Editor’s Note: Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin of Boca Raton has collected variations on some favorite aphorisms to help lighten the mood during the pandemic. It pays these days to laugh. Where there’s a will, I want to be in it. … [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
Variations on some favorite sayings Read More »
Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Trivia, Humor & Satire
I think I’ve lost track of time. What day of the week is it? Does it matter? What difference does it make anyway? All the days are the same in this time of isolation, or single confinement, if you prefer (actually, double in my case as my husband is with me). [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]
Over a month in pandemic confinement Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Lifestyles
I recently received an email from a Canadian novelist named Roberta Park in Toronto, author of a new cli-fi novella titled The Disappearing Shore. “We are at an extraordinary point in human history, and my eco-lit tale addresses the fears and responsibility we must face,” she told me. She sent me a copy of her novel and I am reading it now. I also noticed on her blog that she knows the story of ”Moishe” in Jewish storytelling … [Dan Bloom]
A Toronto bagel bakery backstory Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Travel and Food
Melissa Rubenstein Levin, who worked for Drasnin Communications in San Diego from 2000 to 2002, is now based in Houston, where she is handling publicity for IndieFlix. That production company recently issued three films. Angst, which includes an interview with Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, deals with understanding anxiety disorders; Like “explores the impact of social media on our lives and the effects of technology on the brain,” and The Upstanders, which I recently watched, “explores cyber-bullying,” as can be seen in the trailer above. [Our Shtetl San Diego County by Donald H. Harrison]
Some advice about school bullying Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Joe Gandelman, Lifestyles, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
You gotta love this book. Page 1 leads with my favorite “Ferguson” (shayn fergessen) joke which I have retold tirelessly for years. Fermaglich reveals that Winona Ryder, born in Winona, Minnesota and currently playing the role of Evelyn Finkel in the Netflix series The Plot Against America, based on Philip Roth’s 2004 novel of the same name, was born Winona Laura Horowitz. But this book is not about jokes and celebrities but about the real choices that the nearly three million Jews who came to America between 1880 and 1920 had to make to feel comfortable and make progress in America. [Oliver B. Pollak, Ph.D]
Book Review: A Rosenberg by any other name Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Oliver Pollak, USA
Perhaps you’re exasperated with many of the behavior and habit change schemes aimed at helping you overcome these types of demoralizing thoughts. Diets, exercise programs, meditation practices, gratitude journals, medication, the latest “therapy” procedures, vacations and even drugs and/or alcohol. Nothing helps, right? Perhaps you’ve got a bit too much “nah” going on. “Never accepting hope.” OK, OK, had to get at least one acronym in this article. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]
Succeed or Recede. You CAN’T? Read More »
Lifestyles, Michael Mantell
Rabbi Eliezer Silver (1882-1968) proved to be one of the greatest rescuers of European Jewry during the Holocaust. He is credited with saving many thousands of Jewish lives. [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]
Rabbi Eliezer Silver saved many from the Holocaust Read More »
International, Jewish History, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA
As the name of the portion indicates this week’s Torah reading begins on the eighth day of the process of inaugurating the Mishkan / The Tabernacle. For a full week Moses had assembled and disassembled the mobile sanctuary as well as modeling the services that would be done within it. At the end of that week, his brother, Aharon HaKohen / Aaron the High Priest, took over the duties for which he had been designated. [Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort]
A Word of Torah: And it was the eighth day Read More »
Jewish Religion, Yeruchem Eilfort-Rabbi
Amazon and Netflix feature a myriad of Holocaust feature films and documentaries. Here are a few recommended Holocaust films that you can stream. [Laurie Baron, Ph.D]
Streaming Holocaust content Read More »
International, Jewish History, Lawrence Baron, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) says she is in a favor of a proposal that would permit voting by proxy in Congress as long as the requirement of social distancing is in effect or if similar emergencies should occur. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
Voting by proxy in Congress during pandemic? Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USACan you think of anything that you disturb and harm yourself with more than your persistent negativity? Negativity eradicates whatever energy you’ve got left while sheltering-at-home. It diverts indispensable attention that you need to even hope to achieve goals that you have (you DO have goals, right?). And, of course, it weakens your overall morale. Oh, and your gray sky, cloudy outlook that kills any rainbow? Well, that similarly pollutes those close to you as well. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]
CRAFT SEEDS for well-being Read More »
Lifestyles, Michael Mantell
States, jealous of their power and prerogatives when it suits, have been furious over what some governors call federal inaction on COVID-19, deliberate or not. But equally, each state has a department of public health, a director of that department and staff. Each state is presumed to have a plan for emergencies: floods, forest fires, airliner crashes (the last fatal crash in the U.S. occurred in 2009, but it used to be on the “prepare for” list) or pandemics. Closing schools and parks is not handled in Washington. Calling out the state National Guard is, as its name suggests, a state prerogative. [Shoshana Bryen]
Pandemic shines light on federalism’s true role Read More »
Shoshana Bryen, USAI thank Marc W., an old high school and college friend, for inspiring this article regarding my April 12 column. You might have had similar questions to Marc’s. Below are my answers. [Steve Kramer]
Explaining Israeli Sovereignty in the Land of Israel Read More »
Middle East, Steve Kramer
The proxy war that Saudi Arabia and Iran have been waging in Yemen for the past five years goes beyond the pale of human capacity for extreme cruelty and ruthlessness, and against the spirit and the letter of the Quran. Ironically, whereas Saudi Arabia has many reasons to end the war, which prompted its recent decision to declare a unilateral ceasefire, Islam’s forbidding of the killing of innocent people was never considered a reason to halt the fighting. [Alon Ben-Meir, Ph.D]
Yemen war a crime against humanity, Islam Read More »
Alon Ben-Meir, Middle East