By Kira Thomas ALPINE, California — I was raised Christian. I grew up in a very charismatic church, the Church of God. Our beliefs were very passionate about our love for God and Jesus. Although I didn’t view Jesus as God I had a very strong love for him because I thought he was our […]
Her journey to Jewish conversion Read More »
Jewish History, San Diego County, USA
By Mark Thomas ALPINE, California — When you’re raised in a Christian home you naturally have a conflict with Judaism, because the claims of Christianity are based on Jewish ideas mixed with Roman ideas about religion. The conflict is obvious, according to the Church, you have to believe Jesus is literally the Son of God
His journey to Jewish conversion Read More »
Jewish Religion, San Diego County, USA
Other items in today’s column include: * Political bytes * Recommended reading By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Mathematics tell us that Rabbi Ralph Dalin, San Diego’s Jewish community chaplain, has approximately as much chance of winning a delegate spot at the World Zionist Congress as, say, the Red Sea has of splitting again.
Rabbi Ralph Dalin honored by WZC nomination Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, International, Middle East, San Diego County, USA
Opposition to Nazi power is a theme of two stories set in the Austrian Alps. The musical The Sound of Music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II featuring the von Trapp Family Singers appeared on Broadway in 1959. The 1965 film starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer broke Gone with the Wind box office records. It ran 174 minutes and won five Academy awards. The sound track sold over 20 million albums. It was loved. [Oliver B. Pollak]
‘A Hidden Life’ and ‘The Sound of Music’ Read More »
International, Oliver Pollak, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
Fast-forward to this past September when Nicholas Bogan, 17, sent his store manager a message that he was “celebrating the Jewish holiday tomorrow night.” In Eatontown, N.J., 75 years after the Holocaust, Francesco Scotto Di Rinaldi responded: “F-k the Jewish. Put them on fire/like Hitler was trying to do/He had a point,” according to The New York Post. Predictably, Bogan never returned to his part-time job as a pizza delivery driver, and two months later he filed a lawsuit against the owners of the restaurant, Maurizio’s Pizzeria & Italian Ristorante, a short drive from Asbury Park. [Bruce S. Ticker]
There are tools for fighting the anti-Semites Read More »
Bruce Ticker, Jewish History, USA
For the first time in over two decades a painting by Marc Chagall will be going up for auction in Israel. Tiroche Auction House will be hosting the Israeli & International Art auction on January 25th – featuring paintings by a number of Israeli masters, including Reuben Rubin, and Yosl Bergner. The highlight of the evening however is Chagall’s Jacob’s Ladder (1970-1974), a theme to which the artist would return at least a dozen times in paintings and drawings. [Sam Ben-Meir, PhD]
Jacob’s Ladder by Chagall up for auction Read More »
International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Sam Ben-Meir
The campaign for 152 delegate spots to the World Zionist Congress meeting in Jerusalem next October is heating up with Americans for Peace & Tolerance accusing a rival Hatikvah slate of trying “to take over the Congress and get hold of its $1 billion budget which will be used for various and sundry community causes — including, if they get their way, anti-Israel activity.” Americans for Peace and Tolerance leader Charles Jacobs is part of the slate of the ZOA (Zionist Organization of America) Coalition. [Donald H. Harrison]
Campaign heats up for WZC delegate spots Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
Many of the world’s VIPs are in Jerusalem today: heads of state or their deputies, heads of government, foreign ministers and other important dignitaries from more than 40 countries. They’ve come to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. [Rabbi Dow Marmur]
Holocaust conference a boon to Netanyahu Read More »
International, Jewish History, Middle East
At a lunch-and-learn session Tuesday, Jan. 21, at the offices of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County, Elise Alloul, the campus strategy coordinator for StandWithUs, told how she as a student at York University in Toronto overcame anti-Semitism and got herself elected in 2016 to a two-year term on the university’s Board of Governors, a body similar to the Board of Regents for the University of California. [Donald H. Harrison]
A student’s successful campaign against anti-Semites Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, International, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) – Ahead of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on Jan. 27, a new Pew Research Center survey finds that most U.S. adults know what the Holocaust was and approximately when it happened, but fewer than half can correctly answer multiple-choice questions about the number of Jews who were
Holocaust knowledge wanes among adults, teens Read More »
International, Jewish History, USA
She has a BA from Penn and an MBA from Harvard University. She’s been a journalist. She has started up two successful tech businesses. She has led such organizations as the Jewish Women’s Foundation and Run Women Run. She has been married twice, has two adult daughters, and, at 70, is a proud grandmother. For the last three years, she has been a San Diego City Councilwoman. [Donald H. Harrison]
Life and times of Barbara Bry Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Sports & Competitions
Given poker chips, each student placed one in a cannister bearing the name of the charity of his or her choice. After the chips were counted, and pro rata shares were computed for each charity, checks signed by the Head of School Chaim Heller were presented to their representatives on Friday, Jan. 17. [Donald H. Harrison]
SDJA students raise $7,168 for charities Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
Just imagine what would have happened if Iran attacked a convoy escorting Vice President Pence and killed him just as he boarded his car near Riyadh airport. How would Trump have reacted? I venture to say that for Trump, this would have been tantamount to a declaration of war, just as Tehran viewed the attack on Soleimani. Trump would have retaliated in a massive way because an attack on a top US official by an adversary would simply be unacceptable by both Republicans and Democrats alike. [Alon Ben-Meir, PhD]
Killing Soleimani undermined global order Read More »
Alon Ben-Meir, Middle East, USA
Bibi made an application for immunity, and is now doing all that he can so the Knesset will postpone consideration of it. Until after the election? Which one? The third in the last year, or the fourth, the fifth, or whatever. A majority of the Knesset has indicated its opposition to Bibi’s immunity from prosecution. So if he doesn’t postpone consideration of it, he’s lost. [Ira Sharkansky, PhD]
Most MKs oppose Bibi’s immunity request Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East