Jewish History

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Betty Friedan

In 1963, she wrote The Feminine Mystique, which described the “problem that has no name” at the beginning of the book: “The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many years in the minds of American women. It was a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning [that is, a longing] that women suffered in the middle of the 20th century in the United States. Each suburban [house]wife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries … she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question – ‘Is this all?’ ” [SDJW staff]

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Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

Our Shtetl San Diego County: Rose Schindler’s Hologram Addresses Students

In technology similar to that seen at such presidential museums as the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, the Schindler family has preserved the memory of the late Holocaust survivor Rose Schindler by creating a hologram of her that can answer questions from students or other audience members. [SDJW staff]

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Holocaust, Israel, Jewish History, Lawrence Baron, Middle East, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Shanda File, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Nathan Straus

He and his wife Lina Gutherz privately funded the Nathan Straus Pasteurized Milk Laboratory to combat infant mortality, and opened in Lakewood, New Jersey a Tuberculosis Preventorium for Children. During the Panic of 1893, his milk stations sold coal for the low price of 5 cents for 25 pounds. He opened homeless shelters for 64,000 people who paid a nickel each to get a bed and breakfast. He funded 50,000 meals for one cent each. At Abraham & Straus, he established a subsidized company cafeteria. [SDJW staff]

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Business & Finance, International, Israel, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

Jews and Palestinians, History and Memory

When I watched the unwatchable news on October 7, and then later doom scrolled through November and December and into 2024, inhaling episodes of rape and slaughter and captivity, but also excruciatingly moving scenes of incomplete family reunions, of young soldiers breaking down at funerals, and, of course, of women and children blown to bits in Gaza City and Khan Younis, a whispered prayer sometimes escaped my lips, “God, we don’t need any more stories.” [Rabbi Philip Graubart]

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Holocaust, Israel, Jewish History, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Commentary: White supremacy and Holocaust denial have deep roots in the Midwest

Published by Chicago Tribune In a recent interview on the CNN podcast “The Axe Files,” crime writer Sara Paretsky talked about the antisemitism she faced growing up in a Jewish family in Kansas in the 1950s — antisemitism that limited what neighborhoods she and her family were allowed to live in. Paretsky noted that Jews

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Antisemitism, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Nordot

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Saul Alinsky

He believed demonstrations should be novel and considered sit-ins to be passé.  He once threatened to ship a thousand rats to City Hall, which he described as a form of integration.  He had long lines of supporters exchanging their pennies for dollars at banks, and threatened to have a “piss in” at Chicago O’Hare Airport. [SDJW staff]

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Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

Former Shin Bet Interrogator Profiles Hamas Leader Yahya al-Sinwar in SDJW Interview

“They shouldn’t have sent him out of prison,” Koubi said. “I knew that he would make a lot of trouble. Sinwar had murderous eyes. He hates Israelis, Jews, and the ‘infidels’ — a very deep hating. He knew the Koran by heart and the charter of Hamas by heart. He told me even that they were planning to kidnap more Israeli soldiers. He was right unfortunately.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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California, Donald H. Harrison, Israel, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Ralph Lauren Willed Himself Into the Good Life

After he decided to market the ties on his own, executives at Bloomingdale’s wanted him to narrow the tie slightly and Lauren daringly refused. Although winning Bloomingdales’ account, in anyone else’s eyes, would have been a big victory, Lauren had larger ambitions to become himself a name brand. Lauren found other stores to sell the wide tie to, and as their popularity increased, Bloomingdale’s resistance correspondingly decreased. Whereas thin ties sold at the time for $5, Lauren’s ties commanded between $7.50 and $15. The more people paid for them, the more they valued them. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Antisemitism, Business & Finance, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Celebrities, Jewish History, Lifestyles, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Travel and Food, USA

Survivors remember the victims of the Nazi death camps at Auschwitz

Published by Euronews (English) A group of survivors of Nazi death camps have marked the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during World War II in a modest ceremony Saturday in southern Poland. About 20 survivors from various camps set up by Nazi Germany around Europe laid wreaths and flowers and lit

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Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Nordot

Satire: X Averts the Holocaust

Musk contends X’s free speech policy would have successfully undermined Hitler’s appeal. Of course, under that policy, Musk would have given free rein to Hitler to post on X as he has done for conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones. Maybe he’s right. Look how successful social media has been in curbing the support for Donald Trump! [Laurie Baron]

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Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Technology, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

Remembering the Holocaust on the Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau

As more time passes and we get further away from the Holocaust, we are finding fewer and fewer young people who have any real understanding of how it began and how it was allowed to grow into one of the darkest moments in human history.   [Darren Schwartz]

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Antisemitism, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Holocaust Included Numerous Pogroms Like That Committed by Hamas on Oct. 7th

During the Holocaust, there was not one but many instances of pogroms and mass murders like what occurred on Oct. 7th.  The Holocaust was much bigger, more systematized, and cumulatively far more horrible than the massacre perpetrated by Hamas. [Rabbi Dr. Bernhard H. Rosenberg]

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Antisemitism, Bernhard H. Rosenberg-Rabbi, Holocaust, International, Israel, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors