Jewish History

The legacy of Dr. Jonas Salk

Had he lived, today, Monday October 28th, would have been Jonas Salk’s 105th birthday.  Last night, an audience of mostly senior citizens remembered and appreciated the enormity of the contribution that he made to world health by developing the polio vaccine.  And, indirectly, the man who was the speaker at Tifereth Israel Synagogue—Salk’s son, Dr. Peter Salk—played an important role in that drama while he was still a child.[Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, San Diego Calendar, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Animals receive a blessing at Tifereth Israel Synagogue

With Jews around the world scheduled to read the story of Noah’s Ark next Saturday, the Abraham Ratner Torah School at Tifereth Israel Synagogue held a blessing for the animals in a brief outdoor ceremony on Sunday. Rabbi Joshua Dorsch, with arms raised, blessed about a dozen dogs and one rabbit that were brought by congregants of the Conservative shul.  [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share, Travel and Food, USA

What is the origin of the Oral Torah?

The general scholarly and rabbinical view is that the Oral Torah blossomed during the Second Temple period, when Judeans, as Jews were called at that time, who had returned from the Babylonian exile were faced with new problems that the Torah did not address and others that were addressed but needed updating to fit the situations they found. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Jewish Religion

Jewsraelis and other Jewish people of Israel

Today’s Israeli culture differs from Jewish culture at the state’s founding: Israel is more ethnically diverse, its Jews practicing along a broader spectrum of beliefs. They live mostly in cities, not on kibbutzim or moshavim. They are self-governing, speak a modern form of Hebrew, follow the Jewish calendar, and openly display rather than hide their identity. They live in a country in which they never have to fear de jure anti-Semitism. Israelis are rabbis and talmudic scholars, estheticians and economists, police and politicians, taxi drivers and technical wizards. [Fred Reiss, EdD]

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

First yahrzeit of Tree of Life Synagogue massacre

This Shabbat marks the one year anniversary of the massacre at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, when eleven Jews were murdered during the Morning Prayer service.

The act of violence and hate that was supposed to instill fear in Jews had a somewhat opposite effect. Instead of staying away, the next weekend, millions of people, from all different faiths and backgrounds “Showed Up For Shabbat.” Synagogues were packed in what was a beautiful, comforting, and inspiring statement of solidarity and love for Jews, Judaism, and Jewish community, around the world. [Rabbi Joshua Dorsch]

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Jewish History, USA

State’s Ethnic Studies Curriculum awaits resolution

The state’s proposed ethnic studies curriculum was temporarily shelved in part because of objections from the California Jewish Legislative Caucus, the Anti-Defamation League, and other Jewish groups that the panel that created the document all but ignored the Jewish experience in the United States, while utilizing the curriculum to spread a false Palestinian narrative about Israel that includes support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS). [Donald H. Harrison]

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

A posthumous birthday salute to oceanographer Walter Munk

On what would have been oceanographer Walter Munk’s 102nd birthday on Saturday, Oct. 19, surfers gathered in a ring near the Scripps Pier in La Jolla while others gathered on the pier itself to honor Munk by tossing biodegradable flowers into the ocean.  San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Charles T. Clark reported that a seal “even made an appearance, jumping in and out of the water nearby.”  Often described as the “Einstein of the Oceans,” Munk died in February of this year.  The City of San Diego honored him in 2017 on his 100th birthday by naming a walkway along the beach of La Jolla, “Walter Munk Way.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Middle East, Obituaries & memorials, USA

King Solomon the not so wise

History repeats itself mostly because people fail to learn from the terrible consequences that occurred following the foolish acts of the past. The Bible tells us about the supposed wisdom of King Solomon. In my book The Authentic King Solomon, I show that actually, scripture is demonstrating that the king was not as smart as he and we think he was. In every chapter where Solomon is shown to have performed an act, it also shows, without exception, that he also acted foolishly. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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International, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Middle East

A Jewish Tale of the Great American Prairie

It all started in 2013, when my son Lincoln was with me, visiting the Ashley, North Dakota Jewish Cemetery where my great-grandfather is buried. He began asking me questions about the community of Russian Jewish immigrants, who arrived in the early 1900s with no farming experience, to farm the North Dakota prairies. I didn’t have sufficient answers. But the seed was planted for me to learn more – for my son, myself, our family, and people I had never met. [Rebecca Bender]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Lifestyles, USA

15th Jew in space in first all-female space walk

Astronaut Jessica Meir, who earned her doctorate from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography here in San Diego, on Friday was part of the first all-female team to do a space walk from the international space station. She and fellow American  astronaut Christine Koch were tasked with repairing a power control unit – a job that in the slow motion of space took seven hours and 17 minutes, including interruptions to take congratulatory calls from President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Presidential Advisor Invaka Trump, and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel, z"l, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue charts re-opening

Nearly one year after the worst anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history that claimed the lives of 11 people worshiping inside a Pittsburgh synagogue building, the Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Congregation announced it will move forward with rebuilding plans that reflect resiliency, strength and community collaboration. [News Release]

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Jewish History, Jewish Religion, USA

Pottery indicates some Israelites worshiped multiple deities

Moses, ‘following G-d’s orders,’ carves a second pair of tablets following which he receives additional orders regarding entrance to the promised land: Ch. 34: vv. 12-13 “Beware of making a covenant with the inhabitants…No, you must tear down their altars, smash their pillars, and cut down their sacred asherim).” [Irv Jacobs, MD]

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Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish History, Jewish Religion

Two S.D. Jewish community builders lauded

I had the honor on Wednesday night to be the speaker at the Beth Israel Men’s Club. My topic was the historic contributions of two Jewish San Diegans who had been members of Congregation Beth Israel: Marcus Schiller and Jacob Weinberger.  Both men were immigrants to this country from Europe, both had been active in the political life of San Diego, and both helped to form institutions that are prominent in our local Jewish community.

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

New Mexico’s Crypto-Jews subject of informative tour

When Jordi was just ten years old, his grandfather said, “This is how we butcher a chicken,” as he demonstrated the kosher slaughtering method. Jordi’s grandfather thereby revealed that the family was Jewish, a startling surprise for a young boy in the 1990s living in Spain, whose family was ostensibly Roman Catholic like everybody else. This revelation, that they were Crypto-Jews (secret Jews), had a profound effect on Jordi, who eventually became the first rabbi in 500 years to be ordained in Spain.

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International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Steve Kramer, Travel and Food, USA