International

Posthumous Holocaust memoir a family affair

Mendek Rubin was born in 1924 in Jaworzno, Poland, a town with over 2,000 Jews, about 15 miles from Auschwitz. He died in Carmel in 2012. When his daughter Myra was putting his papers in order she came across a manuscript In Quest of the Eternal Sunshine. It was a surprise and not a surprise. It was a surprise to find it, but she had already helped her father edit it decades earlier. She worked on the manuscript for a few days but the task was incompatible with raising her two children. And, “in the intervening years” she had “completely forgotten it existed.” [Oliver B. Pollak]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Oliver Pollak

Why I won’t vote for Biden, Sanders or Warren

– Two policy positions should disqualify any candidate for president – casting a vote to invade Iraq or distorting Israel’s role in its struggle with the Palestinians. That would eliminate former Vice President Joe Biden and Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, the three consistent front-runners for the Democratic nomination. In October 2002, then-Senator Biden joined 76 other senators in voting to send troops to invade Iraq, and Sanders and Warren cannot pontificate on the Middle East for long without placing a disproportionate amount of blame on Israel. {Bruce S. Ticker]

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Bruce Ticker, Middle East, USA

Weather forecaster publishes cli-fi novel

For Glenn Schwartz in Philadelphia, writing a cli-fi novel about the weather came easy. He’s a certified broadcast meteorologist who has done the weather on TV for 40 years of his 47-year career. His specialty has been in forecasting and severe weather, especially hurricanes. He co-authored the award-winning Philadelphia Area Weather Book in 2002 and was inducted into the Philadelphia Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame in 2010. His debut novel is titled The Weathermaker and is written under the byline of Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz. More on the nickname later. [Dan Bloom]

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The World We Share, USA

Balloting begins Jan. 21 for World Zionist Congress

Between Jan. 21 and March 11, American Jews may participate in the selection of U.S. delegates to the World Zionist Congress, which will meet in Jerusalem from Oct. 20-22 to help set policy for three major Jewish organizations: the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish National Fund, and the Jewish Agency for Israel.  The Congress’s policy decisions will influence how approximately $1 billion is allocated. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Australia’s wildfires are a warning to us all

It seemed only natural, after hearing and reading about the terrible conflagration in Australia, to reach out to our friends and acquaintances there to ask how they were faring. Most sent back fairly optimistic replies, reassuring us that their lives and homes were not in danger, though the ever-present smoke made daily life less pleasant. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Middle East, The World We Share, USA

Diverse stories at Chula Vista Holocaust exhibit

A span of 31 years separates the late Max Weinstock’s birth from that of Ursula Israelski, but both were profoundly affected by the Holocaust. They are among the featured South Bay residents, living and dead, whose lives are celebrated at the year-long “Project RUTH: Remember Us The Holocaust” exhibit now on display at Chula Vista’s main library, 365 F. Street, Chula Vista. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County

German’s diary tells of opposition to Hitler

For the first time, I read the courageous secret diary of a man and wife who did what they could to record what they saw, they heard, and they felt living in Nazi Germany.  They had been denounced.  They had barely escaped the concentration camps, the Gestapo, and probable death for being in opposition to Hitler.  They knew what they had to do, what they could still do, even if they could not shape the present.  They hoped their diary might shape the future when another Hitler could arise somewhere in the world in another vaunted high cultured and “free” society.  The diary, a series of volumes that remained hidden long after the war had ended, eventually ran to almost 1,000 pages. [Jerry Klinger]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History

Santee-trained firefighter volunteers in Israel

A couple of days after we started working, rocket fire from Gaza began pouring into Israel. The Station Commander conducted a walkthrough of the in-house bomb shelter. These are not only present in every Fire Station, but in all new residential occupancies. Around 450 rockets were fired toward Israel in the course of about 36 hours. I finally had to silence my “Red Alert – Israel” app if I wanted to try to get some sleep. Two other EVP members (both from Texas) were deployed not far from where I was, and they got a photo of an Iron Dome interception over their Station. Yet the Israeli Firefighters seemed quite calm. They would even change the TV channel to watch soccer, whereas we American Firefighters were staring at the TV watching surveillance camera video of the interceptions, and any rockets which may have passed their missile defenses. Watching the public’s reaction during the missile warning sirens, I couldn’t help but wonder what people in San Diego would say and do if we had continuous barrages of rockets coming across our border. [Dana Ben Kaplan]

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Middle East, San Diego County, Travel and Food

‘Lucky Ones’ suffers from poor writing, editing

I have very mixed feelings about this book {“We Were the Lucky Ones”]. On the one hand, it is a hearfelt attempt to reconstruct the experiences of various members of the author’s family (grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins) during the Holocaust. On the other, however, the writing does not flow easily, and the fact that the narrative is mainly (though not solely) in the present tense jars on my sensibilities as a reader. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Jewish History, USA

Artistic genius of Félix Vallotton

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is currently presenting through Jan. 26 the work of Félix Vallotton, an artist who has been largely neglected relative to his contemporaries, such as Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard. This makes the present exhibition all the more welcome, and fascinating. Vallotton’s work unquestionably merits the renewed attention — his paintings possess a mysterious quality, narrative appeal, and attention to detail, as well as invoke a delicious sense of irony and wit. [Sam Ben-Meir, PhD]

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International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, USA

Rivals jab Jacobs, Gomez in 53rd CD debate

In an otherwise peaceful debate Sunday, two Democrats with military backgrounds launched salvos against the front-runners in the race to replace Rep. Susan Davis in the 53rd Congressional District. Their targets: Qualcomm heir Sara Jacobs and San Diego Councilwoman Georgette Gómez (with the local Democratic Party as collateral damage). [Ken Stone, Times of San Diego]

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Ken Stone, San Diego County, USA

NBA’s Nets wear ‘No Place for Hate’ shirts

In light of the numerous anti-Semitic attacks that have taken place in Brooklyn over the past few months, during pre-game last night the Brooklyn Nets wore a specially created “No Place for Hate” shirt, in collaboration with ADL (the Anti-Defamation League). No Place for Hate ® is ADL’s signature education program for combating bias, bullying and hatred in public schools. [Anti-Defamation League press release]

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Sports & Competitions, USA