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

There’s More Than One Kind of Mikvah for Conversion Ceremonies

However, there are other ways that the process of conversion can be completed, much closer to home, as Dr. Mark Scheller, an anesthesiologist, learned in 2015 when he waded from the shore of Chula Vista’s Bayside Park into the cold waters of San Diego Bay. [Donald H. Harrison]

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

Attorney Provides Insight into U.S.’s Broken Immigration System

Author Susan J. Cohen is a compassionate attorney who handles many immigration cases on a pro bono basis for the Boston branch of the national Mintz Levin law firm.  This book, written with the help of journalist Steven T. Taylor, tells of eleven cases in which she helped immigrants obtain asylum or permanent residency in the United States. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, USA

Purim: The Inside Face and the Outside Face

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO — Purim. It’s our happiness, fun-filled, dramatic, costume-drinking-upside down-holiday. Many have the tradition to fast on the day before Purim (Fast of Esther). Some have the custom to give three coins to charity to recall the half-shekel donated annually to the Temple during Adar (Machatzit HaShekel), and this

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

Zoom Program on Violinist Jascha Heifetz is Enlightening, Artistic, Entertaining

By Eileen Wingard LA JOLLA, California — Cesare Civetta, a native New Yorker, conductor of the Beethoven Festival Orchestra, has launched a series of programs on Zoom which are highly enlightening, artistic, and entertaining. The past two Sundays, Civetta presented a wonderful program on violinist Jascha Heifetz, whose name was often invoked as the standard

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

North American Jewish Day School Students Score a Slam Dunk for Disability Awareness

By Jacob Kamaras (JNS) What new invention is named after a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, inspired by Israeli disability care and advancement organization, and designed by North American Jewish day-school students? It’s the “Shaquille O’ Wheel,” a reimagined basketball hoop that makes it easier for people using wheelchairs and others

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Jacob Kamaras, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

New York Times Drinks Rashida Tlaib’s Kool-Aid

By Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA — Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) squawked on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives last May, “How many Palestinians have to die for their lives to matter?” Madam Congresswoman, would they still “have to die” if they ceased attacking Israelis? Who says that their lives do not matter? Tlaib,

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Bruce Ticker, Middle East, Opinion, USA

Parashat Vayikra/Shabbat Zachor: Seeking Forgiveness and Repairing Damage

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO — This week we begin a new book of the Torah, Sefer Vayikra, the book of Leviticus, and we read the Torah reading by the same name, Parashat Vayikra. In addition, this Shabbat we read from a second Sefer Torah since it is Shabbat Zachor, the Shabbat of Memory, the Shabbat observed before Purim. The

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

World War II Novel Glosses over a Tough Moral Decision

A Girl During the War by Anita Abriel; New York: Atria Books © 2022; ISBN 9781982-181185; 317 pages; $17. SAN DIEGO – Many people have asked themselves if they had lived under the Hitler regime, and if they weren’t Jewish, would they have had the courage to protect a Jew, knowing if they were caught

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

North Coast Rep’s ‘The Homecoming’ Puts the Fun in Dysfunctional

By Eva Trieger SOLANA BEACH, California — If you ever wanted to know who put the “fun” in dysfunctional, all hands point towards the North Coast Rep’s latest cast of The Homecoming.  This offbeat, quirky, Pinter play is a hilarious romp from start to finish. Kudos to David Ellenstein for directing this British comedy, and

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

Satire: Translating Putinese

By Laurie Baron Denazification=DeNATOization Ukrainians=Lapsed Russians Special Operations=Asymmetrical war waged until the world starts saying Kiev again Genocide=What lapsed Russians do to ethnic Russians Act of War=Anything that aids the lapsed Russians Chernobyl =What will happen to other nuclear reactors if the lapsed Russians resist Nuclear High Alert=Your next infrastructure projects should be building bomb

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Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Cantor’s Archive Led to Book on Philippine Rescue of European Jews

Enthralled by the stories Cysner told, Harris immediately asked the UC Santa Barbara History Department if she could change her dissertation subject so that it could be based upon Cysner’s experiences, both in Poland, where he was a prisoner of the Nazis, and in the Philippines, where he later became a prisoner of the Japanese. The department agreed, even though this meant changing Harris’ academic advisor and the schedule of courses to which she would commute from her home in San Diego. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, California, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food