Science, Medicine, & Education

Victory against anti-Semitism at SDSU

Congratulations are due to San Diego State Professors Peter C. Herman and Risa Levitt Kohn, as well as to representatives of the campus Hillel, and the regional Anti-Defamation League for protesting the proposed inclusion of two anti-Semitic speakers on a planned, as yet unscheduled, panel presentation on whether African-Americans deserve reparations for the time their ancestors were enslaved and the subsequent institutional discrimination against their people. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Haifa, San Diego scientists to probe Israeli coastal waters

Before long the historic port city of Akko, Israel, will become headquarters for a search for sunken treasures of the academic kind in a project that brings together scientists from UC San Diego and the University of Haifa.

“Along the coast of Israel, submerged settlements, ancient harbors and sunken ships tell a unique story of 11,000 years of human resilience and adaptation,” explains Assaf Yasur-Landau, director of the Leon Racanati Institute for Maritime Studies at the University of Haifa.  “I am very excited for this tremendous opportunity in which both partners – the University of Haifa and UC San Diego – join forces to create pathbreaking underwater and coastal research as well as a joint training program on the Carmel Coast.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Lawfare Project threatens to sue UC Berkeley to ensure safety of Jewish students

Following a set of distressing events at the University of California, Berkeley, The Lawfare Project has sent a letter to Chancellor Carol Christ calling on the university to act to ensure Jewish students feel safe and welcome on campus. [Press release from the Lawfare Project]

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Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Wrap group learns at Tifereth Israel

The national Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs (FJMC) has a tradition called “World Wide Wrap,” in which Jews around the world are taught traditional ways of wrapping tefillin (phylacteries) on their arms and placing a prayer box on their heads. Rabbi Joshua Dorsch, instructing a learning session sponsored by the Tifereth Israel Synagogue Men’s Club, an FJMC affiliate, on Sunday, explained that the custom derives from a literal interpretation of the v’ahavta prayer (Deuteronomy 6:5-9), … [Donald H. Harrison}

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education

Court rules in dispute over Mickey Stern’s will

When arts supporter Mickey Stern died on July 1, 2016, she left an estate valued at more than $12.8 million, consisting of $9.5 million in cash and securities, a La Jolla condominium at 939 Coast Boulevard valued at $3.3 million, and about $40,000 in personal property. A battle over her will ensued, pitting Stern’s two children, Melanie and Robert Sturm, and her grandson Zane Zachary Sturm, against Congregation Beth Israel of San Diego.  At issue was the question of what party or parties should pay the taxes after the bequests of the estate were distributed.  If Congregation Beth Israel prevailed, it would have meant a windfall to the Reform congregation that was estimated in a Los Angeles Superior Court document at $2.2 million. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Tu B’Shevat celebrated throughout S.D. County

Notwithstanding Sunday’s rain, various celebrations in honor of Tu B’Shevat, the birthday of the trees, were held throughout San Diego County, kicking off a week of observances of what some call “Jewish Arbor Day.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Israeli-Americans tussle over WZC slates

The United States will send 152 of the 500 delegates who will meet in Jerusalem at the World Zionist Congress, which allocates approximately $1 billion a year in funds for Zionist activities in Israel, the United States, and around the world.  Voting continues through March 11 via this website.
The leaders of Israel Shelanu on Tuesday, Feb. 4, put out a press release saying the Israel-American Council (IAC) betrayed Israeli-Americans when it decided to support the slate of Kol Israel rather than Israel Shelanu. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Parshas Bo – The Rules of the Road

It is now forty years since I began driving an automobile. I took driver’s education and it was through them I got my license, but it was my mother, of blessed memory, who taught me how to drive. Over the years I’ve heard that I have a reputation of being a New York driver. Some passengers in my car requested double seat belts and a parachute with an optional eject button just in case they needed access to an early departure. New York drivers are known to be aggressive; it is a direct correlation to the aggressiveness of daily life in New York city. In contrast, living in Charleston, South Carolina, cars can be sold with a horn because no one ever beeps such a rude, noisy device. [Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky]

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Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food

Jewish astronaut lectures SD students from space

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir taught a middle school class from space on Monday, speaking via a video link from the International Space Station to San Diego students. Meir, who has been on the station since September, spoke to 150 students from Fulton Middle School and Memorial Preparatory for Scholars and Athletes at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. [Times of San Diego]

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International, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education

Can carob save a nation?

The carob tree has been appreciated for its various features throughout the ages. Nowadays, people are starting to rediscover this amazing plant. It is both a wild growing forest tree, and an easy to cultivate fruit tree. Because of this combination, the carob tree lends itself to a wide range of uses, thus making it the perfect tree to solve many of Morocco’s pressing economic and environmental issues. [By Nora Martetschläger]

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International, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food

Campaign heats up for WZC delegate spots

The campaign for 152 delegate spots to the World Zionist Congress meeting in Jerusalem next October is heating up with Americans for Peace & Tolerance  accusing a rival Hatikvah slate of trying “to take over the Congress and get hold of its $1 billion budget which will be used for various and sundry community causes — including, if they get their way, anti-Israel activity.” Americans for Peace and Tolerance leader Charles Jacobs is part of the slate of the ZOA (Zionist Organization of America) Coalition. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

A student’s successful campaign against anti-Semites

At a lunch-and-learn session Tuesday, Jan. 21, at the offices of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County, Elise Alloul, the campus strategy coordinator for StandWithUs, told how she as a student at York University in Toronto overcame anti-Semitism and got herself elected in 2016 to a two-year term on the university’s Board of Governors, a body similar to the Board of Regents for the University of California. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Life and times of Barbara Bry

She has a BA from Penn and an MBA from Harvard University.  She’s been a journalist.  She has started up two successful tech businesses.  She has led such organizations as the Jewish Women’s Foundation and Run Women Run.  She has been married twice, has two adult daughters, and, at 70, is a proud grandmother.  For the last three years, she has been a San Diego City Councilwoman. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Sports & Competitions

SDJA students raise $7,168 for charities

Given poker chips, each student placed one in a cannister bearing the name of the charity of his or her choice.  After the chips were counted, and pro rata shares were computed for each charity, checks signed by the Head of School Chaim Heller were presented to their representatives on Friday, Jan. 17. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA