Lifestyles

Ashkenazi genetics forum set for Oct 15

  By Franklin Gaylis MD, FACS  SAN DIEGO — The South African Jewish American Community (SAJAC) is sponsoring a virtual presentation from 4-6 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 15,  addressing genetic disorders related to our Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. The goal of this presentation is to increase an awareness of diseases caused by genetic abnormalities amongst Ashkenazi Jews, […]

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Jewish History, Lifestyles, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education

Bullied as a student? Here’s how you can recover

  By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO —  The short-term and long-term psychological effects of bullying – on either side of the bullying fence, as a victim or as an aggressor – are well documented. Sadly, Jewish day schools, synagogues, youth groups and camps are not necessarily free of children and teens intentionally and

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Lifestyles, Michael Mantell

Moneychangers, debt, slavery, and charity

Shemini Atseret, 8th day of Sukkot, Deuteronomy 14:22-23:44 By Irv Jacobs, M.D. LA JOLLA, California — This essay covers: ancient moneychangers; debt and slavery relief; and dealing with the needy. These readings are part of parasha RE’EH, which was read on the Shabbat of August 15th.. I have, to the extent possible, avoided redundancy to

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Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles

Soille returns temporarily to distance learning

Other items in this column include: *Ethnic Studies *Political Bytes *San Diego Jewish World news *In memoriam By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School, now observing a nine-day holiday for Sukkot, will delay the resumption of its in-person classes until Wednesday, Oct. 14, two days after the holiday period’s

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Donald H. Harrison, Lifestyles, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Sheryl Rowling, USA

What the world wants from the Jews

Less than a month after the normalization agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain has also joined the peace train. I am all for it; peace and normalization are always better than war and animosity. But to be honest, I don’t see that the rest of the world is so excited about it, and I think this shows how isolated we are in the world. Despite the fact that Israel has established connections with countries that  were previously enemies, no one is cheering, no one is sounding the festive trumpets. For all our efforts to be accepted, Israel, and Jews (though they may not recognize it), are excluded from the family of nations. [Michael Laitman, Ph.D]

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Lifestyles, Middle East

The adverse impacts of isolation

As we sit in our homes by ourselves month after month without in-person social interactions, we become acutely, even overly, aware of ourselves. Because we have only ourselves and our own responses, we have a tendency to become self-centered by default. And since there is no one to interact with, all of our ideas, thoughts, and feelings are experienced without feedback. This is where self-reflection can become dysfunctional. Like cows ruminating their cud, we can become obsessive and compulsive, reexamining the same thing over and over, driving ourselves nuts. Without another person to assess and appraise the conclusions we come to, we may leave reality behind as we follow some increasingly irrational tangent. [Natasha Josefowitz, ACSW, Ph.D]

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Lifestyles, Natasha Josefowitz