Judaism

Cantor Merel’s life story now on video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KKSf-1YCrQ&feature=youtu.be By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO —  I suppose it’s not unusual for a cantor to be able to sing show tunes and operatic arias in addition to Hebrew prayer melodies.  But when the cantor still can hit the high notes at age 93, that’s truly remarkable. Cantor Sheldon Merel, the cantor emeritus of

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County

Rabbi makes a deal with God, survives the Holocaust

By Beth Sarafraz BROOKLYN, New York — On a Sunday morning, June 22, 1941, the Nazis invaded Lithuania. The gentile population was ecstatic to hear the news and, after church services that day, celebrated Hitler’s troops goose-stepping over the border into their country. Each town and village greeted the Nazis with bouquets of flowers as

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International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion

Free Pesach trivia questions enhance seders

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Humor columnist Mark D. Zimmerman, who authors the Jewish Trivia Quiz that normally appears weekly on San Diego Jewish World, is offering a free, humorous Haggadah supplement for readers to download on their electronic devices, and then print out if desired. Titled Rashi, Rambam and Haggadah-Lamadingdong, this Hagaddah

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Mark D. Zimmerman

United Hatzalah issues safety tips for Pesach

JERUSALEM (Press Release)– As Passover cleaning has already begun in many houses across Israel, United Hatzalah is taking the opportunity to send out a public service announcement with health and safety tips regarding the holiday covering everything from cleaning to hiking. As in previous years, due to the high volume of emergency calls received by

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Jewish Religion, Middle East

When trauma is transmitted parent to child

Elizabeth Rosner, Survivor Café, The Legacy of Trauma [and the] Labyrinth of Memory (Berkeley: Counterpoint, 2017) 270 pages, $26 © Oliver B. Pollak  RICHMOND, California — Elizabeth Rosner comes to trauma study under unique personal circumstances. Her father, Carl Rosner originally of Hamburg, was freed from Buchenwald concentration camp at the age of 15 in 1945

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Oliver Pollak

Jewish poets read their works at Lawrence Family JCC

By Eileen Wingard LA JOLLA, California  — The tenth anniversary of Jewish Poets—Jewish Voices was ushered in with an impressive line-up of featured poets. The January 23 program in the Astor Judaica Library at the Lawrence Family JCC opened with Chris Baron, Professor of English at San Diego City College.  His book of poems, Under

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eileen Wingard, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, San Diego County

A scholarly family writes of Chanukah, Purim

Moadim Perspectives: Chanukah – Purim, by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Rabbi Dr. Solomon Breuer, and Rabbi Dr. Joseph Breuer, Feldheim Publishers, New York, © 2018, ISBN 978-1-68025-072-5, p. 241, $22.95 By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California –  Moadim Perspectives: Chanukah – Purim is the third in a series of books on Jewish holidays by the Rabbi

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Fred Reiss, EdD, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion