Staff and Bylined Contributors

Former Shin Bet Interrogator Profiles Hamas Leader Yahya al-Sinwar in SDJW Interview

“They shouldn’t have sent him out of prison,” Koubi said. “I knew that he would make a lot of trouble. Sinwar had murderous eyes. He hates Israelis, Jews, and the ‘infidels’ — a very deep hating. He knew the Koran by heart and the charter of Hamas by heart. He told me even that they were planning to kidnap more Israeli soldiers. He was right unfortunately.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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California, Donald H. Harrison, Israel, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Our Shtetl San Diego County: Rabbi Nevarez Hopes to Calm Troubled County Human Relations Commission

“I’m not adding to the vitriol. My goal is to do my small part to help move the HRC away from that and into the effective, on-the-ground work that it was meant to do.” [SDJW staff]

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Ben Dishman, Donald H. Harrison, International, Israel, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors

OpEd: Israel Must Beware of Hard-Right’s Messianism

Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, both far-right ideologues in Netanyahu’s cabinet, have never tried to hide their wish to exile the Palestinians from Gaza. In their thinking, such an expulsion of the Palestinian population would allow Israel to return to its biblical borders. Then they would rebuild Gaza solely with Jewish inhabitants. [Amy Neustein, Ph.D]

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Amy Neustein, Israel, Opinion, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Arthur Rubinstein

In 1912, he became a regular at the musical salon of Paul and Muriel Draper, who also nourished the musical talents of Igor Stravinski, Pablo Casals and others. After World War I, his concertizing was widely acclaimed in Spain and South America. He toured the world in the interwar years, moving to the Brentwood section of Los Angeles during World War II. He was naturalized as an American citizen in 1946. [SDJW staff]

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International, Israel, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

Ralph Lauren Willed Himself Into the Good Life

After he decided to market the ties on his own, executives at Bloomingdale’s wanted him to narrow the tie slightly and Lauren daringly refused. Although winning Bloomingdales’ account, in anyone else’s eyes, would have been a big victory, Lauren had larger ambitions to become himself a name brand. Lauren found other stores to sell the wide tie to, and as their popularity increased, Bloomingdale’s resistance correspondingly decreased. Whereas thin ties sold at the time for $5, Lauren’s ties commanded between $7.50 and $15. The more people paid for them, the more they valued them. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Antisemitism, Business & Finance, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Celebrities, Jewish History, Lifestyles, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Travel and Food, USA

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Samuel Gompers

In 1875, Gompers was electd as president of Local 144 of the Cigar Makers International Union. In 1886, he was elected as the second vice president of the Cigar Makers’ International Union and as its first vice president in 1896, a position he retained until his death.
In 1881, Gompers helped to found the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, which reorganized itself in 1886 as the American Federation of Labor, with Gompers as president. [SDJW staff report]

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Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

‘It’s Only A Play’ Deals with Theatre Egos

Ever wonder how many theatre egos can fit in one Manhattan hotel room?  Well, PowPac has the answer in Terrence McNally’s very clever It’s Only a Play. The premise for this witty, fast-paced show reveals the anxiety and fragile relationships of writer, actor, producer, director, critic and wannabes as they await the New York Times review of opening night on Broadway. [Eva Trieger]

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

Berkeley Lecturer Found a Sanctuary in San Diego

Recently, as I was traveling and looking for a shul in San Diego for a few weeks I found respite and much more than that at Ohr Shalom near Balboa Park – joy and  inspiration, warmth and hospitality that energized me. [Noam Schimmel]

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Antisemitism, International, Israel, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Travel and Food, USA

Satire: X Averts the Holocaust

Musk contends X’s free speech policy would have successfully undermined Hitler’s appeal. Of course, under that policy, Musk would have given free rein to Hitler to post on X as he has done for conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones. Maybe he’s right. Look how successful social media has been in curbing the support for Donald Trump! [Laurie Baron]

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Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Technology, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

Remembering the Holocaust on the Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau

As more time passes and we get further away from the Holocaust, we are finding fewer and fewer young people who have any real understanding of how it began and how it was allowed to grow into one of the darkest moments in human history.   [Darren Schwartz]

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Antisemitism, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Eric Shapira Is a Man of Many Accomplishments

He has published over one hundred professional articles and authored three very excellent and very different books. The first, A New Wrinkle, details how to embrace the second half of our lives. The second, The Art of Eric Z. Shapira, is the thrilling result of a five-year labor of love. This stunning collection is a 60-year retrospective of this self-taught artist’s drawings, paintings and sculptures. The most recent publication is a textbook entitled Geriatric Dentistry: Gateway to Longevity and Life-Long Health. This is a valuable resource for geriatric dentistry and medicine. [Eva Trieger]

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Eva Trieger, Philanthropy & Volunteerism, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Paul Newman

In 1955, his first movie was The Silver Chalice with Pier Angeli. Two years later, he played Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me. In 1958, he starred with Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, for which he received his first Academy Award nomination. He also starred with Woodward that same year in The Long Hot Summer. In 1960, he starred in Exodus, the story of Israel’s independence, and costarred with Woodward in From the Terrace. [SDJW Staff]

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Jewish Celebrities, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Today's Jewish Birthday

Holocaust Included Numerous Pogroms Like That Committed by Hamas on Oct. 7th

During the Holocaust, there was not one but many instances of pogroms and mass murders like what occurred on Oct. 7th.  The Holocaust was much bigger, more systematized, and cumulatively far more horrible than the massacre perpetrated by Hamas. [Rabbi Dr. Bernhard H. Rosenberg]

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Antisemitism, Bernhard H. Rosenberg-Rabbi, Holocaust, International, Israel, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors