The senior program at the Lawrence Family JCC is among the 26 programs receiving financial grants from the San Diego Seniors Community Foundation (SDSCF), it was announced Thursday, Nov. 18. [San Diego Seniors Community Foundation news release]
Lawrence Family JCC Senior Program Receives Chanukah Grant Read More »
Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, San Diego County
Torah Live’s graphics, animation and film level are highly professional and their team of men and women includes over thirty scriptwriters, animators, video editors, and sound and special effects artists. While the world was in lockdown, Torah Live kicked in big time. Since Covid over a million and a half videos have been viewed, and the website has been accessed by 168,000 active users. It has hundreds of thousands of viewers from around North America and the world, including in Moscow, Paris, London, Australia, and South Africa, and including 117 in San Diego, a number the Torah Live people hope will continue to grow. {Toby Klein Greenwald]
Gaming Site, ‘Torah Live,’ Enlivens Jewish Education Read More »
International, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Toby Klein Greenwald, USA
This week’s Torah reading has more passukim, 154 verses, than any other in Sefer Bereishis. There must be a good reason, and indeed, there are many lessons from which we can derive benefit inside the depth of these many verses. The parasha is bursting with scheming, compromise, desire, retaliation, hostility, birth, and death. [Michael Mantell, Ph.D]
Torah Reading for November 20, 2021 Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell
In this week’s Torah portion (Parshat Vyetse), Philo’s comments about Leah and Rachel’s relationship is striking. One can see that it is not merely brothers who fight with one another. The same also applies to sisters—especially when it is over the love of the same man! Although the Bible is full of tales regarding polygamy, one should not infer that the biblical writers endorsed this ancient Bedouin practice, which still occurs today. Quite the opposite—the ideal marriage is between one man and one woman. [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]
Philo and Maimonides Analyze the Relationship of Leah and Rachel Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi
After raising the flag and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, military veterans at Tifereth Israel Synagogue on Veterans Day, Thursday, Nov. 11, shared some of the happier stories about their time in the military or just afterwards. [Donald H. Harrison]
Jewish Veterans Swap Favorite Stories of Military Times Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food, USA
This literary Prophet’s entirely poetic passages are filled with moral castigation of the priestly class. They are set in c. 740 BCE in the Northern Kingdom. They follow well the literary rules of ancient Hebrew poetry. Scholars note that Hosea’s writings reflect traditions about the patriarchs, which diverge from those in Genesis. [1] As with other prophets, he likely is a composite figure. [Irv Jacobs, M.D.]
Haftorah Reading for November 13, 2021 Read More »
Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish Religion
By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — The biblical story of the flood during the days of Noah raises many questions, especially about divine punishments, and the answers help us to understand how to interpret biblical events. Some of the questions are: Why did divine punishments vary in delivery? Some examples are as
The Story of Noah and Divine Punishments Read More »
Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish ReligionBy Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. In this week’s parasha we learn about the psychology of living life well, that is, how to strengthen our character. This includes a) reinforcing our spirituality and b) intensifying our commitment to a strong work ethic, two areas of contemporary societal life that are clearly in need of improvement. וְאַתֵּנָה
Parashat Vayetzei: Strengthening Our Character Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell
By Rabbi Steven Burg (JNS) Many of us know the themes of the Hanukkah story: pride in being Jewish; the few against the many; the defeat of our enemy; and the rededication of the Jewish Temple. Or perhaps some have only learned of the miracle of the oil and how it burned continuously for eight
The Hanukkah Story that Jews Need to Learn Read More »
Jewish ReligionVirtually all, if not all that we are told about Isaac is obscure, as with Abraham and Jacob. The Torah leaves out explanations for behaviors, leaving it to us to imagine what occurred and to derive meaning from our own ideas. The following are some examples of opaque events. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
What Do We Know About Isaac, the Second Patriarch? Read More »
Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion
In a style reminiscent of Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs of Disney fame, this book, reissued for Hanukkah, features a series of unidimensional characters with Yiddish names: Noshy Boy, Kvetchy Boy, Shmutzy Girl, Klutzy Boy, Shluffy Girl, Shleppy Boy, Kibbitzy Girl, and Keppy Girl. [Donald H. Harrison]
Chanukah with Some Stereotypical Yiddish Characters Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion
Abe Goldberg’s mother, Bronia, and stepfather Harry Sajgeman died within three months of each other in the mid-1980s, but due perhaps to a communications error, most people at Tifereth Israel Synagogue were unaware that he and his wife, Bea, were sitting shiva, alone, at their home. Because the Goldbergs lacked the ten Jewish adults necessary to say kaddish during the seven-day mourning period, they were left feeling forlorn. [Donald H. Harrison]
A Grateful Synagogue Bids a Surprise Farewell to Constant Volunteers Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, San Diego County, USA
Seacrest Village Retirement Community dedicated a portable Aron Kodesh (Holy Ark) donated by Jeanne Gold in memory of her late husband Rabbi Aaron S. Gold at Kabbalat Shabbat services on Friday, Nov. 5. [Donald H. Harrison]
Portable Holy Ark Dedicated at Seacrest Village Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, USAThese combination poetry-prose passages from Malachai are from the ‘minor prophet’ Malachai. Malachai is not really a person’s name, but actually means ‘My messenger.’ The writer(s) of these words were post-exilic, 514 BCE, i.e. soon after the second Temple was built. They constitute nearly the last passages of the Tanakh’s Book of Prophets. [Irv Jacobs, M.D.]
Haftorah Reading for November 6, 2021 Read More »
Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish Religion