Staff and Bylined Contributors

Jews in the news: Monday, Jan. 26, 2026

The remains of Ran Gvili have been recovered by the Israeli military and identified by Israel’s National Institute of Forensic Medicine.  The 24-year-old member of Israel’s Police Special Forces was killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre and his body was taken to Gaza. He was the last hostage, alive or dead, held by terrorists in Gaza. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Israel, News Media, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Thousands of Holocaust Survivors Are Still with Us. Many Are Living in Poverty

Our goal is simple: to help survivors remain safely and comfortably in their own homes for as long as possible. Services include home care assistance, transportation to medical appointments, access to nutritious food and help navigating complex healthcare systems. Just as important is addressing the emotional and social impacts of aging and trauma. [Dana Toppel]

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California, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Opinion, Philanthropy & Volunteerism, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Jewish biography: Alexander Goldman, Soviet physicist

On January 22, 1938, Goldman was arrested. He was charged with participation in counter-revolutionary crimes – anti-state subversive and terrorist activities. He was brutally tortured during interrogations, but he categorically denied all charges and said nothing that would have allowed a case to be fabricated against others, as the investigators demanded. [Alex Gordon]

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Alex Gordon, Antisemitism, International, Jewish History, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors

John Doe ‘Shoah: The unknown Holocaust survivor

October 27, 2021, Rabbi Yonasan Abrams of Chabad Temecula and Baruch Bloom, of the Chesed Shel Emes Society of California, buried the remains of a Ploni Ben Abraham, in the Chabad Mt. of Olives Cemetery in Los Angeles. Ploni Ben Abraham means unknown but to God. [Jerry Klinger]

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California, Holocaust, Jerry Klinger, Jewish Religion, Opinion, Philanthropy & Volunteerism, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Parsha Bo: Blindness and Fire

In San Diego right now, we are in a “thick fog.” When letters of “pain and rage” are weaponized, and when the Jewish community’s response ignores the JOC (Jews of Color) in its own pews, we have entered the Ninth Plague. We have stopped seeing our “brothers” and “sisters.” [Barrett Holman Leak]

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Barrett Holman Leak, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Opinion, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Jews in the news: Saturday evening, Jan. 24, 2026

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that principals at the first direct meeting among U.S. negotiators and those of warring Russia and Ukraine discussed “possible parameters for ending the war” and went well enough to merit a second meeting next Sunday in host Abu Dhabi, part of the United Arab Emirates.  U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, were among the U.S. delegation. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Israel, Obituaries & memorials, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

County Supervisors to consider temporary fix for air-borne feces

[O]n Wednesday, January 28, the Board of Supervisors will consider a new proposal by Supervisor Paloma Aguirre and myself to advance a targeted, near-term fix: A temporary pipe extension that keeps sewage below the waterline — instead of crashing against rocks and sending contaminants into the air people breathe. {Terra Lawson-Remer]

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International, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Technology, USA

‘Donna Orbits the Moon’ stars Susan Clausen at Scripps Ranch Theatre

Prolific playwright Ian August wrote Donna Orbits the Moon in 2010. The character, Donna, a middle-aged Midwestern housewife had spoken to him in the middle of the night, and he’d scribbled down notes as they came to him. After a few weeks of this nocturnal internal visitor, August began to figure out her story…and write his one-woman play. [Eva Trieger]

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Eva Trieger, Lifestyles, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Opinion: Learning to Hate Yourself or Whence Cometh the Hate? 

With false statements such as California State Senator Scott Wiener’s that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, is it surprising that Alliance San Diego disinvited Rabbi Hanan Leberman to honor Martin Luther King, Jr.?  [J. Barry Gurdin]

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Antisemitism, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, California, International, Israel, News Media, Opinion, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Eli Sharabi’s ‘Hostage’ recounts his will for survival

I recently read Hostage, written by Eli Sharabi, who survived 491 days as a hostage in Hamas tunnels. This was the first published account by a released Israeli hostage and it appeared while the war raged on. A ceasefire was signed months later and Israel now controls 53% of Gaza. [Steve Kramer]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Holocaust, Israel, Jewish History, Lifestyles, Opinion, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Steve Kramer

The story my mind forgot to update

For most of my life, if you had asked me to describe myself, I would have said I was a glass-half-empty kind of gal. That story took shape early (of course it did). Like many of us, I had a fun adolescence on the outside and a restless inner world on the inside. I sensed there was more to life than partying, jogging, and getting good grades, but I didn’t know what I was searching for or how to find it. Frankly, I was confused and lonely. [Shayna Kaufmann]

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Opinion, Science, Medicine, & Education, Shayna Kaufmann, Staff and Bylined Contributors