Judaism

Mary Weiss, singer of hit-making The Shangri-Las, dies at 75

Published by New York Daily News Mary Weiss, the Queens-born lead singer of the hit-making 1960s girl group the Shangri-Las, has died at age 75, her representative confirmed. A cause of death was not released for Weiss, whose New York-bred band is known for songs such as “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” and the chart-topping […]

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Jewish Celebrities, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Nordot, Obituaries & memorials, USA

Theresienstadt Opera Remembered in ‘Death Strikes: The Emperor of Atlantis’

Together with Peter Kien, who wrote the libretto, Ullmann composed the music for an opera entitled ‘The Emperor of Atlantis,’ an allegory of the Nazi regime, in which Death goes on strike in protest at the widespread killing of human beings by a power-mad ruler. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Parasha Beshalach: Who Is the True Physician?

“And He said, If you hearken to the voice of the Lord, your G-d, and you do what is proper in His eyes, and you listen closely to His commandments and observe all His statutes, all the sicknesses that I have visited upon Egypt I will not visit upon you, for I, the Lord, heal you.” The above verse appears immediately after the Shira (Song at the Sea of Reeds). It teaches us in no uncertain terms that it is Hashem, and no other, who heals us. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Jerusalem Library Receives 45,000 Jewish Manuscripts from Yemen

The items were endowed to the museum last Thursday by the family of the late Yehuda Levi Nahum (1915-1998), a Yemenite Jew who immigrated to pre-state Israel in 1929 at the age of 14. Over six decades, Nahum assembled the world’s most extensive collection of Yemenite-Jewish manuscripts. [JNS]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East

Our Shtetl San Diego County: Groundbreaking Tuesday for Jacobs Performing Arts Center at Liberty Station

Mayor Todd Gloria will speak at groundbreaking ceremonies Tuesday, Jan. 23, for the future Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center that will be built at Liberty Station in a renovated Naval Building 178. [SDJW Staff Report]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, California, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials, Philanthropy & Volunteerism, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Is Reincarnation a Fact, a Lie, or True?

Philo (25 BCE-50 CE) was the first Jewish philosopher to introduce the idea that there is such a thing as a soul that exists separate from the body. It contains the intellect and personality of a person. Platonic theories influenced him. He considered the soul to be eternal. However, he did not have the belief in reincarnation. The soul remained somewhere in limbo until the messianic age when it would be revived. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Jewish Biography: Gabriel Riesser, Germany’s First Jewish Judge

HAIFA, Israel — In the middle of the nineteenth century a Jew was first appointed a judge in a European state. This happened in Germany, in Hamburg. The appointed judge did little judging, but managed to govern. He was more like a charismatic ruler than a cold-blooded judge. He was more like a bold fighter

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Alex Gordon, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Israeli Bar Mitzvah boy forgoes party, treats 200 soldiers to dinner

Published by ANI News Tel Aviv [Israel], January 21 (ANI/TPS): Amichai Jackson, a bar mitzvah boy from the Gush Etzion community of Elazar, decided that in lieu of a party to mark the milestone event his parents should use the money to treat Israeli soldiers to dinner. Amichai was slated to celebrate his bar mitzvah

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Israel, Jewish Religion, Nordot

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Israel Zangwill

His play “The Melting Pot” was credited with penning that phrase to describe absorption of immigrants in the United States. After seeing it, former President Theodore Roosevelt reportedly leaned out from his theater box and shouted, “That’s a great play, Mr. Zangwill. That’s a great play.” [SDJW staff]

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International, Israel, Jewish Fiction, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

Kaspare Cohn’s Legacies: Union Bank, Cedars-Sinai Hospital

Cohn was just 20 years old when he arrived in Los Angeles in 1859 from Loebau, Prussia, to work for his uncle Harris Newmark. His introduction to the primitive banking system in 19th century California came when his uncle had him sleep on the floor of the family grocery store as a way of safeguarding the finances of Los Angeles County. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Business & Finance, California, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Philanthropy & Volunteerism, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Some 300,000 protest in Germany against far-right and for democracy

Published by DPA International At least 300,000 people took to the streets of Germany on Saturday to voice their opposition to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and to support democracy. The protests took place from the south in Bavaria to the northern city of Hamburg and from western cities such as Frankfurt to

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Antisemitism, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Nordot