By Rabbi Ben Kamin OCEANSIDE, California — It’s been a couple of weeks now since my new life, alone, began here. This transitional town, situated between the glistening ocean waves and Marine fatigues of Camp Pendleton, is hardly associated with metro San Diego’s more effete communities such as La Jolla, Del Mar, or Rancho Santa […]
Simplicity and kindness mark his starting over Read More »
San Diego County, USABy Richard L. Cravatts, PhD BOSTON — Perhaps when literary critic C.S. Lewis despaired of “omnipotent moral busybodies . . . who torment us for our own good,” he was speaking about those well-meaning, but naïve college students who “torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” Lewis’s observation
SJP wants ‘free speech’ for itself, not for others Read More »
Middle East, Richard L. Cravatts, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Friday afternoons are times of high tension. Tens of thousands leave the mosques, where some of the preachers have urged death to the Jews. My last column included a link to one such sermon. The translation is provided by Memri, a respected institution that provides material from Persian and Arabic in Hebrew,
Jerusalem intifada seems to be quieting Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO — The National Retail Federation’s research is telling us “more than 157 million Americans will celebrate Halloween this year, with eight in 10 millennials saying they are already planning something fun with their friends. Total spending in 2015 will top $6.9 billion, with the average American celebrating planning
No, it’s not Purim; it’s Halloween Read More »
Michael Mantell, USABy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — The good news is that Jews won’t be allowed to pray on the Temple Mount. Cameras will be installed to check up on them and to provide evidence as to who causes the troubles there. That seems to be the outcome of Kerry’s conversations with Netanyahu, Abu Mazen
By Barry Shaw NETANYA, Israel — The old argument used to be that Palestinians were fighting and demonstrating to achieve a state of their own, and that it was Israeli obstinacy that was fermenting Arab violence against Jews. On top of that, a misinterpretation by much of the media positioned Palestinian rage being caused by
Jew hatred and media bias team up against Israel Read More »
Barry Shaw, Middle East
Dear Santa, Love, Rachel Rosenstein by Amanda Peet and Andrea Troyer, illustrated by Christine Davenier, Doubleday, © 2015, 32 pages of text; ISBN 978-0-553-51061-4; $17.99/ By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – It’s coming b-a-a-a-ck. The December dilemma. That’s when American Jewish kids want to be like the other kids and celebrate Christmas. In this
Children’s story prepares them for December dilemma Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Take your pick: which national leader has spoken his way to more damage than benefit? First consider the Palestinians. By all apparent measures, they have been both clumsy intellectually, and damaging to their people. To be sure, we must be wary of explaining Palestinian actions. The cultural divide between us
Foolish statements? Netanyahu and Abbas compete Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastMahmoud Abbas’s brother-in-law undergoes life-saving surgery in Israel (JNS.org) Amid ongoing tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, a brother-in-law of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas underwent life-saving cardiac surgery at the Assuta Medical Center in Tel Aviv on Thursday, Israel Hayom reported. The Palestinian leader’s relative is still hospitalized and is under heavy guard. An
Middle East Roundup: October 23, 2015 Read More »
Middle East
JERUSALEM (WJC) — A delegation of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) and the Israel Council on Foreign Relations (ICFR) met with Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaitė in Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning, Oct. 21, to discuss a number of issues. The meeting was also attended by the Baltic country’s foreign minister, Linas Linkevičius. Grybauskaitė told the WJC-ICFR
Never Again: Holocaust news for October 22, 2015 Read More »
International, Jewish History, Middle EastBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — No end of composers have been inspired by nature, and have gone on to inspire countless audiences in turn. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, and the French nineteenth century composers are just a few examples of this. But the composer whose music is above all the embodiment of
Mahler’s love of nature inspires Jerusalem Symphony Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual ArtsIsraeli hurt in Beit Shemesh stabbing; 1 perpetrator a known Hamas operative (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) An Israeli man was lightly to moderately wounded in a stabbing attack in Beit Shemesh on Thursday morning—an attack that could have been worse had it not been for the quick response of the Israeli security forces and vigilant
Middle East Roundup: October 22, 2015 Read More »
Middle East
By Jennie Starr SAN DIEGO — I am an Israeli-American, raised in the US, but I didn’t learn to speak Hebrew until I was an adult. Speaking Hebrew strengthened my connection to Israel, family, Israelis and even Jewish life. It helped me relate, made me more passionate about Israel’s vitality, and increased my sense of
The importance of teaching children Hebrew Read More »
Middle East, USAP.M. Netanyahu distorts Holocaust history By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — Binyamin Netanyahu, the son of a respected historian, should know better than to distort history for his political purposes. Addressing the Zionist Congress currently in session in Jerusalem he said that Hitler didn’t want to exterminate the Jews, only to expel them from
Never again: Holocaust news for October 21, 2015 Read More »
Jewish History, Middle East