Jewish Religion

How scattered Jewish people kept a religion intact

For nearly two millennia, the Jewish people dispersed throughout the world—lacking a homeland, temple, Sanhedrin, and king—enduring many strange cultures, conducting their lives under control of foreign governments and alien cultures as slaves, outsiders, and self-rulers, did not abandon their God, their religion, or their dreams. Blondheim and Rosenberg are the editors of Communication in the Diaspora, a compendium of eleven essays, describing little-explored pieces of a puzzle explaining how Jews maintain a shared and cohesive identity. [Fred Reiss, Ed.D]

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Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish History, Jewish Religion

Germany’s newest Jewish museum closes after only 11 days

Frankfurt’s new Jewish Museum has been forced to close just 11 days after opening its doors due to government restrictions to stem a second wave of coronavirus infections across Germany and Europe.By Thursday evening, around 4,500 visitors had already taken the opportunity to visit the museum, a restored, expanded and redesigned version of a previous

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International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Travel and Food, USA

A Word of Torah: Go for You

We started reading the Torah for the new cycle on Simchat Torah. The first portion, Genesis had some sobering sections, including the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden among others. Last week we read Noah, that likewise had a difficult message for all of us, as we recounted the destruction of humanity and the animal kingdom, save for Noah and his family in the Ark. Finally, we come to our portion, Lech Licha, a portion that concerns itself with the Father and Mother of the Jewish people, Abraham and Sarah. The Rebbe comments that this makes this portion particularly joyful! [Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort]

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Jewish Religion, Yeruchem Eilfort-Rabbi

Jewish connections to Halloween?

With the coming of Halloween, San Diego Jewish World introduces a new feature — a three-part video reporting series by my daughter, Sandi Masori, who has been after me for years to utilize originally produced video.  “Fine,” said I, “you do it!”  And so she did. In this series, which can be viewed above and will continue tomorrow, and Halloween night, Sandi interviews Rabbi Scott Meltzer of Ohr Shalom Synagogue in San Diego about some of the parallels between Halloween and Jewish mythology.  They discuss the stories of golems — human-like creatures created by great rabbis  — intended to protect their communities, and how golem stories were background to Mary Shelley’s famous tale about Frankenstein’s monster. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Sandi Masori, USA

Campa-Najjar tells stands on Mideast Peace, BDS

Congressional candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar, reacting to an unfavorable story carried about him by the Breitbard news organization, reiterated on Wednesday his support for a peaceful two-state solution for the Israelis and Palestinians, and his opposition to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Like Abraham, let Hashem be your guide

In this, the third parasha of this year, Hashem speaks to Avraham for the very first time, “Go forth from your land and from your birthplace and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you.” What a way to greet someone for the first time. Go! So, what’s this teaching us? Let’s learn…

The word, “lecha” is seemingly redundant. Commentators suggest various meanings of this word, from “Go to yourself,” “Go for yourself,” and “Go by yourself.” [Michael Mantell, Ph.D]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

The Election from Jewish Perspectives

Often politics is eschewed by rabbis because by its very nature it polarizes us. We often lose sight of the humanity of others, believing that “everyone’s entitled to MY opinion” or failing to believe that someone with diametrically opposed views is just as caring and compassionate a person as we are. Personally, I have experienced this on multiple fronts: in rabbinical school, where I was more conservative than the majority of my peers and in a previous synagogue where some felt I was a “bleeding heart liberal.” I take it in good stride, believing that if I displeasing people on multiple sides, I’m doing my job. [Rabbi Benjamin Herman]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA

Negligence of the Trump administration

When President Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows bluntly said “We’re not going to control the pandemic” it solidified the negligence of the Trump administration. There have been over 80,000 Americans infected and 1,000 deaths per day over the weekend from Covid and over 225,000 deaths since the pandemic began. We know Judaism’s primary value is pikuah nefesh, safeguarding life. To know measures which work to curb Covid, such as masking and social distancing, and deliberately not advocate, worse make fun of, people who wear them is negligence of the first degree. We know there are measures that can slow the spread yet the President’s chief of staff wants no part in them. [Rabbi Benjamin Herman]

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Jewish Religion, USA

Examining Jesus as a human

According to James is an interesting and thoughtful book. Whether readers are Christians, Jews, Muslims, or something else, and even if they strongly disagree with the story Howard Rubenstein tells about James, an older brother of Jesus, they will find that the story prompts them to think about many aspects of religion. The story is fiction. But it is based on the views of many scholars. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion