Why scholars believe the ‘Zohar’ was a forgery
By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin […]
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International, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish ReligionJewish Religion
How Jews dealt with adultery in biblical times
By Irvin H. Jacobs, MD, MPH, MFA LA JOLLA, California — This week’s portion (Naso) offers up two topics of some mischief and humor. The first is the “Judicial Water Ordeal,” (Numbers Ch. 5) ostensibly to deal with suspected unwitnessed adultery by wives. The two situations covered are respectively: a rumored affair that reaches the
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Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish ReligionWeekly Torah portion: Naso
By Rabbi Joshua Dorsch SAN DIEGO — Our Torah portion this week, Naso, describes the somewhat unusual lifestyle choices of a Nazarite. A Nazarite takes a vow of holiness, abstains from drinking alcohol, cutting his hair, and coming into contact with the dead. The vow is for a predetermined finite amount of time. Through abstaining
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Jewish ReligionBiblical Exodus inspires ‘Journey to Freedom’ oratorio
By Eileen Wingard ALISO VIEJO, California — The manuscript of Journey to Freedom languished for decades at the bottom of a pile of Dr. Bernard “Barney” Gilmore’s scores. It was not until after UC Irvine Music Faculty Professor Gilmore’s death, that his wife, while organizing his music for the archives at the UC Irvine Library,
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Eileen Wingard, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USAKabbalah as explained by quantum physics
From Infinity to Man by Eduard Shyfrin, White Raven Publishing, © 2019, ISBN 978-1-911195-84-9, p. 122 plus notes and index, $24.99. By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California – Kabbalah is esoteric Judaism, the mystical traditions handed down orally through the generations. Yet, Kabbalah is not a monolith, its concepts and structures evolve. In the introduction to
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish ReligionHow a Jewish tale differs from others
By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — There are many instances where both Jews and non-Jews tell stories with some variations on the same plot. In many of these instances, the Jewish version attempts to use its version to teach Jews proper behavior. The following is an example. Rip Van Winkle Washington Irving (1783-1859)
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish ReligionThose of Jewish blood quite populous
By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Most people are convinced that there are comparatively few Jews in the world, only about 13.3 million in 2001, about 1.4 percent of the world population. Of these 4.9 million lived in Israel and 8.3 million outside the Holy Land. Logic would dictate that the actual
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International, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, USAJewish trivia quiz: Shavuot
By Mark D. Zimmerman MELVILLE, New York — Shavuot (the Sephardic and Israeli pronunciation), or Shavuos (the Ashkenazic pronunciation) just ended. The holiday commemorates God’s giving of the Torah to Moses and the Israelites at Mt. Sinai. Shavuot traditions include eating dairy food, participating in all-night study sessions, and reading the Ten Commandments and the
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Jewish Religion, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USAThis Shavuot study focused on two other women
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – It was Erev Shavuot on Saturday evening, June 8. Once again we were talking about two women in the Bible during the customary evening study session at Tifereth Israel Synagogue. This time, however, the two women we discussed were not Ruth and Naomi, as is perhaps traditional. Instead,
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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego CountyWeekly Torah portion: Bamidbar
By Rabbi Joshua Dorsch SAN DIEGO –According to tradition, it is not a coincidence that this week’s Torah portion, Bamidbar, is read prior to the celebration of Shavuot. That is because Bamidbar means “the desert, and on Shavuot, we celebrate God giving the Torah to the Jewish people, in the desert. Being as that God
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Jewish ReligionShavuot and the reading of the Book of Ruth
By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — During the holiday of Shavuot, the practice in many synagogues is to read the beautiful biblical book Ruth. Various reasons attempt to explain the practice including that Ruth is said to have converted to Judaism around the time of Shavuot and so did the Israelites when
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Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish ReligionAdat Yeshurun celebrates families with circus gala
By Donald H. Harrison LA JOLLA, California – “From generation to generation” is a popular saying among Jews to indicate how Torah learning has been passed down from parent to child through the millennia. At Congregation Adat Yeshurun on Sunday night, the saying was happily augmented with another:
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Donald H. Harrison, Jacob Kamaras, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, San Diego CountyWho’d be on your ‘Top 100’ list of Jews?
By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Whether one agrees with Michael Shapiro’s listings in his 1995 book The Jewish 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Jews of all Time or not, the book should make us think not only whether we would agree with his selections, whether we would delete
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Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Jewish ReligionWeekly Torah portion: BeChukotai
By Rabbi Joshua Dorsch SAN DIEGO –Our Torah portion this week, BeChukotai, provides us with a list of rewards for those who follow God’s commandments. Leviticus 23:6 says “If you pursue my laws and keep my commandments and observe them, I will give you rain in its proper time and the land will yield its
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