SAN DIEGO – Every four years, the Summer Olympics are held. The Winter Olympics are also held every four years, but if you watch them the way our family does, you can expect exciting history to be made every two years. When you’re cheering for the Americans, I always get tears in my eyes when I see “we won,” the Star Spangled Banner and watch the people on stage hold back tears as they represent the best in the world in that sport. The next two weeks are filled with historic events.

I just dropped by to see my sweet friend Judith Springer this afternoon and after some chitchat she had to get back to the men’s singles tennis with Nadal and Djokovic. I was glad to hear I wasn’t the only one glued to the action.

Here are some Jewish residents (or people from the neighborhood) you can encourage.

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Sara LevyBorn in San Diego, she had never played rugby until her freshman year of college at Northeastern University. Now she represents the United States on the women’s Olympic rugby team. Levy, who was an active member of San Diego’s Jewish community growing up, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency “To see how excited they were for me, I was able to step back and really enjoy it and really see the pride they had for me. And realize, ‘Oh, this was a huge accomplishment. I don’t have to keep looking at it as a checkpoint in my career.'”

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Minna StessBorn in Petaluma, Stess began skateboarding as a child and was winning competitions by age 8. She joined the USA Skateboarding Women’s Park National Team in 2019 and was a reserve at the 2020 Olympics, when the sport made its Olympic debut. Stess grew up celebrating Hanukkah and Passover with her grandparents, JTA reported. Jewish News from Northern California (J} stated: “We’re not religious, but Minna understands the culture very well,” said her father, Andrew Stess. “She understands where she’s coming from.”

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Keep an eye on 17 year old Claire Weinstein from New York in swimming the 4 x 200m relay.

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Chabad of Chula Vista announces that the Torah class will begin on Wednesday, July 31 at 8:00 p.m. The Torah and tea will begin on Sunday, August 11 at 10:00 a.m. Rebbetzin Mushka began leads the discussion. Click here to receive the Zoom link.

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Beth Israel Congregation Social Action Network meets on Tuesday, August 6th at 5:30pm. Click here to register.

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Chabad of East County shares the following joke: “Take it all with you” — Issy was a rich man who was about to die. He was very sad because he had worked very hard for his money and wanted to take it with him to heaven. So Issy starts to pray. An angel hears his plea and says to him, “I’m sorry, but you can’t take your wealth with you.” Issy begs the angel to talk to God to see if he can bend the rules. He says he will try. Meanwhile, Issy continues to pray. When the angel appears again, he informs Issy that God has decided to allow him to take one suitcase with him. Overjoyed, Issy takes his largest suitcase and fills it with pure gold bars and places it next to his bed. Shortly after, he dies and appears at the Gates of Heaven. The angel Gabriel, seeing the suitcase, says, “Wait a minute, you can’t take that with you here.” Issy explains that he has permission and suggests that he verify his story with God. Gabriel checks and says, “You’re right. You can take one piece of hand luggage, but I have to check the contents before I let it through.” So Gabriel opens the suitcase to inspect the worldly goods Issy found too precious to leave behind and exclaims, “Did you bring any asphalt?”

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GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Councillor Jennifer Campbell (D-District 2) heralds the success of the Short-Term Vacation Rental Ordinance, which requires permits for rentals. She said it has reduced neighborhood disruptions and preserved the availability of housing for long-term residents.

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Congressman Sara Jacobs (D-District 51) announced that she was very active in San Diego Pride events this month, attending the Spirit of Stonewall Rally and joining faith leaders at Light Up the Cathedral.

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OBITUARIES

Jose Aguero died Sunday, July 28, at his home in Ensenada. He was the brother of Jesus Aguero, a member of the Tifereth Israel Synagogue’s maintenance team, the Tifereth Israel Synagogue announced.

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Nadine Finkel died Sunday, June 28. Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 31, at El Camino Memorial Park, Congregation Beth Israel said. Finkel served the Jewish community for more than 30 years. She was the first program director at Congregation Beth Israel. Among other programs, she created mixed doubles for interfaith couples, the Chavurah program, and reestablished the Sisterhood. Finkel went on to hold several senior positions at the Jewish Federation of San Diego. Her tenure included the development and implementation of the Jewish Continuity Task Force, the Community Chaplaincy program, and she was instrumental in the founding of Camp Mountain Chai.

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Sangle Gootel died on Sunday, July 21. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, July 30, at 10 a.m. at Miramar National Cemetery, Am Israel Mortuary reported.

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Cailin Acosta is an assistant editor of the Jewish World of San Diego.