San Diego County

Goodbye Columbus, Schweitzer, and Lindbergh

For many years, performing any of Richard Wagner’s orchestral works was verboten in Israel.  Wagner was a virulent antisemite and Hitler’s favorite composer.  In a country that had taken in so many victims of the Holocaust, performing any of Wagner’s works would have been like pouring  burning oil onto an open flesh wound. [Donald H. Harrison]

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

San Diego Jewish Academy Goes Solar

San Diego Jewish Academy (SDJA), a pluralistic community K-12 school with a thriving early childhood center, marked a major milestone in the school’s ambitious Sustainability Initiative (SI) celebrating the completion and activation of its 800 kW solar project, further placing the school on the road to electricity independence.  [SDJA news release]

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San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share

Pulmonologist Mandel to tell of COVID-19 in two Californias

Jess Mandel, M.D., a board certified pulmonologist, will review the development and execution of COVID-19 surge planning at UCSD and in San Diego County at a 7 p.m., meeting on Wednesday, June 9, sponsored by the Beth Israel Men’s Club.  Additionally, he will discuss the collaborations that developed with hospitals and health care workers in Imperial County and northern Baja California. He will also review the current state of COVID19 in the county and its likely course in the future. [Beth Israel Men’s Club News Release]

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

Federation’s Interim CEO Appeals for Help for Sha’ar Hanegev

Our staff is in regular contact with our partner region, Sha’ar HaNegev, whose residents are once again demonstrating their resilience. Your contribution to our annual campaign provides direct support for our friends in the region. We have identified three critical needs for residents of Sha’ar HaNegev where Federation support is urgently needed, and your contribution today will help to meet these needs in the weeks and months to come.  [Heidi Gantwerk]

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Middle East, San Diego County

Asylum Seekers See Very Little of San Diego on Journeys to Sponsors

U.S.-authorized asylum seekers assisted by Jewish Family Service of San Diego (JFS) may remember our city primarily as a place where they slept on hotel beds with clean linens, had three meals a day delivered to them, and got their first prolonged taste of American television. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA

ADL Director Explains Program with SDSU on Antisemitism

In response to a series of troubling antisemitic incidents recently at San Diego State University, the San Diego office of the Anti-Defamation League reached out to the administration with an offer to work with the university’s Center for Inclusive Excellence to develop an innovative professional learning opportunity for the faculty and staff.  The goal was to help faculty to better recognize the warning signs of antisemitism and to be better equipped to address issues of hate and bias when they arise on campus. [Tammy Gillies]

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Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Jewish Family Service Has Unit to Help Jews in Need

The chief executive officer of Jewish Family Service of San Diego estimates that between 10 and 20 percent of the Jews who live in San Diego County are at or below the poverty line.  To help them, and any other Jew in need, JFS has created  a culturally-competent Center for Jewish Care, reports Michael Hopkins, the JFS CEO.  Currently, the center has three fulltime staff members, but according to Carole Yellen, JFS senior director of strategic partnerships, that number may soon be doubled. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Business & Finance, Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County

Why Israelis Continue to Live Next to Gaza Despite the Danger

For most people, it may be difficult to understand why residents sitting on the border to Gaza choose to live there. How could someone put themselves and their family at risk? It’s hard to imagine, especially when you have only 15 seconds to get into a “safe room,” a bomb shelter from the time a tzeva adom, red alert, is sounded, but there is a reason.  [Debbie Kornberg]

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Middle East, San Diego County, USA

Jacob Kamaras joins San Diego Jewish World as Managing Editor

Jacob Kamaras, a public relations professional who previously served as the first editor in chief of the national Jewish News Syndicate (JNS), has accepted a position as managing editor of San Diego Jewish World, it was announced by Donald H. Harrison, publisher and editor in chief of the daily online news publication. [SDJW staff report]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jacob Kamaras, San Diego County, USA

Making San Diego a Yiddish Destination

During the pandemic, YAAANA, the Yiddish Arts and Academics Association of North America, a tiny non-profit organization I founded four years ago, saw significant growth, and is about to move into a new physical space in La Jolla. In June 2021, we plan to open a mini-Yiddishland California in the Village of La Jolla. Among the activities planned for that space are Yiddish music concerts, theater performances, activities for children, Yiddish classes, and festive Yiddish-style dinners. And, just like our previous pop-up and Zoom events, all YAAANA activities will be accessible to all regardless of Yiddish-speaking abilities. Additionally, childcare will be available to visiting parents. [Jana Mazurkiewicz Meisarosh]

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

Tikkun Olam: Adventures in Tijuana

Saturday, May 15th was Teacher’s Day in Mexico. Teachers were celebrated all over the country.  As a retired teacher, I found it the perfect day to go to Tijuana on a delivery run to a migrant shelter built on a canyon in a poorer neighborhood. My friends, Alba Orr who is retired from Grossmont College and Juan Martin Sajche, a Spanish teacher at Morse High School, and I met at my home at 9 a.m.. We filled two cars up with large bags of stuffed animals, different snacks, mandarins, juice boxes, and school supplies. [Mimi Pollack]

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International, Lifestyles, San Diego County

Local ranch poised for historic status

There is no shortage of places in Valley Center that would qualify for an official government historic register. Yet, not a single home, building or site has ever been recognized on any local, regional or federal government official list of sites, buildings, structures or objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historic significance.  Only signs reading “Site of Historic Interest” appear on many properties, all installed by the Valley Center Historical Society.
That is about to change.  [Robert Lerner]

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Jewish History, San Diego County