Donald H. Harrison

Palestinian mindset: better to slap Israel than to improve self

By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. –Mitt Romney is being castigated for praising the culture that has allowed a democratic, (mainly) free market Israel, operating under the rule of law, to thrive amid decades of threat and periodic open warfare and a heavy defense burden. Actually, he’s being castigated for what his praise of Israel implies […]

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Middle East, Shoshana Bryen

Here’s Zikhron Ya’akov from grandma’s perspective

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson ZIKHRON YA’AKOV, Israel — It’s over twenty years since my own children were teenagers, and it was with some trepidation that my husband and I agreed to leave our home and spend a week in Zikhron Ya’akov attending to our three grandsons while their parents took a well-deserved break abroad. Like everywhere

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Travel and Food

Palestinians can blame themselves for shattered economy

By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Palestinians face an economic crisis more severe than the World Bank had anticipated; the Bank fears that the territories may become “ungovernable.” This is not actually new, but since the Bank in its panic is considering bypassing restrictions on money to Hamas, it is worth looking at the

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Middle East, Shoshana Bryen

The Wandering Review: ‘Dark Horse’ and ‘Take This Waltz’

By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — I had been looking forward to last week.  Todd Solondz’s Dark Horse and Sarah Polley’s Take This Waltz were opening in San Diego, and I knew both featured Jewish characters.  Finally, I would have the opportunity to review movies currently playing in theatres for my column.  Unfortunately, depicting Jewish

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Lawrence Baron

The rabbi learns much from his congregants

By Rabbi Ben Kamin LAGUNA WOODS, California– They call themselves “a synagogue without walls,” which was especially ironic and heartening when I first was interviewed by the leadership several years ago.  My pastoral agency is called Reconciliation: The Synagogue Without Walls and—once the meeting warmed into a promising new relationship—one of the officers teased me: 

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Jewish Religion

The world of science is hearing Jonah Kohn’s discovery

SAN DIEGO (Press Release)– Eight-grade San Diego Jewish Academy (SDJA) student Jonah Kohn has won in his age group at the Google Science Fair and became one of three overall winners July 23 in the Palo Alto competition as decided by an elite group of judges that included Nobel laureate Ada Yonath and Stephen Myers, the scientist heading

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San Diego County

How Judaism survived the gulag

Unbroken Spirit: A Heroic Story of Faith, Courage, and Survival by Yosef Mendelevich, Gefen Publishing House;  2012; ISBN 978-965-229-563-7; 337 pages. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO –Feeling desperate that  Jews were not allowed to emigrate freely from the Soviet Union, Yosef Mendelevich and a few compatriots planned some 42 years ago to hijack a

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Donald H. Harrison

Two golden mezuzot to ‘Fiddler’s’ star and director

By Carol Davis VISTA, California — When Tevye, one of the most celebrated milkmen in the history of Broadway and star of the Joseph Stein (book), Jerry Bock (music) and Sheldon Harnick (lyrics) musical, Fiddler On The Roof, tries to explain to the audience why Jews do certain things (like keeping their heads covered all

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Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast