International

Jewish emigre from Nazi Germany was MLK’s tutor

Just the other day, I received an email from Jean Klugman in Boston that read: ”Hello Dan. My cousin Heather Siegel just sent me a copy of the article you wrote nine years ago, in 2011, in the San Diego Jewish World about a Jewish Boston man who served as Martin Luther King’s German-language tutor at  Boston University when MLK was studying for his PhD exam in the 1950s.” In my article for this online newspaper in 2011, I was not able to give the name of the man I was writing about, since I did not know his name and saw no way I would ever find out. But Jean solved the mystery. [Dan Bloom]

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Jewish History, USA

Behind the byline: Jerry Klinger

Though he lives in Boynton Beach, Florida, Jerry Klinger writes stories for this publication from all over the United States and the globe.
Klinger is president of the Jewish American Society of Historic Preservation, an organization which he largely funds. It has erected more than 100 historic markers honoring Jewish-American contributions in this country, Europe, and Israel. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA

Rabbi Ralph Dalin honored by WZC nomination

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. 

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

‘A Hidden Life’ and ‘The Sound of Music’

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]

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International, Oliver Pollak, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

There are tools for fighting the anti-Semites

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]

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Bruce Ticker, Jewish History, USA

Jacob’s Ladder by Chagall up for auction

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]

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International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Sam Ben-Meir

Campaign heats up for WZC delegate spots

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]

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

A student’s successful campaign against anti-Semites

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]

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

Life and times of Barbara Bry

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]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Sports & Competitions

SDJA students raise $7,168 for charities

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]

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