LA Times mentioning the first pilot testing site at Temple Beth Emet.
Jewish Orange County was at the forefront of combating Tay-Sachs disease, the rare and fatal genetic disorder that results in the destruction of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Tay-Sachs affects Ashkenazi Jews 100 times more often than the general population, and has a 25% chance of being passed on if both parents are carriers. Since there is no cure, the only way to prevent Tay-Sachs is through a screening program which identifies and informs individuals of whether they carry the mutation or not. The success of this program has virtually eliminated the disease in the Ashkenazi Jewish population in both the United States and Israel. The man most responsible for this remarkable achievement is Dr. Michael Kaback, who discovered and developed the Tay-Sachs screening method after the genetic mutation responsible for Tay-Sachs was first identified. UCLA began the California Tay-Sachs Disease Prevention Program in early 1974, initially covering all of Los Angeles and Orange Counties and later spreading to the rest of the state. The Orange County Jewish Federation Council (today’s Jewish Federation OC) was instrumental in working with UC Irvine and the March of Dimes in getting the word out to the community, scheduling and publicizing two pilot testing sites; the first at Temple Beth Emet in May of 1974, and the second at Temple Beth Sholom in November of the same year. The effort was hugely successful, leading to programs in countries around the world with significant Ashkenazi Jewish populations. A big thanks to Jewish OC for leading the way in limiting this devastating disease.
Dalia Taft, Director of the Orange County Jewish Historical Society, highlights images from the archives every month. For more information, please visit https://www.jccoc.org/Pages/Oc-Jewish-Historical-Society. You can also contact Dalia at Daliat@jccoc.org or at (949) 435-3400, Ext. 360. The Orange County Jewish Historical Society is a program of the Merage Jewish Community Center and is funded by the Jewish Community Foundation Orange County.