By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — On Shabbat we begin reading the book of B’midbar, Numbers in English. At the conclusion of Shabbat we celebrate Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks. According to rabbinic tradition, the Children of Israel received the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Torah from God on Shavuot, exactly fifty […]
New Jews join our people in spirit of Ruth Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — An uptick in loud concern about illegal immigration is currently riling Israeli media and politics. By “loud concern” I mean shouting on a prime time discussion program set off when moderators do not accept as appropriate the answers to questions they have asked, against the background of anti-immigrant riots in
Israelis’ rhetoric about illegal immigration sounds like Americans’ Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
By J.J. Surbeck SAN DIEGO — a new pro-Palestinian movie titled Tears of Gaza had its local premiere Thursday evening, May 25, at the World Beat Center (one of the buildings in Balboa Park along Park Boulevard). Described as “a powerful and emotionally devastating record of the impact of the 2008-2009 bombing of Gaza by
Pro-Palestinian film shows gory images out of context Read More »
Travel and Food
By Danny Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — When I first began to write “The Silverman Manifesto (2012)”, I had some qualms about how it might or might not go over among American Jews, and whether it might be or might not be accepted. Still, struck by some of the God-awful humor that has made its
Do ‘Jewish jokes’ need to be updated? Read More »
Travel and FoodBy Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Watching the mayoral debate on KUSI Thursday night, it occurred to me that we really can have the best of both worlds. We can elect an idealistic mayor, who time and time again has put himself on the line for the causes he believes in: Bob Filner. And
Bob for Mayor, Bonnie for District Attorney Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
Story and photos by Ilene Lerner SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — My Costa Rican friend and colleague, Rebecca Gueverra, and I went to visit the Jewish Museum here. I knew from research on the Internet, that there was a small Jewish community here of about 3,000 and wanted to connect with it. I had asked some
Museum explores 3 waves of Jewish immigration to Costa Rica Read More »
International
By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO — The generation that stood at Har Sinai was the greatest generation of all time. Their leader was the greatest leader of all time. This was not a coincidence. Hashem gives us leaders in proportion to the generation. The greater the generation, the greater the leader. Young Rabbi Yechezkel
How Rabbi Landau survived a test Read More »
Jewish Religion
By David Amos SAN DIEGO–Two weeks ago I shared with you a few interesting experiences we encountered in our trip of a month ago. We were two couples, finding places that all tourists either know or wish to visit, and other locations with possible twists and surprises. In my first article, I covered visits with
Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania fun to tour Read More »
USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — In the great mystery of What will Israel do? there is another item that may help to resolve the problem. Ha’aretz is the paper of Israel’s intellectual establishment. And befitting that status, it is left of center, and generally critical of government policy. The posture of its editors affects their
Ha’aretz ridicules Obama’s do-nothing approach on Iran Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
Photos and story by Jenn Sanders SAN DIEGO — May 22, 2012 was a historical day for San Diego. A street was renamed for the late Harvey Milk, the slain gay activist who was a San Francisco County Supervisor. Six speakers helped inaugurate the sign. They included Stuart Milk, the nephew of the honoree; San Diego City
San Diego becomes first city to name street for Harvey Milk Read More »
Jewish HistoryBy Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb NEW YORK — My first exposure to the study of the Bible was in the Yiddish language. We spoke only English at home, but almost all the teachers we had in the yeshiva I attended were Holocaust survivors who had escaped to the safety of these shores only a few
Good manners preceded the Torah Read More »
Jewish Religion
By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO — No one will ever really know what goes on in the basement laundry of the children’s hospital in question. That’s part of what makes “the blessing of the hands” so miraculous—it doesn’t involve publicity agents, news anchors, or RSS feeds. But what I saw will never be
A continuing miracle at a Catholic hospital Read More »
Science, Medicine, & EducationBy Morton A. Klein and Daniel Mandel NEW YORK — Since the toppling of the Hosni Mubarak regime last year, matters in Egypt – and thus in the Egyptian/Israeli relationship and in the surrounding Middle East – have steadily gone from bad to worse. Strangely, few are taking notice. The Obama Administration actively encouraged the
Egyptian candidates seek end to peace with Israel Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Two committees are competing for Israel’s media space. Both are dealing with items that have been near the top of the agenda for some time. And consistent with their long play without solution, the clear tendency of commentary about both is pessimistic. One is dealing with Iran’s nuclear program. Without trying to
Israeli committees studying Iran and universal military service Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East