THESSALONIKI, Greece (WJC)– This city remembered its nearly 50,000 Jews sent to Nazi death camps during World War II. A memorial marking the 72nd anniversary of the roundup and deportation of Thessaloniki Jews was held Saturday, ahead of March 15th, the day when the first Jewish convoy left the city. Participants placed flowers on train tracks where
Greek city remembers Jews deported to Auschwitz Read More »
International, Jewish History
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—Some 20 years ago, Brian Schottlaender was serving as an associate librarian for collection services at UCLA, when Doug Greenberg invited him to visit a movie studio lot in Burbank. Greenberg took him to the trailers which then were housing the interviews that volunteers had videotaped with survivors of the
UCSD offers public access to Shoah archive Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & EducationEditor, San Diego Jewish World As we prepare for the annual Holocaust commemoration on April 19th, we are reaching out to ask for your help. We are searching for names of local Holocaust Survivors as well as those who have passed away in this last year. Although we work closely with the New Life Club,
Letter: Federation seeks to honor Shoah survivors Read More »
Jewish History, San Diego Calendar, San Diego CountyBy Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO –– Esther’s Children: A Portrait of Iranian Jews edited by Houman Sarshar, published by the Center for Iranian Oral Jewish History, 2005, is a large book which opens with a three page foldout of the timeline of significant events in Iranian-Jewish History. It is a history which begins in 539 BCE
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Jewish HistoryBy Rabbi Ben Kamin ENCINITAS, California — On June 21, 1964, David Goodman was a teenager living in his family’s Manhattan apartment. He noticed his mother pacing nervously: another of her sons, Andy, just 20 years old, was missing somewhere in Mississippi. David was anxious and frightened as well. It was the “Freedom Summer”—during which
Civil rights martyr’s brother seeks new coalitions Read More »
Jewish History, USA
SACRAMENTO (SDJW)–State Sen. Robert Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) delivered the daily invocation in the Senate chambers on Thursday, March 5, marking the holiday of Purim. Hertzberg summarized the story of Purim from the Book of Esther and had hamantaschen distributed to each of his 39 Senate colleagues. He also praised Sen. Marty Block (D-San Diego), chair of the
Purim invocation given in state Senate Read More »
Jewish History, USABy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — Raphael Lemkin is probably the most influential figure of the Twentieth Century not widely recognized by posterity. Born in 1900 in a Polish village located in the Russian Empire, he had witnessed pogroms when he was growing up. Originally studying linguistics, he eventually became a lawyer. In the 1920s
The Wandering Review: ‘Watchers of the Sky’ Read More »
Jewish History, Lawrence Baron
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—When Joseph Kanfer, the father of Purell hand sanitizers, focuses this week on Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speeches to AIPAC and to Congress, he will do so “because I think it is necessary for our very survival but my love is Jewish education.” Kanfer, whose GOJO manufacturing company is
Industry leader says Jews should speak up about Iran Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, USAIsland of Hope, Island of Tears: The Story of Those Who Entered the New World Through Ellis Island by David Brownstone, Irene M. Franck, Douglass Brownstone, (MetroBooks, 2004). By Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO–The word “immigrant” brings to mind a picture of a woman with a lined face, head covered by a babushka (scarf), holding a wide
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Jewish History, USA
By Donald H. Harrison LA JOLLA, California – How do you teach about the Holocaust to young people, whom, on the one hand we’d like to protect from learning how brutal the world can be, and whom, on the other hand, we know have to be prepared to live in a world where once again
Holocaust education for computer savvy kids Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Science, Medicine, & Education, USAThe Genius: Eliyahu of Vilna and the Making of Modern Judaism by Eliyahu Stern, Yale University Press, New Haven; ISBN 978-0-300-20592-3 ©2013, $27, p. 171, plus notes, bibliography, and index By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California — The eighteenth century rabbi Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman Kremer held the moniker “the Genius of Vilna,” or simply the “Vilna Gaon,” for
Yale scholar produces biography of Vilna Gaon Read More »
Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish History
LONDON (WJC) — The People’s Republic of China and the World Jewish Congress (WJC) will, for the first time, be hosting an event in Shanghai later this year to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Shanghai Ghetto and the end of World War II in China in September 1945. The event was
70th anniversary of Shanghai liberation rite planned Read More »
International, Jewish History
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (Press Release)– In 2015, Temple Sinai marks 145 years of serving the New Orleans community. The largest Jewish congregation in Louisiana invites the entire community to help celebrate its long history, as well as the congregation’s future, vibrancy and diversity. “Though we’re the first Reform congregation in Louisiana, we pride ourselves, both
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Jewish History, USABy Steve Kramer ALFE MENASHE, Israel — We recently enjoyed the new exhibit at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem, across from the Israel Museum. Entitled “By the Rivers of Babylon,” the exhibit displays: “original artifacts dating to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian Exile [586 BCE], including clay tablets [over 100 cuneiform tablets that
Tales of ancient Jewish exiles Read More »
Jewish History, Middle East, Steve Kramer