USA

Israelis, Palestinians join forces against coronavirus

When Israel was hit by a monstrous fire, Palestinian firefighters crossed the Green Line with their firetrucks and risked their lives to save Israelis. And when Palestinians are hit by COVID-19, Israel’s public health professionals work side by side with their Palestinian colleagues, supplying them with test kits, medicine and knowhow. “There are no borders here…There is no ‘them’ and ‘us,’” Brig. Gen. Ghassan Alian, the commander of Israel’s Civil Administration in the West Bank, told Israel Radio last week. In such times, you cannot but wonder why Israelis and Palestinians do not harness their shared humanity, their common sense and their sense of common future to end the bloody conflict between them. Unlike pandemics, wildfires and earthquakes, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is manmade. And this manmade calamity can be undone by humans – if they find it within themselves to relate to the other as humans, as equals, as equally human. [By James B. Klutznick and Aviva Meyer]

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Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Parent of 3 SDJA students tests positive for coronavirus

A parent of three San Diego Jewish Academy students has tested positive for coronavirus, according to Chaim Heller, the retiring head of the school.  In a letter to other parents sent on Saturday (Shabbat) , he wrote, “The parent was at school during the past week.  Their children, who are in grades, 1, 3, and 6, were in many rooms, including the Ulam (Auditorium), many times during the past week as well.  They were with their friends acting in a regular, non-distance manner during that time.  Effectively, they could have been with anyone from the school, from ECC [Early Childhood Center] to high school.” [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jerry Klinger, Jewish Religion, Lawrence Baron, Science, Medicine, & Education, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

Congresswoman Davis tells federal response to coronavirus

Like you, I am deeply concerned about the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) on our health, our loved ones, our lifestyle and our economy. As we continue to face this outbreak, I will keep updating you on what Congress is doing to counter the coronavirus (COVID-19) and its effects. My office is dedicated to keeping our constituents informed about the virus and focused on helping San Diegans who need assistance. [Congresswoman Susan Davis]

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San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Biden’s victories reassure Jews worried about Sanders

Maybe now the threat of anti-Semitism – government-sanctioned anti-Semitism, to be specific – could be slackening with Bernie Sanders’s slackening presidential campaign. American Jews feared that a Bernie Sanders presidency would intensify the anti-Semitic movement that has been haunting our country, especially during the past few years. Had Sanders swept Super Tuesday states last week, we should still be worried. [Bruce S. Ticker]

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Bruce Ticker, Middle East, USA

Many S.D. Jewish institutions announcing coronavirus precautions

More and more Jewish organizations in San Diego County are announcing precautions and responses to the coronavirus pandemic, including Jewish Community Foundation, Jewish Family Service, Jewish Federation of San Diego County, Jewish National Fund, Lawrence Family JCC, Ohr Shalom Synagogue, Seacrest Village Retirement Community, Tifereth Israel Synagogue, and Western Jewish Studies Association. Following in alphabetical order, is a report about each. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

ADL’s anti-Semitism primer heading to candidates

Beginning this week, ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) will share a new comprehensive guide to contemporary antisemitism with candidates running for national office in 2020, as well as every member of Congress. Antisemitism Uncovered: A Guide to Old Myths in a New Era identifies some of the most stubborn tropes about Jews, explains why they are dangerous, provides the backstory behind the myths and shows how they have evolved into the present day. [Press Release from Anti-Defamation League]

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Jewish History, USA

‘The Super Achievers’ probes Jewish Nobelists

The Super Achievers by Ronald Gerstl reveals the remarkable disproportionate Jewish contributions to world knowledge of science and heath, and the surprisingly high number of Jewish Nobel Prize Winners in these fields. Although Jews are only 0.2% of the world’s population, Jews were awarded 24% of the Nobel Prizes in science and medicine. Similarly, while Jews account for only 2% of the American population, they received 37% of the US Nobel Prize awards in these fields. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, USA

A history of Gold Country Jews in pictures

Gold was discovered in January 1848 at Sutter Creek near Coloma, in what became El Dorado County in 1850. Five chapters focus on thirteen Northern California counties. Patterns emerge. Jews were attracted by the opportunities posed by the discovery of gold, but they did not go into staking claims and mining, they went into commerce, shifting from itinerant peddling into storefronts. Enterprising immigrants provided much needed supplies including dry goods at mercantile stores. Miner settlements went from canvas tents to wooden structures and ended with a degree of permanence and optimism, brick and stone buildings. Some boomtowns became ghost towns and were transformed into State Parks and Historic places. The magic word, according to Fred Rosenbaum, historian of Jewish California is “retail.” [Oliver B. Pollak, Ph.D]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Oliver Pollak, USA

Jewish Federation monitoring CDC’s meetings advice

The Jewish Federation of San Diego County “at this time” does not plan to cancel any of its meetings or events in response to the coronavirus pandemic. “However,” assured Michael Jeser, its CEO and president, “should the situation warrant, we will inform participants immediately if another decision is made.” [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel, z"l, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Middle East, San Diego County, Shor M. Masori, Travel and Food, USA

March of Living postponed; 12 local residents affected

Eight students and four adult leaders from San Diego County who had expected to participate during April in the annual “March of the Living” – a two-week trip including the concentration camps in Poland and a visit to the nation of Israel – have received news that the journey has been cancelled because of the coronavirus. [Our shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish Religion, Marcia Tatz Wollner, Middle East, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA

‘No Place for Hate’ expanding to 150 local schools

The Anti-Defamation League currently partners with approximately 100 local schools in its “No Place for Hate” program, and next semester that number will go up to 150 schools, says Tammy Gillies, the ADL’s regional director in San Diego. [Our shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Trump’s Israel policy is topsy-turvy like Purim

By Ori Nir WASHINGTON, D.C. — I heard that America’s largest hummus producer is introducing a new product: a dessert chocolate “hummus.” And on the web, you will find recipes for brownie batter “hummus,” sweet potato “hummus,” as well as “hummus” cake and “hummus” milkshake. Now listen, I know from hummus. Real hummus. My physique

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Middle East, USA

Local law enforcement and Israel

Israel boycott advocates in San Diego County have been attempting, so far without success, to persuade local law enforcement executives to refuse to travel with the Anti-Defamation League for familiarization with Israeli police techniques. Tammy Gillies, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said such a push was successful a few years ago in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, “where the City Council was asked to stop organized trips to Israel by law enforcement.  They passed that and it was a shock to us. … There are organizations in San Diego working very hard and lobbying our law enforcement agencies not to send people to Israel.” [Sour shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Eva Trieger, International, Middle East, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food, USA

ADL’s Gillies tells of Poway shooting’s lasting impacts

Prosecutors announced on Thursday they would seek the death penalty against John T. Earnest, 20, the alleged shooter who killed congregant Lori Gilbert-Kaye at Chabad of Poway last Passover while wounding three others, including Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein.  Meanwhile, Tammy Gillies, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, was telling San Diego Jewish World that the effects of that April 27 shooting rampage are still being felt throughout San Diego County. “I think some of our institutions are taking more seriously the idea of security,” Gillies commented during an interview. “Some always have, and some not so much, but now are more on board.” Members of other religious communities are now “realizing that when we go to synagogue – when we take our kids to synagogue – we have to walk through armed guards to go, and I think that has been shocking to some other communities.  I think it has raised awareness about anti-Semitism.” [Our shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA