Esther Jungreis, Holocaust survivor, best-selling author and well-known champion of Judaism in America, is coming to San Diego on June 18 to speak at Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School's annual scholarship banquet.
Jungreis, whose books include “The Jewish Soul on Fire” and “The Committed Life,” is the founder of Hineni International in New York, an outreach program dedicated to countering what Jungreis calls the “spiritual holocaust among Jews in the U.S. and around the world.” The Hineni center offers classes ranging from the Torah and Hebrew language to Jewish rituals and ceremonies. Among its other ventures is a popular matchmaking service.
Jungreis grew up in Hungary, the daughter of a rabbi. She survived the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp as a young girl and last year was part of the U.S. delegation that traveled to Israel for the dedication of a new wing of Yad Vashem, that country's Holocaust memorial.
The Hebrew Day School's banquet begins at 6 p.m. at the La Jolla Marriott. Tickets are $180 for adults and $75 for school alumni; call (858) 279-3300 or go to www.hebrewday.org. Proceeds will boost the scholarship fund at the 43-year-old school, which grants an estimated $430,000 a year in Jewish education assistance.
