Judaism

Parshas Bo – The Rules of the Road

It is now forty years since I began driving an automobile. I took driver’s education and it was through them I got my license, but it was my mother, of blessed memory, who taught me how to drive. Over the years I’ve heard that I have a reputation of being a New York driver. Some passengers in my car requested double seat belts and a parachute with an optional eject button just in case they needed access to an early departure. New York drivers are known to be aggressive; it is a direct correlation to the aggressiveness of daily life in New York city. In contrast, living in Charleston, South Carolina, cars can be sold with a horn because no one ever beeps such a rude, noisy device. [Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky]

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Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food

A new Holocaust memorial in Suriname

On the Northern Coast of South America, is a tiny third world country’s capital, Paramaribo, Suriname. It is 5,248 miles to Krakow, near Auschwitz. The tiny Jewish community of Suriname, alongside of their non-Jewish neighbors chose on Jan. 27 to remember the Holocaust. Unlike most commemorations that took place that day, the Suriname Jewish community dedicated a permanent interpretive historical marker telling the ill-informed and the future generations of the uninformed, what the Holocaust was. [Jerry Klinger]

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International, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History

Planning for San Carlos neighborhood eruv

Young Israel of San Diego, located in a small shopping center at 7291 Navajo Road, is exploring the possibility of erecting an eruv, which under halacha, Jewish law, extends the area of people’s homes, enabling Shabbat-observant Jews to carry packages or push baby carriages with the eruv’s boundaries. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Middle East, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

The Four Chaplains: Immortal courage at sea

It was a day remembered for the enormous loss of life. It is also a day for remembering the story of four who could have saved their own lives, but chose instead to give their place in a lifeboat to four others. The four men who made that sacrifice were Army chaplains: a Catholic priest, a Jewish rabbi, and two Protestant ministers. Each man had volunteered for military service. George Fox, a Methodist minister, had been a combat soldier in World War I and still suffered from wounds he had received. Yet after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor he volunteered for active duty. Rabbi Alexander Goode and Dutch Reformed minister Clark Poling left behind wives and young children. John Washington, a Roman Catholic priest, had just left his widowed mother. [Michael Feldberg, Ph.D]

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International, Jewish History, USA

Congratulations Encinitas City Council, JFS & Leichtag Foundation

I think we all should congratulate Mayor Catherine Blakespear and three other members of the Encinitas City Council who voted their hearts, and not their fears, in the recent battle over providing safe overnight parking spaces to 25 homeless families who are forced to sleep in their cars. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, USA

Belief in God a path to spiritual renewal

How would renewing our belief in the seeming impossible, in the “miraculous,” do for improving our daily lives? And what would it take for us to achieve this transformative, spiritual renewal? Do we need to see the Nile River turn to blood, the land covered with frogs, the dirt turn to lice? When we see these, are reminded of them in remembrance of the Exodus, we are also reminded that Hashem controls the world and continues to do so daily. Exodus didn’t happen just to take us from Egypt, but to teach us to believe in the ultimate power of Hashem. [Michael Mantell, Ph.D]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

1945 Holocaust memoir rediscovered

Identical books with different titles and different covers introduce bookish mystery and confusion. Such is the case of No Place to Lay One’s Head and A Bookshop in Berlin by Françoise Frenkel which first appeared in 1945 as Rien où poser sa tête. The revival of an overlooked book has a special attraction. Publishers appeal to sensibilities of prospective readers through alluring titles and cover art. [Oliver B. Pollak, PhD]

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

Clearing up confusion between JNF-USA and KKL

Dr. Sol Lizerbram, the Rancho Sante Fe resident who serves as the national president of Jewish National Fund-USA, says that many people are unaware that Keren Kayemet LeIsrael (KKL) and JNF-USA are totally separate organizations, even though in the past, they were one and the same.
[Donald H. Harrison]

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

Mayoral candidates discuss anti-Semitism

Anti-semitism?  City Councilwoman Barbara Bry blames President Donald Trump.  City Councilman Scott Sherman points his finger at the Internet.  And Tasha Williamson says it’s the fault of domestic terrorists, who ought to be prosecuted with the same tenacity as are terrorists from foreign countries. The three candidates made their comments Sunday night at a forum at Temple Emanu-El skipped by Assemblyman Todd Gloria, who polls show to be the frontrunner in their race to be San Diego’s next mayor. [Donald H. Harrison]

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

Movie, play offer gripping Holocaust stories

The film 1945 and the play The Class give new meaning to the phrase “bad neighbor.” These very relevant works of performance art were among those highlighted at the 5th Kisufim (Hebrew for “longings”) conference held at the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem, in November. This year’s topic was: “Writing, Memory and Vision” and it was produced in partnership with the Zalman Shazar Center, the Hebrew Writers Association, and the Matanel Foundation, among others. [Toby Klein Greenwald]

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International, Jewish History, Middle East, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Toby Klein Greenwald