Judaism

Female beauty: Torah, mythology, and ancient history

The passage I have chosen to explore is offensive to modern sensibilities:  Genesis, Ch. 12, vv. 11-13  “As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, ‘I know what a beautiful woman you are.  If the Egyptians see you, and think, She is his wife, they will kill me and let you live.  Please say that you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may remain alive thanks to you.'” Sarah was carried off by Pharoah’s officials, and placed in his harem.  According to the story, she was not violated, because of God’s intervention.

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Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles

Rejecting complacency, embracing our true selves

This week’s parasha teaches that to live a meaningful life, turning inward and reflecting on these questions are important, yet we may also have to ditch the links to our past and project a new course…guided by Torah as our road map to discovering our real purpose. We may have to leave our comfortable Haran to go to our Canaan, our Land of Israel. [Michael Mantell, PhD

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Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Michael Mantell

Chula Vista exhibit to focus on Holocaust survivors

Stephen D. Smith is the executive director of the USC Shoah Foundation, which houses the archive of interviews of Holocaust Survivors financed by movie producer Steven Spielberg.  He will be a special guest Jan. 12 at the grand opening of RUTH (Remember Us The Holocaust), a Chula Vista Civic Library exhibit named in honor of the late Holocaust survivor Ruth Sax. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

Republicans launch bid for Jewish support in 2020

 Social media users in San Diego County and around the country soon will be bombarded with the Republican Jewish Coalition’s opening salvo in an effort to reelect Donald Trump in 2020 – a 30-second video spot contending it is a “shanda” (disgrace) how leading Democrats are attacking Israel. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share, USA

Rabbi Samuel’s many insights into Maimonides

His work is comprehensive, full of information, and eye-opening. The writings on each parasha is divided by chapters; each of which is subdivided by subjects that Rabbi Samuel addresses in clear detail. For example, in Genesis chapter 1, he examines 22 subjects, such as the meaning of Elohim, the purpose of creation, the reason for marriages, God does not decree moral behavior, the nature of biblical metaphors, exempting women from some biblical commands, and more. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi

A consortium of 100 geniuses

Besides being Jewish what do these people have in common?  Amir Amedi, Ron Arad, Marc Benioff, Michael Bloomberg, Ruth Bader Ginsburg,  Daniel S. Goldin, Roger D. Kornberg, Deborah Nadoolman Landis, John Landis, Uri Levine, Shuki Levy, Daniel Libeskind, Shimon Peres (z”l), Ehud Shabtai,  Amir Shinar and Barbra Streisand. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Business & Finance, Donald H. Harrison, International, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Sports & Competitions, The World We Share, Travel and Food

A busy November for Friends of Israel Defense Forces

With the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) planning its Western Regional Gala on Thursday, Nov.7, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, and the San Diego/ Orange County/ Arizona chapter planning a local gala just two days later on Nov. 9 at the Hilton Bayfront Hotel here in San Diego, it’s likely to be a busy time for the local chapter’s board. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego Calendar, San Diego County

Why the Tower of Babel offended God

One of the reasons that I think God might have been so angry at the people for building the tower, was because they misunderstood an essential piece of what it means to be close to God. There are most definitely some physical places and spaces where we may feel closer to God than others, but what the people building the tower failed to realize is that God can be found everywhere. [Rabbi Joshua Dorsch]

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Jewish Religion

Parashat Noach can be a guide to Torah reading

Why were different divine punishments done in very different ways? For example, Cain was banished in Genesis 4:12 for murdering his brother Abel; Noah’s generation was killed with flood in Genesis 6-8; Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed with brimstone and fire in Genesis 19:24,  the builders of the Tower of Babel were punished by having their languages confused in Genesis 11: 7; Egyptians who enslaved Israelites died during ten plagues beginning in in Exodus 7. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion

Noah is one of the world’s many flood stories

Scholars think that a deluge of such cataclysmic proportions was unlikely in the setting of the Land of Israel, given its topography.  It is believed that relatively nearby Mesopotamia was a natural locale for the story.  In fact, cuneiform documents and archaeology provide testimony for periodic inundation of the valley between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Torrential rains, tornadoes, and the melting of snows in the mountains of Anatolia, in combination, have periodically flooded the valley and turned it into a huge lake.  This area produced a number of flood stories in ancient times, including the Gilgamesh Epic. [Irv Jacobs, M.D.]

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International, Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish Religion

StandWithUs, Poway salute shooting victims

SAN DIEGO – The Jewish and general communities are honoring the memory of Lori Gilbert Kaye, who was murdered April 27 by a gunman who barged into Chabad of Poway and wounded three other people before running away and later being apprehended. Exactly six months after the shooting attack that wounded Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, 8-year-old Noya Dahan, and her uncle Almog Peretz from Sderot, Israel, StandWithUs San Diego focused on the victims at a gala which was themed “Standing Together Against Anti-Semitism.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, USA

Orthodox romance at Sea World

Dr. Ben Dishman, PharmD, who is retired as a psychiatric pharmacist from the Veterans Administration Hospital, enjoys visiting Sea World on the average of once a month. Besides seeing the animals, he likes to see love bloom among Orthodox Jewish couples who apparently consider Sea World to be a perfect meeting place for their arranged dates. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Middle East, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA