Rabbinical Choice Was Influenced by Events, Friendship

Rabbi Haim Asa of Fullerton returned this week from a visit to Israel and his native Bulgaria, momentous connections to a past life and events that led him to become a religious leader.

Asa was in Israel with a group dedicating a forest in honor of the late Bulgarian King Boris III. It was the king’s refusal to cooperate with Hitler that saved tens of thousands of Bulgarian Jews from the Nazi death camps.

“That my family was saved from the Holocaust had a lot to do with me cultivating a field of love and friendship [as a rabbi] instead of say, business or finance,” Asa told me.

He’d stopped in Bulgaria to preside over a service at a synagogue in Sofia--one he’d visited as a youth--which had been bombed by mistake by U.S. fliers during World War II. It had reopened recently after being closed for 50 years.

Asa flew back here just in time to be honored this Sunday by the Anti-Defamation League of Orange County and Long Beach, which gave him its Distinguished Community Service Award. The honor will be presented at a brunch at the Irvine Marriott hotel.

Asa has traveled the world for Jewish causes. But for 30 years, his home base has been Temple Beth Tikvah in Fullerton. He was long ago given the rare distinction of life tenure as its spiritual leader. He retired this year at age 65, but plans to remain active in its affairs.

After his family moved to the U.S., Asa earned a business degree from the University of Arizona. He was taking more courses at USC when, in 1958, he decided to start over: He enrolled in the Hebrew Union College/Jewish Institute in Los Angeles and spent more than five years studying to be a rabbi.

His first assignment after that was in Argentina; he was one of the few from the rabbinical college who spoke Spanish. With the help of his wife Elaine (they’ve been married 36 years), he started a synagogue in Buenos Aires that is now one of the largest in South America. The Asas have often returned there, and were present for its 30th anniversary in 1993.

Asa has never been content to work only within the walls of his synagogue. He is leader of the Fullerton Interfaith Ministerial Assn., he’s chaplain at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, and for years he’s been active in the Anti-Defamation League. If you aren’t familiar with its work, it was founded in 1913 to stop the defamation of Jewish people and to secure fair treatment for them.

But Asa says it’s wrong to think the league only attacks the negative. “Its message is mostly positive,” he told me, “to help us lead better lives.”

Asa’s travels haven’t ended. He’s planning a trip to Spain, where he will present documents on the forest dedication to members of the late King Boris III’s family.

Student Exchange: One of those positive messages the rabbi was talking about is the Anti-Defamation League’s student exchange program. Two Ethiopian students now living in Israel recently spent two weeks with Santa Ana families and attended all four high schools in that city.

Joyce Greenspan, the league’s local executive director, called the effort a great success that produced many tears all around when it was time for them to leave.

Last year, when the first exchange was held, the league sent four students from the Santa Ana schools to Israel for a reunion with the students they’d met.

“When they came back, it was clear that the trip had changed their lives, that they had a better sense of mission about what they wanted to do,” Greenspan said.

Another four students will be chosen to go to Israel for a reunion with this month’s visitors.

One More Reason Not to Drink: Here’s a pitfall of abusing alcohol that might not have occurred to you: Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center has put out an advisory it calls “Don’t Drink and Carve.”

“Carving a pumpkin is a messy job,” says Peter Anderson, medical director of its emergency care room. “Add a sharp knife to the picture, and it can quickly lead to cuts and punctures, sometimes with severe consequences.”

His suggestions: Use a knife specially made for carving pumpkins. Make sure your knife and hands are dry first. And don’t drink alcohol while carving. Based on emergency room accidents officials there have seen, they caution you need full control of your senses when you carve a jack o’ lantern.

Help Your Lungs: Chris Eftychiou, the new spokesman for the American Lung Assn. of Orange County, knows that “stop smoking” always ranks among the top New Year’s resolutions. His idea: Don’t wait until New Year’s Eve to make that promise to yourself.

The Lung Assn. is offering eight-week clinics called “Freedom from Smoking.” They cost $90, or less than a month’s worth of cancer sticks for many smokers. The next clinics start Nov. 4 at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, and Nov. 5 at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo. Call the Lung Assn. at (714) 835-5864.

Wrap-Up: Asa has a special reason to be pleased about Sunday’s Anti-Defamation League luncheon. Also being honored is his longtime friend Chaim Potok. Potok is a rabbi and historian, but you probably know him best for his widely read novels, such as “The Chosen,” “The Promise” and “My Name is Asher Lev.”

I recently read “The Promise,” a story about two young friends. One is studying to be a rabbi with a teacher who had survived a Nazi death camp and steadfastly defends unmitigated Orthodoxy. Written in 1969, there’s a wonderful passage in “The Promise” about bridging the generation gap.

“He suffered,” the young student says of the feisty old teacher with the strict views. “He lost his whole world, and people who are suffering sometimes take out their suffering on others. They defend what the ones they loved died for. They become angry and ugly and they fight anything that’s a threat to them. We have to learn how to fight back without hurting them too much.”

Asa studied at a summer camp under Potok in 1956, and says Potok was a great influence in his decision to become a rabbi. They’ve traveled in Israel together, worked together, and still correspond. But they haven’t seen each other in almost 10 years. Their reunion on Sunday will be shared by about 500 people.

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling the Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or by fax to (714) 966-7711, or e-mail tojerry.hicks@latimes.com