Donald H. Harrison

OpEd: Louder Than Hate

The recent flyer incidents are not isolated and do not exist in a vacuum. Unfortunately, they are a microcosm of a nation that has been beleaguered by a rise in antisemitism and other forms of hate. ADL’s Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, which tracks anti-Jewish incidents of vandalism, harassment, and assault, saw a 36% increase in reported incidents in 2022 – the highest level ever recorded. Unfortunately, three of the past five years (2019, 2021, and 2022) were record-breaking years as well. [Fabienne Perlov]

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California, Opinion, San Diego County, USA

Tisha B’Av: Time Not Only for Lamentations, But Also for Kindness

We might want to reflect this Tisha B’Av, which begins on Wednesday evening, July 26, on how we can help our fellow Jews who have fallen on hard times – an obvious reversal of the unkindness and factionalism that twice led to the downfall of ancient Jerusalem. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, San Diego County

Canadian Author Divides Antisemitism into Four Categories

In this book are eight topics essayed by Philip Slayton, an attorney and writer who serves as president of the literary society PEN Canada.  He first addresses the question of Jewish identity, then moves on to Jews in the World (where we live); Jews and Muslims; Jews and Christians; Jews and Zionism; Jews as Victims; Jews and the Media; Jews as Wanderers, and, beginning on page 143, he offers some conclusions. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, California, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History

ADL Says Group Leaving Antisemitic and Anti-LGBTQ Flyers ‘Known to Law Enforcement’

The flyers, which also were reported in the neighboring city of Santee, are produced by a group whose leaders “are known to law enforcement, and their motivation, beyond the bigotry of their messaging, is to drive traffic to their streaming service to generate revenue, terrorize communities and recruit new supporters,” according to the ADL statement. [SDJW Staff Report]

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San Diego County, USA

‘Hereville’ Is Getting Thereville

The story begins as they prepare for Shabbat. But the story is not about Shabbat, or heavier themes that we may expect from “Jewish” shows, it’s about a blended family learning to overcome their respective grief and come together as a family.  It’s about motherly love between a daughter and a stepdaughter and feelings of familial betrayals. [Sandi Masori]

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San Diego County, Sandi Masori, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Descendants of Holocaust Survivors Organized to Preserve Memories

Now in its eighth year of existence, San Diego Generations of the Shoah is comprised of approximately 100 descendants of survivors of the Holocaust. Its two main missions, according to Sam Landau, who chairs the steering committee, are “remembering our parents and those relatives who were murdered in the Holocaust” and “providing funds to organizations that support Holocaust education.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Israel, Jewish History, Lifestyles, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

San Diego’s Lone Reconstructionist Congregation Makes Its Home at the Lawrence Family JCC

Ridberg had plenty of opportunities to compare the different denominations of Judaism before she committed to Reconstructing Judaism. As a child in Rockville, Maryland, she attended the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, which offers classes from kindergarten through 12th grade. Her family belonged to a Conservative synagogue. After graduating with a major in women’s studies and communication arts from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, she worked with the Reform movement in Washington D.C. In the nation’s capital, she also attended the non-denominational Farbrengen Havurah, “one of the oldest havurot that came out of the 1960s-1970s era.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Travel and Food

Petition Demands Andrew Jackson Name Be Removed from the New Susan A. Davis Post Office Branch in Rolando Neighborhood of San Diego

Community activist Erik B. Anderson announced on Saturday that he has begun a petition campaign to remove the signage honoring Andrew Jackson from what has now been officially designated by law as the Susan A. Davis Post Office. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego County, Shor M. Masori, USA

Ceremony Renames Andrew Jackson Post Office for Susan A. Davis

High-ranking public officials, postal employees, and residents of the Rolando neighborhood of San Diego cheered as a plaque was unveiled officially renaming the post office branch at 6401 El Cajon Boulevard for former Congresswoman Susan Davis, D-San Diego. [Donald H. Harrison]

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California, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Shor M. Masori, USA

Rosenfarb’s Short Stories Depict the Inner Worlds of Holocaust Survivors

This year, 2023, was declared in Lodz, Poland, to be the year of Chava Rosenfarb, one of its most famous Yiddish writers. In Lethbridge, Canada, meanwhile Goldie Morgentaler, daughter and translator of Rosenfarb from Yiddish to English, completed for publication 10 of her late mother’s stories. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish Fiction, Lifestyles

On This Special Day, Caterer is Refused Entry to Chabad of La Costa’s Kitchen

Cooking is Lebovitz’s world. The kitchen from which she has been banished, for that one night only, officially has been named “Grammy’s Kitchen” in honor of Lebovitz, 85, who is called “Grammy Sheila” by the nine children and 15 grandchildren of Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort and Rebbetzin Nehama Eilfort, as well as by other younger members of the congregation. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA

San Diego’s Historic Disregard for the Sanctity of Cemeteries

I was shocked on Old Town Trolley’s “Ghosts and Gravestones Tour,” not by any ghosts or spirits, but while learning about the callous disregard that San Diego city administrations of the past had for graveyards and the mortal remains of people who had lived, worked, and, in some cases, had built our city. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, Shor M. Masori, Travel and Food

2 National Leaders of the JCC Movement Got Their Starts in San Diego

It took over 100 years before the JCC Association of North America chose someone from the U.S. West Coast to serve as its chairman. That person was Gary E. Jacobs of San Diego, a former president of the Lawrence Family JCC, Jacobs Family Campus in La Jolla.  As his four-year term was concluding, the JCC Association turned again to a San Diegan, David Wax, a retired executive with the San Diego-based, multistate Waxie Sanitary Supply company. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA