International

Fourth Yahrzeit for Shimon Peres Observed

The Peres Center for Peace & Innovation on Tuesday hosted the first virtual ceremony of its kind, to commemorate the fourth anniversary since the passing of the Ninth President of the State of Israel, Shimon Peres. Participants in the ceremony, attended by  Peres’ three children — Tzvia, Yoni and Chemi —  included Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Hillary Clinton, Tony Blair, Prince Hassan of Jordan, Nicolas Sarkozy, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, singer Barbara Streisand and actress and producer Sharon Stone. They were joined by more than 100,000 schoolchildren from across Israel, many at schools proudly named in Peres’ memory. {Press Release from the Peres Center for Peace & Innovation]

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Jewish History, Middle East, Obituaries & memorials, Yoni Peres

A ‘Safe Space’ for Terrorists at San Francisco State

A particularly execrable record for radical anti-Israel, anti-Semitic campus activism is to be found at San Francisco State University, and specifically in the pseudo-academic machinations of Professor Rabab Abdulhadi, director of the school’s Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies (AMED) program. Abdulhadi, who, among other slurs, referred to Zionists as white nationalists during a 2019 UCLA lecture, is embroiled in controversy once again for the upcoming virtual speaking appearance, to be held tomorrow, September 23rd, by Leila Khaled, a terrorist in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, whose resume includes her role in the 1969 hijacking of an Israel-bound plane and her arrest the following year during a failed hijacking of an El Al flight. [Richard L. Cravatts, Ph.D]

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Middle East, Richard L. Cravatts, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Satire: The Happy History of the United States

President Trump has decided to replace the current “crusade against American history” by setting up the 1776 Commission to teach students “about the miracle of American history.” Historians from Fox News have leaked advance outlines of the lesson plans for the different eras in the American past. Here’s the one for the colonial period. [Satire by Laurie Baron, Ph.D]

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Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

Whither Palestine?

What is its future of Palestine? Who knows? Both the UAE and Bahrain have aligned themselves to Palestinian interests, but we can wonder how serious that is. European governments still adhere to a two-state solution, but how central are their concerns? American politicians also indicate their adherence to a two-state solution, but where does it sit in their various commitments? [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D]

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East

RBG’s death prompts Jewish pride, sorrow

Back to work following the two-day observance of Rosh Hashanah, Jewish organizations are paying tribute to the life and legacy of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died at age 87 just before the High Holy Day. Among the tributes were the following: [Donald H. Harrison, “Our Shtetl San Diego County”]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, Obituaries & memorials, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Jewish Trivia Quiz: Ray Frank

Ray Frank was the great granddaughter of Rabbi Elijah ben Solomon, the renowned Gaon of Vilna. She actually organized the service that night in Spokane, Washington, as that community did not have a synagogue. She preached such a compelling message to the thousand attendees (Jews and non-Jews) about the importance of the Jewish community coming together and creating a congregation that a non-Jewish audience member stood up and offered the donation of a site for the Jewish community to build a synagogue. [Mark D. Zimmerman]

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Jewish History, Mark D. Zimmerman, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

The Root Cause of His Tennis Garb

The most spectacular woman I ever met in my life was not a raving beauty, nor femme fatale. She was a trim, blonde, middle-aged woman of unremarkable features. She had not achieved the political accomplishments of a Golda Mier, and lacked the poetic soul of a Maya Angelou.She was a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney. Spectacular is an accurate description of Gladys Towle Root and paradoxical would be the correct adjective to describe her. [Ira Spector]

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Lifestyles, USA

Three Jewish women in competitive local races

Three Jewish women are in highly competitive races for spots in Congress, Mayor of San Diego, and the County Board of Supervisors. Respectively, they are are Sara Jacobs (53rd Congressional District); City Councilwoman Barbara Bry (Mayor of San Diego), and Terra Lawson-Remer (3rd District County Board of Supervisors. Here’s a look at the recent news being made by them and their opponents, respectively Georgette Gomez, Todd Gloria, and Kristin Gaspar. [Donald H. Harrison, “Our Shtetl San Diego County”]

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Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel, z"l, Dorian de Wind, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA

San Francisco Bay by Sea and Air

After I had completed active duty, the law required that for the next four years I attend monthly weekend duty and two weeks annual active duty at a base in my home environs. I lived in New York City and worked for American Airlines, so I had free air transportation and I was able to get assigned to the Captain of the Port office on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco Bay. This was an important and busy command center that controlled all the ship and shore activity in and around the Bay, assuring that everything flowed smoothly and legally. [Ira Spector]

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Lifestyles, USA

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, z”l, U.S. Associate Supreme Court Justice

News of the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday was met in San Diego with expressions of grief and hope. The stalwart liberal on the U.S. Supreme Court since 1993 died at age 87, the court said, giving President Trump a chance to expand its conservative majority with a third appointment at a time of deep divisions in America with a presidential election looming. [Times of San Diego report]

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Ken Stone, San Diego County, USA

Gaining self-confidence in a synagogue’s embrace

We need to work together to make a better world, advancing the Jewish value of Tikkun Olam. It is through us and our allies advocating for marginalized communities that we can begin to reshape how people think about us. Disability has long been stigmatized and the fight to remove those stigmas has been an arduous journey. If we remember that all people no matter their disability, race, religion, or sexual orientation are capable of achieving anything, and that we are all made in the image of God, it should strengthen and motivate us to be better and to do better. [Joshua Steinberg, RespectAbility]

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Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, USA

Satire: Barr’s 6 Months a Slave

“You know, putting a national lockdown, stay-at-home orders, is like house arrest. It’s — you know, other than slavery, which was a different kind of restraint, this is the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history,” –Bill Barr, September 16, 2020 … If Attorney General Bill Barr ever writes his autobiography, it might go something like this: [Satire by Laurie Baron, Ph.D]

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Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA