By Joe Gandelman SAN DIEGO — If there is ever a movie that cries out for being seen NOW it’s filmmaker Robert Rippberger’s 7 Days in Syria. When it was completed some months ago it was a solid documentary about the Syrian Civil War that took you so inside the devastation that you could almost
Why Jews should feel compassion for Syrian refugees Read More »
Jewish History, Joe Gandelman, Middle East, USABy Eva Trieger LA JOLLA, California — The strains of violin, clarinet and accordion set a reminiscent and inviting tone for this play. The set of the Mandel Weiss Forum was fairly simplistic with English and Yiddish subtitles projected over stage, creating an esoteric sensibility in the viewer. Spirited dancing accompanied the music as characters
Lesbians? Nothing shocking about them Read More »
Eva Trieger, Theatre, Film & BroadcastBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Recent discussions on the Internet deal with the moral question concerning asylum for Syrian refugees. This issue is especially a matter of concern for the European countries as well. More specifically for Jews, is the comparison between Syrians of today and the German Jewish refugees
Bring in persecuted Syrian groups first Read More »
Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Middle East
By Steve Diamond SAN DIEGO — The email ad for the first annual Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) Cycling Tour of Israel appeared in my inbox in early August – and immediately caught my eye. I’m a retired U.S. Navy senior officer, and my daughter, Rami, just finished her service as a Lone
Pushing pedals, raising morale in Israel Read More »
Middle East, San Diego County, Sports & CompetitionsHummus a long time favorite in the Middle East (JNS.org) The Middle East has gone through monumental changes over thousands of years, but one thing has never changed: an affinity for hummus. This conclusion was reached after fava seeds were discovered during an excavation by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) in the Galilee, showing
Middle East Roundup: Nov. 24, 2015 Read More »
Middle EastBy David Amos SAN DIEGO — The second half of October, just a month ago, turned out to be very special. From the 19th to the 23rd, I was invited to conduct the London Philharmonic in the city’s Abbey Road Studios. The following week takes only one word: Israel. Here are the details of both destinations.
Recording in England, resting in Israel Read More »
International, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts
By Eric George Tauber CHULA VISTA, California — One doesn’t normally expect to hear Hanukah music in a church. But when that church is Iglesia Restauración in Chula Vista, the meeting place of Latinos por Israel, the rules change. It’s taken 500 years, but many B’nei Anousim (Jews forcibly converted to Catholicism during the Inquisition)
Rekindling the Lights of Januká Read More »
Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
Piece of Mind by Michelle Adelman; W.W. Norton & Company; ISBN 978-0-393-24570-7; 304 pages, $25.95. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – I was enchanted by this novel by Michelle Adelman, who is a teacher here in San Diego. It tells the story of a brain-damaged woman from that woman’s interesting, often humorous, and at
Novel provides insight into the brain- injured Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison
By Tamara Isaacs Ciocci DUXBURY, Massachusetts — I have type 1 Gaucher Disease, a rare lysosome storage disorder that occurs when someone is born without the enzyme glucocerebrosidase that breaks down lipids in the cells. The result is a disease cell that accumulates in the blood, bone marrow, liver and spleen. Gaucher affects only 1
Ashkenazic Jews’ risk 53 times higher for Gaucher’s Read More »
Science, Medicine, & EducationBy Mark D. Zimmerman MELVILLE, New York — Because the turkey is native to America, it is not mentioned in the Torah. Therefore, a name was devised for this bird in modern Hebrew. What is that name? A. The turkey is called tarnegol hodu. Tarnegol means chicken. Hodu means thanks (the same root as todah.). By the time President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving as a
Jewish trivia quiz: Hebrew turkey Read More »
Mark D. Zimmerman, Trivia, Humor & SatireA history of early Nazi Germany worth reading In the Garden of Beasts; Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson; Broadway Books, New York, 2011 By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — The Garden of Beasts in the title refers to the inhabitants of Berlin’s Tiergarten, the park in central Berlin that once served
Never Again: Holocaust news for November 23, 2015 Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish HistoryAvis refuses to rent car over businessman’s Israeli identity (JNS.org) The Avis car rental agency refused to provide an Israeli businessman with a rental vehicle because of his Israeli identity, the New York Observer reported Sunday. Dov Bergwerk, a senior executive at Israeli pharmaceutical giant Teva, said that on Friday he and his wife
Middle East Roundup: Nov. 23, 2015 Read More »
Middle East