Jewish History

Redeeming a Holocaust Survivor’s reputation

Retired California theater producer and drama professor George Kovach is the stepson the late Cecelia ”Cilka” Klein who was the subject of a recent Holocaust sex and romance novel by an Australian novelist named Heather Morris, who wrote an earlier sex and romance novel set during the Holocaust titled The Tattooist of Auschwitz. In Morris’ sequel to her bestselling first novel, titled Cilka’s Journey, she focused on Cecelia Klein, and Kovach found the portrayal of his Jewish stepmother highly objectionable.  [Dan Bloom]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History

Author probes the philosophy of the Torah

Judaism Reclaimed: Philosophy and Theology in the Torah is an interesting book written by R. Shmuel Phillips who attempts to create a philosophical midrash of the text using primarily two important Judaic thinkers: Maimonides and Samson Raphael Hirsch, the founder of Modern Orthodoxy. [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi

‘Unorthodox’ draws critical response from Chabad women

The Netflix miniseries Unorthodox, about a woman who leaves her husband, casts off the ways of the Satmar Hasidim, and seeks to rebuild her life in the secular world, drew Zoomcast rebuttals on Monday night from a first cousin of the author upon whose 2012 memoir the series was based, as well as from educators and rebbetzins of the Lubavitcher Hasidim, better known as Chabadniks, here in San Diego County. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Another Jewish perspective on ‘Black Lives Matter’

Even as our nation is convulsing from the unprecedented and converging crises of COVID-19 and the (mostly peaceful) street protests manifested under the canopy of ‘Black Lives Matter,’ some in our Jewish community have expressed concerns and indignation: there are scattered elements of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism expressed by BLM. The May 30 riotous disturbances that occurred in the Fairfax section of Los Angeles, including the defacing of a synagogue with Nazi symbols, have sharpened these Jewish sentiments and denunciations. [Ben Kamin]

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Jewish History, Jewish Religion, USA

Jewish trivia quiz: West Point Jewish Chapel Choir

There is a long Jewish history at West Point. The 2019 graduating class included the 1000th Jewish graduate of the Academy since its founding in 1802. And in fact, half of the graduates in the very first class in 1802 were Jewish (though there were only two students in the class). The Jewish student, Simeon Magruder Levy, graduated at the bottom of his two-person class, but went on to distinguish himself at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, marking the end of the Northwest Indian War. For more than 60 years the West Point Jewish Chapel Choir has been a part of student life. The Choir sang at what presidential event? [Mark D. Zimmerman]

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Jewish History, Mark D. Zimmerman, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

Amulets, Coronavirus, & Election Day in Israel

Whenever Election Day comes to Israel, you can always count upon the Haredi political parties to boost voter turnout in their cities. The religious politicians will often offer amulets and blessings to ensure their people will be blessed. This year, in particular, some of the Shas and United Torah Judaism political parties handed out amulets with prayers and excerpts from the Jewish liturgy, promising that their reelection would guarantee that the coronavirus would not affect the voters’ families. {Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel]

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Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Middle East

Sounding Alarms Through the Centuries

Most of us have been glued to our television sets watching protesters marching on our streets and around the world. They are  responding to the murder of George Floyd.  In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “Riots are the language of the unheard.” [Vocal and story by Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel]

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Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel, z"l, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

My mother’s and Frank Sinatra’s address books

She did it her way By Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — The June/July 2020 issue of The Wall Street Journal Magazine contains a fascinating story by Will Friedwald with photography by Henry Leutwyler — “Sinatra’s Little Brown Book.” The article heralds Leutwyler’s just published Hi There!, a collection of 69 photographs of the address

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International, Jewish History, Lifestyles, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Oliver Pollak, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

European Jewish Civil War volunteers flocked to the North’s cause

Born in Hungary;  living in Portsmouth, United Kingdom; spending many hours of research at the American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati, Ohio; and even boasting a cousin (Judit Sipos-Szabo) here in San Diego, Peter Kovacs Rosenbluth understands  links between European Jewish history and American Jewish history about which most of us, including yours truly, have been unaware. [By Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

May Orthodox Judaism have female rabbis?

Rabbi Dr. Sperber quotes his speech during the ordination of female rabbis. “A relatively short time ago such an occasion within an Orthodox setting would have seemed to be impossible, almost hallucinatory. Yet what was so recently a dream has now become a reality. Yet what was once implausible has now become almost a norm, at least within a certain segment of the modern Orthodox community.” He notes that some Orthodox leaders refuse to accept the change, “But this is to be expected, and indeed understandable, given the traditionalist inability to recognize the dynamic nature of halachah. For they are grounded in dogmatism, while we strive after dynamism.” [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Jewish Religion

Oy vey, Columbus

Here is a 2018 story that appeared in The Times of Israel speculating that Christopher Columbus might have been a hidden Jew, forced to conceal his true identity because the year that he set sail on the voyage in which he would discover America–1492–was the same year that Jews were given a brutal choice by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain: Either convert to Christianity or be expelled from the country. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Obituaries & memorials, USA

BLM’s anti-Semitism must be addressed

On May 30th, 2020, the nation witnessed a spectacle that was reminiscent of the time Hitler and his brownshirts seized power in Germany. As my fellow writer, Bruce S. Ticker observed in his penetrating article, “Rioting in Los Angeles was an anti-Jewish pogrom” for San Diego Jewish World, “The Jews of the Fairfax neighborhood of Los Angeles were exposed to a modern, American-style pogrom on May 30 that should enrage us all. Not only were Jewish businesses sacked but five synagogues and three Jewish schools were reportedly vandalized in George Floyd’s name by thugs.” Ticker drew inspiration from Daniel Greenfield, who wrote on his blog, “One small business owner described a ‘Late Saturday night with people driving down the Fairfax district streets screaming effing Jews.’” [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]

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Bruce Ticker, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, USA