Jewish Religion

Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein pleads guilty to tax fraud

Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, former spiritual leader of Chabad of Poway, who was welcomed at the White House after he was wounded in an April 27, 2019 attack on his synagogue by a gunman, had meanwhile been under investigation by the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation on charges of tax fraud, to which he pleaded guilty on Tuesday in federal court.  U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer said he planned to recommend probation for Goldstein because he has helped his office obtain the convictions of five other co-defendants and is cooperating in numerous cases that are still pending. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Beth Jacob issues rules for outdoor davening

– Beth Jacob Congregation responded quickly to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order on Monday, once again closing down indoor places of worship in response to the spiking coronavirus pandemic. The governor’s order also included fitness centers, offices for “non-critical sectors,” personal care services, malls and  hair salons and barbershops. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, USA

Satire: Trumping the virus, the court, and Tisha B’Av

To characterize President Trump’s creative ideas as mind-blowing or mind-numbing would be classic understatement. So many of his ideas are so very brilliant, they’re almost blinding. Take the recent example, when he said there would be very few cases of the coronavirus if the United States stopped its testing and contact-tracing. So, taken to its logical extreme, if you don’t test, there are no cases of the virus, no victims..and, ultimately no need for a vaccine or even protective gear. [Satire by Joel H. Cohen]

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Jewish Religion, Joel H. Cohen, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

Jews must remain a special, chosen people

To me, the Holocaust is much more than a tragic event in Jewish and World history. To me, it was a wake-up call. In the pre-Holocaust era, European Jewry was rapidly looking to assimilate. Jews were holding some of the most prestigious positions in society, ranging from doctors to musicians to professors and even politicians, some Jews were so wrapped up in their social ranks that they did not even identify with their Judaism anymore. It’s said that the Jewish Germans were Germans first then Jews. They were more loyal to their country than their G-d. [Rabbi Dr. Bernhard H. Rosenberg]

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

Congresswoman Davis protests ICE’s plan for foreign students

President Donald J. Trump’s policies toward foreign students are “extreme,” “unnecessary,” and “cruel,” said Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) in leading 136 members of Congress to urge the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to rescind a decision to deport foreign students who during the coronavirus pandemic take courses on-line rather than in person. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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

Judges in Book of Judges did not judge

Rabbi Michael Hattin’s new 207-page book  Judges has 19 chapters, two less than the biblical Book of Judges. Judges is part of a series of Maggid Books, a division of Koren Publishers Jerusalem, that uses an interdisciplinary approach incorporating traditional rabbinic interpretations with scholarly literary techniques to explore the characters, themes, and text of the Hebrew Bible. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion

A Word of Torah: Strong women of Judaism

This week when thinking about these catastrophes I couldn’t help but think about the triumph of one particular segment of the Jewish people; Jewish women. The major failures that come to mind include the story of the Golden Calf, the Spies, the Rebellion of Korach and his cohorts, and consorting with the Midianites. The lack of participation by the Jewish women is in stark contrast to their Jewish brethren. [Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort]

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Jewish Religion, Yeruchem Eilfort-Rabbi

Why the great Talmudists valued contrary opinions

The Talmud has always been a champion of free speech. It is a unique document of human history where rabbis engage philosophers, wise women, emperors, Roman centurions, and a host of other people as they debate the meaning of life and the message of Judaism. Rabbinical discourse is dialectical. It presents a no-hold-bars approach to virtually any topic, from war and peace to the laws governing sexual relations. But be forewarned: the Talmud is not for the faint of heart. [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]

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International, Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, USA

Torah for children: Pinchas

This week’s Torah Parasha, Pinchas, is all about family. We’ll start with a quick history lesson. In the first book of the Torah, we’re introduced to the families of several important people: 1) Abraham and his wife, Sarah, 2) their son, Isaac, who marries Rebecca, and 3) Isaac’s son Jacob. Jacob marries two women, which was okay back then, and winds up with twelve sons (and a daughter). It is the families of those twelve sons who appear, many years later, in this week’s reading. God is about to divide up the land among these different families. Moses is told to make a list of the different members of each family. This is such an important idea, that this entire parasha is mainly a listing of those names. (Marcia Berneger)

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Jewish Religion, Marcia Berneger

Moses knew how to relinquish leadership

There’s a Jewish maxim, “Every generation receives the leader it deserves.” Parasha Pinchas seems to provide a foundation for this old adage. The parasha distinguishes between the leadership of Moses, who in today’s language would be described as a wise, dauntless, self-aware, “we” not “me,” conscious leader, and Joshua, of whom the Talmud, in Baba Batra 75A, says, “The Elders of that generation said: The countenance of Moses was like that of the sun; the countenance of Joshua like that of the moon. Alas, for such shame!” [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

Deuteronomy, midrashim, and current police practices

In one of its first San Diego presentations, Avodah held a webinar on Tuesday, July 7, on the issue of police accountability. Rabbi Aryeh Bernstein, director of the Justice Fellowship in Avodah’s Chicago offices, began by quoting Deuteronomy 16:18-20: [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Business & Finance, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Middle East, San Diego County, USA