Passover at Beth Abrams’ Bernal Heights residence was all the time an occasion, stated her son, Dario Abramskiehn.
“We eat nice meals and we snigger and we cry and we speak about not simply the fake plagues which are conventional, however different plagues…. racism and homophobia and sexism, and destruction of the pure world,” Abramskiehn stated. “Her definition of struggling on this planet was fairly considerate and expansive.”
Abrams, 73, died on Jan. 14 throughout a stroll in Golden Gate Park, the place she was discovered subsequent to a fallen tree department. She was a dancer, activist and treasured member of her neighborhood.
Abrams was a member of Keneset HaLev, a nondenominational congregation, and Or Shalom Jewish Community, a Reconstructionist synagogue, each in San Francisco.
She didn’t do something in half measures.
The San Francisco Medical Examiner’s workplace has not but confirmed an official reason behind dying. A collection of atmospheric river storms, which wreaked havoc in California, contributed to no less than 20 deaths as of Jan. 17, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office.
Abrams was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1949 to folks who thought-about themselves extra culturally than religiously Jewish. The household moved to L.A. when Abrams was 4, after which to Orange County to comply with her father’s work within the Air Power. In Orange County, the household confronted acts of antisemitism, Abramskiehn stated, which cemented his mother’s Jewish id and her future as an activist.
“The concept of a extremely lengthy and painful Jewish legacy of oppression and discrimination knowledgeable her advocacy for different oppressed peoples and susceptible individuals, not restricted to Jews, as a approach of partaking with the bigger world,” stated Abramskiehn.
Abrams moved to the Bay Space within the early Nineteen Seventies, following her brother and her anti-war activism. For the following 40 years, she taught dance courses in any respect ranges, from skilled dancers to youngsters, pregnant individuals and people with disabilities. A pal from Keneset HaLev, Debbie Esters, took her flooring barre class at San Francisco’s Traces Dance Heart, which Abrams taught into her last week.
“I used to say she put Humpty-Dumpty collectively once more,” Esters stated. “As a instructor, she was entertaining and humorous, extremely skilled and educated.”
Equal to her ardour for dance was Abrams’ devotion to social justice. At her thirty sixth birthday celebration, she met a pal from El Salvador who had not too long ago fled violence within the area. New to San Francisco, the pal had no cash, household or assets — so Abrams sprang into motion. She based the group Grupo de la Comida to feed town’s rising immigrant inhabitants with meals donated by native markets and bakeries. At its top, Grupo fed greater than 2,000 individuals every week, Abramskiehn stated, and supplied clothes, dietary schooling and different assets. To deal with the logistics of this system, Abrams based the Beth Abrams Center for Peace, Arts, Justice and the Environment. The middle took on extra initiatives, tackling wastewater points within the metropolis and advocating for improved infrastructure for charging electrical vehicles. Grupo resulted in 2012, however Abrams’ work didn’t.
“She had ardour,” Esters stated. “She didn’t do something in half measures.”
Abrams was the steward of her household’s Jewish traditions, her son stated. Whereas all the time increasing her understanding of her religion and theology, she was anchored within the ideas of tzedakah and tikkun olam. Keneset HaLev president Shari Samuels stated she was recognized for her Purim costumes, gluten-free Shabbat dishes and telephone calls made throughout her lengthy walks in Golden Gate Park.
Abramskiehn additionally remembers the Christmas events his mom threw for members of the Grupo neighborhood. She would persuade her pals to donate cash, presents, musical performances and yearly an enormous tree. She additionally would take nice effort in matching presents to youngsters and fulfilling particular person requests when she might. A few of Abramskiehn’s happiest childhood recollections are of working alongside his mom, he stated.
“All of this stuff she did she did with simply form of overflowing love for different individuals,” Abramskiehn stated.
