By Joe Spier CALGARY, Alberta, Canada — It was 1944 in the Nazi concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen and a young Dutch boy, Yoachim Yosef was nearing his 13th birthday. Among the inmates was the former Chief Rabbi of Holland who prepared the boy for his bar mitzvah. Each morning they would secretly study Torah on […]
Like father like son: Ilan and Assaf Ramon Read More »
Jewish History, Middle East, USALessons in Leadership: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Maggid Books, Jerusalem; ISBN 978-1-59264-432-2 ©2015, $18.00, p. 311 By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California — Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart in a 1964 ruling on a pornographic film, said, “I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of
Torah teaches about leadership Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish Religion
Blood of the Band: An Ipai Family Story by David L. Toler, Jr.; Sunbelt Publications, © 2015; ISBN 978-1-941384-12-1; 285 pages, including index; $19.95. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO –This is a story of the San Pasqual band of Ipai Indians. The Ipai are the western branch of the Kumeyaay Nation, as opposed to
The Ipai and the Jews Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego CountyBy Bob Lerner VALLEY CENTER, California — History was made in 1974 when, for true first time ever, the Pope conferred Knighthood on a person of the Jewish faith. The man was Col. Irving Salomon of Valley Center, and the sword used in that knighting ceremony will be on display at the Valley Center
Papal sword that knighted a Jew goes on display Read More »
Jewish History, San Diego County
-32nd in a series- Exit 10, College Avenue, San Diego ~ Chabad at SDSU By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – The large menorah standing two stories tall on the front lawn immediately differentiates this house at 6115 Montezuma Road from the fraternity houses nearby. And if you go inside to the large, comfortable
I-8 Jewish travel: Teaching the mitzvot joyously Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Travel and FoodBy Joe Gandelman SAN DIEGO — If there is ever a movie that cries out for being seen NOW it’s filmmaker Robert Rippberger’s 7 Days in Syria. When it was completed some months ago it was a solid documentary about the Syrian Civil War that took you so inside the devastation that you could almost
Why Jews should feel compassion for Syrian refugees Read More »
Jewish History, Joe Gandelman, Middle East, USA
By Eric George Tauber CHULA VISTA, California — One doesn’t normally expect to hear Hanukah music in a church. But when that church is Iglesia Restauración in Chula Vista, the meeting place of Latinos por Israel, the rules change. It’s taken 500 years, but many B’nei Anousim (Jews forcibly converted to Catholicism during the Inquisition)
Rekindling the Lights of Januká Read More »
Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & BroadcastA history of early Nazi Germany worth reading In the Garden of Beasts; Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson; Broadway Books, New York, 2011 By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — The Garden of Beasts in the title refers to the inhabitants of Berlin’s Tiergarten, the park in central Berlin that once served
Never Again: Holocaust news for November 23, 2015 Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish HistoryBy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM–In the almost sixty years that I’ve been involved with Israel I’ve observed the conscious or unconscious collusion between Israel’s secular majority and its Orthodox, now growing, minority. It seems that the former believe that Orthodoxy is the only authentic manifestation of the Jewish religion, but having given up religion they
Reform’s weak status in Israel Read More »
Jewish Religion
Tempting The Devil in the Name of God: The Heavy Hand of Fate by Howard Beckman; Inspire on Purpose Publishing; 2012-2015; ISBN 978-1-941783-24-8; 373 pages, $19.99 By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – One of my favorite apocryphal stories concerns the Jewish woman who traveled to India to see the guru. She was told that
Drug dealer becomes a spiritual leader Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion
–31st in a Series– Exit 10, College Avenue, San Diego ~ Melvin Garb Hillel Center By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO –The Melvin Garb Hillel Center, dedicated in October 2014, is a place for Jewish students to hang out, socialize, and make Jewish connections. Here, says Hillel’s SDSU’s campus director, Jackie Tolley, the students “engage in programs
I-8 Jewish Travel: SDSU’s modern Hillel Center Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and FoodMy Grandfather Would have Shot Me, by Jennifer Teege and Nikola Sellmair. The Experiment, Pub. 2015, 221pp By David Strom SAN DIEGO — At the age of 38 Jennifer Teege was at the Hamburg central library. There she glanced at a book with a red cover and was drawn to it. From photographs in the book,
Mixed-race descendant of Nazi murderer tells of life Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Among the subscribers to San Diego Jewish World are a few readers in the Slovak Republic. I would like to address this article to them, as well as to anyone else who might be able to throw light upon the subject of Judge Jacob Weinberger’s early life. Weinberger’s name
An appeal to readers in the Slovak Republic Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, USAROME (JNS.org) Pope Francis will make his first official visit to Rome’s Great Synagogue next January, the city’s Jewish community said in a statement on Tuesday. He will be the third pope to visit that venue. The pontiff will meet with Jewish leaders at the synagogue on Jan. 17—the same date that Rome’s Jewish community
Pope Francis to visit Rome’s Great Synagogue Read More »
International, Jewish Religion