Jewish Religion

Study underway of S.D.’s South African Jews

The South African Jewish American Community, better known as SAJAC, has issued its annual magazine for 2020, reporting that San Diego State University Prof. David B. Cline is conducting oral history interviews with community members. The magazine’s writers also offer suggestions on coping with COVID19, and Alzheimer’s Disease, and additionally they profile young entrepreneurs, visual artists, and poets, among other articles. [Donald H. Harrison, “Our Shtetl San Diego County”

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish Religion, Lawrence Baron, Lifestyles, San Diego County

Let go and Let God

People are worried about jobs, rallies, protests and yes riots. The real question now: is it more important to open up the world than to live? Is it worth partying on the beach, drinking alcohol en masse at a bar or living for a future time? Young people are dying and many are killing their parents by bringing the virus in their homes. Wake up. It is your life. Do not take it for granted. And this advice applies to people of all faiths. [Rabbi Dr. Bernhard H. Rosenberg]

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Bernhard H. Rosenberg-Rabbi, Jewish Religion

High Holidays: Why Are We Here?

Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are truly portals to newness. I’ve heard “you never get a second chance to make a first impression,” but God gives us that very gift during these holidays. We have a completely fresh opportunity to be the people we want to be. The Talmud illustrates that free will only exists in the present. We are judged where we stand at any given moment. On Rosh Hashana, we can establish a radical new direction, regardless of previous transgressions. This opportunity to become new again isn’t just semantics. Our cells are continuously regenerating. We know change is possible because we have changed as a result of our deepest experiences, both triumphant and traumatic. [Sam Glaser]

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Jewish Religion, Sam Glaser

Three Jewish women in competitive local races

Three Jewish women are in highly competitive races for spots in Congress, Mayor of San Diego, and the County Board of Supervisors. Respectively, they are are Sara Jacobs (53rd Congressional District); City Councilwoman Barbara Bry (Mayor of San Diego), and Terra Lawson-Remer (3rd District County Board of Supervisors. Here’s a look at the recent news being made by them and their opponents, respectively Georgette Gomez, Todd Gloria, and Kristin Gaspar. [Donald H. Harrison, “Our Shtetl San Diego County”]

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Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel, z"l, Dorian de Wind, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA

A book filled with knowledge

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks is a world-wide respected religious leader, the former chief rabbi of the English Commonwealth, the author of more than thirty books, and the winner of numerous prizes. His new book Judaism’s Life-Changing Ideas,” with a Foreword ‘”The Secret of Our Staying Power” by Bari Weiss, the award-winning author and op-ed editor and writer of the New York Times, introduces readers to a life-changing Jewish idea from each of the more than fifty weekly biblical portions. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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

Covid19, Jewish divisions: somber prospects for 5781

We are about to celebrate the Jewish New Year, a Rosh Hashanah like no other. Synagogues across America and the world are adjusting their services to the Covid-19 restrictions limiting physical gatherings. Besides the loss of lives, individual members and entire congregations have been deeply affected by the pandemic’s economic blows, wreaking havoc in rippling waves, which have fueled anti-Semites to blame Jews for the creation and spread of the virus. A somber future looks like the most realistic scenario, but this can definitely be changed if only we will see our fate as a single, seamlessly-shared project. [Michael Laitman, Ph.D]

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Jewish Religion, Lifestyles

Gaining self-confidence in a synagogue’s embrace

We need to work together to make a better world, advancing the Jewish value of Tikkun Olam. It is through us and our allies advocating for marginalized communities that we can begin to reshape how people think about us. Disability has long been stigmatized and the fight to remove those stigmas has been an arduous journey. If we remember that all people no matter their disability, race, religion, or sexual orientation are capable of achieving anything, and that we are all made in the image of God, it should strengthen and motivate us to be better and to do better. [Joshua Steinberg, RespectAbility]

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Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, USA

Torah for Children: It’s Rosh Hashanah!

This weekend we will celebrate Rosh Hashana. This holiday, which starts on Friday evening, marks the beginning of the new Jewish year. One of the special things that happens on Rosh Hashana is the shofar is blown one hundred times. (This year, Rosh Hashana falls on Shabbat. The shofar is not usually blown on Shabbat.) The shofar calls to us: WAKE UP and work hard to make this year a better year than the last one. [Marcia Berneger]

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Jewish Religion, Marcia Berneger

We must not let the Holocaust be ‘old news’

“Old news” is perhaps the most dismissive way an editor can reject a suggestion from a reporter, or an outside contributor, about an issue that the media outlet should tackle. San Diego Jewish World promises never to consider the Holocaust “old news,” whatever form that news may come, be it in recollections of still-surviving Holocaust victims; the efforts of second and third generation survivors to measure the Holocaust’s impact on their lives and those of their children; the novelists and playwrights who retell Holocaust stories; or the efforts of some in the academic world to minimize or distort the Holocaust. [Donald H. Harrison, ‘Our Shtetl San Diego County’]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Rainbow – What Will We Take out of Our Arks?

I also took into the sealed room a siddur that had been my mother’s, and one of my father’s, 1941 U.S. Army issue, so I could tell them I prayed from their prayer books. I ended the column, “We took into our sealed rooms fears, and uncertainty, and prayers. We must now ask ourselves what we brought out.” [Toby Klein Greenwald]

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Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Toby Klein Greenwald, USA

A Word of Torah: Rosh Hashanah 5781

This week we are not only celebrating Shabbos, but we are also ushering in a New Year, 5781. Many of us are uttering a sigh of relief as we close the door on 5780. In Hebrew we write out 5780 as Tav Shin Pay, which some have read as Tihay Shnas Pandemic (It will be the year of pandemic). According to that reading we are entering Tav Shin Pay Alef – Tihay Shnas AIN Pandemic – It will be the year WITHOUT pandemic. [Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort]

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Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Yeruchem Eilfort-Rabbi

Preserving Holocaust memory in the future

For years I have been predicting that all the Holocaust education, the museums, the books and the testimonies will not save Holocaust memory. I remember saying this at a recent lecture I gave and a teacher challenged me telling me we had a great Holocaust commission. Yes I answered, I served on it for nine years, was one of its original founders,and served as one of the editors of the curriculum. [Rabbi Bernhard H. Rosenberg]

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Bernhard H. Rosenberg-Rabbi, Jewish History, Jewish Religion