Donald H. Harrison

‘Rashi’s Daughters’ portrays life in Middle Ages

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel –I have just finished reading the last volume of Maggie Anton’s monumental trilogy, Rashi’s Daughters, (published by Plume Inc.) which contains an imaginative reconstruction of the life of a medieval Jewish community, and in particular those of three Jewish women. The author has spent many years researching various aspects […]

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Travel and Food

Kerry: Israel-P.A talks continue ‘despite the skepticism’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday, Dec. 10, addressed the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.  After being introduced by Stuart Eizenstat, who had held office in both the Carter and Clinton administrations, Kerry complimented the JDC (affectionately called the “Joint”) for its work in many countries helping not only Jews

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Middle East

Fictional biography of Esther an extended midrash

Jim Baumgardner, Esther Queen of Persia: A Courageous Woman for a Dangerous Time, Wichita, Kansas: Baumgardner Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-9884107-1-8,  293 pages, $16.95, www.biblenovels.net By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — For centuries rabbis have been providing supplemental information to that found in Jewish Scriptures.  You might think of Esther Queen of Persia as such

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Donald H. Harrison

Rabbinic letters to Clinton prove grist for sermons

Rabbi Menachem Genack,  In Letters to President Clinton: Biblical Lessons on Faith and Leadership  Sterling Ethos/OU Press, New York, 2013. 288 pages, ISBN 978-1-4549-0791-6. Price: $24.95 By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — President Bill Clinton is in many ways one of the most iconic and beloved presidents of recent history. His congenial manner

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Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi

JNS news briefs: December 9, 2013

Israel lobbied against death penalty for Nelson Mandela, new documents show (JNS.org) Newly declassified documents reveal that the Israeli Foreign Ministry, under the leadership of future prime minister Golda Meir, in 1964 convinced Jewish philosopher Martin Buber and Israeli author Haim Hazaz to send a letter asking the South African apartheid government not to seek

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International

Iran’s mullahs, Obama, ideologically in tune

By Isaac Yetiv, Ph.D. LA JOLLA, California — Much has been said and written, by both Democrats and Republicans, about President Obama’s disastrous “deal” with Iran that has been justly compared to “Munich” where, in 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain surrendered to Hitler’s demands and sacrificed Czechoslovakia. The Iranian mullahs were granted a “down payment”

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Middle East

The arts and the teaching of religion

  By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–Skot Golden-Needham shyly approached the aron kodesh on Sunday, Dec. 8, with his kindergarten teacher Lori Bunshaft.  Then, turning around, he displayed the model aron kodesh that he made and Mora Lori showed another one fashioned by one of his classmates. It was hard to tell what was brighter,

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Humoring the Headlines: December 8, 2013

By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO―As happens this time annually, conservatives are decrying the secular war on Christmas.  Having Christmas designated a national holiday, having a national Christmas tree, and having the media flooded with Christmas advertisements and messages from Thanksgiving until December 25th does constitute a war, but it is being waged against people who

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Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire