Travel and Food

A consortium of 100 geniuses

Besides being Jewish what do these people have in common?  Amir Amedi, Ron Arad, Marc Benioff, Michael Bloomberg, Ruth Bader Ginsburg,  Daniel S. Goldin, Roger D. Kornberg, Deborah Nadoolman Landis, John Landis, Uri Levine, Shuki Levy, Daniel Libeskind, Shimon Peres (z”l), Ehud Shabtai,  Amir Shinar and Barbra Streisand. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Business & Finance, Donald H. Harrison, International, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Sports & Competitions, The World We Share, Travel and Food

Animals receive a blessing at Tifereth Israel Synagogue

With Jews around the world scheduled to read the story of Noah’s Ark next Saturday, the Abraham Ratner Torah School at Tifereth Israel Synagogue held a blessing for the animals in a brief outdoor ceremony on Sunday. Rabbi Joshua Dorsch, with arms raised, blessed about a dozen dogs and one rabbit that were brought by congregants of the Conservative shul.  [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share, Travel and Food, USA

Processing a billion garlic bulbs a year

From an initial ten-acre plot of garlic in 1956, the family has expanded its holdings to 6,000 acres throughout central California. The company, also known as Christopher Ranch, harvests approximately 100 million pounds of garlic annually, which translates into the production of approximately one billion garlic bulbs every year.  The company has a workforce of 1,000 permanent employees, and upwards of 2,000 employees who are brought in for the harvest season under a federal program with Mexico. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Business & Finance, Donald H. Harrison, Travel and Food, USA

More details on sale of Seacrest’s Nellie Cohn Residence

Ferris told San Diego Jewish World that only 25 of the 54 units had been occupied, making unprofitable the facility designed under auspices of the San Diego Hebrew Home to accommodate Jewish religious practices. She said surveys of the Jewish community indicated that one of the problems might have been that the residential facility had only independent living units, rather than a mix of units such as there is at the 250-unit Seacrest Village Retirement Community in Encinitas. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Business & Finance, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, The World We Share, Travel and Food

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

Holland seems like a well-run country

It’s a lovely, well run place. The Dutch may be more German than the Germans. Or at least close cousins. Order is clear. Trains and trams are clean and on time. Perhaps within a minute or two. Buildings we’ve seen are spruced well, with gold and fresh paint on statues and other fancy fixtures. Lots of tourists, even in the early part of September. American English was the language of conversation in our hotel breakfast room.

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International, Ira Sharkansky, Travel and Food

New Mexico’s Crypto-Jews subject of informative tour

When Jordi was just ten years old, his grandfather said, “This is how we butcher a chicken,” as he demonstrated the kosher slaughtering method. Jordi’s grandfather thereby revealed that the family was Jewish, a startling surprise for a young boy in the 1990s living in Spain, whose family was ostensibly Roman Catholic like everybody else. This revelation, that they were Crypto-Jews (secret Jews), had a profound effect on Jordi, who eventually became the first rabbi in 500 years to be ordained in Spain.

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International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Steve Kramer, Travel and Food, USA

Aquarium teaches how good ‘rulers’ treat their subjects

In Genesis: 1:28 we are taught that God blessed mankind instructing it to, “… rule over the fish of the sea, the bird of the sky, and every living thing that moves on the earth.”  At the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a visitor can conclude that the phrase “rule over” is interpreted to mean “do everything in your power to help all living creatures.” This becomes evident in light of the aquarium’s successful efforts to rescue otters, to teach about conservation, and to instruct children in the fascinating ways of marine life.

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share, Travel and Food

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

A Very Personal Trip to Prague

From the moment we entered the city, I felt the presence of the Jews who are no longer there. I wondered about every Czech person we met (and they were all lovely).  Where were their parents or grandparents during the Shoah? Did they help or hide any Jews, or did they stand along the sidewalks and cheer the Germans as they entered the city?  I loved the magnificent architecture, taking my photo next to a statue of Franz Kafka, walking the picturesque streets, but my soul couldn’t escape the past. (To read more, please click on the headline.)

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International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Toby Klein Greenwald, Travel and Food

Congress must provide food security for military families

By Abby J. Leibman and Kelly Hruska WASHINGTON, D.C. — We often hear that Congress never gets anything done. However, there’s at least one piece of legislation that Congress has passed reliably for over fifty years: the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which sets policies and priorities for our nation’s military. The reason for this

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San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA