Israel’s incidence of deaths, as a percentage of those ill, has climbed from 10 percent of the world average to 17 percent. However, the incidence of daily increase in infections is lessening. And there’s a greater number getting healthy than getting sick. [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D.]
In Israel, is pandemic getting better or worse? Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
In the Jewish tradition, we are commanded to remember (zachor) and not to forget (lo tishkach). This week we commemorate Yom HaShoah, the Day of Holocaust Remembrance. On this solemn occasion, 75 years after the end of World War II: We remember the six million Jewish martyrs, including 1.5 million children, who were exterminated in the Holocaust. .. [David Harris]
The interesting question is: What is the temptation to view a catastrophe like the plague as divine punishment as opposed to a brute fact of nature? Surely at least one reason we are tempted to do so is because, if it is heavenly retribution, then the hardship still has some meaning; we still live in a world with an underlying moral structure. Indeed, to many, the idea that such a great calamity is nothing more than a brute act of nature is far more painful to contemplate than an account by which God cares enough about us to punish us. [Sam Ben-Meir, Ph.D]
The theology of pandemics Read More »
International, Lifestyles, Sam Ben-Meir, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
In a second day of Holocaust observance, the Jewish Federation of San Diego County sponsored a webcast on Monday featuring Steven Schindler in San Diego and Nicole Nocon and her daughter, Antonia, in Cottbus, Germany, the home town where Schindler’s late father, Max Shindler, was arrested as a child by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
Cottbus, Germany joins San Diego in Holocaust memory Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, USA
How many tries will it take before President Trump’s speechwriters finally get it right on the Holocaust? [Rafael Medoff, PhD]
Trump’s misreading of the Holocaust Read More »
International, Jewish History, USA
In addition to the corona crisis, Israel also has a political crisis. After three general elections within a year, it still only has a transition government. Most members of it seem to run the prime minister’s often very personal errands. Perhaps that’s why when, last Saturday night, he announced the easing of restrictions to enable more people to return to work, we hear that he didn’t even bother to inform his cabinet colleagues ahead of time. [Rabbi Dow Marmur]
Politics more toxic than pandemic Read More »
Middle East
Yesterday, April 19, 2020, in Portapique, Nova Scotia, a gunman on a shooting rampage killed at least 16 people including one Mountie. The gunman was able to flee and lead the police on a 55-mile chase because he was dressed as a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer and driving a car made to look like one of their vehicles. Thankfully, he was later cornered at a gas station and taken out by the RCMP. Nova Scotia’s Premier, Stephen McNeil called it “one of the most senseless acts of violence in our province’s history.” [Eric George Tauuber}
Canadian vs. American responses to mass shootings Read More »
Eric George Tauber, International, USA
Benjamin Midler, 91, a survivor of six Nazi concentration camps, led off the Jewish Federation of San Diego County’s Holocaust remembrance via a Zoom presentation narrated by daughters Nurit Kotick and Ellen Winter. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
Six-camp survivor Ben Midler leads off Yom HaShoah observances in S.D. County Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, USA
Melissa Rubenstein Levin, who worked for Drasnin Communications in San Diego from 2000 to 2002, is now based in Houston, where she is handling publicity for IndieFlix. That production company recently issued three films. Angst, which includes an interview with Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, deals with understanding anxiety disorders; Like “explores the impact of social media on our lives and the effects of technology on the brain,” and The Upstanders, which I recently watched, “explores cyber-bullying,” as can be seen in the trailer above. [Our Shtetl San Diego County by Donald H. Harrison]
Some advice about school bullying Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Joe Gandelman, Lifestyles, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
You gotta love this book. Page 1 leads with my favorite “Ferguson” (shayn fergessen) joke which I have retold tirelessly for years. Fermaglich reveals that Winona Ryder, born in Winona, Minnesota and currently playing the role of Evelyn Finkel in the Netflix series The Plot Against America, based on Philip Roth’s 2004 novel of the same name, was born Winona Laura Horowitz. But this book is not about jokes and celebrities but about the real choices that the nearly three million Jews who came to America between 1880 and 1920 had to make to feel comfortable and make progress in America. [Oliver B. Pollak, Ph.D]
Book Review: A Rosenberg by any other name Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Oliver Pollak, USA
Rabbi Eliezer Silver (1882-1968) proved to be one of the greatest rescuers of European Jewry during the Holocaust. He is credited with saving many thousands of Jewish lives. [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]
Rabbi Eliezer Silver saved many from the Holocaust Read More »
International, Jewish History, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA
Amazon and Netflix feature a myriad of Holocaust feature films and documentaries. Here are a few recommended Holocaust films that you can stream. [Laurie Baron, Ph.D]
Streaming Holocaust content Read More »
International, Jewish History, Lawrence Baron, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) says she is in a favor of a proposal that would permit voting by proxy in Congress as long as the requirement of social distancing is in effect or if similar emergencies should occur. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
Voting by proxy in Congress during pandemic? Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA
States, jealous of their power and prerogatives when it suits, have been furious over what some governors call federal inaction on COVID-19, deliberate or not. But equally, each state has a department of public health, a director of that department and staff. Each state is presumed to have a plan for emergencies: floods, forest fires, airliner crashes (the last fatal crash in the U.S. occurred in 2009, but it used to be on the “prepare for” list) or pandemics. Closing schools and parks is not handled in Washington. Calling out the state National Guard is, as its name suggests, a state prerogative. [Shoshana Bryen]
Pandemic shines light on federalism’s true role Read More »
Shoshana Bryen, USA