By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — When I was growing up one of my rabbi’s favorite sayings was: “Rich or poor, it’s good to have money.” Judaism has never disparaged living comfortably and encourages us to enjoy all of God’s blessings. However, at the same time we must always be mindful to share our […]
Turning wealth into something truly sacred Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Rabbi Yaakov Marks SAN DIEGO– One of the most dedicated and trusted leaders in history was Moshe. He left a wonderful life and his family in Midian, journeying a great distance to Egypt to fight for his people’s freedom from slavery. He constantly put his life in danger while approaching pharaoh, demanding and bargaining
Weekly Torah portion: Pekudei Read More »
Jewish Religion
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – In my mail came a book of poetry for review, unbidden, a gift from its author, a stranger to me. Titled Above History, Behind Time, it contained the thoughts of Nathan Carliner Goldman, PhD, who is a professor of government at the College of the Mainland in Texas
Poet Nathan C. Goldman reflects on Jewish themes Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish ReligionBy Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO –Eighteen years ago tomorrow, March 8, 1998, the Winter Garden Theatre in New York, then home to the mega-hit Cats, had its lights go dim. The music stopped, the dancing halted as the news spread of the death of 44 year-old artiste, Laurie Beechman. For longer than anyone, she
A tribute on the yahrzeit of Laurie Beechman Read More »
Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials
JERUSALEM (WJC) — Colette Avital, chairwoman of the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel, has launched a petition to Germany over the treatment of a German judge who has helped many survivors in Israel. Writing to Germany’s ambassador to Israel, Clemens von Goetze, Avital – a retired Israeli diplomat and former member
Germany puts judge who helped Survivors on trial Read More »
International, Jewish HistoryBy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo has a lot in common with the late Rabbi David Hartman. Cardozo is, as Hartman was, an Orthodox rabbi. Both immigrated to Israel in the belief that only here can Orthodoxy, indeed Judaism, renew itself and remain relevant. Both created institutions in Jerusalem, one the
Orthodox peers shun Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO — If you haven’t come across the ubiquitous word “mindfulness” over the last year or so, perhaps it’d be a good idea to read this. You see, there’s a love fest going on with mindfulness and it has captured the attention of nearly every magazine, self-help and coaching-therapy
Jewish mindfulness — being fully aware and accepting Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell
By Donald H. Harrison SPRING VALLEY, California — Since 1983, Noah Homes has been offering refuge to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It provides residences and caretakers for 70 people spread over eight homes with such Spanish names as Casa de Fe (Faith) and Casa de Paz (Peace.) Currently the charitable organization, which was
Noah and his animals source of joy at Noah Homes Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego CountyBy Rabbi Yaakov Marks SAN DIEGO — Moshe faced a monumental and daunting task; the building of the Mishkan (the portable tabernacle). Enormous amounts of gold, silver, and bronze, had to be procured and fashioned. Many varieties of dyed wool, linen, goat hair and ram skins needed to be processed according to complicated and intricate
Weekly Torah portion: Vayakel Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — This week we read the first of four special maftir portions which are read leading up to Purim and Passover. The maftir is called Shekalim. It describes the half-shekel tribute every Israelite was to pay to the Temple in order to purchase the animals for public sacrifices. After
Why did the Temple require only a half- shekel? Read More »
Jewish ReligionThe Dream of Zion: The Story of the First Zionist Congress by Lawrence J. Epstein, Rowman & Littlefield, New York; ISBN 978-1-4422-5466-5 ©2016, $36.00, p. 137, plus chronology and references. By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California — Professor emeritus Lawrence Epstein in his newest book The Dream of Zion, argues that the nineteenth-century European Enlightenment’s
‘The Dream of Zion’ focuses on the life of Herzl Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, International, Jewish History, Middle EastBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — It’s one of the best-kept secrets of British journalism that the Life and Arts section of the Financial Times’ weekend edition contains some of the best-written and most stimulating articles and reviews. So as we were leaving the airport of our almost next-door neighbor of Cyprus for
Jewish family became British through and through Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Jewish HistoryBy Rabbi Ben Kamin OCEANSIDE, California — My father, unrealized, died forty years ago today. It was forty years ago today, March 2, 1976: he dropped dead and left no real trace of personal history. He was just 45 and painfully unrealized. I keep a graying, wood-framed picture of my long-departed father on the mantle.
Four decades gone, his memory still a puzzle Read More »
Obituaries & memorials
In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer by Irene Gut Opdyke and Jennifer Armstrong; Penguin Random House/ Ember; (c) 1999, 2015; ISBN 978-0-679-99181-6; 278 pages including appendices, $10.99. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — This publication has reviewed, and will continue to review, numerous memoirs by Holocaust survivors. What makes this memoir different
A Righteous Gentile’s own story Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History