From J. The Jewish News of Northern California
Polish leaders in a virtual session with Rabbi David Cooper (upper right) of Kehilla Community Synagogue of Piedmont.
Polish leaders wrap up year of learning with Bay Area rabbis
By J. Staff | July 6, 2021
Bay Area-based Taube Philanthropies is celebrating the conclusion of a yearlong exchange program between local rabbis and Jewish community leaders across Poland.
The virtual exchange — dubbed “Minyan Makers” — saw local religious leaders log online to facilitate Jewish text studies for Polish professionals from the Auschwitz Jewish Center, the Galicia Jewish History Museum, JCCs in Krakow and Warsaw, and other organizations.
The exchange, inspired by a 2015 Jewish heritage tour of the Eastern European country for local clergy affiliated with the Northern California Board of Rabbis, brought 13 local rabbis together with 44 Polish professionals from 21 institutions, and was funded via a grant from Taube Philanthropies. Its founder, the Bay Area real estate developer and businessman Tad Taube, was born in Kraków in 1931, and immigrated to the U.S. in 1939 just months before the Nazis invaded Poland.
Taube has donated millions toward efforts to revitalize Jewish life in the country after its Jewish population was nearly wiped out in the Holocaust. In 2007 Taube was named an honorary Polish diplomat for the San Francisco Bay Area.
