Michele Yanow, left, with husband Adam and her two kids at the Seattle Edible Books Festival. (Mark Sullo)

Short takes from all over
Local families whose kids attend Camp Ramah in Ojai, California may like to know that Portland native Rabbi Joseph M. Menashe will become the camp’s next executive director, succeeding Rabbi Daniel Greyber.
Rabbi Joe has been associate rabbi at the Conservative Congregation Shearith Israel in Dallas since 2006. Before that he directed The Johns Hopkins University Hillel and helped create the campus’ first permanent Hillel facility.
He first worked at Ramah California in 1995 as a teacher and social justice coordinator, later serving as a division head. He led a group on Ramah˙s Israel Seminar program and was founding director of Meytiv, a social justice program for high school students.
“Ramah has already played a pivotal role in my life and I am thrilled to have been selected for this sacred role,” says the rabbi.
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Back in April, Michele Yanow won a prize in the Seattle Edible Books festival, a contest that challenges competitors to illustrate their favorite book with food.
Michele’s winning entry was “Life of Pi(e)”, and it won a gold medal in the “most delectably appetizing” category.
She heard about the festival through fliers in Seattle’s Wedgwood neighborhood about a week before the contest. Her inspiration?
“I was standing in my kitchen, looking around at my equipment, and I saw a pie plate, and the book title popped into my head,” she wrote in an e-mail. “I asked myself, ‘What is the life of a pie?’, and the idea for this tableau just unfolded…. The photo [on the Web site] leaves out the best touch in my entry, which is the empty, crumb-strewn pie plate at the end.”
You can see the photo and all the other clever winners—including “The Audacity of Toast” and “Quiche of the Spider Woman”—at frybooks.blogspot.com.
When Michele isn’t baking, gardening and raising children, she’s busy directing the Seattle Jewish Chorale and is the program ambassador for the JWest camp foundation, which provides scholarships for first-time Jewish campers. (Information at www.facebook.com/Seattle.Jewish.Chorale and www.onehappycamper.org, respectively.)
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I can’t claim to be any sort of soccer fan, but I have been enjoying watching some of the World Cup and looking up team rosters to see the amazing array of international clubs for which these athletes play.
Just in time for the conclusion of that international competition, Terry Kegel’s film, I Speak Soccer (JTNews, June 12, 2009), has been selected for free online streaming on the popular Hulu Web site (hulu.com).You can now watch the entire documentary about pick-up “football” right on your computer screen.
Find out more about where the film has been screening, and find an international soccer pick-up game at the official Web site: www.ispeaksoccer.com.
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Four years ago, Community Youth Services of Thurston County, under executive director Charles Shelan, won an organizational award from the county’s chamber of commerce (JTNews, March 23, 2006). Now Shelan himself is the recipient of the Nonprofit Business Leader of the Year from the University of Washington Tacoma Milgard School of Business.
Charles was honored for Youth Services, which provides an array of benefits from the most basic emergency shelter to foster care, job training, and Americorps programs serving 3,800 high-risk youth.
Taking time out from a workshop he was attending, Charles wrote me that “I feel honored and humbled to have been chosen by the University of Washington School of Business as this year’s recipient. Winning the Milgard…award wasn’t a solo effort. I am blessed to have a supportive and engaged board of directors, high caliber executive staff, dedicated and talented line staff, and a supportive and engaging community in which to work. I also want to acknowledge the support and understanding I have continuously from my wife, Norma.”
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At the UW Bothell commencement a few weeks ago, Dona Oved received the school’s president’s medal for “exemplary academic performance, and her service to our country and to the University of Washington Bothell.” Donna graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. in Business Administration, with an option in accounting.
Born in Southern California, Donna’s family moved back to Israel (her parents are Israeli) from her 2nd through 10th-grade years. The family returned to the States and she graduated from high school in California, then enlisted in the U.S. Navy. She worked in information technology while stationed in the U.S. and Europe. After leaving the service, and with her family now in living in Bellevue, Donna enrolled in UW Bothell’s business program, not only graduating with a 3.95 GPA, but also participating in internships at The Boeing Company and working part-time at the campus career center.
Donna’s friends and coworkers describe her as a professional and tenacious leader who is kind and compassionate.
After graduation, Donna plans to spend the summer passing the CPA exam, and will join the Everett office of Moss Adams next fall.