Donald H. Harrison

‘Children of Windermere’ a riveting dramatization

The BBC film Children of Wandermere is a heart- rending and at the same time heart-warming film of the incredible rescue mission of 300 children from ages 3 to 16 who survived the death camps of Germany in 1945. The first group of youngsters was flown for eight hours seated on the floor of a converted RAF bomber. They only had the clothes on their backs and some meager possessions. Until the Red Cross provided clothes, all the children went around in their underwear. [Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel]

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Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel, z"l, International, Jewish History, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

The high crime of discussing peace with israelis

The Gaza Youth Committee’s concept of self-determination was short-circuited by Hamas, which rules Gaza with a tight grip. The decade-old committee has spent the last half of its existence virtually meeting with Israelis in small-scale video chats targeted to develop a new generation of leaders who seek to live in peace. Last week, Hamas pulled the plug when it arrested the committee’s leader and several others who participated in its latest video chat on Zoom, the popular teleconferencing platform, The New York Times reports. [Bruce S. Ticker]

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Bruce Ticker, Middle East

Creativity during the pandemic

The pandemic may keep many of us at home, but it doesn’t have to hamper our creativity.  Just the reverse, in fact.  We have more time to think about things.  We can tackle the projects we had always meant to. Such was the case with Mark Thomas, a member of Tifereth Israel Synagogue, who found himself writing and singing “Suddenly Nothing,” which you can see and hear above. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison

Movie probes Israelis who move to Germany, Austria

Back to the Fatherland is a documentary that raises more questions than it provides answers, but in so doing it portrays the anguish that Israeli Jews and Gentiles from Germany and Austria still feel about the Holocaust.  With occasional passages involving filmmakers Kat Rohrer and Gil Levanon themselves — one being Austrian, the other Israeli — the film for the most part focuses on ttwo young Israeli men who decided to make their homes in Austria and Germany, and the reaction and memories their decisions stir up within their grandparents, who were Holocaust survivors. [Movie review by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Helping children’s emotions through COVID19

In this installment of my emotional education series aimed at helping readers live healthier through COVID19, I’m going to focus on younger children, a group that is often left out of our focus. This one finding alone from Roberto Olivardia, a lecturer in psychology at Harvard Medical School, is why paying attention to youngsters now is especially important. He reported that as many as 1% of children may suffer from “maskaphobia,” a fear that continues for longer than six months. While usually thought of in relation to costumes and superheroes, in today’s mask-filled streets it is linked to COVID19. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

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Lifestyles, Michael Mantell, Science, Medicine, & Education

Human sacrifice and dietary laws in the ancient world

The text boringly reports yet again the various categories and performances  of sacrifice. This is followed by the puzzling episode of sudden fiery death of two of Aaron’s ordained sons, Nadab and Abihu, for having offered ‘alien fire’ on the altar. Moses orders Aaron to be quiet over this, and soon he proceeds to chastise the two surviving sons of Aaron, over a trivial error of not eating a sin offering in the prescribed area. Lastly the text lays out the dietary laws. I have chosen two passages, from which I sought internet sources for pagan comparison of them. [Irv Jacobs, M.D.]

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Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish Religion

The remarkable thinking of Maimonides

Micah Goodman’s Maimonides is an important book. The following are some major points in it. The quotes are from the book. Maimonides’ God: Goodman states that Maimonides’ God is transcendental, meaning God is not involved in the daily activities of the world. God placed in the world the laws of nature, and then withdrew entirely from it…. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion

Remembering dear ones of now and then

Suzanne Choney posted a photo on Facebook today of her parents, Rosa Rubel and Icek Choinowski, who 75 years ago today were “among 60,000 human beings being liberated from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany.”  Choney added, “I know we all have so much to worry about now.  But I think of my parents, known in America as Rose and Irving Choney, the bravery of the Allies and the good people everywhere, and the evil faced by millions.  And I remember.  Just as all of us will remember this time.”  The photo, at left, of her parents was taken in London in 1947, two years after their liberation. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, USA
https://youtu.be/hYlxVJubdww

Idan Raichel’s concert voiced a universal plea 

There is a sense of solidarity when an internationally acclaimed artist shares a living room space with the community at large, and a heightened sense of togetherness when viewers from all over the world take a moment in time to experience a resonant musical event as a people.  Idan Raichel’s “In Your Living Room” Live Concert from his home in Tel Aviv, Israel, continued the new format of live concerts in situ in this time of quarantine.  [Omr Zalmanowitz]

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Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

The silence of Aaron from a pandemic perspective

We are living through the most emotionally taxing time of our lives. Filled with loss, economic instability, fear and isolation, we are asked to live up to the test with faith, strength, emunah and bitachon. This week’s parasha, Shemini, follows a Passover holiday that surely gave new meaning to the question, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” It presents us with the abrupt, heart-rending, seemingly inexplicable loss, the passing of Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Avihu. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

The chutzpah of the contrarian child

When we read in the Haggadah about the Four Children, one wise, one “wicked,” one simple, and one who is too young to ask questions, it is the “wicked,” son, whom I preferably identify as “the contrarian child.” His question cuts to the essence of the holiday: “What does this holiday mean to you?” The contrarian son’s honesty is refreshingly different from the other sons at the seder.  [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi