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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Movie probes Israelis who move to Germany, Austria

Back to the Fatherland is a documentary that raises more questions than it provides answers, but in so doing it portrays the anguish that Israeli Jews and Gentiles from Germany and Austria still feel about the Holocaust.  With occasional passages involving filmmakers Kat Rohrer and Gil Levanon themselves — one being Austrian, the other Israeli — the film for the most part focuses on ttwo young Israeli men who decided to make their homes in Austria and Germany, and the reaction and memories their decisions stir up within their grandparents, who were Holocaust survivors. [Movie review by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Remembering dear ones of now and then

Suzanne Choney posted a photo on Facebook today of her parents, Rosa Rubel and Icek Choinowski, who 75 years ago today were “among 60,000 human beings being liberated from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany.”  Choney added, “I know we all have so much to worry about now.  But I think of my parents, known in America as Rose and Irving Choney, the bravery of the Allies and the good people everywhere, and the evil faced by millions.  And I remember.  Just as all of us will remember this time.”  The photo, at left, of her parents was taken in London in 1947, two years after their liberation. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, USA
https://youtu.be/hYlxVJubdww

Remembering via a virtual March of the Living

Residents throughout our county are joining a unique, worldwide virtual memorial to remember the victims of the Holocaust.  Sidelined by the coronavirus pandemic from attending this year’s “March of the Living” which brings thousands of Jews to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration complex in Poland to mourn those who were murdered by the Nazis, members of the Jewish community instead are posting their sentiments on line via the Never Means Never website created for the purpose by March of the Living organizers. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, USA

Congresswoman Davis announces financial help for students

Federal relief funds  for local universities and colleges and for their students in need during the coronavirus pandemic were announced on Monday by Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego).  In total, 23 institutions of higher learning in the count are receiving grant totaling $137,435,195, and will be required to distribute at least $71,360,718 in grants to students to pay for housing food, and other essentials. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Standing with the Asian community

I sympathize with the more than 50 Asian and Pacific Islander organizations in San Diego that have issued a statement urging San Diegans to avoid using terms such as the “China virus,”  “Chinese virus,” or the “Wuhan virus” as these descriptions have the effect, whether intended or not, of fanning latent racism among non-API residents. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Fred Kropveld, International, San Diego County, USA

A virtual Passover in passing

On Wednesday night, many of us had Passover seders we’ll always remember, when we met by Zoom, Facebook, and other Internet devices because the Coronavirus made it unsafe for us to hold our usual celebratory family gatherings.  We’ve been collecting photos from Facebook and our email of San Diegans in their unusual celebrations. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA

Passing on Passover thoughts

SAN DIEGO — Members of our community have been sharing their thoughts about this unusual Passover via emails and social media. We are pleased to pass along some of them: Rabbi Joshua Dorsch of Tifereth Israel Synagogue says, “One of the many things that Passover teaches us is that amidst the darkness, and challenging moments in our lives, together, we will persevere. We will emerge from the struggle and the challenges before us, stronger and more connected together.”  Along with Tifereth Israel staff members Michelle Barbour, Amy Stanley, Beth Klareich, and Alissa Messian, he performed in a video parodying Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham:  “I do not want you in my house/ I do not want you or your spouse/ I do not wish to eat with you/ At Seder one or Seder Two/ Don’t get me wrong: I think you’re nice/ but the CDC gave out this advice:/ You must avoid one plague more/ And shoo Elijah from your door./ At next year’s seder, we will tell/ How we were all saved by Purell.” [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food, USA

Lone soldier from San Diego on patrol near Gaza

  Other items in  today’s column include *Israel Philharmonic teams up in their homes for Pesach melodies *Coronavirus and animals *Passover doings * By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Sometimes in the morning, sometimes at night, Israel Defense Forces Corporal Sagie Shpigelman, 19,  of San Diego patrols Israel’s border with Gaza along with other

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share, Travel and Food, USA

Jewish community raises $2 million for Covid-19 emergencies; more needed

Approximately $2 million has been raised for the San Diego Jewish Community Emergency Fund, created by the Jewish Community Foundation, the Leichtag Foundation, and the Jewish Federation of San Diego County, professionals of those three organizations noted Monday in a Zoom conference. However, more will be needed, according to Beth Sirull, the president and CEO of the Jewish Community Foundation. “The pandemic has the makings of a real humanitarian nightmare,” she said, noting that as people are thrown out of work, they are struggling to meet such basic needs as purchasing foods and medicines. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

Jewish community raises $2 million for Covid-19 emergencies; more needed Read More »

Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Judaism, Lifestyles, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Surveying the passing scene

Let me start off with a kind offer from Sandy Scheller of Chula Vista who volunteers to sew cloth face masks at no charge like the one she is wearing at the right for people who contact her via her email. When she lived in Las Vegas, Sandy had a business called “Kosher Couture.” Those who take her up on her kind offer will have to arrange to pick up the masks.  Scheller also is the organizer of the year-long Project RUTH — Remember Us The Holocaust exhibit which is now shuttered, along with everything else, at the main branch of the Chula Vista Public Library.  So, sewing masks gives her desire to serve the community another beneficial outlet. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel, z"l, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County

Havdalah moves west with San Diego connections

Those with Internet connections could watch the Havdalah ceremonies with San Diego connections move west on Saturday from Israel to New Jersey en route to San Diego.

In Israel, Cantor Hanan Leberman, who serves for specified holidays as a cantor at Tifeeth Israel Synagogue in San Diego, provided songs and traditional chants in the ceremony marking the end of the Sabbath and the beginning of the regular week.  As is customary, he drank wine, smelled spices, and watched the flames of the havdalah candle flicker shadows from his fingers to the palm of his hand. Hours later, in Vorhees, New Jersey, Cantor Alisa Pomerantz-Boro of that township’s Congregation Beth El, was accompanied by her daughter Rebecca as she marked the end of the Sabbath.  [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Bry sees less need in future for office space, more need for Internet connections, technology

City Councilwoman Barbara Bry, whose runoff status for mayor against Assemblyman Todd Gloria has now been confirmed by the San Diego County Registrar of Voters, said on Friday that the coronavirus pandemic likely will have both short-term and long-term impacts on the City of San Diego [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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