Judaism

Wolf(e) Foiled Again in Little Red Riding Hood Parody for Purim

Purim arrives this year the evening of Monday, March 6, and concludes on Tuesday, March 7.   To get your children or grandchildren ready for the fun holiday, you could enjoy reading with them this parody on Little Red Riding Hood, wherein Lily whizzes on a skateboard toward grandma’s condo in Florida.  Lily has hamantaschen loaded into her backpack.

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Jacob Wasserman: The Story of Unrequited Love

By Alex Gordon HAIFA, Israel — In August 1912, in Neue Rundschau, Stephan Zweig analyzed the work of notable new writers who had appeared in German literature: “Apart from Thomas Mann, certainly the one with the greatest hope of creating a truly German novel, two writers, Heinrich Mann and Jacob Wasserman have already shown with

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Alex Gordon, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History

Documentary Reveals Gruesome Discoveries at Sobibor

The 103-minute documentary Deadly Deception at Sobibor, shows what happened to the camp after the famous escape.  The work, painstakingly put together by filmmaker Gary Hochtman, will be shown at the San Diego Jewish Film Festival at 10 a.m., Thursday, Feb 16, at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, 4126 Executive Drive, La Jolla. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Sunday Soundoff: Holocaust Museum, Gun Violence, Homeless Housing

It was abundantly clear during Supervisor Nathan Fletcher’s presentation and the testimony of various members of the Jewish community at the Board of Supervisors’ meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 24, that a permanent Holocaust museum in San Diego is desired. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, Jewish History, Opinion, San Diego County

Cape St. George Island Lighthouse and the Jews

By Jerry Klinger Touristing — better known as cultural travel, especially historical travel to see the places of events, and meaning to the American experience, preferably without resentful teenagers — is great. A fun thing to do in Florida is to visit historical lighthouses. There are big ones, short one, white ones, red ones, and

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Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Opinion, USA

The Biblical Portion Bo: ‘Come’ or ‘Go,’ and Other Thoughts

By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — The third parasha in Exodus, Bo, frequently mistranslated as “go,” despite meaning “come,” tell the last three of the 10 plagues, God gives the Israelites the first of the 613 commandments concerning the Jewish calendar, a law that seems to be crystal clear, but Jewish tradition

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Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion

Jewish Biography: Henri Bergson

On a cold December day in occupied Paris in 1940, a large group lined up at the Nazi commandant’s office. Jews stood waiting to be registered, anxious for their lives. In the crowd was a thin, tall old man with a bulging, high forehead, a shallow chin and a small mustache. After waiting for hours in the cold, he caught a bad cold, caught pneumonia, and died on January 3, 1941. He died in the very town in which he had been born 80 years earlier. Registered by the Nazis, the old Jew was one of France’s most famous men, Professor Henri Bergson of the Collège de France, member of the French Academy of Sciences, winner of the 1927 Nobel Prize in Literature. In the Pantheon there is an inscription on one of the columns: “To Henri Bergson, a philosopher whose life and work have done honor to France and to human thought. [Alex Gordon]

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Alex Gordon, International, Jewish History

County Supervisors Approve & Help Finance Holocaust Remembrance Exhibit

SAN DIEGO – The San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Jan. 24, declared that day to be Holocaust Remembrance Day in San Diego County – three days before this coming Friday’s commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, coinciding with the 78th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp in 1945. [Donald H. Harrison]

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California, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, USA

Anti-Jewish Threats to School Administrator Prompts His Resignation

After nine days as dean of students at a middle school, Michael Woodberg resigned. The offense? Being Jewish. His bosses are not antisemitic. Nor is there evidence of rampant antisemitism among the students. In early January, the Richmond Community Schools received frightening threats directed at Woodberg and other staff at the middle school. The school district serves a rural area 45 miles northeast of Detroit. [Bruce S. Ticker]

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Bruce Ticker, Jewish History, Opinion, USA

Parashat Bo: Overcoming Your Fears

When Hashem directs Moses, “come to Pharaoh,” He is saying “come to Me.” The Ba’al Shem Tov teaches in a parable that He is saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am here behind the screen. All the tests are just from me. With everything you do, you’re getting closer to Me. I am the good found in all the struggle. Come to Me and I will take you high above the darkness of this world, and then I will show you how I was really with you the whole time.” In essence he is suggesting the famous FEAR acronym “Face Everything and Rise,” rather than “Forget Everything and Run.” [Michael Mantell, Ph.D]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

Holocaust Refuge at Fort Ontario, New York, Recalled

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was too concerned about negative public opinion to take the leadership on finding refuge in the United States for European Jewry during the early years of the Holocaust, scholar Lawrence Baron told a bruncheon audience at Tifereth Israel Synagogue on Sunday. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, USA

A Case of Theological Thuggery in Israel

Horrifying statement from a newly elected MK: “Our banner is one of unambiguous war on progress. The status-quo has to be changed, ensuring that Judaism is acknowledged in every corner of the life of the State. Israel will be a country that observes the Sabbath in public, homosexual families will not be given recognition, and women will not serve in the army; their contribution will be to marry and produce a family. We will not be like countries that are for all their citizens. Heaven forfend. The values of Judaism supersede all individual rights. Look, I’m getting tools and budgets, I’m here to work, and we will clean up the public systems. Watch me, I’m patient, this is just the beginning of the beginning.” [Dorothea Sherfer-Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Israel, Jewish Religion, Opinion