Below are the names of writers who are currently active. For others, living and deceased, please type their name into the search box above the masthead on our home page, www.sdjewishworld.com
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – When Richard Greyson reached up and rotated an acorn on the branch of a Coast Live Oak between his thumb and finger, he was reenacting a scene that may have occurred many thousand times over the centuries in the area along the San Diego River that today […]
Mission Trails Park: A place to learn while exercising Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—The first monument at the Miramar National Cemetery, which one day will be the final resting place for nearly a quarter million veterans, was dedicated on Friday, Sept. 16, in honor of American Ex-Prisoners of War. Unveiled was a 15-foot-tall, seven-ton-statue, named “The Liberation Moment,” sculpted by Richard Becker
‘Liberation Moment’ at Miramar N.C. honors American ex-POWs Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—Congregation Beth Israel returned on Thursday night, Sept. 15, to its original home to install the president and board of directors who will preside over the Reform congregation’s sesquicentennial celebrations in the forthcoming year of the Hebrew calendar. Like the congregation, the building to which Beth Israel’s board members and
Installation of officers inaugurates Beth Israel’s sesquicentennial Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History
By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — The arrest and arraignment in New York of DSK (Dominique Strauss-Kahn) was somewhat ‘déjà vu’ for Israelis. There is something both terrible and fascinating in seeing a prominent, successful and influential personage brought down low in public. The sight of the haggard face and pitiful stance as they
The sexual hubris of some men in power Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – After we all were settled at our patio table at the Apollonia restaurant in the Costa Verde Shopping Center on Saturday night, Laura Simon reached into her purse and distributed three copies of a letter she had received from Bridgette C. Jenkins, head of the U.S. Monographs Section
Oldest author, newest news show anchor meet over Greek fare Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Donald H. Harrison EL CAJON, California – Imagine that you learned one day that the mother who died during your childhood was, in a sense, still alive; that without your knowledge, or that of any member of your family, cancerous cells from your mother’s cervix had been taken by her gynecologist, cultured in a
Henrietta Lacks studies multiply like cells through S.D. County Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, San Diego CalendarBy Donald H. Harrison BARONA INDIAN RESERVATION, California – We came here serendipitously on Saturday night. Our friends the Burstains live in Escondido. We live in the eastern portion of San Diego. We wanted to meet somewhere in between for dinner. “Let’s try the buffet at one of the casinos,” said I. “Let me check
Big winnings at Barona: the enjoyment of being made welcome Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonBy Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – They’re getting ready with the pyrotechnics for the closing programs Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings of this Labor Day Weekend of the San Diego Symphony’s Summer Pops—with Tchaikovsky’s boom-boom-booming 1812 Overture sure to create a stir at the nearby San Diego Convention Center and for all the boaters
Music and a Jewish subtext at the Pops Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel – People in this country are accustomed to grumbling about everything – the government, the cost of living and above all the weather. They are not, or at least have not been in the past, accustomed to doing anything much about any of them. This is in contrast to
Man-on-the-street protests focus on everyday annoyances Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East
By Donald H. Harrison MODESTO, California—A plaza located where five streets intersect boasts a life-size sculpture of a teenage girl seated on the side of a 1957 Chevrolet and a high school-aged boy leaning against it as they talk. It’s an ode to the movie American Graffiti by one of Modesto’s most famous former
A monument to a bygone time Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonJourney to Heaven: Exploring Jewish Views of the Afterlife by Leila Leah Bronner, ISBN 978-965-524-047-4 ©2011, $25.95, p. 184 plus notes and index By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California — Does Judaism teach the belief in Heaven or Hell? How about resurrection? Transmigration? An afterlife? The answers depend on whom you ask the questions, and
Which Jews believe in heaven? Read More »
Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish Religion
By Donald H. Harrison SACRAMENTO—I had worked in the building as a news reporter during the 1960s and 1970s, spanning the gubernatorial administrations of Ronald Reagan and Jerry Brown. Shuttling from hearings to news conferences to floor debates, and then back to my desk at the Associated Press, and later at the Capitol bureau
Touring the legislative halls? A Capitol idea! Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO — Our friend Melanie Rubin spotted another Jewish-interest license plate. So to her a mazel tov.
Jewish-interest license plate: Mzel Tov Read More »
Jewish Religion, Melanie Rubin
By Donald H. Harrison ABOARD SEA PRINCESS — One day while strolling aboard the ship, I asked a pianist who was playing both classical and show tunes whether he often was asked to play the theme from The Love Boat, made famous by singer Jack Jones. The young pianist, from Argentina, responded that he was
‘The Love Boat’: Are memories of it fading on cruise line it helped promote? Read More »
Donald H. Harrison