You’ve got more time on your hands than you have ever had, but also more anxiety about when the coronavirus pandemic will be over. I annually organize a Jewish Film series at my synagogue. Since it has been cancelled, here’s the first installment of Jewish programming you can stream in your home. [Lawrence Baron, Ph.D]
Streaming Jewish movies at home, Part I Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
The Jewish Federation of San Diego County, the Jewish Community Foundation and the Leichtag Foundation have jointly created a new San Diego Jewish Community Covid-19 Emergency Fund “to support those who are most vulnerable and impacted primarily in San Diego’s Jewish community.” Co-chairing the effort are Emily Einhorn, Leo Spiegel, and Brian Tauber. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
Jewish community establishes emergency Covid-19 fund Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, The World We Share, USA
Wow! What a long and involved Torah reading this week! Just look at the title of this article; it took up a significant portion of this page. This week we read a double portion plus a special additional reading, which has to do with the impending month of Nissan. Let’s start at the beginning. The first portion we read is titled VaYakhel / And (Moses) Assembled. [Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort]
A Word of Torah: Vayakhel/ Pikudei/HaChodesh Read More »
Jewish Religion, Yeruchem Eilfort-Rabbi
By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans have had fairly stable energy prices for the past few years, and fairly low ones, in part due to the tremendous increase in energy production in the United States – both natural gas and oil. In 2018, the U.S. produced 95% of its domestic energy requirements, the largest
Russian-Saudi oil competition damaging domestic producers Read More »
International, Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, USA
The nightly news programs on TV here in Israel are full of gloom and doom, with predictions from health and financial experts of the awful fate awaiting many of us. The icing on the cake comes in the form of the almost-nightly harangue from our ‘beloved leader’ telling us of the latest restrictions and attendant penalties awaiting us on the morrow. Each such harangue is peppered with supposedly casual references to that person’s wonderful relations with foreign leaders, great achievements in Israel’s general situation and transparent digs at his political opponents. The fact that Israel’s current political situation is a mess is due in no small measure to the manipulations and shenanigans of that particular leader. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]
Political machinations in Israel during c-virus pandemic Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East
Located south of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) and about a kilometer west of Israel’s border with Jordan, Kfar Ruppin, a kibbutz with San Diego connections, is the subject of an enchanting memoir by Rachel Biale, a Berkeley, California, resident who grew up there. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
Kibbutz with San Diego connections subject of new memoir Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, Travel and Food
As was evident in my last column, I know all about the coronavirus. Ever since my owners have sequestered themselves in the house, I have observed them exhibiting odd behaviors which I fear are symptoms of the illness. Their eyes have become glazed from watching too much television. They even listen for extended periods to what the Golden Retriever is spouting on screen, a clinically proven cause of anxiety and high blood pressure. They previously turned the television off or switched channels whenever he appeared and spoke. [Humor by Elona Baron as told to Lawrence Baron]
When humans shelter in place Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire
Like apparently in most other countries, life is coming to a near-standstill in Israel. But, as I’ve written before, unlike in most other countries, the coronavirus crisis in Israel is interwoven with the political crisis that, after three general elections within a year, still has only a transition government with its long-serving prime minister desperately clinging to power. [Rabbi Dow Marmur]
Coronavirus in Israel complicated by government crisis Read More »
Jewish Religion, Middle East
What’s Covid-19 Got to Do With Feeling Anxious? Nothing. What? Nothing? Are you serious? “Ever since this COVID19 earthquake hit, I’ve been a nervous wreck,” said a client in a first session, by phone of course. So, I’ll ask again, as I asked this new client, riddled with anxiety, “What’s the COVID19 got to do with what you’re feeling?” And, so began his transformative journey to calm, peace and tranquility in the face of a coronacopia of life upending matters related to COVID19. [Michael Mantell, Ph.D]
How not to make C-Virus worse than it is Read More »
Lifestyles, Michael Mantell
The more I work at this column-writing gig, the more I realize how true the motto of this website is that that “there’s a Jewish story everywhere.” Case in point: I was writing a draft about a hilarious new cli-fi novel from a Canadian humorist named David Millar when during one of our casual online chats about his book The Ministry For Ignoring Climate Change he told me a great little anecdote about his connection to Jewish people and Jewish culture. [Dan Bloom]
Cli-fi author helped Jewish neighbors on Shabbat Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, The World We Share
This parasha deals with the actual construction of the Tabernacle, with the lavish materials provided as gifts by the Israelite population. The work was performed under the guidance of the designated skilled craftsmen, Bezalel and Oholiab. I have chosen three passages, from which I have sought Internet sources for comparison with our Hebrew texts. [Irv Jacobs, MD]
Biblical craftsmen, donors and cherubim Read More »
Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish ReligionSan Diego City Council candidate Joe Leventhal served on the City of San Diego’s Ethics Commission for only a year before resigning to run for office, but he’s proud that he has left behind what he says colleagues on the commission refer informally to as the “Leventhal Amendment.” [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
Local Jewish candidates series: Joe Leventhal Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, USAThere isn’t a Torah parsasha that doesn’t have an exact link to what’s going on in the world during the week we read its teachings. This week we read from Vayakhel and Pekudei and, lo and behold, once again we experience an inspirational nexus with our contemporary lives and a biblical passage. [Michael Mantell, Ph.D]
Learning, following Torah when synagogues are closed Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell
The plague has interested me for over 60 years. On my shelves I have Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year 1665; William H. McNeill, Plagues and Peoples (1976); John Aberth, the author of The Black Death, The Great Mortality of 1348-1350 (2005), the first of his several studies on mass mortality; Teofilo F. Ruiz, The Terror of History, on the Uncertainties of Life in Western Civilization (2011); and Rachel Kadish, The Weight of Ink (2017). I knew people who suffered through the 1918 Influenza epidemic. And I know three of the above mentioned authors. One of the first books I received as a gift was Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. [Oliver B. Pollak, Ph.D]
Books, Internet tell of plagues through history Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Oliver Pollak, USA