A Just Return for Years of Giving to Jewish Community

Sam Smotrich of Laguna Hills, at 87, isn’t one to sit around. He goes to synagogue three times a week and is involved with so many social and service clubs his days are almost always full.

What Smotrich’s life is mostly about is causes connected to his Jewish faith. Smotrich is used to honoring others. This time he’s on the receiving end.

The Anti-Defamation League of Orange County/Long Beach announced this week that Smotrich will receive its annual Distinguished Service Award for 1997.

The announcement from the league, which promotes justice and fair treatment for Jews, said the award was for Smotrich’s “efforts to build a stronger Jewish community through education.”

Smotrich, who made his wealth in clothing manufacturing and real estate development, has helped finance numerous causes in Israel. He has also endowed several libraries at synagogues in Southern California. One is the library, named for his late wife, Bee, at Temple Eilat in Mission Viejo. Smotrich also financed its youth center.

He’s also a huge supporter of Camp Ramah near Ojai, a summer camp that stresses Jewish values and traditions. Both his sons, Tom and Marvin, attended. Both were later counselors there, and both are now on its board of directors. Each year, Smotrich provides scholarships for youngsters to go there.

Sam Smotrich told me:

“My father was a rabbi, my grandfather was a rabbi, so naturally most of the causes I support are in the Jewish community.”

But it runs deeper than family background. If you are Jewish, he told me, then at some point in your life you have faced some type of discrimination. Smotrich can get especially worked up when defending Israel in its conflicts with neighboring Arab states.

“I’ve always thought we should all just respect each other,” Smotrich said. “That’s what the Anti-Defamation League thinks too. So yes, an award like this is nice.”

It will be presented at the league’s annual Appeals Brunch at the Anaheim Marriott on Nov. 9.

Sisterhood: A resident of Leisure World in Laguna Hills recently wrote that the media too often make it sound like the people who live there are all feeble and in wheelchairs.

I kept her words in mind when I wrote this week about the possibility of cityhood for Leisure World. At least a dozen people from Leisure World who have called or written me in response found nothing offensive in the column. The exception was an informal Leisure World group who call themselves the “Sisters of the Cul de Sacs.”

They are anti-cityhood and, based on the cartoon they sent me (depicting wrinkled folk with wheelchairs, walkers and canes), it appears they didn’t think I had shown proper respect. To dig at me, they suggested as a name, if it is incorporated: “City of Geezer World.” Their line with it: “Or is that too real for ya, Jerry?”

It’s not my intention to offend anyone. My best friend (my mother) will soon be 77, and I would never think of her as an old geezer.

Leisure World II: A much calmer response came from Helen Ensweiler, who lives there. She’s also opposed to cityhood. Her complaint is that the Golden Rain Foundation, which represents the largest group of homeowners within Leisure World, won’t provide any funds for an anti-cityhood movement. That’s no surprise, since the foundation favors cityhood. But she deserves her say. She writes, in part:

“We already have an efficient management in place. We do not need a second management, which would have no power over our present management. . . . Why would we want to inundate ourselves with outside problems?”

Cityhood there might have a bumpy road ahead.

Winning Loser: Some may well remember all the excitement in 1957 when Monterrey, Mexico, won the Little League World Series with a perfect game against La Mesa of California. Lew Riley of Yorba Linda certainly does. He was the losing pitcher that day.

Riley has written to The Times to congratulate the South Mission Viejo team that came home U.S. Little League champs but lost a heartbreaker last week to a Guadalupe, Mexico, team for the world title.

“Sleep well, Mission Viejo Little Leaguers; you played too spectacularly to let one inning ruin everything.”

Riley says his team’s loss in 1957 was also heartbreaking: “I cried on the mound, but my coach comforted me and I completed the game. I can still remember our players sharing laughs with our Mexican conquerors at the dinner table that night. . . . The overall tournament experience was a fond memory for us.”

Riley worries that parents, and even coaches, take winning too seriously today: “Let kids be kids. Adulthood will be upon them soon enough.”

They Went Thatta Way: I would be remiss if I didn’t take time to thank the people who showed up at The Times Orange County Edition event I participated in at the Barnes & Noble bookstore at the Tustin Marketplace this week. Several who attended had graciously helped me out with information on previous columns.

Unfortunately, when I tried to thank them individually after the event, they had scattered toward their vehicles. I hope I’ll get a chance to thank them later.

Wrap-Up: The Rev. Robert H. Schuller of the Crystal Cathedral has taken a bit of media bashing in recent weeks after his much talked-about run-in with a United Airlines flight attendant.

Looks like someone forgot to tell the Anti-Defamation League of Orange County/Long Beach that Schuller’s name isn’t in vogue these days. The television minister will also be honored at its November luncheon, with its Interfaith Award.

The league notes that Schuller is being singled out “for his work to create a cohesive community in a multiethnic, multireligious and multiracial society.”

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by call-ing The Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823, by fax to (714) 966-7711 or by e-mail tojerry.hicks@latimes.com