AAA-Writers and photographers

Below are the names of writers who are currently active.  For others, living and deceased, please type their name into the search box above the masthead on our home page, www.sdjewishworld.com

King George VI Personally Pinned Medal on Jewish Air Raid Warden

September 23, 1940, German bombs smashed into a residential pub in Manor Park, Newham, a few blocks from where Lewis was stationed.  Beneath the pub was a bomb shelter with 60 people trapped inside. The building burning, collapsing. A water main burst. The basement shelter was flooding, threatening to drown any survivors. 
Lewis and a colleague ran to the site. [Jerry Klinger]

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International, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History

The Saga of a Boy with a Congenitally Broken Heart

Congenital heart disease is not rare and affects 1 in 110 babies with varying degrees of severity. Treatment options offered to Sarah and Matt Hammitt were compassionate care, a full heart transplant, or three surgeries intended to extend Bowen’s life. A documentary, feature-length film, Bowen’s Heart, reveals the challenges, fears, and hopes of Bowen, his three siblings, and his parents. The Hammitt family and the co-directors of the film, Lexi and Zach Read, sought to develop awareness, empathy and support for families living with chronic illness. Their goal was most certainly achieved. [Eva Trieger]

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Eva Trieger, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

San Diegans Step Up for Ukrainian Refugees

Two hundred guests came to this FUN-D-Raiser to meet, support and provide help for local Ukrainian refugees. Present were a number of Ukrainian mothers and their children. Most of the husbands were left behind to fight the Russian invasion. It was a happy event, with authentic Ukrainian food, catered by Pomegranate Restaurant, and joyous entertainment by Big Boss Bubeleh. Vlady, a native of Ukraine, sang Ukrainian songs, while Yael sang in a variety of languages. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, International, San Diego County

Searching for Stanley Stein

Sidney’s life changed in the theater of New York. The specialist, Dr. Emil Loch, a renowned dermatologist, reported him to the authorities as a leper. The police swept up Sidney, almost overnight. With a small suitcase that contained his life, he was sent secretly, swiftly and with as little human contact as possible to vanish into the interior of America. He was shipped to the very isolated world of Carville, Louisiana on the banks of the Mississippi River. Carville was the continental United States’ concentration camp for victims of Leprosy. Standing naked before a board of medical examiners in Carville, Sidney Maurice Levyson was assigned a number that he was to be known forever more as, patient #746. [Jerry Klinger]

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Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food, USA

Parashat Balak: Opening Our Eyes to Goodness

We learn in Choshen Mishpat 137, “Behold, the first ‘good’ in the Torah was based on sight. And from this Rabbi Eliezer learned that the general way to achieve goodness is ‘ayin tova.’” Indeed, in Bereshit, we see that the first verse in the Torah using the word “good” is in relation to sight: “And G-d saw the light and it was good…” [Michael R. Mantell, PhD]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

Inflation Index Adds to Cost of Buying Homes in Israel

The government created the Building Construction Index to protect all parties’ interests. When someone purchases an apartment in a project under construction, the unpaid portion of the price becomes linked to the BCI. Parenthetically, buyers who are risk averse can often accelerate their payment schedule and prepay the lion’s share of the purchase price, thus limiting their inflation risk. [Gedaliah Borvick].

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Business & Finance, Gedaliah Borvick, Middle East

Four Jews Who Served as Port Commissioners Tell of Their Tenures

Members of the Jewish community who have served on the Port Commission since its creation in 1962 were Harvey Furgatch (appointed 1969), Milton “Mickey” Fredman (1970), Ben Cohen (1977) and Louis Wolfsheimer (1979), all of whom had passed away prior to my undertaking this book, and Robert Penner (1988), Lynn Schenk (1990), Stephen Cushman (1998) and Laurie Black (2007), all of whom I had the opportunity to interview. All these Jewish Port Commissioners represented the City of San Diego, except for Penner and Cohen, who were appointed by Chula Vista and Coronado respectively. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Business & Finance, California, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA

The Bullet That Killed Abu Akleh

By Shoshana Bryen (JNS) Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh died covering an Israeli counter-terror operation on the West Bank. That this was a tragedy is the only thing clear about her death. Various media outlets—some reasonably unbiased and some not—mounted “investigations.” Private companies, including a Dutch-based consortium, did their own. Politicians with an ax to grind

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Middle East, Opinion, Shoshana Bryen, USA

Parashat Chukat: One Imperfectly Human Step at a Time

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. If you want to believe that our Torah is obsolete and without consequence in our modern society, and if you choose to believe that those who live a more Torah–observant life than you do are thoughtlessly following nonsensical and senseless foolish “religious rules,” then this week’s Torah portion may put

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

‘Lempicka’ Boldly Tackles a Climate of Upheaval

By Eva Trieger LA JOLLA, California — Artistic Director Christopher Ashley hit the nail squarely on the head when he compared our current climate of “upheaval” to the era in which La Jolla Playhouse’s latest show, Lempicka, is set. He juxtaposed “Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine, and our own domestic threats to LGBTQ+ rights

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Eva Trieger, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast