Please make sure to BOTH register with Da’at  AND pay your $800 deposit through NCJW. For other questions, please email ncjwmission@gmail.com.

NCJW National Passover Supplements

“In Every Generation” reading about workers’ rights

“Yachatz – Breaking the Middle Matzah” — A Reminder of the Still-Unbroken Chains of Agunot

Happy Passover from NCJW-SF!

Doris G. was 13 years old the first time she got pregnant, the result of a rape by her neighbor.  That was in 1964.  No one ever talked to her about reproductive choices or offered her any family planning services.  By the time she was 19, Doris had 4 more children.  She had  long since dropped out of school and was struggling to keep her family together.  Facing poor employment options, she resorted to selling drugs.  Eventually her children landed in the foster care system and Doris narrowly avoided state prison by going into rehab.

 Three years later, Roe v. Wade led to a landmark, controversial decision by the U. S. Supreme Court.  The court found that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution extends to the decision to have an abortion.  This was the dawn of a new day in freedom for women to make safe choices which had the potential to significantly alter the course of their lives. 

Some estimate that there were close to 40 deaths from illegal abortions the year before Roe v. Wade.  In reality, there were probably hundreds, if not thousands, that were never reported and that were performed in moments of fear, desparation and lonliness.  

 Now, after four decades of progress and protection in this area, reproductive rights are under attack in America.  There are three bills currently working their way through Congress which would eradicate resources for safe and legal abortion, family planning, and prenatal and infant nutrition and care.  Unable to repeal Roe v. Wade, the supporters of HR 3, 217 & 358 aim to remove funding for these services to low-income women and others.  The proposed measures include significant cuts to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest Title X provider, and to other agencies which do similar work.  If passed, they would severely restrict access to reproductive health care and  preventive health care for another generation of women.   

 Doris was like so many of our sisters, daughters and loved ones:  casualties of the violence against women long-perpetrated by those who would limit reproductive choices and deny access to related health services.  The current legislative attacks do more than pose serious threats to the quality of women’s lives.  They represent a form of systemic and sanctioned emotional and psychological violence.  And they set the stage for physical violence, injury and death.  Our families and communities suffer whenever there is a risk of violence.  Turning back the clock on reproductive safety and freedom is simply not an option. 

-Leslie Levitas

Linda Kurtz, Olga Tretyakova, Katya Shackelford, Rebecca Goodman

On Friday, August 13, we bid farewell to our wonderful Kohn intern Katya Shackelford.  NCJW SF Section Vice President Linda Kurtz and Manager Olga Tretyakova, who was Katya’s Supervisor this summer, attended the graduation hosted by the  Jewish Vocational Services.  The ceremony included a welcome by Abby Snay, JVS Executive Director and an introduction of the Kohn Summer Intern Program by Rebecca Goodman, JVS Jewish Programs Coordinator.  Jim Offel, Chief Operations Officer of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties gave Kohn interns words of advice and encouragement as they go forward in their careers. 

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to our intern Katya for all of her hard work this summer.  We highly recommend Jewish Bay Area non-profits to get involved in the Kohn Summer Intern Program.  It’s a truly rewarding experience. 

* The Kohn Summer Intern Program places college students in professional positions in leading Jewish agencies throughout the Bay Area.  Students gain valuable experience, exposure to issues currently facing the Jewish community, and opportunities for supervision and mentoring from Jewish community leaders.  This year, JVS placed 28 college students with 24 Jewish agencies in the Bay Area.

NCJW San Francisco Section mourns the loss of our beloved, longtime Section Treasurer, member and dear friend, Norma Satten.  She will be sorely missed.  Norma Satten received the
prestigious Hannah G. Solomon award from our Section in June, 2009.

Follow this link http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sfgate/obituary.aspx?n=norma-satten&pid=143605270 to read Norma’s obituary, which appeared in SF Chronicle: 

NORMA F. SATTEN Norma passed away in San Francisco after a brief illness on June 14, 2010 at age 87 years. She is survived by her husband of 65 years Joseph Satten; her children Neal, Debby, and Sara Satten; her daughter-in-law, Rona Cordish Satten, and her grandchildren, Susanna Satten, Matthew Satten and Cory Edelson. Norma was born in 1922 in Brooklyn, NY. Her first degree was in Economics from Brooklyn College, where she graduated Magna cum Laude. She then obtained a Masters in City Planning from MIT. She met Joseph Satten in 1941 and married him in 1945.

Norma and Joe lived in Kansas from 1946 until 1971, during which time their children were born. Norma was a loving wife, mother and grandmother and the matriarch of her extended family. Throughout her life, Norma worked towards Tikkun Olam, a Hebrew phrase that means to improve the world. Her career had many firsts: while in Kansas, she helped set up Topeka’s first City Planning Department. She then became the state’s first Director of Health Planning. In 1971, she and Joe moved to San Francisco, where she continued her work in area-wide health planning. In 1982, in the midst of the AIDS epidemic, she was the Director of Support Services for San Francisco Home Health and Hospice, and then became the Director of Development for the Visiting Nurses Association of San Francisco. She was most proud of the
work she did in establishing the Coming Home Hospice, the first residential hospice for people with cancer and AIDS.

Her pioneering advocacy efforts in no way diminished after she retired in 1992. She developed a volunteer career for a variety of long-term care services for the frail and needy. She was described as the unofficial mother of long-term care in San Francisco. She held leadership roles in many organizations, including Stepping Stone (formerly North & South of Market Adult Day Health Center), Planning for Elders, the Mayor’s Long Term Care Coordinating Council, the Laguna Honda Hospital Community Advisory Group, the In Home Health Task Force and the Community Living Campaign. Norma was active in the San Francisco Jewish community, including the Sisterhood of Temple Emanu-El, the Jewish Family and Children’s Services (JFCS) and the National Council of Jewish Women. In 2009, she co-founded the Jewish Coalition to End Human Trafficking, which became a city-wide effort.

She received awards for her community work from Planning for Elders, the National Council of Jewish Women, the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, and the city of San Francisco. Memorial services will be held on Friday, June 18th at 1:00pm at Temple Emanu-El, Lake and Arguello Streets in San Francisco. Interment to take place at Home of Peace Cemetery in Colma. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to any of the above organizations or to JFCS’s Norma & Joseph Satten Endowment Fund for families and children.

Published in San Francisco Chronicle on June 17, 2010

Congratulations to our staff Yelena on the birth of her first grandson Jacob.  Jacob was born on 5/28/10 weighting 7.5 lbs.  Both mom Irina (Yelena’s daughter) and baby are doing well.  Mazel Tov!

Please join NCJW San Francisco Section in welcoming our new Jewish Vocational Services (JVS) Kohn intern – Katya Shackelford.  Katya is currently a student at Scripps College in Claremont, CA.  She is an active member of Challah for Hunger, Babes and Blankets, and Hall Council Vice  President. She is also a member of Hillel of the Claremont Colleges.  Katya is working towards her Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology and will graduate in May of 2012.

Katya will be an intern with NCJW from June 22 until August 12, 2010 and will help us with research for grants, among other exciting things.

Thank you for joining us in extending a warm welcome to Katie!