Staff and Bylined Contributors

The erasure of the Jews: A new front in Holocaust distortion

It was a day intended to honor the six million Jewish souls systematically extinguished by the Nazi regime. Instead, two of the world’s most influential entities—U.S. Vice President JD Vance and the BBC—delivered messages that achieved a chilling feat: they commemorated the Holocaust while effectively erasing the Jews. [Rabbo Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]

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Antisemitism, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Opinion, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Opinion: justice vs. order in Minnesota

The killings in Minnesota matter not only because Renee Good and Alex Pretti are dead, but because of what followed. The speed of the denials by the highest officials in the land. The flattening of facts. The insistence that outrage itself was the problem. The suggestion, explicit or implied, that questioning federal force was somehow more dangerous than the force itself. [Shahar Masori]

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Jewish Religion, Opinion, Shahar Masori, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Opinion: Parking fees at Balboa Park work against the attractions

By Cailin Acosta in La Mesa, California Recently, San Diego’s historic Balboa Park has started charging for parking, which has caused an uproar among many residents who have enjoyed parking for free and spending time at the park’s museums, restaurants, theaters, and gardens. I have a membership at the Mingei International Museum where children under

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Cailin Acosta, Israel, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials, Opinion, Philanthropy & Volunteerism, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Travel and Food

Jews in the news: Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026

Holocaust survivor and documentarian Bernard Offen, 96, who was imprisoned in the ghetto in Krakow, Poland, and later was an inmate at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp complex, spoke Tuesday at a ceremony marking the 81st anniversary of the liberation of those camps by Soviet forces. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Antisemitism, Business & Finance, California, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Israel, Jewish History, News Media, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

‘Queen of Lucia’ tunes up prior to full production

A married couple, both college English professors, are taking a weekend away in a cabin. This escape is intended to help Elena (Rhiannon McAfee) and Jim (Charles Peters) heal their relationship which has been upended with Elena’s diagnosis of bipolar disorder. (Eva Trieger)

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

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