The “news,” which reporters “report,” should be as objective as possible. This is often not the case today. I object to newspapers’ front pages which have been turned into op-ed pages. Because The New York Times is the American “newspaper of record” and is widely read by liberals, its front page bias needs to be considered because it’s often duplicated. [Steve Kramer]
Is it opinion or is it the news? Read More »
Middle East, Steve Kramer, USA
The two-storied, sandstone faced, Brooklyn Jewish Center on Eastern Parkway was aptly named. There were lots of other shuls in Brooklyn, Conservative, Orthodox, and the esoteric, modern Reform. But none had the facilities or location that it had. On the main floor was the Synagogue where the esteemed Rabbi Israel Levinthal and sometimes Cantor Richard Tucker presided over the conservative service. Tucker later gained fame as the renown Metropolitan tenor opera star. He would come back occasionally to sing as a special treat, and regularly used the pool facilities. My lingering fame long after I moved out of the area is that I taught his boys how to swim. [Ira Spector]
Fond memories of the Brooklyn Jewish Center Read More »
Jewish History, Sports & Competitions, USA
The late Rabbi Aaron Gold, of blessed memory, used the expression, “Big Beard, Small Jew” to characterize those people in our religion who make a big outward show of their piety, while having inside hearts so corrupted that they are willing to violate the very Torah lessons that they preach, including the eighth commandment, “Thou Shalt Not Steal.” (Exodus 20:15). It is bad enough when any Jew commits a crime, but it is even worse when someone does so who is a Rabbi. By accepting that title, the person bearing it becomes a representative of the Jewish people, a spokesperson and exemplar for our moral beliefs. In breaking the law, Goldstein not only brought shame on himself, he brought shame on the Jewish people. He deserves to be punished. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
Rabbi Goldstein deserves prison, not probation Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, USA
Satire: To the melody of “My Kind of Town,” Laurie Baron, ph.D satirizes Donald Trump’s reelection campaign.
Satire: My Kind of Campaign Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA
What jumped out at me from a New York Times piece on Rashida Tlaib was what the Times omitted – the most essential elements of Tlaib’s scary and offensive tenure in Congress. The two reporters on the story barely hinted at Tlaib’s pattern of Israel-bashing even before she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November 2018. [Bruce S. Ticker]
All the news that fits preconceived notions Read More »
Bruce Ticker, USAUnlike many organizations that settle for “gala” banquet dinners with speakers, Seacrest Village Retirement Communities in Encinitas has tended to favor outdoor fundraising activities such as golf, tennis, and pickleball along with a spa day for donors. This year, however, Covid-19 was too great a handicap for golf, and it aced out the tennis tournament. However, planners for Seacrest Village, which is the upscale successor of the San Diego Hebrew Home for the Aged, were not deterred. They came up with five methods by which donors could nevertheless help the home raise money to defray the costs for seniors who are financially at risk. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
Seacrest innovates a fundraiser during Covid-19 Read More »
Business & Finance, Donald H. Harrison, Lifestyles, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
A new security approach is needed to protect holy places. Even before the COVID-19 epidemic and the lockdown that impacted businesses and organizations, especially churches, synagogues, mosques and temples, attacks on holy places were increasing. Now almost every day another religious site is invaded, trashed, burned or rabbis, priests, ministers, pastors and monks are assaulted, and in one case a Buddhist monk was killed praying in his temple by a gunshot in High Point, North Carolina. (Stephen D. Bryen, Ph.D)
A security proposal for holy places Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish Religion, Stephen D. Bryen, USA
The concerns I have are not numerous, but are extremely critical: what if he challenges the results of the election and remains adamant on calling for a recount or a new election entirely? What if he refuses to leave the White House and prevents the peaceful transition of power? What if he calls on the military to occupy all major American cities while he still is the Commander-in-Chief between Election Day and the inauguration of the new president? [Alon Ben- Meir, Ph.D]
Suppose Trump refuses to accept election defeat Read More »
Alon Ben-Meir, USA
How incredible would you feel if you knew you could save the life of a beautiful 15-month-old baby girl, with something as innocuous as a cheek swab? The surrender of a few minutes on your part might provide a chance to reach milestones for this child and her parents. Consider her first day of school, learning to ride a bike, losing her first tooth, observing her bat mitzvah, dressing for a first date, kvellling at her chuppah, welcoming her own child. By registering with Be the Match, you may be offering Zoe and her parents all of these magical moments with minimal effort on your part. [Eva Trieger]
Swab your cheek and maybe save a toddler’s life Read More »
Eva Trieger, International, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
As the president of the Academy of the Hebrew Language since 1993, Prof. Moshe Bar-Asher has many friends and former students around the world. For example, he recently recalled in his courtly English, he once had the pleasure of teaching Mira Balberg, who is now a professor in UC San Diego’s Jewish Studies Department. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
Museum of the Hebrew Language planned in Jerusalem Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA
Many of you heard about the standoff that took place at Mark and Patricia McCloskey’s mansion in St. Louis. The couple claimed that the BLM group yelled obscenities and threats of harm and since many of the protesters were armed, they decided to arm themselves. [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]
Were the McCloskeys right to brandish weapons? Read More »
Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, USAInformation provided by U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer in the tax fraud case against Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein and five co-defendants alleges that another religious institution, not yet identified, has also been involved in tax fraud. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
Another Jewish institution may be involved in tax fraud Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
A national memorial to lynching victims at the site of where Leo Frank was lynched in Georgia had been rejected by the Georgia Department of Transportation until Congressman John Lewis stepped in. In Lewis’s memory, Jerry Klinger of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation recounts the story.
The National Anti-Lynching Memorial and John Lewis Read More »
Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, USA
As a seventeen-year-old lad from the gravely impoverished Troy, Alabama, John Lewis decided to write a letter to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Montgomery. Lewis had breathlessly followed the recent narrative of King, Rosa Parks, and others during the successful eleven-month Montgomery Bus Boycott. Not only did King write back to Lewis, he also included in the letter a round-trip bus ticket to Montgomery and an invitation to meet him, which Lewis eventually did — in March 1958. “I was so scared. I didn’t know what to say or what to do,” Lewis recalled. “And Dr. King said, ‘Are you the boy from Troy?'” [Source: NPR] [Ben Kamin]
John Lewis: A man of painful sincerity, steel rectitude Read More »
Obituaries & memorials, USA