ROME (WJC) Pope Francis on Sunday paid his first visit to a synagogue as Catholic pontiff, greeting Rome’s Jewish community in a show of interfaith friendship. Rome’s Great Synagogue is home of the oldest Jewish community in the Diaspora. The pope joined a standing ovation of the congregation when Holocaust survivors wearing striped scarves reminiscent […]
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International, Jewish HistoryBy Joe Spier CALGARY, Alberta, Canada — In the Spring of 1991, my wife and I, touring Israel, together with a small group of Calgarians, found ourselves in a caravan camp on the outskirts of Mazkeret Batya, our sister city. There we encountered the most remarkable sight; Jews who before their very recent arrival in Israel
The amazing saga of Operation Solomon Read More »
International, Jewish History, Middle East
By Michael Freund PALERMO, Italy — Something extraordinary is happening in Palermo, the capital of Sicily. More than five centuries after the forced conversion to Catholicism of large numbers of Sicilian Jews, followed by the expulsion of the rest, a nascent rebirth is well underway, as growing numbers of Sicily’s Bnei Anousim (whom historians refer
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International, Jewish History
Karen Levine, Hana’s Suitcase: The Quest to Solve a Holocaust Mystery; © 20r Te02, 2012; Random House Children’s Books; ISBN 978-1-101-93349-7; 135 pages, $9.99. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Perhaps because I’m in the process of researching a local biography, I’m all the more impressed by the resourcefulness and stick-to-it-iveness of Fumiko Ishioka,
Biographers can be inspired by Fumiko Ishioka Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish HistoryLA JOLLA, California (SDJW) — The Holocaust Living History Workshop at UCSD has scheduled 5 p.m. presentations by survivor Max Garcia and refugee Moselio Schaechter in the Seuss Room of the Geisel Library respectively on January 13 and Feb. 10. Susanne Hillman, project manager, provided these sketches of the upcoming presentations: Think Only of Today:
Workshops on Holocaust set at UCSD Read More »
International, Jewish History, San Diego CalendarBy Joe Spier CALGARY, Alberta, Canada — The Yom Kippur war of 1973 was an Israeli military success to the extent that when the cease fire came into effect the Syrian invading army had been pushed back behind the 1967 armistice line and though Egyptian forces had established a beachhead on the Israeli held side of
Ashraf Marwan: Master spy for Israel or Egypt? Read More »
Jewish History, Middle East
The Jewish Farming Settlement of Clarion, Utah: The Possible, Impossible dream (Editor’s Note: The following historical article is reprinted with permission from the Winter 2016 edition of Western States Jewish Quarterly.) By Jerry Klinger CLARION, Utah — European anti-Semitism had not improved by the latter half of the 19th century. If anything it became more vicious. “What
‘There’s a Jewish story every where’: Clarion, Utah Read More »
Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Travel and Food, USA
Love in a World of Sorrow by Fanya Gottesfeld Heller, Gefen Publishing House © 2015, ISBN 9780965-229-839-3l 252 pages. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO –There are many authors like Fanya Gottesfeld Heller who tell their survival stories from the Holocaust at school assemblies and other forums. In San Diego County, the names of Gussie
Did Holocaust survivor love or just use her protector? Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish HistoryBy Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO — Most families have some cousins they would rather not think about. Our Crowd: The Great Jewish Families of New York, by Stephen Birmingham (Syracuse University Press, 1996) and Poor Cousins by Ande Manners (Putnam Publishers Group, 1972) relate the stories of the powerful Jewish families of New York and
That ‘Other’ Part of the Family Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, USA
By Vera Meyer MALDEN, Massachusetts — I became interested in German Jewish history and culture because these are my roots, this is my heritage. Both my parents came from Germany. Both their families were deeply assimilated into German culture; that is to say, they were proud to be Germans first and Jews second. The spirit
FB group explores German- Jewish identity Read More »
International, Jewish History
-36th in a Series — Exit 11: Lake Murray/ 70th Street, San Diego ~ San Diego Institute for Sexual Medicine By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—One might wonder what led to Dr. Irwin Goldstein becoming the head of what is believed to be the first, and perhaps only, hospital-accredited sexual medicine practice in the United States.
I-8 Jewish Travel: A pioneer in sexual medicine Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food
Scattered Among the Nations by Bryan Schwartz, Joy Sand and Sandy Carter; Weldon Owen publisher, Visual Anthropology Press, 251 pages, cover price $60. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO –I’m going to rearrange the sequence of Bryan Schwartz’s narrative and photography book so that we can always travel toward the east, almost around the world,
Yes, Rebecca, Jews live there too! Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Jewish ReligionPlan dropped to honor Hungarian anti-Semite BUDAPEST. Hungary (WJC) — Following an international outcry, plans in Hungary to erect a statue in honor of the late Bálint Homan, who drafted anti-Jewish laws prior and during World War II, were finally withdrawn. The City Council of Székesfehérvár voted against the proposal of the private Bálint Homan Foundation to
Never Again: Holocaust news for December 21, 2015 Read More »
International, Jewish HistoryUnlikely Soldier: A Jewish Soldier in Hitler’s Army by Georg Rauch, Publisher: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2006, 2015 By Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO — As a nineteen year old male living in Vienna during World War II, there was no way Georg Rauch could escape being conscripted into the Nazi military machine. At first he thought
From the Jewish Library: ‘Unlikely Soldier’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History