Jewish History

Purim is Practiced Today Differently Than the Biblical Requirement

By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — The current practice is that Purim is celebrated as a one-day holiday. Cities that were walled at the time of Joshua’s conquest of Israel – most notably Jerusalem – celebrate Purim on Adar 15, as a commemoration of the end of hostilities in the walled city […]

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

Camp Leader at Auschwitz Details How She Helped Other Jewish Prisoners

If you hear of a Jew appointed to a position of authority at one of the Nazi concentration camps, what word comes immediately to mind? Is it “collaborator?” In “The Nazis Knew My Name,” the late Magda Hellinger tells of her experience being appointed first as a block leader and later as a camp leader by the Nazis during her three year incarceration in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp complex.  She relates that it was never her choice to be a block or camp leader, and that had she refused, she most likely would have been severely disciplined or sent to the gas chambers.  As a leader, she was expected to keep order in the block, and later in a full camp, or else.  [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History

There’s More Than One Kind of Mikvah for Conversion Ceremonies

However, there are other ways that the process of conversion can be completed, much closer to home, as Dr. Mark Scheller, an anesthesiologist, learned in 2015 when he waded from the shore of Chula Vista’s Bayside Park into the cold waters of San Diego Bay. [Donald H. Harrison]

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California, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA

Cantor’s Archive Led to Book on Philippine Rescue of European Jews

Enthralled by the stories Cysner told, Harris immediately asked the UC Santa Barbara History Department if she could change her dissertation subject so that it could be based upon Cysner’s experiences, both in Poland, where he was a prisoner of the Nazis, and in the Philippines, where he later became a prisoner of the Japanese. The department agreed, even though this meant changing Harris’ academic advisor and the schedule of courses to which she would commute from her home in San Diego. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, California, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food

Schlepping and Schmoozing Along the Interstate 5: Chapter 9

Even with the major portion of the old saltworks being repurposed, one still can see how salt is processed from sea water. A three-step process occurs within shallow ponds with levees around them. In the first pond, seawater evaporates to the point that it becomes brine. That is moved to a second shallow pond for further evaporation, and finally into a third pond where the salt crystallizes. From here the salt is dredged out of the pond and made into salt mounds, which quickly crust over, protecting the salt inside the mounds. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego County, Travel and Food

Children’s Literature: ‘Matzah Means So Many Things’

The book starts with how our senses perceive matzah. What are its ingredients?  What does it look like?  What color is it?  What is its texture? How does it sound when it is being boiled in matzoh ball soup?  How does it smell when its being baked into an apple matzah kugel?  What kind of yummy foods can you spread on it? [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History

OpEd: Whoopi Goldberg’s Mistake Wasn’t So Terrible

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Whoopi Goldberg was wrong but as far as I’m concerned, the folks at ABC and The View were too harsh when they suspended her for two weeks. Let me explain. In a discussion of the Holocaust on The View television show, Goldberg commented that the Holocaust wasn’t racist

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Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Opinion, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Book Provides More Complete Picture of Concentration Camp Life

“Never Forget Your Name: The Children of Auschwitz,” by Alwin Meyer; English version Polity Press (c) 2022; ISBN 13:978-1-5095-4550-6; 496 pages. By Sandra Scheller CHULA VISTA, California — In 1971, 21-year-old Alwin Meyer made his first trip to the Auschwitz concentration camp, not as a relative of a survivor but as a German observer. He

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Sandra Scheller

Murder and Approaching Death Fill a Tale of Hoffman

Author Wayne Hoffman regales us with two concurrent non-fiction stories. His search to learn the identity of the person who murdered his great-grandmother as she lay sleeping in her bed, with an infant child at her side, occurred at the same time that his mother, Susan, was having increasing problems with her memory as Alzheimer’s progressively took a worsening toll. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History