Donald H. Harrison

We Prepare for Chanukah

Boxes of Chanukah candles – check; chanukiyot cleaned and ready – check; oil, potatoes, sour cream, applesauce bought and ready – check. Phew, getting everything ready for the Eight Crazy Nights is a tough job, but someone has to do it, and in this house that someone is ME. [Cailin Acosta]

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Antisemitism, Cailin Acosta, Holocaust, Israel, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Survey: More Than Half of Israeli Arabs Feel a Sense of Shared Destiny with Israeli Jews

A new survey by the Konrad Adenauer Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University (TAU) released on December 12, 2024, reveals that, according to the survey, 57.8% of Arab Israelis believe that the ongoing war in Gaza has fostered a sense of shared destiny between Arabs and Jews in Israel. [Press Release]

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Israel, Lifestyles, Press Release, Science, Medicine, & Education

How Haredim Cope with Loneliness after They Break Away

Ultra-Orthodox Jews (Haredim) who decide to leave the community and disaffiliate are at a stressful crossroads in their life. Many leave close-knit communities for an initially lonely path in a world they may not be very familiar with. One of the new aspects of that life may be social media. Studies show that less than 20% of ultra-Orthodox individuals in Israel are exposed to social media. [Press Release]

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Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Press Release, Science, Medicine, & Education

Many Jews Involved in Search for Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP)

Many UAP organizations have formed since the December 2017 publication of a groundbreaking New York Times article exposing a UAP program at the Pentagon (co-authored by a Jewish journalist), and I have been fortunate to contribute to some of them. It has been surprising to meet so many fellow Jews who contribute to these same UAP organizations, sharing a passion for the topic as well as observance of the Jewish religion. Jews are indeed an “over-represented minority” in the UAP field. (Kerry Eskenas Schlossberg)

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Israel, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, The World We Share, USA

OpEd: What Will Netanyahu’s Legacy Be?

Some view Netanyahu as the consummate statesman while others see him as a power-mad autocrat. Objectively speaking, he is the first premier of Israel to be born after Israel’s independence, the only premier to have spent years in the US as a student, and the youngest man to have reached the pinnacle of Israeli political power. By the same token, Bibi is the only sitting Prime Minister to be charged with criminal offenses. [Steve Kramer]

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Israel, Opinion, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Steve Kramer

Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff Vows to Keep Fighting Antisemitism

President Joe Biden, at a White House pre-Chanukah party, said, “Next week you’ll light the eight candles on your menorahs. My final Chanukah message to you is this: As president, this is to hold onto that hope. Shine your light. Shine the light of optimism. And above all, keep the faith.” [SDJW staff]

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International, Israel, Jewish Religion, Middle East, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, The World We Share, USA

Comparing Dinah and Joseph

The Torah generally reveals little or no information about women. We are told that Jacob had a daughter named Dinah, but there is no more about her than what is mentioned in the drama. It does not tell us that Jacob had other daughters. It only reveals this in Genesis 37:35, where it states, “All his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him (Jacob),” and 46:15, where it states Leah, Jacob’s wife, bore thirty-three children with Jacob among “his sons and daughters.” [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors

OpEd: Manger Display Unacceptably Portrays War in Gaza as a Religious One

How cute. We find Baby Jesus in a new environment: swaddled by a black-and-white keffiyeh, emblem of the Palestinian struggle. Not to rest in a manger but to lie amid a pile of rocks that symbolize the rocks left over from bombed-out buildings in Gaza. Thus, the label “Christ in the Rubble.” [Bruce S. Ticker]

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Bruce Ticker, International, Israel, Opinion, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Trump Says Middle East Will Be in a Good Place; Lieberman, on Other Hand, says Israel May Be Headed for Civil War

U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump told a news conference Monday he had “a really good conversation” with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “I think we’re going to be in a good place in the Middle East,” he said. “I think the Middle East will be in a good place. I think actually more difficult is going to be the Russia-Ukraine situation.” [SDJW Staff Report]

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International, Israel, Jewish Celebrities, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Technology, USA

Transplanting Stem Cells in Sea Anemones Urged to Revive Coral Reefs

Climate change is bleaching and killing off vast amounts of the world’s coral due to rising sea temperatures. Dr. Benyamin Rosental of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and his colleagues have proposed an out of the box potential solution – transplanting stem cells from resilient individuals to revive them. [Press Release]

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Israel, Press Release, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share