Party Fund-Raiser on Holiday Offends Jewish Democrats

Beatrice Hillard doesn’t consider herself much of an activist for Jewish causes--her greatest accomplishment on that front has been persuading a local grocer to carry more gefilte fish and Rosh Hashana greeting cards.

But when the Laguna Beach Democratic Club, which she considered a haven for Jewish Democrats in a largely Republican county, announced it was having its annual fund-raiser Saturday evening, on one of the Jewish faith’s most revered holiday weekends, Hillard was incensed.

“As a lifelong Democrat and a Jew, I have always seen the Democratic Party as a refuge for us,” she said. “So when I got the flier for this event, I said, ‘This can’t be. This is on Rosh Hashana.’ ”

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, is the time when the faithful pray for God’s forgiveness and for a good year and long life. Many Reform Jews, the most liberal of the three main branches of Judaism in the United States, celebrate the holy day for one day, this year from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday.

But Conservative and Orthodox Jews will celebrate the holiday over the entire weekend, as will increasing numbers of Reform Jews, Jewish leaders said.

The scheduling situation, they said, is an example of disputes that can arise in an area with a relatively small Jewish population. Jerry Werksman, president of the Jewish Federation of Orange County, cited UC Irvine demographic studies that indicate there are 52,000 Jews in the county, just 2% of the population.

“Where I come from, in New York and Chicago, Jews were a sizable portion of the community and no one there would think of doing this [on the Jewish holy day],” Werksman said.

Nevertheless, he said, the Democratic Club’s decision to have its fund-raiser on Saturday is defensible.

“As long as it’s late enough on Saturday, I think it’s an issue that reasonable people could disagree on,” he said.

Club officials said that since the holiday technically ends at sunset on Saturday--about 7 p.m.--they did not see a conflict with scheduling their event from 6 to 9 p.m.

“We have quite a few Jewish members, and most are [Reform] and they felt that in the evening, at the end of the day when the sun goes down, the holiday is over,” said Betty Fulton, the club’s vice president. “It’s not that we ignored it. But there’s so few weekends before the election, we felt some of the members might bend a little.”

Rabbi Bernard King of Congregation Shir Ha-Ma’alot in Irvine, a Reform congregation, said the club could have been more sensitive to those who choose to celebrate the holiday over the entire weekend.

“Historically in America, Reformed Jews celebrate the first day, but increasingly there are members of Reform congregations that celebrate the second day [Sunday] in some measure,” said King, who is president of the Orange County Board of Rabbis. “The main issue is sensitivity to those Jews who are observant, and one shouldn’t draw distinctions between denominations when it comes to that.”

Mary Stachenfeld, a Laguna Beach Jewish Democrat, said the Democratic Club’s decision has caused her to rethink whether she will volunteer for the group this political season.

“I’m not particularly observant [religiously],” Stachenfeld said, “But I hate when things aren’t respected. It’s such a visceral turnoff. I think [club officials] are mainly unconscious, but who wants to associate with unconscious people?”

Hillard, who has donated money and many volunteer hours to the club during her 25 years in Laguna Beach, said she took offense to the suggestion that she be “flexible” about the situation.

Hillard, who is a Reform Jew, said that she usually spends the last evening of the holiday in quiet contemplation, sometimes with family and friends.

“When they said, ‘Can’t you compromise?’ I said, “What, compromise my religion?”

But officials from the Democratic Club, which was formed in the 1950s and currently has about 300 members, denied that they were insensitive in their planning.

“We did consider it and know it’s a delicate matter,” Fulton said. “The question did come up from a couple of our [Jewish] members and we asked them if they would be horribly offended. They said they didn’t think anyone would be offended.”