International

Our WWII refugee family found its way to California

By Natasha Josefowitz, Ph.D. LA JOLLA, California — When France fell, we knew we could not go home again. We lost everything and eventually, almost everyone I had ever known. When the Germans crossed into Lithuania, they took my grandparents out of their home, marched them to a nearby school, and shot them point blank. A […]

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Jewish History, Natasha Josefowitz, USA

Fond memories of Julian Bond

By Rabbi Ben Kamin ENCINITAS, California — Julian Bond, who has unexpectedly died at 75, did not think of civil rights as matter of color.  With his distinguished baritone enunciation and meticulous choice of words, he fought for the human rights of black people, for gender equality, and like his mentor, Dr. Martin Luther King

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USA

From the Jewish library: ‘Like Dreamers’

Like Dreamers, The True Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation, by Yossi Klein Halevi (HarperCollins Publishers, 2013) By Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO — In June 1967, the Israeli Defense Forces miraculously overcame the combined attack launched by three of its neighbors: Egypt, Jordan and Syria.  But as miraculous as

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Jewish History, Middle East

The story of Tibor Rubin’s heroism in the Korean War

By Joe Spier CALGARY, Alberta, Canada — Tibor (Ted) Rubin enters the room. The President of the United States, bound by tradition, rises and salutes him. Rubin, born a Hungarian Jew, is one of 79 persons who command the salute of the President. They are the living recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest

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International, Jewish History, USA

The Jewish angle: Naming a helicopter and a ship

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – I find myself wondering why San Diego Gas & Electric decided to name its giant fire-fighting helicopter “Goliath.”  Sure, it’s big, and Goliath of biblical infamy was big, but there the similarity ends.  Goliath, a Philistine who stood between 12 and 13 feet tall, was a bully.  He

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, USA