Judaism

Orthodox Union joins suit to protect parsonages

NEW YORK (Press Release) — The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America – the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization – has joined with other religious organizations in filing a ‘friend of the court’ brief that defends a longstanding tax exemption for housing costs for rabbis, pastors, and other clergy in the face of a lower court ruling finding the allowance unconstitutional. The legal brief, authored by law professor […]

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Jewish Religion, USA

JREC opposes proposed Israeli law on conversion

NEW YORK (Press Release) –The Jewish Religious Equality Coalition (J-REC), a wall-to-wall coalition of Modern Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist communal leaders and organizations, strongly opposes the proposed conversion bill currently under consideration by the Israeli government. J-REC has long believed that the unofficial monopoly enjoyed by the Chief Rabbinate on matters of personal status,

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Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA

Congress reacts to report of European anti- Semitism

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) — Representatives Peter Roskam (R-IL), Nita Lowey (D-NY), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Ted Deutch (D-FL), Kay Granger (R-TX), and Marc Veasey (D-TX), the co-Chairs of the Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism, issued the following joint statement on a recent report by the Kantor Center for the

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International, Jewish History, Middle East, USA

Rabbi Gimbel to discuss Torah for the next generation

SAN DIEGO (Press Release) — Beth Israel’s Men’s Club will host Rabbi Jeremy Gimbel as guest speaker at its May 16 Dinner Forum, beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the temple at 9001 Towne Center Drive. Rabbi Gimbel will discuss “How to Translate Torah to the Next Generation.” This program is open to the entire San Diego Community,

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Jewish Religion, San Diego Calendar

The Resilience Antidote

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO — Someone once said that a well-adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without making him/herself nervous.  What’s the secret?  Mental health experts claim it’s resilience. Personal elasticity if you will. Flexibility of the psyche, a springy attitude, a pliable outlook. Whatever you call it,

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

Jewelry supports Holocaust education

JACKSONVILLE, Florida (Press Release) — On weekends as a child, Dana Rogozinski sat with her grandmother, Ella, at the kitchen table playing with beads and baubles. Ella, a Holocaust survivor, was self-taught in the art of stringing pearls and worked as a jeweler for a high-end jewelry store in Jacksonville, Florida.  Her grandmother’s Auschwitz forearm

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Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Australia celebrates Jewish general’s memory

Editor’s Note: This is the seventh in a series of stories researched during Don and Nancy Harrison’s 50th Wedding Anniversary cruise from Sydney, Australia, to San Diego.  Previous installments of the series, which runs every Thursday, may be found by tapping the number of the installment:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 By Donald H. Harrison

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Travel and Food

Yad Vashem aide appears before Hadassah group

SAN DIEGO (Press Release) — In recognition of Yom Hashoah, members of Bat Harim Hadassah, and community leaders, in San Diego, recently gathered for a presentation and post discussion with William Bernstein, Director of Institutional Advancement for the Western Region, American Society for Yad Vashem. Bernstein introduced the mission of Yad Vashem by quoting Avner Shalev,

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Jewish History, Middle East, USA

Interfaith sacred music a hit at TICO concert

By Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — Although I needed to park far up the street because the Tifereth Israel parking lot was full, I was happy to see an overflowing house attending the second of two concerts by TICO (Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra) in conjunction with the East County Mormon Chorale. The program, which opened

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Eileen Wingard, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County

German Jews fared well in 20th century Britain

Their Promised Land; My Grandparents in Love and War by Ian Buruma; Penguin Random House, 2017 By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — I found this book so fascinating that I read it more or less in one sitting and, having read it on my Kindle, proceeded to order the paperback version from Amazon as I knew I

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Jewish History

Violence down, hate speech up against Jews

TEL AVIV (Press Release) — Anti-Semitic violence around the world dropped 9% from 2016 to 2017, but a “dramatic increase” of all other forms of anti-Semitic manifestations, including harassment and hate speech, has raised increasingly “grave concerns among Jews regarding their security and the continuation of communal life,” according to an annual report from Tel

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International, Jewish History, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Biography of Jerusalem has its agenda

By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — Simon Sebag-Montefiore brings impeccable credentials to the monumental task of writing Jerusalem: The Biography. A history Ph.D. from Cambridge, he has been a banker and a foreign correspondent reporting on, among other events, the fall of the Soviet Union. He is also the great-great-nephew of Sir Moses Montefiore, the international

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Middle East, Shoshana Bryen