By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — Biblical leadership is hardly a democracy. God and God alone appoints most leaders. Even when the Israelites demanded a King, God had to endorse their choice. According to the midrash, there is one important exception to the rule: someone appointed as a parnas, or communal leader. Rabbi Isaac said: […]
Leaders need the approval of their community Read More »
Jewish ReligionEditor, San Diego Jewish World It is with deep pain that I pen this letter to you today. Earlier this week, we were horrified to hear that my brother’s 4 year old daughter, who lives in Orange County, has been diagnosed with cancer. Our family is overwhelmed grappling with such news. Tests have been conducted and
Letters: A prayer for Rochel Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion
Anti-Israel Van Driving Around San Diego Editor, San Diego Jewish World I stopped to do some shopping at the NorthPark Market – that’s it’s name, it isn’t in North Park– and I saw this truck pull in and park. Looks like it’s sponsored by some faux Jewish group called Jewish Voice for Peace – e-mail www.jvp-sandiego.org
Letters: About that big van Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Middle East, USAWASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) — In response to Wednesday night’s (March 11) shooting of two police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, Rabbi Jonah Pesner, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, issued the following statement: “We condemn in the strongest terms last night’s shooting of two Ferguson police officers and are praying for their full
Reform Jews condemn shooting of 2 Ferguson police Read More »
Jewish Religion, USA
HAIFA (Press Release) — A rare copy of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) that reached Israel in a circuitous fashion and was donated to the University by the late film producer and director Micha Shagrir, was reunited with its “twin,” a copy of the same edition that was already in the Rare Books Department of the
350- Year- Old Tanachs reunited Read More »
Jewish Religion, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & EducationBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — One of the most important but also neglected customs of the year is when we observe the Yahrzeit of a loved one. It occurs with such frequency that we often will forget about the date altogether because we may have forgotten the Hebrew calendar date. According to
Yahrzeits, apps, and Facebook Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO– Gosh, I never felt better while lunching on a hamburger and a Coke. You see, I was at the Temple Emanu-El Purim Carnival, and any profits from that quick lunch—as well as from any other food sold on Sunday, March 8 — were to be donated to the
So many reasons to be thankful at Purim carnival Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – One of the nice things about a Purimshpiel is that it doesn’t have to follow the precise script. In fact, the whole megillah can be changed, just so long as the high points of the story from the Book of Esther are included. At Tifereth Israel Synagogue on
Purim shpiel a la Broadway Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego CountyBy Mark D. Zimmerman MELVILLE, New York — Ashkenzaic Jews remember Haman’s evil by making noise with a greggar whenever Haman’s name is said at the Megillah reading. How do Moroccan Jews note Haman’s wickedness? A. They make a three cornered pastry similar to a hamantashen, but it is filled with red strawberries, representing the blood
Jewish trivia: Moroccan Purim customs Read More »
Jewish Religion, Mark D. Zimmerman, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Rabbi Ben Kamin ENCINITAS, California — There are the beloved Five Scrolls in the Hebrew Scripture: including the cynical Ecclesiastes, the romantic Song of Songs, and the elegiac Lamentations. The remaining two, filled with momentous narrative, are named for heroic women: Ruth and Esther. Ruth was the consummate loyalist, paradigmatic convert to Judaism—a maternal
The woman who rescued the Jews Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Rabbi Rafi Andrusier LA MESA, California — Did you hear? What color is the dress? Black and blue or white and gold? I am still enamored by the stark difference. (Here’s a link to the phenomenon:https://www.yahoo.com/tech/explained-why-people-cant-agree-on-the-color-of-112191281639.html# ) How is possible? When I saw it recently, I said it’s black and blue. But some of my family
Black & blue; gold & white, and HaShem’s hidden hand Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem presents a Kafkaesque vision of the divorce process for Jewish women in Israel. Viviane, soulfully played by the film’s co-director Ronit Elkabetz, seeks to get out of an unhappy marriage, but her husband Elisha, played by the Armenian actor Simon Abkarian, won’t consent
The Wandering Review: ‘Gett’; Read More »
Jewish Religion, Lawrence BaronSAN DIEGO (Press Release) — The Women’s Philanthropy Division of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County is orchestrating a community wide art drive, dubbed Art from the Heart, in recognition of this year’s International Good Deeds Day, which will come to full fruition on March 15, 2015. Through collaboration with several community partners, Federation will
On the Ides of March: Art from the Heart Read More »
Jewish Religion, San Diego CalendarBy Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO — The Medrash tells us about the wicked king, Yerovom ben Nevat, who began his career as a righteous king but turned evil. Hashem had ordained him to split from the Kingdom of Judah, and form a separate kingdom called Kingdom of Israel of which he would be the
Yerovom’s hubris led to his eternal downfall Read More »
Jewish Religion