets: $36 (early bird price by December 6th) $40 (purchase after December 6th)