The Essefficist, Rabbi, Leaves, End. Huh?
The Essefficist apologizes for the unexcused absence last week, but we don't recall getting any threatening letters (or any lonely ones, for that matter), so we're over it already. If you are.
So here we are, a day late this week, just in time for Hanukah, and we've got a couple of doozies for you. One about Hasidic Jews in San Francisco, one about pretty leaves tied to a chain-link fence. Mmmm... leaves. So, first let's hear from our main man J:
I moved here from New York a few years ago. One of the things I love about SF is the mix of cultures in the city. In comparing the two cities with friends, I realized that I have yet to see any Hasidic Jews living in San Francisco. I lived in Brooklyn there was a sizable population living all around me. Is there a community of Hasidic Jews in San Francisco? Have I just not seen them, or are they just not here? (and if not, why?)
The short answer is yes, J, there are Hasidic Jews in San Francisco, and yes, you just haven't seen them. The reason for that, basically, is that there aren't tons of them around and the ones that are here don't adhere to the same dress code in public that we all associate with Hasidim. They don't wear the coats and hats and ear-locks that you see in Brooklyn; rather they're more likely to be seen in business suits and yarmulkes with sideburns or beards not so unlike yours and ours. (Well, probably kinda unlike ours, since we've got a really sparse beard and can't even grow proper sideburns.)
So anyways, we called up the Jewish Community Center, who referred us to the Jewish Information and Referral Service, where we spoke to director Gail Green, who explained that there is in fact a Hasidic community in the City but that they're referred to as Chabad rather than Hasidic and that they don't sport the same look as the Hasidim you remember from your hipster days in Williamsburg. There are four Chabad synagogues around town, including Chabad of Noe Valley, the Richmond Torah Center-Chabad, and Chabad of San Francisco. (Sorry, we didn't get the fourth one. Take it to the Ombudsman, punk.) Gail suggested we call up Rabbi Yosef Langer, who runs Chabad of San Francisco, so we did. He told us that there are six "professional" hasidic families in San Francisco who run synagogues and education programs and who host open house shobbos (sabbath celebration), and, what with it being Hanukah and all, he invited one and all to attend the Menorah lighting at Union Square each evening this week, which he officiates.
(Interestingly enough, Rabbi Langer actually helped to start the Union Square Menorah lighting festivities with Bill Graham and Rabbi Chaim Drizin thirty years ago. This was the first public Menorah ceremony outside of Israel when it began and now is one of hundreds around the world.)
And on to our next caller. Redd Harrington on line four asks,
Hey there Essefficist,
What's the story on that thing with all the leaves tied to the fence at the shuttered gas station at Valencia and 20th? Is that Andy Goldsworthy's work? 
It sure looks like it. Isn't he doing something at the new de Young museum? Is he in town?
Fort those of you who haven't been trolling Valencia Street recently, Redd's talking about the now closed and fenced-in Shell Station at the aforementioned corner, where someone has gone to the trouble of trying up a bazillion different colored leaves by their tiny little stems. For those of you who don't know who Andy Goldsworthy is, he's the Scottish artist profiled in the movie Rivers and Tides who makes his art in nature using entirely natural found materials. We contacted Barbara Traisman, Senior Media Relations Officer for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, who told us that
Andy Goldsworthy is not in town, and I won't have further information regarding the project until he begins it, which will probably be in the spring or early summer. However, if you go to our website, www.thinker.org, you should be able to find existing information about the commission. Look on the pages that concern the de Young museum.
And I'm certain that he did not do the garland of leaves you saw, however Goldsworthian it might appear!
So there you go. Take a look here if you want more info on the Goldsworthy thingie. Take a look here to see some more leaf pictures.
Well, that's it for this week, kids. For even more info on the everyday things going on around you all the time, e-mail your questions about San Francisco or your own exciting life to the Essefficist (or just post 'em in the comments). And remember, no good questions from readers equals crappy Essefficist columns.