Donald H. Harrison

Georges Yitshak Weisz, Theodor Herzl: A New Reading, Gefen Publishing House, (c) 2013, ISBN: 9789652295873, 295 pages including appendices and index. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–This is both biography and historiography of the Zionist leader Theodor Herzl.  Through an examination of what previous historians have said about Herzl, Weisz provides readers with highlights of

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO– A Jewish community forum at Congregation Beth Israel heard several ideas on Friday, Feb. 21,  for improving the lives of present and future senior citizens.  All the suggestions required legislation at either the federal or state level. The meeting was an outgrowth of ongoing consultations among local Jewish agencies

By Donald H. Harrison ESCONDIDO, California –Now six months into operation, Chesed Home at Hope Village currently serves three residents with mental illnesses and has room for three more. Until recently there were five residents in the Home but two recently “graduated” to independent living units on the same residential property operated by Hope Village,

By Donald H. Harrison EL CAJON, California—The senior pastor whose  mega-church includes architectural homages to the Holy Land recently was joined in marriage by a Christian Zionist leader from the San Francisco area with ties to the family of Holocaust rescuer Oskar Schindler.  Now, the Rev. Jim Garlow and his bride, Rosemary Schindler Garlow, are

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Leslie Weening, a 30-year employee at the Jewish Federation of San Diego who rose to the position of  assistant to the executive director, was memorialized Wednesday, Feb. 12, in the sanctuary of Tifereth Israel Synagogue, where she had been a longtime member.  Weening had died of a heart

Azriela Jaffe, Unexpected Gifts: A Novel, Menucha Publishers, (c) 2013, ISBN 978-161465-132-1,                     255 pages. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO– “Everybody’s got tzuris,” my late father, Martin B. Harrison, liked to point out.  Were he alive to have read this book, he’d have tapped it authoritatively, and said, “What did I tell you?” Some

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–For those who stayed for the chicken and vegetables buffet—no dairy—following Saturday morning Shabbat services, Feb. 8, at Temple Emanu-El, there was an interesting discussion led by Rabbi Devorah Marcus and Joseph Bendah, a Karaite Jew, about his small, Jewish sect’s full acceptance of the Torah and its rejection of

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–Congregation Beth Israel was involved in a sacred trade  this Shabbat weekend. It donated a Torah for a new synagogue in the Sha’ar Hanegev region of Israel, and Rabbi Michael Marmur, provost of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem, came here to lecture on Rabbi Abraham Joshua

By Donald H. Harrison   LA JOLLA, California — We’ve all heard metaphors about people judged to be so gentle they “wouldn’t hurt a fly,” but in former Second Lady Joan Mondale’s case, it was literally true, according to her traveling companion  during former U.S. Vice President Walter “Fritz” Mondale’s campaign for President. Elaine Galinson,

Benjamin Morse, The Oldest Bedtime Story Ever, Orson and Company, (c) 2012, ISBN 978-0-9858136-0-5, 77 pages with illustrations, $30. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–The title of this book is intriguing; what can that oldest bedtime story possibly be?  Once a parent and child begin this colorfully illustrated and judiciously edited book by author and

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO– Would the creation of universally free Jewish pre-schools strengthen ties between Diaspora countries and Israel?  That is one of the ideas under discussion among member agencies of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and Israel’s government. Another area under consideration is the creation of strong follow-up programs in

    By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–The professor who directs the Center for Law and Media at Israel’s Ariel University says the Jewish state must argue its case more vehemently in the courts of law and public opinion, and to do that it must be willing to invest the money it takes to counter