By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – One of the nice things about a Purimshpiel is that it doesn’t have to follow the precise script. In fact, the whole megillah can be changed, just so long as the high points of the story from the Book of Esther are included. At Tifereth Israel Synagogue on […]
Purim shpiel a la Broadway Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego CountyBy Mark D. Zimmerman MELVILLE, New York — Ashkenzaic Jews remember Haman’s evil by making noise with a greggar whenever Haman’s name is said at the Megillah reading. How do Moroccan Jews note Haman’s wickedness? A. They make a three cornered pastry similar to a hamantashen, but it is filled with red strawberries, representing the blood
Jewish trivia: Moroccan Purim customs Read More »
Jewish Religion, Mark D. Zimmerman, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Rabbi Ben Kamin ENCINITAS, California — There are the beloved Five Scrolls in the Hebrew Scripture: including the cynical Ecclesiastes, the romantic Song of Songs, and the elegiac Lamentations. The remaining two, filled with momentous narrative, are named for heroic women: Ruth and Esther. Ruth was the consummate loyalist, paradigmatic convert to Judaism—a maternal
The woman who rescued the Jews Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — Raphael Lemkin is probably the most influential figure of the Twentieth Century not widely recognized by posterity. Born in 1900 in a Polish village located in the Russian Empire, he had witnessed pogroms when he was growing up. Originally studying linguistics, he eventually became a lawyer. In the 1920s
The Wandering Review: ‘Watchers of the Sky’ Read More »
Jewish History, Lawrence Baron
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—When Joseph Kanfer, the father of Purell hand sanitizers, focuses this week on Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speeches to AIPAC and to Congress, he will do so “because I think it is necessary for our very survival but my love is Jewish education.” Kanfer, whose GOJO manufacturing company is
Industry leader says Jews should speak up about Iran Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, USAIsland of Hope, Island of Tears: The Story of Those Who Entered the New World Through Ellis Island by David Brownstone, Irene M. Franck, Douglass Brownstone, (MetroBooks, 2004). By Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO–The word “immigrant” brings to mind a picture of a woman with a lined face, head covered by a babushka (scarf), holding a wide
From the Jewish Library: Island of hope, tears Read More »
Jewish History, USABy Rabbi Rafi Andrusier LA MESA, California — Did you hear? What color is the dress? Black and blue or white and gold? I am still enamored by the stark difference. (Here’s a link to the phenomenon:https://www.yahoo.com/tech/explained-why-people-cant-agree-on-the-color-of-112191281639.html# ) How is possible? When I saw it recently, I said it’s black and blue. But some of my family
Black & blue; gold & white, and HaShem’s hidden hand Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem presents a Kafkaesque vision of the divorce process for Jewish women in Israel. Viviane, soulfully played by the film’s co-director Ronit Elkabetz, seeks to get out of an unhappy marriage, but her husband Elisha, played by the Armenian actor Simon Abkarian, won’t consent
The Wandering Review: ‘Gett’; Read More »
Jewish Religion, Lawrence BaronSAN DIEGO (Press Release) — The Women’s Philanthropy Division of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County is orchestrating a community wide art drive, dubbed Art from the Heart, in recognition of this year’s International Good Deeds Day, which will come to full fruition on March 15, 2015. Through collaboration with several community partners, Federation will
On the Ides of March: Art from the Heart Read More »
Jewish Religion, San Diego CalendarBy Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO — The Medrash tells us about the wicked king, Yerovom ben Nevat, who began his career as a righteous king but turned evil. Hashem had ordained him to split from the Kingdom of Judah, and form a separate kingdom called Kingdom of Israel of which he would be the
Yerovom’s hubris led to his eternal downfall Read More »
Jewish Religion
By Donald H. Harrison LA JOLLA, California – How do you teach about the Holocaust to young people, whom, on the one hand we’d like to protect from learning how brutal the world can be, and whom, on the other hand, we know have to be prepared to live in a world where once again
Holocaust education for computer savvy kids Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Science, Medicine, & Education, USAThe Genius: Eliyahu of Vilna and the Making of Modern Judaism by Eliyahu Stern, Yale University Press, New Haven; ISBN 978-0-300-20592-3 ©2013, $27, p. 171, plus notes, bibliography, and index By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California — The eighteenth century rabbi Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman Kremer held the moniker “the Genius of Vilna,” or simply the “Vilna Gaon,” for
Yale scholar produces biography of Vilna Gaon Read More »
Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish History
NEW YORK (Press Release) – The Birthright Israel Foundation (BRIF), the organization that provides and builds the base of financial support for Taglit-Birthright Israel in North America, has tapped 14-year non-profit executive, Sarah Raful Whinston, as its first director of talent development. In her new role, Whinston will focus on recruitment and career development for
Whinston to develop Birthright talent Read More »
Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA
LONDON (WJC) — The People’s Republic of China and the World Jewish Congress (WJC) will, for the first time, be hosting an event in Shanghai later this year to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Shanghai Ghetto and the end of World War II in China in September 1945. The event was
70th anniversary of Shanghai liberation rite planned Read More »
International, Jewish History