Jewish-interest license plate: ‘Nifrah’
SAN DIEGO — Melanie Rubin found this transliterated Hebrew license plate. Nifrah means “we will blossom.”
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Jewish Religion, Melanie RubinJudaism
Some forms of haredi piety are really OCD
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Who says religious people aren’t funny? Where is Jay Leno when you need him? The world of the Ultra-Orthodox (a.k.a. “Haredi” and “Hasidim”) never fail to evoke laughter and irony. In their quest for personal piety, they will go to extremes to keep themselves away from
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Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiLearning 2 halachos per day may keep troubles at bay
By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO — Rashi teaches us that not only do we need to be careful about the ‘big’ mitzvos, we have to be diligent with regards to performance of the ‘small’ mitzvos – the mitzvos that are commonly ignored and ‘trampled’. No one of us would ever think of robbing a
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Jewish ReligionDiscipline means setting goals as well as limits
By Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb NEW YORK — As a parent, grandparent, and psychologist, I am often considered to be something of an expert on parenting and child-rearing. In that capacity, I have frequently been asked to review or give an opinion about any of the plethora of books on the subject of raising one’s
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Jewish ReligionAnthropomorphizing God does HaShem a disservice
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel SAN DIEGO — Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook writes in his famous mystical and moral tract, The Lights of Penitence: The greatest impediment to the human spirit, upon reaching maturity, results from the fact that the conception of God is crystallized among people in a particular form, which goes back to childish habit
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Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiWhen politics erases basic human compassion
By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO — When the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, unsuccessfully pleaded for a state at the UN last year, many of us in the Jewish community noted with some bitterness: he failed to even mention either the historic Jewish association with the region of Palestine or the horrific Jewish suffering of
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Jewish Religion, Middle EastTorah’s 2 versons of 10 Commandments differ subtly
By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — Is ignorance of the law an excuse? Should people be held responsible for things they do not know? The Ten Commandments appear twice in the Torah, first in parashat Yitro and again in parashat va-Etchanan. While the commandments themselves are substantially the same, there are variations in wording.
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Jewish ReligionThree Silvermans-the author, rabbi and cantor-to lead services
CARLSBAD, California (Press Release) — In a most unusual combination, distinguished Rabbi Hillel Silverman will officiate at High Holiday services with his Cantor Grandson Matthew Rutta in Carlsbad, California. To enhance the generational ties, the Machzor Prayer book being used was edited by the Rabbi’s well known father, Rabbi Morris Silverman, who achieved national prominence with
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Jewish ReligionThe rabbi learns much from his congregants
By Rabbi Ben Kamin LAGUNA WOODS, California– They call themselves “a synagogue without walls,” which was especially ironic and heartening when I first was interviewed by the leadership several years ago. My pastoral agency is called Reconciliation: The Synagogue Without Walls and—once the meeting warmed into a promising new relationship—one of the officers teased me:
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Jewish ReligionJews must guard against gratuitous hatred
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Some anthropologists, like Mircea Eliade, argue that the biblical notion of time is essentially linear, while the Oriental notion of time is cyclical in nature. Eliade was only partially correct. The Jewish holiday cycle certainly has a strong cyclical element. If anything, Jewish concept of time
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Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiCan God have regrets?
By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — If everything God does is perfect, can God regret what God does? Tisha B’Av, literally the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av, commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples. This year the ninth of Av falls on Shabbat. Therefore, the commemoration and fast are
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Jewish ReligionThe miracle of Shalhevet
By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO — On Tisha B’Av we mourn the destruction of the Temple, which was due to sinas chinam – unwarranted hatred. We also mourn the hatred itself and the disunity and isolation which it causes. When Jews are united, amazing things can happen as the following true story, related by
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Jewish Religion‘Devarim:’ A sublime autobiography
By Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb NEW YORK (Press Release)–There is a biography. And then there is an autobiography. Our biography is the way others see us. Our autobiography is the way we see ourselves. Typically, there are sharp differences between the two. Others see us from their own perspectives. Some biographers can be boldly objective,
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Jewish ReligionMeet a minyan of San Diego Jewish pioneers
Editor’s Note: As part of Congregation Beth Israel’s 150th anniversary celebration, San Diego Jewish World editor Don Harrison gave an after-dinner speech to the CBI Men’s Club on Wednesday, July 18, sketching ten Jewish pioneers of San Diego. Here is an edited version of that talk. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO– Having written a
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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History