Technion student Polina Bronov, speaking to residents of the Vi senior living community on Friday, told of her life before and after enrolling at the university often described as Israel’s MIT. [Irv Jacobs, MD, MPH]
Student tells of life, research at Technion Read More »
Irv Jacobs, MD, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education
Safa is a fifth grader whose family hails from Zimbabwe. She’s precocious, curious, smart and very likable. But there’s a new kid in school, Ryan, who makes Safa the object of his taunts. Ryan isn’t hostile so much as immature. He’s “only joking,” but at Safa’s expense. And when Safa goes to the teacher for support, she’s labeled a “snitch,” which only makes matter worse. Halfway through the performance, the audience gets to weigh in, changing the outcome of the story by changing the characters choices, even stepping into their roles. We can be Safa, standing up for ourselves, her classmates being better friends or the teacher taking the situation more seriously. The one character we can’t replace is the bully. The only way to change him is to stand up to him. [Eric George Tauber]
Safa’s Story responds creatively to bullying Read More »
Eric George Tauber, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
Jeanne Shenkman, 83, a retired teacher with the Grossmont High School District, moved to Seacrest Village Retirement Community in Encinitas last May to live near her daughter. Throughout her life, she has always been a busy person with varied interests. For example, in addition to her teaching duties, she played violin in the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra for 42 years and served as a docent at the San Diego Natural History Museum for 15 years. [Donald H. Harrison]
Seacrest Village through a resident’s camera lens Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
Not one of Bloomberg’s adversaries bothered to criticize the mayor about a comment he was quoted saying dating back to November 17, 2016, which is the real subject of this article’s focus. “If you think about it, the agrarian society lasted 3,000 years, and we can teach processes. I can teach anybody – even people in this room, so no offense intended – to be a farmer. It’s a process. You dig a hole, you put a seed in, you put dirt on top, you add water, up comes corn. You can learn that. Then you had 300 years of the industrial society. You put the piece of metal on the lathe, you turn the crank in direction of arrow and you can have a job. And we created a lot of jobs. At one point, 98% of the world worked in agriculture. Today it’s 2% of the United States.” (Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]
How about educating for real jobs? Read More »
Business & Finance, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
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]
Victory against anti-Semitism at SDSU Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
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]
Haifa, San Diego scientists to probe Israeli coastal waters Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA
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]
Lawfare Project threatens to sue UC Berkeley to ensure safety of Jewish students Read More »
Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
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}
Wrap group learns at Tifereth Israel Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education
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]
Court rules in dispute over Mickey Stern’s will Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
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]
Tu B’Shevat celebrated throughout S.D. County Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USAThe 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]
Israeli-Americans tussle over WZC slates Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
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]
Parshas Bo – The Rules of the Road Read More »
Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food
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]
Jewish astronaut lectures SD students from space Read More »
International, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education
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]
Can carob save a nation? Read More »
International, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food