PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE – January 2025
Every time the wind kicks up in our Southern California the newscasters tell we that should put away our patio furniture. Neighbors on the local Facebook groups mention that we might want to wait until early morning to put out the trash barrels because they will blow around. Some of us prepare for the possibility that our power might go out. We ready ourselves for streets filled with downed branches and leaves all over the place. The warnings for our winds this month were so serious the Temple Board decided to postpone our monthly meeting a week.
The Santa Ana winds are part of life here in Southern California. They barrel out of the Great Basin and Mohave desert, hot and dry. California Native Americans referred to them as devil winds and associated them with an evil presence. Spanish colonizers called them Caliente Aliento de Satanas, the hot breath of Satan. We call them the Santa Anas, but there is nothing saintly about them.
While we are putting away the patio furniture, keeping the trash barrels shielded, and watching for falling branches there is a certain fear we SoCal residents try to keep in the back of our mind, but as the winds pick up the fear is blown to the front of our consciousness and we tend to keep an eye on the hilltops with trepidation hoping we don’t see the telltale rising cloud of smoke that signals the start of a wildfire. We pray the skies remain clear.
But God has created an orderly world, and this month despite our prayers God’s laws of physics came down against us with a vengeance. We were cursed with two extraordinarily horrible fires in heavily populated areas and several smaller fires horrible in their own right. Driven initially by ferociously strong winds, the fires have wiped away neighborhoods, obliterated landmarks, and taken lives.
Rabbi Bieber has composed a heartfelt and meaningful prayer, which appears on the front page of this month’s issue. May its words help calm our fears, comfort us from our losses, and direct us to constructive (and reconstructive) actions.
As of this writing we do not know of any of our Temple family who have suffered major losses from the fires, but no doubt many of us know someone who has. For them, and for all who have been negatively affect, we pray for healing and renewal of soul and body. Some of us have had minor damage to our property, some of us have lost power for a few hours to a few days. All of us, no doubt, have watched the coverage of the destruction the fires have inflicted, the bravery of those bringing their skills to contain the destruction, and the inspiring humanity of those who have rushed to help alleviate the suffering of the victims of this disaster.
There is an old joke that says Southern California has four seasons: Fire, Flood, Earthquake, and Drought. We do have our share of natural disasters, but we clean up, rebuild, restore, and try to learn from each one to be better prepared when the next one inevitably strikes. We do this because for all its challenges we love our Sunset Magazine California life. We love showing off our warm, blue-skied, New Year’s Day with its floats and flora. We love going out in the back yard to pick oranges. We love being able to play in the snow, hike in the wild, and tan on the beach all the same day. Every time calamity strikes, we tough it out, because we know another beautiful sunny California day is coming.
— IRA L. GOLDSTEIN, President
