By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Often the greatest critics of religion offer us a series of criticism about the depth of our faith; they confront us with our hypocrisy. They challenge us to reexamine what it means to “believe.” As a young teenager, I remember hiding Raphael Patai’s book, Hebrew Myths in […]
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiBy Michael Jeser SAN DIEGO — My grandfather Morris Cohen was the youngest of 28 children. Yes, you read that correctly. His father, my great grandfather, was in his 70s when my grandfather was born in a town near Vilnius, Poland. My great grandfather was actually married twice (not at the same time), and had
S.D. Yom Hashoah focuses on preserving memory Read More »
International, Jewish History, San Diego CountyBy Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Unlike Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, which I describe in my book Mysteries of Judaism, the holiday of Passover did not continue to exist in a radically modified fashion with a new name after the temple was destroyed in 70 CE. It disappeared entirely and Chag
Where did those Passover traditions come from? Read More »
Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Jewish Religion
By Genia Kutner Florida Jewish Journal DELRAY BEACH, Florida — During the war I was lucky to survive with my parents and brother; another died from pneumonia. He was 2 years old. I was 11. My brother was 13. When the Nazi’s neared our town – Pinsk in Poland – in 1941, we fled towards
Holocaust survivor recalls miracle of Israel’s founding Read More »
International, Jewish History, Middle East, USABy Rabbi Joshua Dorsch SAN DIEGO — This Shabbat, the Shabbat before Passover, is referred to as Shabbat HaGadol – The Great Shabbat. Shabbat HaGadol is the last of what has been a series of special Shabbats, leading up to Passover. We have several special Shabbats sprinkled throughout the year – each one singled out
Why do we call this Shabbat ‘Shabbat HaGadol’? Read More »
Jewish Religion
Click here for related story By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Jordan B. Gorfinkel and Erez Zadok’s 2019 Passover Haggadah Graphic Novel, published by Koren Press, will delight parents and children. There are humorous comics explaining the Haggadah and Seder ceremonies in about half of the book’s 170 pages with the chad
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion
Bulletin: Beresheet crashes on moon’s surface By Adam Henderson JERUSALEM — Marking the highly anticipated landing on the moon by the Beresheet spacecraft Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, reflects upon the drawing “Moon Landscape”, created by 14-year old Petr Ginz while he was incarcerated in the Theresienstadt ghetto. Beresheet’s lunar landing will make
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International, Jewish History, Science, Medicine, & Education
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Superhero comics have been influenced greatly by Jewish life in the United States and by Torah learning, according to Jordan Gorfinkel, 51, the entertainment entrepreneur who managed the Batman franchise for a decade before creating his own Avalanche Comics Entertainment company. In the sanctuary of Tifereth Israel Synagogue
Superman, Batman and deeper Torah concepts Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & BroadcastBy Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida –The Israelites’ first Passover, celebrated in Egypt just prior to the exodus and described in Exodus 12:1-11, was radically different from the Torah mandated holiday observed after the exodus. Exodus 12, which describes the Egyptian ceremony, raises many questions. (1) Why does the Torah command that “this
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Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Travel and Food
Now it’s the Third Generation’s time to remind the world never to forget By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Talia Schauder, almost 17, says that she wants to become a teacher. But, in essence, she already is. On Monday, April 8, with all the aplomb of a seasoned teacher, she faced an assembly
Survivor’s granddaughter lectures on Holocaust Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education
Radical Inclusion: Engaging Interfaith Families for a Thriving Jewish Future by Edmund Case, © 2019 Center for Radically Inclusive Judaism, ISBN 9781732-938809l, 265 pages, $19.95. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – If I understand author Edmund Case’s basic premise, it is if people “do Jewish,” then for all practical purposes, they are members of
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish ReligionMaimonides’ Hidden Torah Commentaries, Genesis 1-21 by Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel, First Edition Design Publishing, Inc., Sarasota, FL, © 2016, Published January 2019, ISBN 978-1506-907-16-1, p. 294 plus bibliography and index, $21.95. By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California – Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel, author of Maimonides’ Hidden Torah Commentaries, is also the author of a multi-volume
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish ReligionBy Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — There are two things I have been saying, and then a third item came along and surprised me. I mentioned often that there is no concept of “sin” in the Hebrew Bible as a distorting stain upon the soul that requires a kind of supernatural atonement
Sin versus ‘chet,’ ‘pesha’ and ‘avon’ Read More »
Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion
SAN DIEGO (Press Release)– Jordan Gorfinkel, a former DC Comics editor who managed the Batman franchise for nearly a decade, will be at Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Diego on Wednesday, April 10, for a free-to-the-public discussion of his work, which includes a newly published The Passover Haggadah Graphic Novel that brings the Exodus experience into
Comics’ Gorfinkel to visit Tifereth Israel Synagogue Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, San Diego County