Jewish Religion

AJC lauds Israeli bill to liberalize conversions

NEW YORK (Press Release)– The American Jewish Committee (AJC) supports the conversion bill introduced by MK Elazar Stern of the Hatnua Party, headed by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni. Hatnua has pledged to press the measure, which already passed its first reading in the Knesset, even though it does not enjoy Cabinet support. “Loosening the Chief […]

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Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA

American Baptist Churches condemn anti- Semitism

VALLEY FORGE, Pennsylvania (Press Release) — A Baptist group in the United States issued a resolution reaffirming the “historic American Baptist stand against anti-Semitism.” The resolution, issued by American Baptist Churches USA’s (ABC USA) International Ministries (IM), declares anti-Semitism to be “wholly contrary to Jesus’ teaching” and that it “demeans Jesus and all people of

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Jewish Religion, USA

Levin new preschool director at Temple Emanu-El

SAN DIEGO (Press Release) — Temple Emanu-El welcomes Tamara Levin to the staff as the new director of the Price Family Preschool. Levin spent her childhood and early adult years in Cape Town, South Africa, where she attended the University of Cape Town and then taught grades five and six. She came to America with

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Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education

Who can use a medal more?

By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO –I went to Yeshiva with a wonderful friend named Mark Marshall. He told this true story at his father’s funeral: Bud Marshall kept a small box in his bedroom where he kept several important & sentimental mementos including the medals he had earned for his service in WWII. These

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Jewish Religion

Affiliation choices often depend on time and $$$

Judaism in Transition: How Economic Choices Shape Religious Tradition by Carmel U. Chiswick, Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA; ISBN 978-0-8047-7605-9 ©2014, $22.95, p. 201, plus Reference material By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California — Words to an old folksong read, “If religion were a thing that money could buy, then the rich would live and the poor

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Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish Religion

As Rosh Hashanah nears, what is a Jew?

By Rabbi Ben Kamin  ENCINITAS, Californa — A Jew is a constituent of the longest-running, most confounding, hardest to categorize, most widely-scattered, historically hunted and murdered, nomadic, demographically-challenged, resilient, despised, and admired faith community without a firmly-set liturgy in history. A Jew is a nationality without a nation who therefore is sincerely and deeply hyper-patriotic

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Jewish Religion

Oldest siddur journeys from Oklahoma to Israel

By Anav Silverman JERUSALEM (TNA) –It was a historical moment at Jerusalem’s Bible Lands Museum on Thursday night, September 18, as the world’s oldest known Jewish prayer book was displayed for the first time to the general public with leading Jewish and Christian figures present. The siddur, which is 1,200 years old, belongs to Steve

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Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA

So swiftly flow the years

By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — Mike Zak’s, z”l, was a Past President of Tifereth Israel Synagogue,a longtime active and supportive congregant, and a Holocaust survivor. One of his favorite stories was about his arrival in San Diego as a refugee and having to obtain a Social Security card. He asked, “What is Social

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Jewish Religion