Jewish Religion

Two children’s books for Jewish holidays

Bitter and Sweet by Sandra V. Feder, illustrations by Krysten Brooker, Groundwood Books, (c) 2018, ISBN 9781554-989959; 30 pages, $17.95. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Author Sandra Feder notes that Judaism acknowledges a duality in life: with the bitter often will come the sweet, and vice versa.  “Sweet wine or grape juice is

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion

Sisters are leaders in Auckland Jewish community

Editor’s Note: This is the 22nd in a series of stories researched during Don and Nancy Harrison’s 50th Wedding Anniversary cruise from Sydney, Australia, to San Diego.  Previous installments of the series, which runs every Thursday, may be found by tapping the number of the installment:   1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion

Editor’s E-Mail Box: August 1, 2018 (5 items)

Congress adopts budget including funds for Israel’s defense   The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has commended the U.S. Congress for including important pro-Israel provisions in the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019. These critical provisions will help protect Israel against mounting security threats. The bipartisan measure

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International, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Editor’s E-Mail Box: July 31, 2018 (4 items)

Senators introduce legislation to discourage the use of human shields The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) wants supporters to urge their senators to join the list of cosponsors of a bill that would place sanctions on foreign persons who utilize human shields during the course of terror operations. While the legislation would apply universally,

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Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA

Prague’s Alte-Neue Synagogue has memorable history

By Garry Fabian PRAGUE, Czech Republic  –Next to my own 147-year-old St. Kilda Hebrew Congregation in Melbourne, Australia, the synagogue to which I am most attached is the Alt Neue Shule here in Prague.  It is nearly 900 years old, My family  arrived in Prague in September 1938 after that part of Czechoslovakia called Sudentland

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International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Travel and Food

Jewish trivia quiz: Marriage in Israel

By Mark D. Zimmerman MELVILLE, New York — Protests are erupting in Israel and throughout the Jewish world as a result of the detention of a Conservative rabbi in Haifa by Israeli police, in response to a rabbinical court order. The Haifa Rabbinic Court charged the rabbi with “marrying those who are not eligible to be

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Jewish Religion, Mark D. Zimmerman, Middle East, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Editor’s E-Mail Box: July 20, 2018 (5 items)

Anger over arrest of Conservative rabbi for officiating at a non-Orthodox wedding On the very morning of the day he was to drive to Jerusalem to participate at the President’s residence on a panel on Jewish diversity and unity, Conservative Rabbi Dov “Dubi” Haiyun was awakened by police in Haifa to be questioned about officiating

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International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Netanyahu campaigns for reelection by going hard right

By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — There’s no date for the next general election in Israel but the prime minister is already campaigning at full speed. Three most current instances come to mind, 1. He has promoted legislation, just passed, that will prove that he and his party are the only authentic custodians of the Zionist

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International, Jewish Religion, Middle East

Suicide’s memoir indicts the Gur sect of Hassidim

Doing His Will (Osah Kirtzono) by Esti Weinstein, published in Hebrew by Kinneret, Zmora-Bitan, Dvir, 2016. By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson  JERUSALEM –The poor woman who wrote this book (and eventually committed suicide) was born into a specific sect, tantamount to a cult, of ultra-Orthodox Judaism known as the Gur Hassidim As a child and teenager the author

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish Religion, Middle East

‘Just Kidding:’ Trump wants Tisha B’Av to be ‘fun again’

By Joel H. Cohen NEW YORK — Perplexed and more than a little peeved, President Trump was on a tear about the responses he’d been receiving from rabbis and other Jewish leaders he’d invited to a gala White House event the coming weekend of July 21-22. “Almost every RSVP for the kosher extravaganza has been along

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