By Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO — When handed lemons some people complain, others make lemonade and one or two create Chateau Lafite Rothschild. In the late 1700’s when the ghetto gate slammed shut at night, the Jews of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, were locked into an urban prison. The inhabitants of that horribly crowded ghetto
From the Jewish library: Two Rothschild biographies Read More »
Jewish HistoryNEW YORK (Press Release) — Conference of Presidents leaders Robert G. Sugarman, Chairman, and Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, expressed the solidarity of the Jewish community of the United States with the people of France in the wake of the horrendous attacks by Islamist terrorists on the Charlie Hebdo magazine, the killing of the female police
Conference urges Jewish caution over Shabbat Read More »
Jewish Religion, USASAN DIEGO–There is a well-known Jewish folktale in which a poor young shepherd boy is chosen to be King by a magic bird that lands on his head. The boy rules wisely but has one strange habit: every day he retreats to a small shed he has built in back of the palace and remains
Challenges face both the poor and the wealthy Read More »
Jewish Religion
NEW YORK (Press Release)–Dr. Stephen Hazan Arnoff, who successfully expanded programing and grew the 14th Street Y in New York while executive director there before going on to become the first director of the Office of Culture, Community, and Society at Shalem College in Jerusalem, has been chosen to succeed Allan Finkelstein as president and
JCC Assn. names Arnoff as new executive director Read More »
Jewish Religion, USA
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) – Rabbi Jonah Pesner will serve as the Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC), the Washington, D.C. advocacy and social justice arm of North America’s largest Jewish Movement. Rabbi Pesner, an accomplished advocate with broad experience leading social justice campaigns, comes to the RAC with a mandate to deepen
Rabbi Jonah Pesner to direct Religious Action Center Read More »
Jewish Religion, USAEditor’s Note: The following eulogy is extrapolated from Rabbi Rosenthal’s notes. A Eulogy by Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal Tifereth Israel Synagogue SAN DIEGO — When we recite the Yizkor prayer for a mother, we refer to a mother who has passed away as imi morati, my mother, my teacher. In this simple phrase we have a
Sylvia Borkat, 101, z”l Read More »
David Ogul, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County
SAN DIEGO (Press Release)–Rabbi David Lau, Chief Ashkenazic Rabbi of Israel, will give a free lecture at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 20, at the La Jolla Marriott Hotel, 440 La Jolla Village Drive, in a program sponsored by Chabad of University City. Although there is no admission fee required, Chabad has asked for an $18 donation to cover
Israel’s Chief Ashkenazic Rabbi heads for S.D. Read More »
Jewish Religion, San Diego Calendar
After the Holocaust the Bells Still Ring by Joseph Polak, © 2015 Urim Publications, 141 pages, ISBN 978-965-524-162-4, $19.95. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—When Rabbi Joseph Polak and his mother were liberated from Bergen-Belsen, he was not yet three years old. He says that he has no actual memory of his early childhood in
The Holocaust lives inside him Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish HistoryBy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM–Israelis appear to like the Pope more than their Chief Rabbis. 50% of all Israelis (the highest figure in any non-Christian country) approve of the current leader of the Catholic Church and only 25% disapprove while 67% of Israelis are against the continued existence of the country’s chief rabbinate. The data
Growing disaproval for Israel’s chief rabbinate Read More »
Jewish Religion, Middle EastAudacity by Melanie Crowder, Penguin Group Philomel Books, (c) 20015, 385 pages including glossary, family interview, and selected bibliography, $17.99 By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — I suppose, if one stuck strictly to the historical facts, Clara Lemlich’s life could be summarized in a few paragraphs. She grew up in an Orthodox home in
Clara Lemlich’s life, in poetry, is thrilling reading Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish HistoryBy Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO — Once, a burly, gruff looking, man who had served in the Russian army, entered a Jewish inn and ordered a meal. When Jewish boys were drafted, it was usually the end of yiddishkeit for them. The army brainwashed them to worship Mother Russia rather than G-d. He plopped
When the Chofetz Chaim saw what others didn’t Read More »
Jewish Religion
Sleeping Truth by Martin Vesole, Shalom Rav Publishing © 2013, ISBN 978-1937416027, 355 pages. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—Mary Poppins was the Disney character who sang about a spoonful of sugar helping the medicine to go down. Presenting this story of a fictional debate between a Christian evangelical and a Reform-leaning Reconstructionist rabbi, who perhaps
Debate between Christian and Jew focus of novel Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion
POWAY, California — Molly Cohen, 97, was eulogized by Rabbi Nadav Caine at Ner Tamid Synagogue here. Following is the eulogy, delivered December 29, 2014: Molly Cohen, a matriarch of San Diego’s Jewish community, died this past December 25th at the age of 97. She was her usual alert, brilliant, and giving self to
Molly Cohen, z”l (June 19th, 1917 — Dec. 25, 2014) Read More »
Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County
LOS ANGELES (Press Release) — 2014 was a year of unprecedented explosions of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel hatred. The ten worst this year shows how pervasive anti-Semitism has become around the world. The ten examples selected by the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) are tragically indicative of burgeoning threats and challenges to the Jewish people not encountered since
2014’s ten worst anti- Semitic outrages Read More »
Jewish History