Judaism

Jewish trivia: Moroccan Purim customs

By 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

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Jewish Religion, Mark D. Zimmerman, Trivia, Humor & Satire

The woman who rescued the Jews

By 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

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Jewish Religion

Industry leader says Jews should speak up about Iran

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

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, USA

Black & blue; gold & white, and HaShem’s hidden hand

By 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

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Jewish Religion

On the Ides of March: Art from the Heart

SAN 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

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Jewish Religion, San Diego Calendar

Yale scholar produces biography of Vilna Gaon

The 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

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Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish History

Whinston to develop Birthright talent

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

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Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA