Jewish History

What Rav Soloveitchik taught about suffering

In all faiths, cultures, and communities, the question of evil plays a prominent role in that specific group’s philosophies. What is evil, and how does one comprehend it in our lives? In Judaism, the question of evil and suffering is expressed in the following statement “Tzadik ve ra lo- A righteous person, and bad to him, rasha vetov lo- a wicked person, and good to him.”  The question is why do righteous people suffer and experience hardship, while others who are “wicked “do not experience pain and suffering? [Rabbi Dr. Bernhard H. Rosenberg]

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Bernhard H. Rosenberg-Rabbi, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Jewish Religion

Neo-Nazis disrupt Ethiopian Jewish fundraiser

Recently an Ethiopian refugee, Sintayehu Garedew, American Rapper Kosha Dillz aka Rami Matan Even-Esh and I held an event via Zoom. It was to raise awareness of the Jewish community called Beta-Avraham who inhabit the North Shewa mountains and town of Kechene near Addis Ababa. The nearly 80,000 people live in cramped and dangerous conditions and the fundraiser aims to raise funds for masks and protective equipment for the elderly and workers in the community affected by the strict lockdown of the Ethiopian government in response to COVID. [Sam Litvin]

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International, Jewish History, Sam Litvin

Fond memories of the Brooklyn Jewish Center

The two-storied, sandstone faced, Brooklyn Jewish Center on Eastern Parkway was aptly named. There were lots of other shuls in Brooklyn, Conservative, Orthodox, and the esoteric, modern Reform. But none had the facilities or location that it had. On the main floor was the Synagogue where the esteemed Rabbi Israel Levinthal and sometimes Cantor Richard Tucker presided over the conservative service. Tucker later gained fame as the renown Metropolitan tenor opera star. He would come back occasionally to sing as a special treat, and regularly used the pool facilities. My lingering fame long after I moved out of the area is that I taught his boys how to swim. [Ira Spector]

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Jewish History, Sports & Competitions, USA

Lack of Jewish unity spurs anti-Semitism

Just like the Jews in Germany before World War II tried to convince the Nazis that they were good Germans but to no avail, Jews today are trying to convince the world that we are good people. They say that Jews donate to charity more than any other nation or faith, that they contribute to high-tech innovations that advance the world far above their proportion in the world, that Jews have given the world many great physicians, thinkers, artists, and entrepreneurs, and that they are ardent human rights activists. But the world largely responds with contempt. It may be ironic, but it seems very natural for anti-racism protesters to yell “Dirty Jews” at counter-protesters, as The Jerusalem Post reported on June 15. In other words, many people don’t even relate to anti-Semitism as a type of racism. [Michael Laitman, Ph.D]

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International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East

Museum of the Hebrew Language planned in Jerusalem

As the president of the Academy of the Hebrew Language since 1993, Prof. Moshe Bar-Asher has many friends and former students around the world.  For example, he recently recalled in his courtly English, he once had the pleasure of teaching Mira Balberg, who is now a professor in UC San Diego’s Jewish Studies Department. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA

The philosophical, religious lessons of Auschwitz

The title of Joshua Hammerman’s book Embracing Auschwitz is incredulous. How can a rabbi, a pulpit rabbi charged with comforting his congregation, in light of the continental genocide and devastation inflicted on so many families, known as the Holocaust, and understanding the Jewish nation has a God-given obligation to obliterate the Amalekites, the biblical archetype of evil, ask us to accept and welcome this malevolence? The conundrum is resolved before one begins to read a single chapter. Hammerman, stressing there is nothing positive about the Holocaust, invokes his interpretation of the word “embrace” by quoting Abraham Joshua Heschel: “There are three ways we respond to sorrow. On the first level, we cry; on the second level, we are silent; on the highest level, we take sorrow and turn it into song.” [Fred Reiss, Ed.D]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish History, Jewish Religion

Another Jewish institution may be involved in tax fraud

Information provided by U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer in the tax fraud case against Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein and five co-defendants alleges that another religious institution, not yet identified, has also been involved in tax fraud. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Jewish trivia quiz: Portland, Oregon

The first Jewish mayor of Portland was Bernard Goldsmith, who served from 1869–1871. Goldsmith was born in Bavaria and emigrated to New York City at age 5. He eventually moved to California and started a jewelry store, and in 1861 he moved to Portland where he opened a retail store with some of his brothers. Which of the following is true about Bernard Goldsmith? [Mark D. Zimmerman]

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

Gov. Newsom’s order negates Hebrew Day’s plans for in-person learning

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered most private and public schools in the state, including those in San Diego County, to offer only distance learning rather than in-person classroom instruction.  His order came in response to spiking rates of coronavirus infection in California.  The exceptions were schools in counties where the incidents of the virus are very low. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education

What did the White House know about Rabbi Goldstein’s criminality?

I have more than a few questions about the conduct of the tax fraud case in which Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein is being recommended for probation, rather than a prison sentence, notwithstanding the fact that his pattern of illegal conduct reaches back several decades. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego County, USA