This Is America by Henye Meyer, Israel Bookshp Publications, 2012, ISBN 978-1-60091-196-5; 352 pages; price unlisted. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO –In 76 episodes that previously had been serialized in the Orthodox daily newspaper Hamodia, this novel relates the experiences of members of a Ukrainian Jewish family who establish new lives as immigrants on [...]
By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO– It was just another sermon on a Friday night at my beloved congregation of elders here in Southern California—though I regard every opportunity to preach and teach as an honor and a privilege. Who should ever presume the license to stand before people who have to come pray [...]
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO– Most of the focus at schools at this time of the year is on the annual rite known as the graduation ceremony, because, wherever it is held, it typically involves a major portion of the student body in symbolic culmination of an important chapter in their lives. The [...]
By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO — The New York Times has now published an article that carefully chronicles a disquieting, alarming social reality brimming inside the fundamentalist Jewish community of Brooklyn: adult members of the enclave who have reported the sexual abuse of youngsters on the part of rabbis, teachers, and other professionals are [...]
By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO — When I closed my eyes to sleep last night, I reflected about President Obama’s thoughtful affirmation concerning the legal right of any two people to declare a marriage between them. I confess that while never opposing anybody’s right to marry anybody else, the long-standing, Jewish oligarchic tradition that [...]
By Bruce Kesler ENCINITAS, California — With the enlargement of federal powers and intrusions into individual’s lives, the 9th Amendment to the US Constitution, part of our Bill Of Rights, may well gain more judicial attention. The 9th Amendment should be elevated to central prominence, as it was intended, in applying judgment of all federal [...]
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Jewish candidates are participating in a variety of races this June 5, ranging from local school board contests to a reelection campaign for the U.S. Senate. San Diego Jewish World would like to congratulate all the following members of our community for their participation in the political process [...]
By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO — Harry Belafonte, the musical legend and civil rights icon, first met Martin Luther King Jr. in 1956. King phoned the rising calypso star in New York, and according to Belafonte’s memoirs, said, simply: “You don’t know me, Mr. Belafonte, but my name is Martin Luther King Jr.” [...]
Jacob ‘s Return by Andrew Tertes, Sapphire Ink Press, 2012, ISBN 989-1-938133-00-8; 440 pages, $15.95 By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO –This novel’s title announces its outcome: Jacob, the main character, will return. Ah, but to what? The cover photo is of the ocean, presumably off the coast of Hawaii, where tragedy robs Jacob [...]
By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO — President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, delivered on an icy-cold, blue-skied January morning in 1961, is best-remembered for its iconic declaration: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” Yet the final phrase uttered by the young leader [...]
