USA

At JCC Maccabi Games in San Diego, Pioneers Open Our Eyes to Remarkable Possibilities

By Doron Krakow SAN DIEGO — This week saw the return of the JCC Maccabi Games®. In this, its 40th year, the Games drew 1,600 Jewish teen athletes from 57 delegations and 67 JCCs across Canada and the U.S., as well as delegations from Bulgaria, Mexico, and Israel, to San Diego for a week of […]

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Doron Krakow, Opinion, San Diego County, Sports & Competitions, USA

StandWithUs Letter Campaign to 3,000 University Leaders Raises 5 Key Issues of Concern to Jewish Students

LOS ANGELES (Press Release) – On August 4, StandWithUs launched its second national letter campaign to nearly 3,000 university leaders, highlighting five key issues of concern to Jewish students. The letter stressed the importance of fighting bias and discrimination against Jewish students as part of broader Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and social justice efforts

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Israel, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Jerusalem-San Diego Zoo Exchange Event Highlights Political Leaders’ Interwoven Career Trajectories

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — For more than half her 20-year tenure as a Democratic member of Congress from San Diego, Susan Davis encouraged the exchange of students from Jerusalem and San Diego, remembering that her own time spent as a young woman on an Israeli kibbutz was formative in her own life.

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Donald H. Harrison, Israel, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

When Andrea Mitchell Reports: Holding Israel ‘Accountable,’ But Not Slain Journalist’s Niece

By Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA — As Andrea Mitchell interviewed her on MSNBC last Thursday, Lina Abu Akleh took advantage of her forum to accuse Israeli higher-ups of ordering a soldier to kill her aunt, journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Mitchell asked Lina Abu Akleh during Andrea Mitchell Reports if the shooting was “intentional,” and the

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Bruce Ticker, Middle East, Opinion, USA

Justice Alito Overlooks the Preamble to the Constitution

By Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA — Samuel A. Alito Jr. tells “We the People:” “No support in American law for a constitutional right to obtain an abortion.” Not quite, Mr. Justice. True, our pre-amendment Constitution specifies no civil rights save a brief clause barring a “religious test” to hold public office. However, the Constitution’s Preamble

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Bruce Ticker, Opinion, USA

A Special Privilege to Teach Our Children

By Rabbi Simcha Weiser (JNS) The Jewish future relies on the relevance that children find in what we Jewish teachers teach. Soon to be entering the new school year, we need thoughtful clarity for our teaching to remain relevant. As our Jewish educators prepare to “diligently teach our children,” we remind ourselves how privileged we

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Opinion, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Federal Probe Opened Into Alleged Antisemitism at University of Southern California

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) — The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced it has opened an investigation into a complaint alleging the University of Southern California (USC) allowed a hostile environment of antisemitism to proliferate on its campus, resulting in the resignation in August 2020 of its Jewish student government vice

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California, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

StandWithUs Files Amicus Brief Countering Anti-Israel Bias and Antisemitism in the Clifton, NJ Board of Education

CLIFTON, New Jersey (Press Release) — The StandWithUs Saidoff Legal Department proudly announces its filing of an amicus brief on July 25, 2022, in support of Complainant-Appellant Elisabet h Schwartz, to help combat inflammatory anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric by members of the Clifton Board of Education in Clifton, New Jersey. StandWithUs’ brief responds to a

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Middle East, USA

San Diego Finds Itself at the Center of the Jewish Community Center Universe

By Jacob Kamaras LA JOLLA, California — It’s relatively rare for the top lay leader of a Jewish organization with national or continental reach to be based on the West Coast, let alone in San Diego. That makes the leadership trajectory at the JCC Association of North America all the more unique. In late May,

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Jacob Kamaras, San Diego County, USA

My Week With the Maccabiah Team USA Delegation

By Liora Berkstein SAN DIEGO — My experience at the Maccabiah Games was unforgettable. I had the extraordinary opportunity to be a part of the iCenter’s Educational Cohort’s “Israel Connect Week,” which took place July 5-12, 2022, the week before the opening ceremonies of the Maccabiah games in Israel held July 12-26. The iCenter focuses

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Middle East, Opinion, Sports & Competitions, USA

Kolender Was City’s First Jewish Police Chief, County’s First Jewish Sheriff

A member of the Jewish community, known for his self-deprecating sense of humor, Kolender grew up at the Reform Congregation Beth Israel. However, when it was time for his bar mitzvah, he honored his grandfather’s wishes and had it at Beth Jacob Congregation, which is Orthodox. “The rabbi there was Baruch Stern, and it was the first bar mitzvah for him after the war,” Kolender told me back in 1996 when I profiled him for the now defunct San Diego Jewish Press-Heritage. Rabbi Stern’s children “had been killed in front of him by the Nazis, and he started crying and I started crying, and I’m not sure if we ever did get through the whole thing. It was something I never will forget.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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California, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA