By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — One of the most important but also neglected customs of the year is when we observe the Yahrzeit of a loved one. It occurs with such frequency that we often will forget about the date altogether because we may have forgotten the Hebrew calendar date. According to […]
Yahrzeits, apps, and Facebook Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO– Gosh, I never felt better while lunching on a hamburger and a Coke. You see, I was at the Temple Emanu-El Purim Carnival, and any profits from that quick lunch—as well as from any other food sold on Sunday, March 8 — were to be donated to the
So many reasons to be thankful at Purim carnival Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego CountyBy Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO –– Esther’s Children: A Portrait of Iranian Jews edited by Houman Sarshar, published by the Center for Iranian Oral Jewish History, 2005, is a large book which opens with a three page foldout of the timeline of significant events in Iranian-Jewish History. It is a history which begins in 539 BCE
From the Jewish Library: ‘Esther’s Children’ Read More »
Jewish History
HARARE, Zimbabwe (WJC) –Tributes have flowed in for the late Sam Benatar, the president of the Zimbabwe Jewish Board of Deputies and one of Zimbabwe Jewry’s most experienced and active communal leaders. Benatar, 86, who was born in the small town of Concession in what was then Southern Rhodesia, passed away following a long illness
Sam Benatar, 86, Zimbabwe Jewish leader Read More »
International, Obituaries & memorials
NEW YORK (Press Release) — The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) mourns the passing of retired Cardinal Edward M. Egan, a friend to the Jewish community and a significant figure in the realm of interfaith affairs. Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement: We note with sorrow the passing of Cardinal Edward Egan who will
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Obituaries & memorials, USABy Rabbi Ben Kamin ENCINITAS, California — On June 21, 1964, David Goodman was a teenager living in his family’s Manhattan apartment. He noticed his mother pacing nervously: another of her sons, Andy, just 20 years old, was missing somewhere in Mississippi. David was anxious and frightened as well. It was the “Freedom Summer”—during which
Civil rights martyr’s brother seeks new coalitions Read More »
Jewish History, USA
SACRAMENTO (SDJW)–State Sen. Robert Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) delivered the daily invocation in the Senate chambers on Thursday, March 5, marking the holiday of Purim. Hertzberg summarized the story of Purim from the Book of Esther and had hamantaschen distributed to each of his 39 Senate colleagues. He also praised Sen. Marty Block (D-San Diego), chair of the
Purim invocation given in state Senate Read More »
Jewish History, USA
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – One of the nice things about a Purimshpiel is that it doesn’t have to follow the precise script. In fact, the whole megillah can be changed, just so long as the high points of the story from the Book of Esther are included. At Tifereth Israel Synagogue on
Purim shpiel a la Broadway Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego CountyBy Mark D. Zimmerman MELVILLE, New York — Ashkenzaic Jews remember Haman’s evil by making noise with a greggar whenever Haman’s name is said at the Megillah reading. How do Moroccan Jews note Haman’s wickedness? A. They make a three cornered pastry similar to a hamantashen, but it is filled with red strawberries, representing the blood
Jewish trivia: Moroccan Purim customs Read More »
Jewish Religion, Mark D. Zimmerman, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Rabbi Ben Kamin ENCINITAS, California — There are the beloved Five Scrolls in the Hebrew Scripture: including the cynical Ecclesiastes, the romantic Song of Songs, and the elegiac Lamentations. The remaining two, filled with momentous narrative, are named for heroic women: Ruth and Esther. Ruth was the consummate loyalist, paradigmatic convert to Judaism—a maternal
The woman who rescued the Jews Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — Raphael Lemkin is probably the most influential figure of the Twentieth Century not widely recognized by posterity. Born in 1900 in a Polish village located in the Russian Empire, he had witnessed pogroms when he was growing up. Originally studying linguistics, he eventually became a lawyer. In the 1920s
The Wandering Review: ‘Watchers of the Sky’ Read More »
Jewish History, Lawrence Baron
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—When Joseph Kanfer, the father of Purell hand sanitizers, focuses this week on Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speeches to AIPAC and to Congress, he will do so “because I think it is necessary for our very survival but my love is Jewish education.” Kanfer, whose GOJO manufacturing company is
Industry leader says Jews should speak up about Iran Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, USAIsland of Hope, Island of Tears: The Story of Those Who Entered the New World Through Ellis Island by David Brownstone, Irene M. Franck, Douglass Brownstone, (MetroBooks, 2004). By Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO–The word “immigrant” brings to mind a picture of a woman with a lined face, head covered by a babushka (scarf), holding a wide
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Jewish History, USABy Rabbi Rafi Andrusier LA MESA, California — Did you hear? What color is the dress? Black and blue or white and gold? I am still enamored by the stark difference. (Here’s a link to the phenomenon:https://www.yahoo.com/tech/explained-why-people-cant-agree-on-the-color-of-112191281639.html# ) How is possible? When I saw it recently, I said it’s black and blue. But some of my family
Black & blue; gold & white, and HaShem’s hidden hand Read More »
Jewish Religion