San Diego County

‘Great Torah Roll’ fun at Seacrest Village

Rabbi Leah Herz created a fun-filled Simchat Torah learning session called “The Great Torah Roll”  for residents of the Seacrest Village Retirement Community in Encinitas when she had the entire Torah unrolled and held by staff, volunteers, and residents, some of whom were in wheelchairs. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

State’s Ethnic Studies Curriculum awaits resolution

The state’s proposed ethnic studies curriculum was temporarily shelved in part because of objections from the California Jewish Legislative Caucus, the Anti-Defamation League, and other Jewish groups that the panel that created the document all but ignored the Jewish experience in the United States, while utilizing the curriculum to spread a false Palestinian narrative about Israel that includes support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS). [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education

Davis joins Pelosi’s trip to Jordan, Afghanistan

U.S. Rep. Susan Davis (D-San Diego) was part of a delegation led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) on a previously unannounced weekend trip to Jordan, where they met with King Abdullah II to discuss Turkey’s invasion of Syria.  The group also went to Afghanistan where they met with President Ashraf Ghani. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Middle East, San Diego County, Sports & Competitions, USA

Son of Jonas Salk to tell of vaccination necessity

With a growing anti-vaccine movement as a backdrop, noted researcher and president of the Jonas Salk Legacy Foundation Dr. Peter Salk – whose father discovered the first polio vaccine – will address the fight to end polio and the current controversy surrounding vaccines during a public presentation at Tifereth Israel Synagogue on Sunday, October 27. [David Ogul]

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David Ogul, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education

15th Jew in space in first all-female space walk

Astronaut Jessica Meir, who earned her doctorate from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography here in San Diego, on Friday was part of the first all-female team to do a space walk from the international space station. She and fellow American  astronaut Christine Koch were tasked with repairing a power control unit – a job that in the slow motion of space took seven hours and 17 minutes, including interruptions to take congratulatory calls from President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Presidential Advisor Invaka Trump, and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel, z"l, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Why I’m supporting Amy Klobuchar for President

I am a former Democrat, who left that party after its hard left, now called progressive, wing did everything it could in 2006 to oust U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut  from his seat, which he nevertheless won as an independent.  Many of us Jews had taken tremendous pride in Lieberman having been Al Gore’s 2000 vice presidential running mate, the first Jew to be so nominated by either major party.  So, we felt the effort to dump Lieberman to be a slap in the face.  Yes, he was more conservative than many of us on some issues, but he always was an upstanding example of integrity and civility. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, USA

Two S.D. Jewish community builders lauded

I had the honor on Wednesday night to be the speaker at the Beth Israel Men’s Club. My topic was the historic contributions of two Jewish San Diegans who had been members of Congregation Beth Israel: Marcus Schiller and Jacob Weinberger.  Both men were immigrants to this country from Europe, both had been active in the political life of San Diego, and both helped to form institutions that are prominent in our local Jewish community.

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

JNF: Israel schooling leads to Jewish continuity

Dr. Sol Lizerbram, the Rancho Santa Fe resident who serves as national president of the Jewish National Fund, offers some statistics to back up the claim that sending a teenager to JNF’s Alexander Muss High School program in Israel can contribute in the long run to Jewish continuity.

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Judaism, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Sports & Competitions, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food, USA

‘Never Again is Now’ references Poway shooting

Evelyn Marcus and Rosa Zeegers are a Jewish lesbian couple who uprooted themselves from Holland and moved to the United States because they saw ugly anti-Semitic history repeating itself in Europe.  Anti-Semitic graffiti, beatings, rallies, bombings, and demonstrations all seemed to presage the same kind of Holocaust that their parents had lived through.  Now, they are seeing some of the same troubling signs in the United States — last Passover’s shooting at San Diego County’s own Chabad of Poway being just one example.

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego Calendar, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food, USA

‘Intimate Apparel’ and a love that couldn’t be

“The Bravest Little Theater That Could” is the name I want to assign to New Village Arts. Each season this little theater tackles new and challenging shows and always pulls them off with aplomb.  Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel completely lives up to this with an immensely talented cast. Brilliant staging delivers a tale that is at once poignant, historically accurate, and tender.

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Eva Trieger, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

‘Bad Hombres, Good Wives’ surprises, pleases

Bad Hombres, Good Wives, a delightful new comedy at the San Diego Repertory Theater, is a cheeky take on Northern Mexico’s narco culture and the relationship between men and women. Written by Playwright in Residence Herbert Siguenza, the play explores the age-old problems of relationships between men and women with a mix of The Importance of Being Ernest, Moliere’s School for Wives, a narco telenovela, and some “Guillermo” Shakespeare thrown in for good measure.

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Mimi Pollack, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Our Shtetl San Diego County: October 12, 2019

Items in today’s column include:
*UC San Diego books former Israeli FM Tzipi Livni for Nov. 11 lecture
*Three Jewish philanthropists to receive UC San Diego Chancellor’s Medal
*San Diego Humane Society hosts training for animal law enforcement officers
*Political bytes
*Fundraising
*Coming our way
*Remembering Sy Brenner

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education

Our Shtetl San Diego County: October 11, 2019

Items in today’s column include
*State creates fund to protect at risk non-profit institutions such as synagogues
*What our children/ grandchildren are reading
*Jewish War Veterans to honor returning active duty service members
*Political bytes
*Coming Our Way
(To read more, please click on the headline.)

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Travel and Food