International

Sanders has short coattails, if any at all

Possibly our first Jewish president, and already Americans are panicking. This sigh of relief: Democratic leaders and others are raising concerns about an overreaching agenda and a misguided approach to Israel, not over his religion or ethnicity. It looks like that, anyway. We must face it – the election of a President Bernie Sanders could become a reality. It is yet too soon to predict the outcome, but this one result is foreseeable: Sanders will confront an adversarial Congress, if not a hostile Congress. [Bruce S. Ticker]

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Bruce Ticker, Middle East, USA

Palestinian commentator: BDS hurts us

Bassam Eid is a Palestinian author and commentator, who may be seen frequently on Israeli television.  While he is critical of various Israeli policies, he also speaks out frequently against corruption in both the Palestinian Authority and Gaza Strip.  On Tuesday evening, at the Fairbanks Country Club, in this affluent community wedged between northern San Diego and Rancho Santa Fe, Eid condemned the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement as being harmful to ordinary Palestinians. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, USA

As Hamas negotiates, PIJ fires rocket at kindergarten

Some of us have snow days; Israeli children have “rocket days” – if you need an explanation, you haven’t been paying attention. Children in southern Israel had a rocket day Monday, which was fortuitous because a Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) rocket slammed into a kindergarten playground. It was only one of dozens launched from Gaza this week. The fact that the rockets are PIJ, not Hamas, is, in fact, an important point. [Shoshana Bryen]

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Middle East, Shoshana Bryen

Stalemate continues among Netanyahu, Gantz, Lieberman

Power and paranoia seem to go together. The more you have of the former, the more are you likely to be burdened by the latter. Biographers of Stalin, for example, when describing his ruthless rule also tell of his relentless persecution mania.

Binyamin Netanyahu is, mercifully, no Stalin, but as the longest serving prime minister of Israel with many impressive achievements in his portfolio, he has enough power to be plagued by paranoia. As two weeks after the elections on March 2, his trial on three serious charges is about to begin, it gives him cause to feel persecuted. [Rabbi Dow Marmur]

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Middle East

Rabbi’s sermon became popular WWII lesson

Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn (1910-1995), assigned to the Fifth Marine Division, was the first Jewish chaplain the Marine Corps ever appointed. The American invading force at Iwo Jima included approximately 1,500 Jewish Marines. Rabbi Gittelsohn was in the thick of the fray, ministering to Marines of all faiths in the combat zone. He shared the fear, horror and despair of the fighting men, each of whom knew that each day might be his last. Roland Gittelsohn’s tireless efforts to comfort the wounded and encourage the fearful won him three service ribbons. [Michael Feldberg, Ph.D]

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International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, USA

Liberator and POW fast friends 75 years later

The liberation of a prisoner-of-war camp in Manila, Philippines, in 1945 forged a bond many years later between a Jewish band leader and a Coronado civil servant. Lou Berger, a drummer and leader of the “Berger Kings,” was playing a Saturday night gig at the Town & Country Hotel in San Diego about 15 years ago for an ex-prisoners of war organization when he was introduced to Tom Crosby, a longtime purchasing agent and risk manager for the City of Coronado, who also was known as a  successful volunteer springboard diving coach. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County

The complex relationship between Poles and Jews

Occasional upticks in animosity between Jews and Poles has produced a correspondence between a Polish friend and my colleague Shlomo Avineri. It’s been an open and friendly exchange, pondering the memories of both people and one land. And it has reminded me of an instance in my youth, in Fall River, Massachusetts. [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D}

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International, Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Bomb threats against JCCs, including La Jolla’s, not credible

The Lawrence Family JCC  in La Jolla was among a group of JCCs across the United States that received a non-specific, general bomb threat via email on Sunday morning, according to Betzy Lynch, its chief executive officer.  She said the staff immediately notified the San Diego Police, which has a substation right next door.  Law enforcement determined that the threat was not credible and no evacuation was necessary, Lynch reported.  This was in contrast to the JCC in Albany, New York, which evacuated approximately 100 people to allow bomb-sniffing dogs and officers to comb through the facility, which also was subsequently declared to be safe. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, USA

Jew who posed as Catholic child tells of WWII life

A San Diegan who survived the Holocaust as a child by posing as a Catholic boy helped pay tribute Sunday to the 1.5 million children who perished during World War II under the regimes of the German Nazis and their allies.  After telling of his life, he joined listeners who painted ceramic butterflies that will be mounted by The Butterfly Project at the Grossmont Shopping Center in their memory. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, USA

U-T endorsements elude most Jewish candidates

Jewish candidates haven’t done very well so far in their bids for The San Diego Union-Tribune’s political endorsements.  In most cases, on San Diego County ballots, the daily newspaper has selected non-Jewish candidates over Jewish ones.   There is one exception.   Here is a review by level of government: [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA

George Washington: ‘To bigotry no sanction’

On August 18, 1790, Moses Seixas, the warden of Congregation Kahal Kadosh Yeshuat Israel, the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, read a message to George Washington, welcoming the newly elected first president of the United States on his post-election visit to that city.  He was accompanied by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Governor DeWitt Clinton of New York. Rhode Island was the last of the thirteen original states to ratify the Constitution, and Washington was visiting to celebrate the completion of the Union. [Michael Feldberg, Ph.D]

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Jewish History, USA

Seacrest Village through a resident’s camera lens

Jeanne Shenkman,  83, a retired teacher with the Grossmont High School District,  moved to Seacrest Village Retirement Community in Encinitas last May to live near her daughter.  Throughout her life, she has always been a busy person with varied interests.  For example, in addition to her teaching duties, she played violin in the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra for 42 years and served as a docent at the San Diego Natural History Museum for 15 years. [Donald H. Harrison]

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

How about educating for real jobs?

Not one of Bloomberg’s adversaries bothered to criticize the mayor about a comment he was quoted saying dating back to November 17, 2016, which is the real subject of this article’s focus. “If you think about it, the agrarian society lasted 3,000 years, and we can teach processes. I can teach anybody – even people in this room, so no offense intended – to be a farmer. It’s a process. You dig a hole, you put a seed in, you put dirt on top, you add water, up comes corn. You can learn that. Then you had 300 years of the industrial society. You put the piece of metal on the lathe, you turn the crank in direction of arrow and you can have a job. And we created a lot of jobs. At one point, 98% of the world worked in agriculture. Today it’s 2% of the United States.” (Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]

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Business & Finance, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Victory against anti-Semitism at SDSU

Congratulations are due to San Diego State Professors Peter C. Herman and Risa Levitt Kohn, as well as to representatives of the campus Hillel, and the regional Anti-Defamation League for protesting the proposed inclusion of two anti-Semitic speakers on a planned, as yet unscheduled, panel presentation on whether African-Americans deserve reparations for the time their ancestors were enslaved and the subsequent institutional discrimination against their people. [Donald H. Harrison]

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