Business & Finance

Fruit trees grown on Moroccan Jewish land transplanted to Muslim-owned farms

Farming communities of Morocco’s countryside combine to require some billions of fruit trees and medicinal plants as they transition away from the traditional practice of growing barley and corn. In order for communities to generate the trees they need, they require the gift of land to grow seeds in local nurseries because they cannot forego their own land and not harvest food every year to survive. The Moroccan Jewish community, next to their 600 cemeteries throughout the nation, has empty lands they are willing to lend without cost to local agricultural associations and cooperatives to help them meet their tree and plant needs. [Yossef Ben-Meir, Ph.D]

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Business & Finance, International, The World We Share, Travel and Food, Yossef Ben-Meir

Transition time for elected officials and staffs

The weeks immediately following an election are exciting ones for officeholders, their campaign staffs, and for the staffs of outgoing officeholders.  This is the time when legislators learn what committees they’ll serve on; when campaign workers learn whether they will be hired by the new officholders, and when the staff of retiring or defeated officeholders begin looking for other jobs, both inside and outside government. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Business & Finance, Donald H. Harrison, Lifestyles, San Diego County, USA

Good News from Israel (Nov. 8, 2020)

NETANYA, Israel — In the 8th Nov 20 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:

Israel begins human trials of Israeli Covid-19 vaccine.
A new Israeli breath test detects Covid-19 carriers even without symptoms.
An Israeli groundbreaking way to produce X-rays.
An Israeli app prevents drivers from texting while driving.
Twice-daily low-cost flights between Tel Aviv and Dubai.
Israeli maritime technology is protecting most of the world’s ships.
A new museum of Jewish history is being built in Jerusalem. [Michael Ordman]

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Business & Finance, International, Jewish Religion, Michael Ordman, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, Sports & Competitions

Lebanon decides not to charge Ghosn over Israel trip

Lebanon’s prosecutor general decided on Tuesday not to charge fugitive ex-auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn for visiting Israel in 2008 because a statute of limitations has expired, a judicial source said.Three lawyers filed a motion in January calling for the 66-year-old businessman to be prosecuted over his trip to the Jewish state as Renault-Nissan chairman.Lebanon is

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Business & Finance, Middle East

Good News from Israel (Nov. 1, 2020)

The vision of Israel’s innovators brings tomorrow’s dreams much closer to today’s world. This week’s newsletter includes visual innovations such as an eye-tracking app to reduce stress; facial analysis to warn of a stroke, plus new bio-markers and telemedicine to highlight diseases optically. Israeli technology enhances websites to benefit the visually impaired, removes toxic algae infesting clear blue lakes and helps our US allies to see in the dark. Far-sighted Israelis are kickstarting sport for children, and boosting training for adults in athletics as well as in the hi-tech arena. Many of Israel’s other achievements can only be described as “out of sight”! [Michael Ordman]

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Business & Finance, International, Michael Ordman, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Science, Medicine, & Education, Sports & Competitions, The World We Share, Travel and Food, USA

Shopping in Coronavirus times

I wouldn’t say I’m a shopaholic, but I was brought up at a time and place where shopping was a regular feature of life. As a child in London I would be sent round the corner to the grocery store in Willesden Lane (which was no lane at all) to buy the loaf of rye bread my mother loved. On the way home I would gnaw the crust, and once I had handed the loaf over my mother would cut off the crust, spread it with butter and give it to me to eat like a civilized person, which made it rather less attractive. But I ate it anyway. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Business & Finance, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Lifestyles, Middle East

First delegation of Israeli high-tech companies visits UAE to foster ties: reports

A delegation of leading Israeli high-tech companies are in the United Arab Emirates to establish a presence in the Gulf state, just weeks after the two countries formalised ties, according to Jewish Press.Representatives from more than a dozen tech companies are involved in the trip, including Secret Double Octopus, an Israeli software company specialising in

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Business & Finance, Middle East

Yes on Proposition 21: Rachmanis for Renters

Proposition 21 poses a philosophical question.  In these hard times, do we vote to assure that renters will be able to remain in their homes, or do we, in the name of unrestricted capitalism, permit landlords to raise rents so high that their tenants are forced to find cheaper apartments, or in some cases, to become homeless? [Donald H. Harrison]

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Business & Finance, Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, USA

Facebook to ban Holocaust denial

NEW YORK (Press Release) — The Anti-Defamation League is relieved by Facebook’s announcement that it was updating its hate speech policy to prohibit any content “that denies or distorts the Holocaust.” This comes after nearly a decade of ADL advocating for such changes and just weeks before the 2020 presidential election, where users have been

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Business & Finance, International, Jewish History, USA

Does disgraced rabbi owe $2m in property taxes?

By Sheryl Rowling and Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — The news of the tax fraud scheme perpetrated by Chabad of Poway’s Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein has shocked the country. Ancillary questions beyond the income tax fraud have arisen related to: Why was Goldstein permitted to meet with the U.S. president even though the FBI was

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Business & Finance, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Sheryl Rowling

Streaming Jewish Programs (Oct. 4-9)

By Laurie Baron  SAN DIEGO — All Times Are Pacific Daylight Time Sunday, October 4 10 a.m.  Moshe Halbertal and Eva Illouz, “Can Home Be a Shelter in Times of Pandemic?” The Reading Room, National Library of Israel. Monday, October 5 8:30 a.m.  Yossi Beilin and Ido Aharoni, “The Future of Middle East Peace,” Temple

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Business & Finance, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Lawrence Baron, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Life as a small businessman in San Diego

When we started we had $350 in the bank. (There was very little freelance art in town in 1962.) We took any job that came along at just about any price that would generate some income. The first job was copying, in calligraphy style, a poem a sweet old woman composed in memory of her deceased sister. I delivered the poem to her home and walked a few blocks to her bank to cash the fifteen dollar check she gave me in payment. The check bounced and I walked back to her home and collected cash. I wondered at the time if this was an omen. Another of our earliest commissions was for a Mexican Restaurant. It was a black and white ink illustration of a Mexican sombrero lying on a serape. Again We were paid 15 dollars. The restaurant repeatedly used that illustration in their advertising for 20 years. [Ira Spector]

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Business & Finance, San Diego County