By Ira Sharkansky OSLO–Neither Varda nor I are Holocaust mavens. We know what happened. Varda lights candles each year for her uncle and grandmother, whose name she carries and who last wrote to the family from Theresienstadt on her way elsewhere. Neither of us have visited Yad Vashem in decades, since the site added several […]
Norway’s Holocaust museum symbolically located Read More »
International, Ira Sharkansky
By Eva Trieger SAN DIEGO — Lenny Solomon has bass and treble clefs in his DNA. Inheriting this musical encryption from a long line of cantors on both sides of his family, Solomon has been involved with music since 1985. Though he was majoring in accounting at Queens College in New York, after three years
Shlock rocker Lenny Solomon promos ‘Daniel in Babylon’ Read More »
Eva Trieger
By Carol Davis SAN DIEGO— Judging from its longevity, Alter Boyz which began its run Off Broadway in March of 2005 and closed on Jan. 2010, making it the ninth longest Off-Broadway musical, there is something some might find appealing at the core of this off-beat musical. It was the winner of the Outer Critics
‘Altar Boyz’ singers entertain but don’t save many souls Read More »
Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
By Gary Rotto ENCINITAS, California — My father, Daniel Rotto, a founding member of Congregation Dor Hadash who later served as a president of the Reconstructionist congregation, has died at age 89 at Seacrest Village Retirement Community here. Many of the early meetings of Congregation Dor Hadash were held in the Rotto home, and
Daniel Rotto, former Congregation Dor Hadash president, dies Read More »
San Diego Calendar
By Bruce Kesler ENCINITAS, California —Many of the finest and most honest minds – conservative and liberal — in and out of academia have argued, and sometimes succeeded, that campus speech codes often cross the line to suppression of First Amendment freedom of speech. The excesses in the wording of such codes, their arbitrary and
UC policies unhelpful to those fighting anti-Semitism Read More »
Science, Medicine, & Education
By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO — Most of my work with interfaith couples has to do with Jews and Christians; they often come to me (at ‘Reconciliation: The Synagogue Without Walls’) after having been shunned or hurt by a rabbi or a priest or some such figure. They love each other—and are told they
Muslim woman, Jewish man marry with Apache prayer Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Israeli politics is currently more a muddle than usual. Leaving aside the knotty problem of defining the “left,” two newspapers identified with the Israeli and American Jewish left have published reports that define the problem of the left. Ha’aretz headlined a survey of Israelis finding that about half the adult population identify
Israeli left unable to capitalize on Netanyahu’s flaws Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Evelyn Gordon WASHINGTON, D.C. — When a blue-ribbon panel of Israeli legal experts issued a report this July declaring that the West Bank isn’t “occupied territory,” but territory to which Israel has a legitimate claim, and that settlements therefore cannot be considered ipso facto illegal, it raised an outcry both in Israel and overseas.
Levy Report makes legal and diplomatic sense Read More »
Middle EastBy Carol Davis SAN DIEGO — In this day of ‘throw away’ there are a few treasures worth keeping. Take for example the Jerry Herman (music and lyrics) and Harvey Fierstein (book) La Cage Aux Folles based on the 1973 French play of the same name by Jean Poiret. The show first hit Broadway in
Entertaining ‘La Cage’ to close Sunday, Aug. 12 Read More »
Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — The news is out — President Obama is not just watching the gory events unfold in Syria. The president signed an intelligence finding permitting the CIA to help the opposition with $25 million’s worth of non-lethal assistance, possibly including communications, logistics, and intelligence. Public acknowledgement of the finding follows
U.S. naively tries to buy friends in Syria Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana Bryen
Editor’s Note: Our Australia bureau chief, Garry Fabian, recently received the following request from the city of Stuttgart, Germany: ” “On the 22nd August this year there will be the 70th anniversary of this very sad moment in Stuttgart (Germany) history. We are planning to commemorate this date when transport of Jewish citizens were commenced
Survivor commemorates his deportation from Stuttgart Read More »
International, Jewish History
By Dagmar Bjork SAN DIEGO – I recently joined Girls Give Back, a program of Jewish Family Service, to participate in its “Making Money, Making Change” summer session. This was my first time in the program, and I absolutely loved every minute of it. I learned so many important skills – not only for business ventures,
Making money, making change, making brownies Read More »
San Diego County
SAN DIEGO — Melanie Rubin found this transliterated Hebrew license plate. Nifrah means “we will blossom.”
Jewish-interest license plate: ‘Nifrah’ Read More »
Jewish Religion, Melanie Rubin
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Who says religious people aren’t funny? Where is Jay Leno when you need him? The world of the Ultra-Orthodox (a.k.a. “Haredi” and “Hasidim”) never fail to evoke laughter and irony. In their quest for personal piety, they will go to extremes to keep themselves away from
Some forms of haredi piety are really OCD Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi