Jewish History

Sutro Tunnel Tour Celebrates Jewish Entrepreneur’s Vision

For the first time in nearly two years Friends of Sutro Tunnel (Friends) will be opening the 28-acre Sutro Tunnel site to members of the public wishing to tour and get an up-close and personal look into one of Nevada’s most unique and historic mining sites. Tours will be offered throughout Sunday, Oct. 17,  between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. by ticketed admission.  All proceeds raised through the event will go directly toward work the Friends of Sutro Tunnel are doing to restore the Sutro Tunnel site. [Friends of Sutro Tunnel]

Sutro Tunnel Tour Celebrates Jewish Entrepreneur’s Vision Read More »

Jewish History, USA

Merkel honours Holocaust victims, vows German commitment to Israel

Published by Reuters By Rami Ayyub JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel stood on Sunday in Jerusalem with her head bowed over the buried ashes of Jews killed in Nazi death camps, and pledged Germany would preserve a post-Holocaust commitment to Israel’s security. Merkel, on her eighth and final visit to Israel as she

Merkel honours Holocaust victims, vows German commitment to Israel Read More »

International, Jewish History, Middle East

Remembering the Mass Murders of Jews 20 Years Before the Holocaust

A century ago, on 16 December 1920 a detailed report on the Pogroms in the Ukraine, a Memorandum on the Massacres of Jews in the Ukraine, was submitted to the League of Nations (now The United Nations) detailing the massacre of Jews in more than 400 pogroms. The memorandum was submitted by The Committee of Jewish Delegations, representing the Jewish populations of 22 countries, appealing to the League of Nations to obtain justice for the most terrible crimes that history had, until that time, ever witnessed,

Remembering the Mass Murders of Jews 20 Years Before the Holocaust Read More »

International, Jewish History, Middle East, USA

Family of Slain Lori Gilbert Kaye Speaks Out As Chabad of Poway Shooter is Sentenced

Before the expected sentence was handed down, family members of the murdered victim looked directly at the confessed shooter on Thursday, Sept. 30, and poured out their hearts. “What has your racist, entitled rage offered you in the end?” demanded Hannah Kaye of the defendant who had acknowledged murdering her mother, Lori Gilbert Kaye, 60, in the lobby of Chabad of Poway on April 27, 2019, the last day of Passover. [Donald H. Harrison]

Family of Slain Lori Gilbert Kaye Speaks Out As Chabad of Poway Shooter is Sentenced Read More »

Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego County

Refugee from Hitler Promoted Zionism in Britain and U.S.

This memoir combines journal entries of Zionist fundraiser Irma Ehrlich with the research and narrative of her granddaughter, Catherine Ehrlich, to tell the story of a strong-willed woman who migrated to England, and later the United States, with her son, Paul, from Vienna, following the Anschluss that merged Nazi Germany and Austria. [Donald H. Harrison]

Refugee from Hitler Promoted Zionism in Britain and U.S. Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, USA

Jewish Infighting Contributed to Fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE

Intrigue, maneuvering, scheming, plotting, and murder highlight the years from Herod’s reign to the Jewish rebellion against Rome, beginning in 66. Herod, the Great, acting more like the King of the Jews than a Jewish king, ascended to the throne in 37 BCE. His rule lasted forty-one years. [Fred Reiss, Ed.D]

Jewish Infighting Contributed to Fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE Read More »

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

ADL, L’Oreal Partner in Holocaust Education Program

In response to the rise of antisemitism and other forms of discrimination in the United States, ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) and L’Oréal USA are partnering on an education initiative designed to raise awareness and promote understanding about the Holocaust among thousands of students in American classrooms. [ADL News Release]

ADL, L’Oreal Partner in Holocaust Education Program Read More »

International, Jewish History, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Jewish Tales of the Old West: A Butcher on the Comstock

During the 1870’s, the population of Nevada’s legendary Comstock Lode, then at the height of mining fever, surged to nearly 25,000. In the canyons and down the slopes, housing was scarce, the noise was unceasing, the air nearly unbreathable and the violence endemic.1 Between them, the towns of Virginia City and Gold Hill were a crowded jumble of miners’ cabins, stamp mills, luxury mansions, hotels, restaurants, saloons, stores and stables, all built over an underground city of mining tunnels, adits and shafts. These underground works ultimately produced over 300 million dollars’ worth of precious ore that built the city of San Francisco and made fabulous fortunes for the fortunate. Among this crowd of fortune-seekers lived a Jewish community of about 500, and one of its most influential members was a butcher from Germany named Mark Strouse (1845-1898). [Susan E. James, Ph.D]

Jewish Tales of the Old West: A Butcher on the Comstock Read More »

Business & Finance, Jewish History, Travel and Food, USA

‘Squirrel Hill’ Portrays Pittsburgh Community Where Tree of Life Massacre Occurred

This journalistic tour-de-force tells the story of October 27, 2018, the day an antisemitic gunman snuffed the lives of 11 congregants at the three small congregations that occupied the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is not simply a depiction of the carnage, but also a portrait of the community in which it happened.  Author Oppenheimer, a former religion columnist for The New York Times, methodically tells us the stories of the victims, including those who barely escaped with their lives, and of the diverse reactions in the community to the shooting.  There were those who organized vigils; those who protested a photo-op visit to the synagogue by then President Donald Trump with his wife, Melania, daughter, Ivanka, and son-in-law Jared Kushner.  Additionally, there were trauma tourists, compelled perhaps like moths to a flame, who wanted to see the site.  There were also presumptuous would-be helpers, who felt they knew better than Squirrel Hill’s residents how the victims should be mourned.   And there were fundraisers, who through various appeals including a Go-Fund-Me effort, raised millions of dollars for the families of the victims and for the congregations themselves. [Donald H. Harrison]

‘Squirrel Hill’ Portrays Pittsburgh Community Where Tree of Life Massacre Occurred Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Travel and Food, USA

Birds of a Feather

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Under the title “Early Birds: Soaring with the Ancients,” the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem has put together an exhibition of archaeological items from the Land of Israel and the Ancient Near East depicting birds of various kinds. Upon entering the exhibition area and before inspecting even one

Birds of a Feather Read More »

Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish History, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education