Grantees in the News

Coming to the San Francisco Opera in the fall, Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels’ opera Omar has won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for music. The opera is based on the actual 19th century journal of an Islamic scholar abducted from his home in West Africa and enslaved in South Carolina.

The Emmys have awarded The U.S. and the Holocaust with their 16th annual Television Academy Honors, which recognizes television programs that have harnessed the extraordinary power of storytelling to fuel social change.

Every year, The Tech Interactive holds a youth engineering design program geared towards solving real-world problems. For the event’s 36th year, “Survive the Storm, ” The Tech Challenge asked students to tackle severe weather events by designing structures that could protect vulnerable objects from high winds.

This Yom Ha’atzmaut marks 75 years of the State of Israel, and Jewish organizations around the Bay Area have teamed up to plan a community-wide festival to celebrate.

Yotam Polizer, the CEO of Israel’s leading humanitarian aid organization, IsraAID, has been named the 2023 recipient of the Charles Bronfman Prize. The annual award is presented to a humanitarian whose work, informed by Jewish values, has significantly impacted the world.

Despite the recent heavy rains and flooding in the Bay Area, the Sacred Space now has first floor walls and second floor steel. Rodef Sholom anticipates a certificate of occupancy for December 2023. The construction of the new Sacred Space is part of Rodef Sholom’s $31 million capital campaign, $29.5 million of which has already been raised. Plans for the completed structure include dedicated youth and family spaces and a social hall, as well as a new sanctuary and enhanced security capabilities.

The launch marked the release of several updates that deepen the search capabilities of the Visual History Archive (VHA) and its 55,000+ testimonies. The Visual History Archive is the world’s largest collection of primary source video testimonies from survivors of the Holocaust and other genocides.

The celebration highlighted Jewish thought and dialogue and featured an intimate conversation between Dr. Anita Friedman, President of the Koret Foundation and Executive Director of Jewish Family & Children’s Services, and Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman, President of the Shalom Hartman Institute.

This week, the JCRC announced the results of the first-ever Survey of Bay Area Jewish Identity. JCRC will use the data to reframe public understanding of Jewish identity in the Bay Area, transforming its work moving forward by centering the diversity and complexity of the Bay Area Jewish community.

The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) will perform on Nov. 6 at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco and again the next evening at Bing Concert Hall on the Stanford University campus, after opening the tour with four performances in Southern California starting Nov. 2.

“The U.S. and the Holocaust,” coming to PBS September 18, examines the reasons behind the country’s inadequate response to Germany’s persecution of Jews.

Koret President and Jewish Family and Children’s Services executive director Dr. Anita Friedman was presented with the Light Unto the Nations Award at AJC’s 2022 Global Advocacy Gala. The award is AJC’s highest honor bestowed on world leaders who exhibit leadership, courage, and principle.