Science, Medicine, & Education

B’shalom: Top CSU Professor; Jewish Political Scene; Obituaries

Mazal tov to Alyssa Sepinwall, who by a process of nominations by students, has been honored as the best professor in the California State University System. She was lauded for engaging students in discussions rather than simply lecturing to them from behind a lectern. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Jewish Congressman Benjamin Gilman Fostered Study Abroad Programs

Chances are the students who receive the scholarships know only a little about their benefactor, the late Congressman Benjamin A. Gilman, a Republican from New York and a member of the Jewish community.  Towards the end of his congressional career, he urged his colleagues “to defray eligible study- or intern-abroad costs,” according to the website of the Gilman International Scholarship Program. “These costs include program tuition, room and board, books, local transportation, insurance, international airfare, passport and visa fees.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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

Big-Mouth Profs ‘Dare to Dissent’

By Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA — It would take someone like Carolyn McCoy to explain the words of Kareem Tannous, a terminated college professor whom she defends in a letter published last Friday in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Tweets the biz prof on International Holocaust Remembrance Day: “#zionism is the disease #Free Palestine is the cure

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Bruce Ticker, Israel, Opinion, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

B’Shalom: Proposed California Food Bans, Technology, Jewish Politics and Celebrities

Observant Jews will be ridding their household of food products with leavening in advance of the Passover holiday that begins the evening of Wednesday, April 5. While checking the labels, they might also want to see if any of the foods they are consuming contain brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, red dye 3, or titanium dioxide. Those are the chemicals that a bill (AB 418) by Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino) would ban from food manufactured or sold in California. The chemicals already are banned  as toxic by Europe, where some manufacturers have consequently reformulated products that had contained them. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Business & Finance, California, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, Israel, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Student Showcase Features Wide Range of Poetry, From Swings to Enlightenment

By Eileen Wingard LA JOLLA, California — Topics from swings to enlightenment were subjects for the student poets and writers from the San Diego Jewish Academy Middle School and High School, San Diego’s Torah High School and Portland, Oregon’s Jewish Academy Middle School who read their poems to more than 50 Zoom listeners, Tuesday evening,

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eileen Wingard, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education

Ahead of San Diego Visit, Israeli College President Shares Vision for Engineering Education’s Transformation

By Jacob Kamaras Times of San Diego LA JOLLA, California — From widespread layoffs to Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse, the technology sector is not exactly a portrait of stability in this moment. But from a long-term perspective, for entry-level tech professionals and particularly those graduating from engineering programs, the future job market may not be

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Business & Finance, California, Israel, Jacob Kamaras, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Hebrew Day School Student Wins Invitation to State Science Fair

Imagine that you built a bridge out of Jengo blocks, and you wanted to see who could more accurately and more quickly replicate your bridge.  Would it be students between the ages of 7 and 13 who watched a 20-second video of you building the bridge, step by step?  Or would it be students of the same age range who simply viewed the bridge for 20 seconds and then, after it was removed from view, started building a copy from memory? [Donald H. Harrison]

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

B’Shalom: Jewish MLB Players; Sabras, Jewish Political & Celebrity News

As the Major League Baseball season is about to get underway, I’m disappointed to report that our San Diego Padres do not have any Jewish player on the roster. However, there are eight Jewish players on National League teams that the Padres will play during the regular season. [Donald H. Harrison]

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California, Donald H. Harrison, Israel, Jewish History, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Sports & Competitions, USA

Obituaries: Women’s Museum Honorees Natasha Josefowitz, Rosalie Schwartz

SAN DIEGO (SDJW) — Two honorees of the Women’s Museum of California died on March 15. One was author and columnist Natasha Josefowitz who was 96.  Lucid until the end, she had been writing columns for La Jolla Village News and San Diego Jewish World through the end of February.  An archive of her articles that appeared on

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, California, Natasha Josefowitz, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

The Story Behind a San Diego Couple’s Historic Gift to Israel

Documentary filmmaker Matthew Mishory has done a deep dive into the background of a San Diego couple who lived quietly, scrimped to such a point that they even reused their paper towels, and through their daughter made the largest philanthropic donation to Israel in the history of the Jewish state: $500 million. [Donald H. Harrison]

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California, Donald H. Harrison, Israel, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Israeli and Arab Scientists Work Together to Solve Regional Water Challenges

By Celia Theller With its origins near the city of Hebron, the Besor Stream winds its way 18 kilometers through the Negev Desert to the city of Beersheva and onward to the Gaza Strip, where it empties into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of 16 streams in Israel that are shared between Israel and

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Israel, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education

B’Shalom: ‘Jacob’s Staff’; TV’s ‘Equalizer,” and Israel in the WBC

The tall ocotillo plant (Fouquieria splendens) that abounds in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park has many common names, among them, according to the Britannica website, “coachwhip” and “vine cactus.”  “Ocotillo” translates from Spanish to “little torch” because of the red flowers that grow at the end of its branches. Perhaps its most mysterious nickname is one that may or may not tell a Jewish story, “Jacob’s staff.”[Donald H. Harrison]

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

Jewish Poets-Jewish Voices to Showcase Students From San Diego and Portland

By Eileen Wingard   LA JOLLA, California — Once again, the Student Showcase of Jewish Poets-Jewish Voices will take place online. This allows for student poets, not only from San Diego but from the Middle School of the Portland Jewish Academy, to also participate. This year’s Student Showcase will take place Tuesday evening, March 14,

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eileen Wingard, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education