By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO–A benevolent calendar coincidence, occurring every few years, brings us on Dec. 24 to the shared lighting of solstice calendars by both Christians and Jews. The solar and lunar calendar cycles have intertwined, and so this Christmas Eve will share the fifth night of Hanukkah, 5772. The circumstances should work [...]
Allen Miliefsky of San Diego forwarded the link for this Chanukah gem by the Fountainheads. Happy Chanukah to all our readers!
By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO — Hanukkah, the little holiday that could, begins with the lighting of the first candle against the darkness tomorrow night. Year after year, the assessments begin and the questions accumulate: Is Hanukkah the Jewish Christmas? Which one came first and how are they related? (Of course, the real inquiry [...]
By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO — When we light the menorah we instill the light of Yiddishkeit into the hearts of those outside and of those inside, as the following true story, heard from Yichel and Baila Lederman, illustrates: The German Invasion of Poland began on September 1, 1939. Jews fled from the city [...]
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Historically, the holiday of Hanukkah is a relatively minor holiday when compared to holidays like Passover or Yom Kippur, or the Sabbath. Nevertheless, its significance should not be under-appreciated. Hanukkah celebrates the first triumph for religious freedom in the ancient history of late antiquity. Although the [...]
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Recently this question was posed to me: God warns us explicitly not to follow in the ways of the other nations. How does this apply to our custom to give gifts on Chanukah, which seems to have been taken from the very not-Jewish tradition of [...]
By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO–On Thursday morning, the last day of Chanukah, Sol Minsberg gave me an article to read after minyan. It was published on the website of Reform Judaism (www.rj.org). Its author, William Berkson, points out the how Chanukah is understood in Israel versus the United States. “In Israel, Chanukah is largely [...]
SAN DIEGO (Press Release) – Write Out Loud presents its annual celebration of the season with a program of short stories designed especially for the whole family. This year Sean Sullivan and Lynne Griffin, popular San Diego actors, are flying into town from Toronto just in time to participate. Sullivan, a San Diego native, and his wife, [...]
Compiled by San Diego Jewish World staffSouthwestern Jewish Press, December 24, 1954, Page 9 Lasker Lodge News By Lou Levitt Congratulations to our newly elected officers for the year 1955. They are: President Milton (Mickey) Fredman; 1st v. pres., Dr. Milton Millman; 2nd v. pres., Marshall Zucker; 34d v. pres., Edward Herman; fin. Sec. Joseph [...]
CHISINAU, Moldova (WJC)–The Russian Orthodox Church in the former Soviet republic of Moldova has indirectly blamed the Jewish community for the recent anti-Semitic march by Christian fundamentalists in the capital Chisinau in which a public menorah was dismantled. A church statement said: “We believe that this unpleasant incident could have been avoided if the menorah [...]
