Judaism

Jerusalem Library Receives 45,000 Jewish Manuscripts from Yemen

The items were endowed to the museum last Thursday by the family of the late Yehuda Levi Nahum (1915-1998), a Yemenite Jew who immigrated to pre-state Israel in 1929 at the age of 14. Over six decades, Nahum assembled the world’s most extensive collection of Yemenite-Jewish manuscripts. [JNS]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East

Our Shtetl San Diego County: Groundbreaking Tuesday for Jacobs Performing Arts Center at Liberty Station

Mayor Todd Gloria will speak at groundbreaking ceremonies Tuesday, Jan. 23, for the future Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center that will be built at Liberty Station in a renovated Naval Building 178. [SDJW Staff Report]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, California, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials, Philanthropy & Volunteerism, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Is Reincarnation a Fact, a Lie, or True?

Philo (25 BCE-50 CE) was the first Jewish philosopher to introduce the idea that there is such a thing as a soul that exists separate from the body. It contains the intellect and personality of a person. Platonic theories influenced him. He considered the soul to be eternal. However, he did not have the belief in reincarnation. The soul remained somewhere in limbo until the messianic age when it would be revived. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Jewish Biography: Gabriel Riesser, Germany’s First Jewish Judge

HAIFA, Israel — In the middle of the nineteenth century a Jew was first appointed a judge in a European state. This happened in Germany, in Hamburg. The appointed judge did little judging, but managed to govern. He was more like a charismatic ruler than a cold-blooded judge. He was more like a bold fighter

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Alex Gordon, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Israeli Bar Mitzvah boy forgoes party, treats 200 soldiers to dinner

Published by ANI News Tel Aviv [Israel], January 21 (ANI/TPS): Amichai Jackson, a bar mitzvah boy from the Gush Etzion community of Elazar, decided that in lieu of a party to mark the milestone event his parents should use the money to treat Israeli soldiers to dinner. Amichai was slated to celebrate his bar mitzvah

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Israel, Jewish Religion, Nordot

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Israel Zangwill

His play “The Melting Pot” was credited with penning that phrase to describe absorption of immigrants in the United States. After seeing it, former President Theodore Roosevelt reportedly leaned out from his theater box and shouted, “That’s a great play, Mr. Zangwill. That’s a great play.” [SDJW staff]

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International, Israel, Jewish Fiction, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

Kaspare Cohn’s Legacies: Union Bank, Cedars-Sinai Hospital

Cohn was just 20 years old when he arrived in Los Angeles in 1859 from Loebau, Prussia, to work for his uncle Harris Newmark. His introduction to the primitive banking system in 19th century California came when his uncle had him sleep on the floor of the family grocery store as a way of safeguarding the finances of Los Angeles County. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Business & Finance, California, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Philanthropy & Volunteerism, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Some 300,000 protest in Germany against far-right and for democracy

Published by DPA International At least 300,000 people took to the streets of Germany on Saturday to voice their opposition to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and to support democracy. The protests took place from the south in Bavaria to the northern city of Hamburg and from western cities such as Frankfurt to

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Antisemitism, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Nordot

‘Charlotte’ and ‘My Father’s Secrets’ Animate the Holocaust

The animated feature film Charlotte chronicles the unfolding of her personal and creative development in Berlin between 1933 and 1939 and her temporary haven in France thereafter. While its emphasis remains on her autobiography, the dangers posed by Nazi antisemitism loom in the background with a few paintings depicting a Nazi rally, her expulsion from the Academy of Arts on racial grounds, Kristallnacht, and her father’s return as a physically broken man from being interned at Sachsenhausen after the Nazi rampage in 1938. [Laurie Baron]

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Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Lawrence Baron, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

US authorities to return artworks stolen by Nazis

Published by AFP United Nations (United States) (AFP) – US authorities announced Friday that two drawings worth $2.5 million stolen by the Nazi regime and eventually displayed in American museums will be returned to relatives of Fritz Grunbaum, an Austrian Jewish cabaret performer killed in the Holocaust. It follows the return last year of seven

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Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Nordot, USA

Today’s Jewish Birthday: J.B. Pritzker

As a Democratic  candidate, Pritzker finished third in a 1998 bid for the congressional seat won by Jan Schakowsky, and 20 years later, he ran successfully for governor of Illinois, spending an estimated $42 million of his own money through the primary and $171.5 million to defeat Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner in the general election.  He was easily reelected in 2022. [SDJW staff]

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Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

Our Shtetl San Diego County: Leaping Into Marriage?

Have you ever met a couple who say, with a smile, that this is their tenth wedding anniversary, but in actuality have been married 40 years.  They are not lying, just bending the truth a little bit.  These are the couples who were married on February 29, which comes around only once in four years — the leap year. [SDJW staff]

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Holocaust, Israel, Lifestyles, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Our Shtetl San Diego County:  Israel-bound Rabbi ‘Zucky’ Returns to San Diego

Zuckerman’s last trip to Israel was in October.  On that occasion, he visited an IDF reserve unit near the Lebanese border, which had no trucks to move around the reservists’ gear. He promptly contributed $2,000 for the unit to purchase a trailer for hauling its equipment. [SDJW staff]

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Antisemitism, Holocaust, Israel, Jewish Religion, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, The Arts, The World We Share, Travel and Food, USA

Polish lawmaker who extinguished Hanukkah candles loses immunity

Published by Reuters UK WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland’s parliament has voted to remove the immunity from prosecution of a lawmaker who used a fire extinguisher to put out Jewish Hanukkah candles in the country’s parliament in December, an incident that caused international outrage. The vote opens the way for prosecutors to press charges against Grzegorz

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International, Jewish Religion, Nordot