Editor, San Diego Jewish World As we prepare for the annual Holocaust commemoration on April 19th, we are reaching out to ask for your help. We are searching for names of local Holocaust Survivors as well as those who have passed away in this last year. Although we work closely with the New Life Club, […]
Letter: Federation seeks to honor Shoah survivors Read More »
Jewish History, San Diego Calendar, San Diego CountyBy 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, & Education
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Former World War II Prisoner of War Sy Brenner in 2012 published a memoir called The Night I Got Killed, telling about the harrowing experiences he had keeping his Jewish identity secret from his Nazi captors and serving the camp as a medic. On Monday, March 9,
Samuel Seymour “Sy” Brenner, 1922-2015 Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego CountyBy 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 CountyBy Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO –– Esther’s Children: A Portrait of Iranian Jews edited by Houman Sarshar, published by the Center for Iranian Oral Jewish History, 2005, is a large book which opens with a three page foldout of the timeline of significant events in Iranian-Jewish History. It is a history which begins in 539 BCE
From the Jewish Library: ‘Esther’s Children’ Read More »
Jewish History
HARARE, Zimbabwe (WJC) –Tributes have flowed in for the late Sam Benatar, the president of the Zimbabwe Jewish Board of Deputies and one of Zimbabwe Jewry’s most experienced and active communal leaders. Benatar, 86, who was born in the small town of Concession in what was then Southern Rhodesia, passed away following a long illness
Sam Benatar, 86, Zimbabwe Jewish leader Read More »
International, Obituaries & memorials
NEW YORK (Press Release) — The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) mourns the passing of retired Cardinal Edward M. Egan, a friend to the Jewish community and a significant figure in the realm of interfaith affairs. Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement: We note with sorrow the passing of Cardinal Edward Egan who will
Cardinal Edward M. Egan mourned Read More »
Obituaries & memorials, USABy Rabbi Ben Kamin ENCINITAS, California — On June 21, 1964, David Goodman was a teenager living in his family’s Manhattan apartment. He noticed his mother pacing nervously: another of her sons, Andy, just 20 years old, was missing somewhere in Mississippi. David was anxious and frightened as well. It was the “Freedom Summer”—during which
Civil rights martyr’s brother seeks new coalitions Read More »
Jewish History, USA
SACRAMENTO (SDJW)–State Sen. Robert Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) delivered the daily invocation in the Senate chambers on Thursday, March 5, marking the holiday of Purim. Hertzberg summarized the story of Purim from the Book of Esther and had hamantaschen distributed to each of his 39 Senate colleagues. He also praised Sen. Marty Block (D-San Diego), chair of the
Purim invocation given in state Senate Read More »
Jewish History, USA