A Record of Achievement: Sholem Bar/Bas Mitzvah Celebrants, Topics, Venues, and Dates
The diversity of subjects over the years is a reflection of the celebrants’ varied interests and of Sholem’s goal of promoting inquiry, curiosity, and creativity. More will be added as they become available.
| Celebrant | Topic | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hinman, Ciaran | The Golem Awakens: History, Influence, and Unintended Consequences | The Moss Theater, Santa Monica | 05/28/16 |
| Linver, Kiara | Library of the World, Book of My Heritage | The Moss Theater, Santa Monica | 05/28/16 |
| Furth, Daniel | The Role of Music During the Holocaust | The Moss Theater, Santa Monica | 05/28/16 |
| Alvarado-Goldberg, Mayán | Thinking Outside the Box: Evolving Perspectives on Multiculturalism | Grace E. Simons Lodge, Los Angeles | 05/30/15 |
| Marks-Froot, Milo | Powering Up in the Real World: The Social and Educational Benefits of Video Games | Grace E. Simons Lodge, Los Angeles | 05/30/15 |
| Kolesnikow, Mavi | Jews and Other Discriminated Groups | Roxbury Park Recreation Center | 05/09/15 |
| Pezeshki, Hannah | Unconventionally Jewish | Roxbury Park Recreation Center | 05/09/15 |
| Hawkins-Zeller, Dawson | Culture Shock | The Turner Center | 06/21/14 |
| Verba, David Cesar | Jews and Bagels | Santa Monica Bay Women’s Club | 05/24/14 |
| Vizcarra-Barton, Benjamin Arturo | The Jewish Influence on High Technology | Santa Monica Bay Women’s Club | 05/24/14 |
| Pezeshki, Samantha | The Persian-Chinese-Jewish Connection | Santa Monica Bay Women’s Club | 05/18/14 |
| Rogers-Fett, Jacob | Ladino Heritage | Santa Monica Bay Women’s Club | 05/18/14 |
| Gomes, Michael | Jewish Involvement in the Anti-Apartheid Struggle in South Africa | Veterans Memorial Building, Culver City | 05/10/14 |
| Marvizon, Eliana | Treatment of Jews During the Spanish Inquisition | Veterans Memorial Building, Culver City | 05/10/14 |
| Grossman, Eli | The Bielski Partisans: The Largest Jewish Resistance Group in World War II | The Moss Theater, Santa Monica | 05/03/14 |
| Manheim, Milo | Activism At Any Age | The Moss Theater, Santa Monica | 05/03/14 |
| Marks-Froot, Emmett | Why Animals Matter | The Moss Theater, Santa Monica | 05/03/14 |
| Krantz, Emmett | A Legal History of Evolution | 04/20/13 | |
| Share-Vargas, Diego | 04/20/13 | ||
| Holcer, Uriel | Jewish Resistance to Nazi Oppression | Covel Commons, UCLA | 03/23/13 |
| Ringach, Noam | The Book of DNA: Our Shared Story | Covel Commons, UCLA | 03/23/13 |
| Rollins-Fife, Eloise | The Mighty Pen: Jewish Activism in Poetry | Doubletree Hotel, Culver City | 06/11/12 |
| Shackelford, Marshall Manes | Klezmer and Appalachian Music: My Dual Heritage | Doubletree Hotel, Culver City | 06/09/12 |
| Fox-Lerner, Aaron | I Can’t Believe it’s Not Culture, Or How I Learned tp Stop Worry And Love Victims | Grace E. Simons Lodge, Los Angeles | 05/12/12 |
| Gretsky, Aaron | A Secular Interpetation of the Holidays | Grace E. Simons Lodge, Los Angeles | 05/12/12 |
| Hersh, Benjamin | Delusional Deluger? | Grace E. Simons Lodge, Los Angeles | 05/12/12 |
| Shaffer-Del Valle, Pablo | Fighting for Justice: Jews and Labor | Temescal Gateway Park, Pacific Palisades | 05/28/11 |
| Vizcarra-Barton, Anna Sophia | Sounds of the American Dream | Temescal Gateway Park, Pacific Palisades | 05/28/11 |
| Katz, Jakob Tyler | A Jew, A Catholic, and a Muslim Walk into a Bar … Mitzvah | Calabasas Community Center, Agoura Hills | 05/21/11 |
| Lieber, Samuel Chong | The Shoulders I Stand On | Calabasas Community Center, Agoura Hills | 05/21/11 |
| Manpearl, Terry | What is a Secular Jew? | Lincoln Middle School, Santa Monica | 06/26/10 |
| McLaughlin, Hana | Jews and Art | Pacifica Ballroom, Radissson Hotel, Culver City | 06/26/10 |
| McLaughlin, Talia | Jews In Commerce | Pacifica Ballroom, Radissson Hotel, Culver City | 06/26/10 |
| Shackelford, Truman | Jewish and Appalachian Humor | Lincoln Middle School, Santa Monica | 06/26/10 |
| Furth, Eric Walker | The Darker Part of the Big Screen–Holocaust Movies and The Differences Between Them | Doubletree Hotel, Culver City | 06/10/10 |
| Citrin, David | The Jewish Mafia | Los Angeles Meeting and Event Center | 05/01/10 |
| Cook, Sarah | Anti-Semitism and Quotas in Medical School in the 1900s | Los Angeles Meeting and Event Center | 05/01/10 |
| Ehrlich, Emily | Jewish Stereotypes: Past and Present | Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles | 04/24/10 |
| Silverman, Sophia | Similarities Between Jews and Mennonites | Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles | 04/24/10 |
| Gordon, Julia Taub | Santa Monica Bay Women’s Club | 12/19/09 | |
| Gordon, Linda Taub | Santa Monica Bay Women’s Club | 12/19/09 | |
| Gorelik, Joseph | Jews of the Soviet Union | 05/30/09 | |
| Leist, Madeline | Civil Rights Won and Lost | 05/30/09 | |
| Ratner, Miranda | Jewish Prejudices | Musicans Union, Los Angeles | 05/30/09 |
| Garcia, Elias | Piracy: A Jewish Response to the Inquisition | Musicans Union, Los Angeles | 04/25/09 |
| Sazer, Sasha | Jewish Who Rock | Musicans Union, Los Angeles | 04/25/09 |
| Do Espirito Santo, Reva Aisah | So You Say You’re All Grown Up? The Reality of Coming of Age and Adulthood | Ocean Seafood Restaurant, Santa Monica | 06/07/08 |
| Rogers-Fett, Ella Marie | Something Different Than Bogeymen: How Chidlren’s Literature Presents the Holocaust | Ocean Seafood Restaurant, Santa Monica | 06/07/08 |
| Steinmetz, Sarah Tang | Jews in the Fashion and Garment Industry | Ocean Seafood Restaurant, Santa Monica | 06/07/08 |
| Katz, Elijah | Are You Now or Have You Ever Been? | Valley Cities Jewish Community Center, Sherman Oaks | 05/17/08 |
| Richter, Juliana | Myths | Valley Cities Jewish Community Center, Sherman Oaks | 05/17/08 |
| Kohanski. David | Jews in Space | Covel Commons, UCLA | 03/29/08 |
| Meyer, Ethan Samuel | Jews and Bagels: The Hole Story | Covel Commons, UCLA | 03/29/08 |
| Iguchi, Benjamin Yoneo | Beser Lakhn Vee Veynen | Covel Commons, UCLA | 03/22/08 |
| Lieber, David Chong | What Magic Can Teach Us: How Belief in the Supermantural Has Influenced Religion and Society | Covel Commons, UCLA | 03/22/08 |
| Ben-Levi, Camilla | Connections Between Jews and Animals | Northwest Auditorium, UCLA | 06/02/07 |
| Kahn-Abrams, Maya | Jews During the African-American Civil Rights Movement | Northwest Auditorium, UCLA | 06/02/07 |
| Branfman-Verissimo, Lukaza | My Roots: Women of Peace, Justice, and Equality | Temescal Gateway Park, Pacific Palisades | 05/27/07 |
| Shaffer-Del Valle, Emilia | Jewishness and Music | Temescal Gateway Park, Pacific Palisades | 05/27/07 |
| Craven, Jesse | Mitzvah | House of Blues, West Hollywood | 05/19/07 |
| Jacoby, Laura | What is a Jew? | House of Blues, West Hollywood | 05/19/07 |
| Gretsky, Miles | This Jew in Music | Grace E. Simons Lodge, Los Angeles | 04/29/07 |
| Palmer, Grant | Jews in the Renaissance | Grace E. Simons Lodge, Los Angeles | 04/29/07 |
| Gordon, Steven Taub | Jews and Jazz | Santa Monica Bay Women’s Club | 12/23/06 |
| Feder, Jay | How Jews Are Portrayed in the Movies | Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles | 06/09/06 |
| Leist, Jackson | Truth and Myth in the Bible | Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles | 06/09/06 |
| Santo, Avila | Jews and Blacks Overcoming Barriers in Sports | Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles | 06/09/06 |
| Garcia, Ruben | The Immigration Experience | Herrick Chapel, Occidental College | 04/08/06 |
| Rosenbaum, Jonah | Jewish Humor | Herrick Chapel, Occidental College | 04/08/06 |
| Lieber, Alina Chong | Jewish and Chinese New Year Celebrations: Primitive Origins to Present Day Practices | UCLA Faculty Center | 06/12/05 |
| Iguchi, Sarah | Art and the Formation and Preservation of Community | Egyptian Theater, Hollywood | 06/05/04 |
| Monkarsh, Eli | Jew: The Born Identity | Egyptian Theater, Hollywood | 06/05/04 |
| Besbris, Elena | Jews of Prime Time | Ackerman Grand Ballroom, UCLA | 05/22/04 |
| Kaye, Sophie Emma | Oh My Goddess! | Ackerman Grand Ballroom, UCLA | 05/22/04 |
| Richman, Maya | Food for Thought: How Women Preserved Jewish Culture | Ackerman Grand Ballroom, UCLA | 05/22/04 |
| Koss, Emily | Skinheads | Occidental College | 05/01/04 |
| Levyfield, Nadine | The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising | Occidental College | 05/01/04 |
| Jacoby, Rachelle | Partisans: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance | House of Blues, West Hollywood | 04/10/04 |
| Scheer, Becky | The Aftermath of Genocide in Europe and Cambodia | House of Blues, West Hollywood | 04/10/04 |
| Devine, Guthrie Peter Goldfarb | Growing Up in a Multicultural Self | House of Blues, West Hollywood | 03/20/04 |
| Steinmetz, Isaac Pan | The Jews of China | House of Blues, West Hollywood | 03/20/04 |
| Horbund, Amy Marie | They Only Killed Each Other | Grace E. Simons Lodge, Los Angeles | 04/06/03 |
| Wasson, William | On Every Corner: Jewish Political Cartoonists | Grace E. Simons Lodge, Los Angeles | 04/06/03 |
| Craven, Jake | Let My People Jam: Jews and the Jazz Movement | Hollywood Post 43, Hollywood | 03/01/03 |
| Koegel, Jeremy Bell | Building a Besere un Shenere Velt: A Story of the Cooperative Housing Movement | Hollywood Post 43, Hollywood | 03/01/03 |
| Pill-Kahan, Lili | My People’s Sons – Doctors | Sportsman’s Lodge, Studio City | 06/30/02 |
| Spanier-Wyant, Molly | My Family, My History, and Me | Sportsman’s Lodge, Studio City | 06/30/02 |
| Rosenbaum, Samara | Herrick Chapel, Occidental College | 06/15/02 | |
| Saperstein, Matt | Benny, Lenny, and Me | Herrick Chapel, Occidental College | 06/15/02 |
| Waxler, Alli | Emma Lazarus and Jewish Poetry | Herrick Chapel, Occidental College | 06/15/02 |
| Osher, Kathryn | Salvatori Room, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion | 05/04/02 | |
| Blank, Rafael | My Diaspora Experience | Robert Frost Auditorium, Culver City High School | 06/16/01 |
| Siegel, Zebulon Manuel | What’s for Dinner? In Inquiry Into Jewish Food | Robert Frost Auditorium, Culver City High School | 06/16/01 |
| Zimmerman, Gabriel Milo | Trying To Decide What I Believe | Robert Frost Auditorium, Culver City High School | 06/16/01 |
| Monkarsh, Perri | Elkuna Chrabow and the Territorialist Movement | Writers Guild of America Theater, Beverly Hills | 05/19/01 |
| Oliver-Krohn, Kevin | Kindertransport: A Light in the Darkness | Writers Guild of America Theater, Beverly Hills | 05/19/01 |
| Ratner, Arianna | Jewish Actresses, Show Business, and Anti-Semitism | Writers Guild of America Theater, Beverly Hills | 05/19/01 |
| Fisher-Schwartz, Carla | Anti-Semitism: A People Persecuted | Writers Guild of America Theater, Beverly Hills | 04/28/01 |
| Koegel, Daniel Bell | All in the Family: Jewish Involvement in Progressive Political Movements | Writers Guild of America Theater, Beverly Hills | 04/28/01 |
| Pettit, Emma Cecilia Naliboff | Into the Soul of an Anarchist | Writers Guild of America Theater, Beverly Hills | 04/28/01 |
| Curtis, Whitney Garland | What Secular Jewishness Means to Me and How It Has Affected My Life | Fine Arts Auditorium West Los Angeles College | 03/31/01 |
| Maurer, Lacey Rose | How I Can Be Both Jewish and Wiccan | Fine Arts Auditorium West Los Angeles College | 03/31/01 |
| Besbris, Max | Are Two Bar Mitzvas Better Than One? | The Airtel Hotel, Van Nuys | 06/10/00 |
| Craven, Shane | Living A Jewish Life | The Airtel Hotel, Van Nuys | 06/10/00 |
| Pill-Kahan, Natan | Denying the Holocaust Deniers | The Airtel Hotel, Van Nuys | 06/10/00 |
| Greene, Jeremy | Ethiopian Jews | Farragut Auditorium, Culver High School | 06/03/00 |
| Schub, Eric | “Boytzie” Holztman, A Gangster’s Life | Farragut Auditorium, Culver High School | 06/03/00 |
| Schub, Micah | Battling Benny Brostoff & the Jewish Boxers | Farragut Auditorium, Culver High School | 06/03/00 |
| Honig-Silbiger, Tania | Becoming Bas Mitsva…My Way | Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles | 05/13/00 |
| Pincus-Brimble, Geoffrey | Yiddish: Archaic Language or Cultural Treasure? | Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles | 05/13/00 |
| Bartlett, Casey | Understanding the Hollywood Blacklist | Wiltern Theater, Los Angeles | 04/01/00 |
| Jacoby, Sam | Blacks and Jews in the Civil Rights Movement | Wiltern Theater, Los Angeles | 04/01/00 |
| Richman, Max | Lessons from Jewish Resistance during World War II | Wiltern Theater, Los Angeles | 04/01/00 |
| Boucher, Danielle Hana | Keeping It Alive: Twenty five Jews in Search of Modern Jewish Identity | Theatricum Botanicum, Topanga | 05/09/98 |
| Pettit, Natasha | Journey of Shadows, Journey of Light | 05/09/98 | |
| Pettit, Natasha Naliboff | Theatricum Botanicum, Topanga | 05/09/98 | |
| Siegel, Samuel Passchier | A Period in Family History: The Anti-Fascist Years | Theatricum Botanicum, Topanga | 05/09/98 |
| Cramer, Zachary Navon | Righteous People Who Helped and Saved Jews | 05/02/98 | |
| Fisher-Schwartz, Daniel | Blacks and Jews: An American Alliance | UCLA Faculty Center | 05/02/98 |
| Bickel, David | What is a Secular Jew? | 04/25/98 | |
| Srolestar, Matthew | Images of Jews in Pre- and Post-WWII Movies | 04/25/98 | |
| Caine, Burt Lev | Albert Einstein | Valley Cities Jewish Community Center, Sherman Oaks | 05/03/97 |
| Kaye, Sara Rachel | Women’s Role in Judaism | Valley Cities Jewish Community Center, Sherman Oaks | 05/03/97 |
| Silverston, Hallie Alana | The Warsaw Ghetto Dream | Valley Cities Jewish Community Center, Sherman Oaks | 05/03/97 |
| Horbund, Samuel Kingston | Rites of Passage: Thoughts About Bar Mitzvah | 04/22/95 | |
| Rosow, Liana “Zumi” Solomon | Oy! Some Thoughts on Jewish Humor | 04/22/95 | |
| Schoenbaum, Jenna | Reflections on Immigration | 04/22/95 | |
| Green-Dove, Amelia | Stories from History-And My Life | 04/01/95 | |
| Levine, Maya Katherine | Personal Stories From the Nazi Era | 04/01/95 | |
| Srolestar, Gregory Daniel | Primitive Stories About Creation | 04/01/95 | |
| Mahmood, Rashad | Tzedakah and Zakat: Comparing Jewish and Muslim Principles | Grace E. Simons Lodge, Los Angeles | 05/01/94 |