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

Arab vs. Arab Homicides Increasing in Israel

Yes, there’s gang violence in Israel, but not nearly on the scale of American gang violence. Violent crime in Israel is predominantly found in Israeli Arab towns and in mixed Arab-Jewish cities. It’s often clan/tribal related, consisting of organized crime disputes and more personal, vengeance attacks. In addition, there’s a continuing problem with so-called honor killings, which are intra-family. (In general, Israel is a very safe place, with women not afraid to walk on city streets at night and children having few limits placed on their play time.) [Steve Kramer]

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Middle East, Steve Kramer

Both Parties Harbor Anti-Semites

Both political parties seek to hang onto base voters by tolerating anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry to some degree. Perhaps the right is a more dangerous threat to American Jews, but anti-Semites on the left are holding their own among Democrats. U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, for those who brand her an anti-Semite, was even endorsed last year by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the Democratic primary for her congressional seat. [Bruce Ticker]

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Bruce Ticker, Middle East, USA

Coffee, East and West

One of Jerusalem’s lesser-known gems is the Museum for Islamic Art, a handsome building situated not far from the Jerusalem Theatre complex and the President’s residence. As well as exhibiting a fine array of objects of Islamic art it houses a unique collection of clocks and watches amassed by the late David Solomons. A large part of that collection was stolen from the museum some forty years ago, but by a series of strange events and coincidences was returned to its rightful home about ten years ago. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

San Diego School Board Modifies Resolution Calling for ‘Unbiased’ Materials on Israel

By Jacob Kamaras (JNS) The San Diego Unified School District’s Board of Trustees on Tuesday approved, though modified, a resolution condemning antisemitism that would have also supported “unbiased and politically neutral” classroom materials pertaining to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the approved version of the resolution, the board stated that it “affirms the rights of Jewish

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Jacob Kamaras, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

San Diego Jewish World Names Jacob Kamaras Publisher and Editor Starting January 1

The San Diego Jewish World on Tuesday announced that Jacob Kamaras will assume the role of publisher and editor in chief of the daily online news publication beginning January 1, 2022. Kamaras, a public relations professional who previously served as the first editor in chief of the national Jewish News Syndicate (JNS), succeeds San Diego Jewish World founder Donald H. Harrison, 76, who will become editor emeritus. [SDJW]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jacob Kamaras, San Diego County

Can a Synagogue Feel Open with Locked Doors? Rabbis Reflect on Pittsburgh, 3 Years Later

By Jacob Kamaras (JNS) In a sense, the Jewish communal reactions to the synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh and the coronavirus pandemic were diametric opposites. After Robert Bowers shot and killed 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018, American Jews were urged to show up at services in droves the

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Jacob Kamaras, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, USA

The Tractor that Observed Shabbat

The current selection for the PJ Library, mailed free to Jewish children whose families request, age-appropriate Jewish stories is about a self-sufficient farmer named Sarah, who knows how to change her tractor’s oil, how to handle his clutch, and the right way to switch his gears.  They were a great team, Sarah and Yitzi.  Every Friday night, they would power down and do no work until after Shabbat was over.  It was their routine for Sarah to have a sip of wine at the beginning of Shabbat, and for Yitzi to have a sip of gasoline. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion

Holocaust Memorial, Once at East County JCC, Finds a New Home

A parade of speakers on Sunday rededicated a 50-year-old Holocaust monument, telling about the Jewish communal building where the monument is now located, about the artist who created the massive bronze sculpture, and most importantly, about the victims and survivors of the genocide launched against the Jews by Nazi Germany. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County

Dybbuk Possesses a 19th Century Jewish Immigrant in Novel

This novel for young adults is set in Chicago at the time of the 1893 World’s Fair, when immigration to America was prohibited for people with diseases, but otherwise was unrestrained by quotas. Maxwell Street at the time was a bustling, crowded, impoverished neighborhood for Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, one of whom – the protagonist Alter Rosen – has dreams of earning enough money as a linotype operator to pay for passage from Romania to America for his mother and two young sisters. He also has nightmares that people will learn that he is a homosexual. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison

Maimonides on The Akedah and Biblical Visions

Although most Judaic, Christian, and Muslim commentators and thinkers interpret the Akedah as having actually occurred while Abraham was in a wakeful state of consciousness, Maimonides hints that there may be another way of interpreting the story. Maimonides mentioned on many occasions how the Divine speaks to mortals in either a dream, or by granting them a visionary experience. Perhaps the Akedah was also a visionary experience. [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi