Jewish Religion Archives - Page 161 of 289

Sonduck warns against divisions in Jewish community

June 10, 2018

By Donald H. Harrison LA JOLLA, California – Michael Sonduck, soon to retire as chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County, on Sunday, June 10, urged a roomful of well-wishers representing boards, staffs, and financial supporters of some 120 local Jewish organizations in the county, to look beyond their individual organizations […]

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Jewish History, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, USA

Israel and the vanishing American Jews

June 6, 2018

By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — Elliott Abrams, who has had a distinguished career in the United States and still serves on its Council of Foreign Relations, lectured in Jerusalem on Tuesday. His subject was the current relationship between the State of Israel and American Jewry. What follows isn’t a report of what he said

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Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA

Fix it! say American Jews; like Israelis, they differ how

June 3, 2018

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — It’s good that American Jews still concern themselves with Israel. One can hope for better information among them, and more sanity at the extremes. Being Jews, however, those are probably hopes to be frustrated. The range of what we hear isn’t all that different from what Israelis express. Likewise, the

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Ira Sharkansky, Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA

‘Just Kidding:’ ‘Queen of Shiva’ helps mourners

May 30, 2018

By Joel H. Cohen NEW YORK — A company has been formed to help Jewish mourners properly observe the requirements of their first-week mourning period. Called Queen of Shiva, the firm offers to handle some of the details of observance required of those who have suffered the loss of a loved one. The firm’s founder, who asked

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

June 1 Farhud Day recalls Nazi – Arab Shoah alliance

May 30, 2018

By Edwin Black WASHINGTON, D.C. — When International Farhud Day was proclaimed at a conference convened at the United Nations headquarters on June 1, 2015, its proponents wanted to achieve more than merely establish a commemoration of the ghastly 1941 Arab-Nazi pogrom in Baghdad that killed and injured hundreds of Iraqi Jews. Farhud means violent dispossession.

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Edwin Black, International, Jewish Religion, Middle East

Royal wedding invoked Hebrew imagery

May 24, 2018

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — As befits an English woman living abroad, I watched the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on television, and reveled in the pomp and circumstance of each shot and every angle. I loved the sight of the beautiful mixed-race bride, her dress, the bridesmaids and page-boys, the various

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Jewish trivia quiz: Tikkun Leil Shavuot

May 21, 2018

By Mark D. Zimmerman MELVILLE, New York — One of the traditions of Shavuot is the all night Torah study session known as the Tikkun Leil Shavuot, meaning Rectification (or Repair) for Shavuot Night. What are the roots of this custom? A. The practice of the Tikkun Leil Shavuot was put forth by Rabbi Isaac Luria

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

Evangelical Christians and the U.S. Embassy in Israel

May 21, 2018

By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — Pastor Robert Jeffress of Dallas spoke these words at the opening ceremony of the United States embassy in Jerusalem: “We come before you, the God of Abraham. Isaac and Jacob, thanking you for bringing us to this momentous occasion in the life of your people and in the history

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Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA

Cheesecake cups and ‘yetzers’

May 20, 2018

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel of Temple Beth Shalom in Chula Vista recently told me of a conversation he had with a young woman working behind the counter of an ice cream shop. Noting her unhappy expression, he told her that she should be very proud of the work

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Travel and Food

Rabbi Judy Shanks retires from Lafayette pulpit

May 20, 2018

(c) Oliver B. Pollak LAFAYETTE, California — In the late 1960s Reform seminaries accepted women as students. The first was ordained in 1972. Like law school and medical school female presence was small and unusual. This distinct and growing cohort, a result of the Second wave feminism, became the norm and in some instances the majority

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Jewish Religion, Oliver Pollak, USA

How to THINk THIN for Shavuot

May 15, 2018

Bt Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO — Ahh, Shavuot is soon upon us. With its extended synagogue services, special readings including the story of Ruth and the 10 Commandments among others, Tikkun Leil Shavuot –the practice of staying up all night studying Torah — and of course all of those traditional delectable dairy dishes

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell, Travel and Food

OpEd: Embassy move a reason to rejoice!

May 14, 2018

By Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort CARLSBAD, California — Today (May 14) has already been an historic day and it’s barely 9am here in California. Today truth trumped lies and virtue vanquished evil. Today the great Name of G-d was sanctified in His Chosen Land, in His Holy City, by His Chosen People. No, unfortunately, the Holy

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Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA, Yeruchem Eilfort-Rabbi

60 deaf students join joint bar/ bat mitzvah rites

May 10, 2018

JERUSALEM (Press Release) — Sixty deaf and hearing impaired young adults from all over Israel participated in the annual Bar/Bat Mitzvah celebration ceremony organized by the International Young Israel Movement (IYIM) on May 7 in the Beit Yaakov Synagogue in Jerusalem. This event was held in cooperation with Acha (The Association of the Deaf in

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Jewish Religion, Middle East

A runner runs a hotel at sea