Donald H. Harrison

[caption id="attachment_119310" align="alignright" width="100"] Donald H. Harrison[/caption]

Donald H. Harrison is the publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World. 

Harrison began his journalism career in 1962 on the UCLA Daily Bruin.  Following graduation he joined the staff of the Associated Press, and later became politics writer for The San Diego Union.  Afterwards he pursued a career in tourism, helping to establish San Diego’s Cruise Ship Program as well as Old Town Trolley Tours of San Diego.  He also wrote for such Jewish publications as the San Diego Jewish Press Heritage and San Diego Jewish Times before starting San Diego Jewish World in 2007.

Don’s  latest work is the three-volume Schlepping and Schmoozing Along the Interstate 5.  

He is the author of six previous books.  Those with links may be obtained on Amazon.

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Adventure story is gentle introduction to the Holocaust

This graphic novel is a relatively gentle introduction for children to the Holocaust, wherein two Polish Jewish children escape from their ghetto to the woods, where they are found by a Gentile farmer who has been working with the resistance.  In fact, the farmer has been hiding from a German search party three Partisans who blew up a train that was headed with weapons and supplies to the Russian front.  Among the brave Partisans is none other than the children’s aunt, who had left home before the Jews of their town had been moved and restricted to  a ghetto. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History

Addressing hate and division in our society

Elsewhere in today’s report on San Diego Jewish World is a story from the Anti-Defamation League reporting that nearly two-thirds of American Jews, based on a survey, have experienced or heard some form of antisemitism in the last five years.  On our television screens, meanwhile, is the ongoing trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd – a case study in White violence against Black people.   And, in the San Diego Union-Tribune this morning was a story from New York City about an unprovoked attack on an Asian-American woman which other people witnessed without intervening. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Lifestyles, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Proud of the U.S. and local response to migrant children

I’m so proud of President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Cabinet Secretaries Alejandro Mayorkas and Xavier Becerra, San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, our city’s Mayor Todd Gloria, the folks at Jewish Family Service, and San Diego Jewish World’s own contributor Mimi Pollack. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Mimi Pollack, San Diego County, USA

Jewish community responds to Boulder, Atlanta shootings

The Jewish Community Center in Boulder,  Colorado, is actively participating in the healing of that city in the wake of a gunman opening fire on Monday, March 22, at the Table Mesa King Soopers supermarket and killing 10 people ranging in age from 20 to 65, including Police Officer Eric Talley, 51, who tried to quell the disturbance. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, USA

Obituaries provide much to learn and ponder

I often read the obituaries of people I have never met, and often find myself regretting that life hadn’t afforded me the opportunity to sit down with them and benefit from hearing their stories and life experiences.  In today’s San Diego Union-Tribune there were 4 ½ pages of paid obituaries, and many of them had an endearing fact or two about the deceased family member.  Below I pull brief quotes from 22 of them so you can see what I mean. If you’re like me, I bet you also would have enjoyed meeting each one of these remarkable people. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Lifestyles, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Travel and Food

In San Diego, it was lox, bagel and ‘pi’ day

Initially, the event on Sunday, March 14, was advertised by the Tifereth Israel Synagogue Men’s Club as a lox and bagel brunch, during which members could gather by Zoom and discuss how the coronavirus pandemic affected them, and what they look most forward to when it is over.  Members were invited to drive to the synagogue’s parking lot, where a boxed lox n’ bagel meal would be waiting for them. As my wife Nancy had some errands to run in the neighborhood of the synagogue, she volunteered to pick up the boxed brunch.  Inside of the box were two individual fruit pies — one apple, another cherry — in addition to the advertised lox, bagels and cream cheese.   How come?  “It’s pi day,” explained Bram Rubinstein, a Men’s Club member. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Lifestyles, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food, USA

A most unusual bar mitzvah

I attended the bar mitzvah of a young man who recoils from compliments or recognition.  So I can’t say who he is, but I can tell you that his friends and relatives are shaking their heads in wonder.  The young man turned 14  just two days ago, on March 11.  But today it was if he were 13 again.  Or so it seemed, because today he finally had his bar mitzvah, which normally occurs when a boy turns 13. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, San Diego County

Antisemitic graffiti riles SDSU

Earlier this week, an unidentified resident advisor at South Campus Plaza North, a large dormitory serving hundreds of students at San Diego State University, found scrawled on the exterior of the building three swastikas and coded messages often associated with white supremacist philosophy.  She immediately got some poster board to cover the offensive messaging, and drew hearts upon the poster board along with the message “Spread Love.”  After campus police were called to the scene and photographs taken of the offending material as part of an ongoing investigation, the antisemitic message was eliminated. [Donald H. Harrison]

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