Laurie Baron, Ph.D, collates a list of lectures that will be streaming from Sunday, July 26 through July 30. All times are San Diego times.
Streaming Jewish Lectures July 26-30 Read More »
Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Lawrence Baron, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
A new security approach is needed to protect holy places. Even before the COVID-19 epidemic and the lockdown that impacted businesses and organizations, especially churches, synagogues, mosques and temples, attacks on holy places were increasing. Now almost every day another religious site is invaded, trashed, burned or rabbis, priests, ministers, pastors and monks are assaulted, and in one case a Buddhist monk was killed praying in his temple by a gunshot in High Point, North Carolina. (Stephen D. Bryen, Ph.D)
A security proposal for holy places Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish Religion, Stephen D. Bryen, USA
Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel, the author of ten books, has made a fascinating, enlightening, and much needed contribution to our understanding of the Coronavirus pandemic and Jewish and other views on the subject in his book God and the Pandemic. He gives readers a thorough very readable analysis of the many pandemics, earthquakes, plagues, and other occurrences that killed many people. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
Book Review: ‘God and the Pandemic’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi
With grief comes loss and with loss comes change. We have all experienced some form of loss: the death of a friend or loved one; divorce; illness of self or others; or an endless list of personal setbacks. Loss is a very real part of life for everyone at one time or another. [Rabbi Dr. Bernhard H. Rosenberg]
A rabbinical guide to the stages of grief Read More »
Bernhard H. Rosenberg-Rabbi, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles
or 21 years, Rabbi Chaim Hollander has served as spiritual leader of Young Israel of San Diego (YISD), a small Orthodox congregation located across Navajo Road from the popular Cowles Mountain trail head. Hollander came to San Diego to teach at Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School (SSDHDS), one of the schools that incoming Rabbi Eddie Rosenberg attended as a child. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
As Rabbi Hollander retires, Rabbi Rosenberg ready to step in Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County
“Do not fear them, for it is the Eternal your God who is fighting for you” (Deuteronomy 3:22). What a buoyant, assuring, and optimistic message of hope. That’s what this week’s parasha offers to us. The surety that, after we’ve done all we can, we can confidently let go and move forward with faith and trust in Hashem. As Rabbi Tarfon taught in Pirke Avot (2:16), “It is not your responsibility to finish the work of perfecting the world, but you are not free to desist from it either.” [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]
Teach these stories to your children Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell
Just like the Jews in Germany before World War II tried to convince the Nazis that they were good Germans but to no avail, Jews today are trying to convince the world that we are good people. They say that Jews donate to charity more than any other nation or faith, that they contribute to high-tech innovations that advance the world far above their proportion in the world, that Jews have given the world many great physicians, thinkers, artists, and entrepreneurs, and that they are ardent human rights activists. But the world largely responds with contempt. It may be ironic, but it seems very natural for anti-racism protesters to yell “Dirty Jews” at counter-protesters, as The Jerusalem Post reported on June 15. In other words, many people don’t even relate to anti-Semitism as a type of racism. [Michael Laitman, Ph.D]
Lack of Jewish unity spurs anti-Semitism Read More »
International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East
As the president of the Academy of the Hebrew Language since 1993, Prof. Moshe Bar-Asher has many friends and former students around the world. For example, he recently recalled in his courtly English, he once had the pleasure of teaching Mira Balberg, who is now a professor in UC San Diego’s Jewish Studies Department. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
Museum of the Hebrew Language planned in Jerusalem Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA
The title of Joshua Hammerman’s book Embracing Auschwitz is incredulous. How can a rabbi, a pulpit rabbi charged with comforting his congregation, in light of the continental genocide and devastation inflicted on so many families, known as the Holocaust, and understanding the Jewish nation has a God-given obligation to obliterate the Amalekites, the biblical archetype of evil, ask us to accept and welcome this malevolence? The conundrum is resolved before one begins to read a single chapter. Hammerman, stressing there is nothing positive about the Holocaust, invokes his interpretation of the word “embrace” by quoting Abraham Joshua Heschel: “There are three ways we respond to sorrow. On the first level, we cry; on the second level, we are silent; on the highest level, we take sorrow and turn it into song.” [Fred Reiss, Ed.D]
The philosophical, religious lessons of Auschwitz Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish History, Jewish Religion
This week I have two peaceful books to recommend. While the topics are different, the text in each will have a calming effect, providing both reader and listener with a quiet oasis away from daily stress. [Marcia Berneger]
Two peaceful books for Jewish children Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Marcia Berneger, The World We Share
Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort of Chabad of La Costa, who is among the longest-serving Chabad rabbis in San Diego County, on Sunday described the revelations of the tax fraud crimes of Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein of Chabad of Poway as “deeply shocking and profoundly hurtful.” [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
Eilfort: ‘Deep sense of betrayal’ over Goldstein’s tax fraud Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Yeruchem Eilfort-Rabbi
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered most private and public schools in the state, including those in San Diego County, to offer only distance learning rather than in-person classroom instruction. His order came in response to spiking rates of coronavirus infection in California. The exceptions were schools in counties where the incidents of the virus are very low. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
Gov. Newsom’s order negates Hebrew Day’s plans for in-person learning Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education
There is no doubt that sometimes the best approach is a ‘bend but do not break’ attitude. There are also times, however, when we must remain rigidly opposed and refuse to compromise our morals. Sometimes, as Jews, we must proactively reject the evil that we see. Often this will be an unpopular position. Nonetheless, we must rigidly and stubbornly reject evil, even popular evil. [Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort]
A Word of Torah: Flexibility and rigidity Read More »
Jewish Religion, Yeruchem Eilfort-Rabbi
The doctrine of Torah Min Ha-Shamayim, “The Torah is from Heaven,” is a fundamental teaching of Orthodox Judaism. Rabbis say it means that God dictated the Five Books of Moses to Moses. But even rabbis who strongly defend this doctrine do not know how God communicated the Torah to Moses or how much of it. For example, there are Orthodox rabbis who agree that Moses was the author of the book of Deuteronomy, or most of it, and God approved what he wrote. More significantly, Maimonides states that we have no idea how the Torah was revealed. A modern rabbi and scholar Louis Jacobs argues that he knows how it was revealed. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
Debating Divine Revelation Read More »
Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion