animals

The raging fires also are within us

Entire neighborhoods are engulfed in fire; thousands have been evacuated from their homes in California. A historic and unusual summer thunderstorm and rare massive lightning strikes combined with record-breaking heat ignited devastating fires across the Golden State. Death Valley reported temperatures of 130°F in what is believed to be the highest temperature ever measured on Earth, and this is attributed to climate change. Other natural disasters around the globe endanger our very existence. What is nature trying to tell us? Its message is clear. We are unwanted guests on this planet unless we humans change. [Michael Laitman, Ph.D]

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Lifestyles, San Diego County, The World We Share, USA

In praise of diversity

Nature endowed us with the ability to observe and to learn that nothing exists unless its opposite supports its existence. Planet Earth, for example, is kept in orbit thanks to the balance between the Sun’s gravitational pull toward it, and the centrifugal force that pushes it away from it. Likewise, our lives revolve around the hours of darkness and light, and our vision relies on the range between seeing all the colors together, creating the color white, and no colors at all, creating the color black. Heat and cold, hunger and fullness, attraction and rejection, love and hate, all those are opposites that make our lives what they are. [Michael Laitman, Ph.D]

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The World We Share

Streaming Jewish Programs (Sept. 6-11)          

Laurie Baron, Ph.D, rounds up streaming programs of Jewish interest for scholars and lay people, from Sunday, Sept. 6 through Friday, Sept. 11

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Lawrence Baron, Lifestyles, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share, Travel and Food, USA

Plant trees, reduce poverty, slow climate change

Countries like Morocco, which are highly susceptible to long periods of drought, are welcoming reforestation efforts to improve agriculture. In partnership with civil society, the Moroccan government will plant 800,000 trees across the country by 2024. Like Morocco, many are turning to agroforestry, or tree-farming, as an eco-friendly solution to climate issues. Globally, at least 650 million hectares of land (13.3% of total farming land) are used for agroforestry systems. [Jacqueline Skalski-Fouts]

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International, Middle East, The World We Share

Animals enact biblical moment at Ein Gedi gorge

It was my habit to stop at a corner along the trail, in the spreading shade of a tropical Moringa tree, and to recite the story of a fateful meeting between David and Saul (2 Samuel 26), here on the very location where it took place. It couldn’t be more authentic.
If the tour leader had a good voice, not a tiresome mumble, I would find the designated chapter in his travelers’ bible, thrust it in his hand and request him to read it to his flock. (Ithamar Perath)

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Jewish Religion, Middle East, The World We Share, Travel and Food

Wildfires illustrate difference between spiritual and physical

Even while back in Petaluma, our family experienced life on the wild side, or better worded: wild-fire side. We awoke to find ashes on the car and all windows in the house closed to protect from the low air quality.  As we kept a watchful eye as the Lightning Complex Fires continued to spread, we tried to look at the events around us to see what we could learn to become better people. We looked at the difference between the physical and spiritual.  [Rabbi Rafi Andrusier]

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Lifestyles, The World We Share, Travel and Food, USA

Making a feline friend in a new sunny city

After graduating college in New York, I moved to Seattle.  Having finally landed my first job, I was excited to put my aeronautical engineering degree to work and design jumbo jets for a premier aerospace company.  Everything was great—Seattle has a thriving Jewish community, a vibrant arts scene, and spectacular nature.  However, it also has rain.  A lot of rain.  Did I mention the rain? [Teresa Konopka]

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Lifestyles, San Diego County, Teresa_Konopka, The World We Share, Travel and Food

S.D. Zoo enables world travel for those staying home

With Covid-19 causing many people to cancel their travel plans, especially visits to countries that have imposed a quarantine, some people tune in to YouTube or the Travel Channel to get their “travel fix,” albeit virtually.  We decided we could do better while remaining home in California. We went to the San Diego Zoo. [Shor M. Masori and Kenede Pratt-McCloud]

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Middle East, San Diego County, Sandi Masori, The World We Share, Travel and Food

Farmer-to-Farmer program helps developing nations

Bill Nichols served as a volunteer consultant to the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) through the Farmer-to-Farmer Program (F2F) for two weeks in January 2020. Originally from New Mexico, now residing in Boston, Nichols collaborated as an F2F volunteer with four of HAF’s tree nursery cooperatives in southern Morocco. He was tasked with improving their productivity. One immediate benefit of his visits with Moroccan farmers at these sites is that he was able to share not only his technical and business skills but also to find ways for the four individual cooperatives within the same province to share their own specialized skills with one another. [Yossef Ben-Meir]

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International, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share, USA, Yossef Ben-Meir

30 leaders gather for an interfaith Iftar

“Iftar” is the break-the-fast meal at sunset each night during the Muslim month of Ramadan.  Ordinarily, participants–often including welcomed non-Muslims–will eat a prodigious meal together and share family stories and high points.  On Thursday, two organizations teamed up to host a different kind of Iftar that brought together celebrants from around the world and from several different religions. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, The World We Share, USA

Fixing the border sewage problem

Practically every day that it rains, sewage from Tijuana overflows into the United States and out to the Pacific Ocean in the vicinity of Imperial Beach.  This dangerous situation now will be addressed by a $300 million appropriation to the Environmental Protection Agency, it was announced Tuesday by California’s two U.S. Senators, Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, as well as by San Diego County’s four-member congressional delegation of Susan Davis, Mike Levin, Scott Peters and Juan Vargas.    [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, San Diego County, The World We Share, USA

It’s back to nature on Earth Day

Controversial filmmaker Michael Moore released on Earth Day the movie, Planet of the Humans, in which he raises the issue of whether the Green Movement has been taken over by capitalists, who have fooled us into believing that wind, solar, and biomass energy will help the planet regenerate.  In the final analysis, it’s not a question of climate change so much as it “human change” that is required.  The full documentary may be seen above. Closer to home, lots of folks were getting out in nature to celebrate Earth Day, albeit while taking such precautions as social distancing and in some cases wearing masks.  [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, The World We Share, USA