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
By Gedaliah Borvick On the way to a meeting on Golda Meir Boulevard in Jerusalem, I struck up an interesting conversation with the cab driver about Israel’s fourth prime minister. Golda Meir is memorialized with streets across the country named in her honor and yet many people in Israel lack the adoration that she has […]
Golda Meir: Pioneer and Lioness Read More »
Gedaliah Borvick, Jewish History
Witold Pilecki, a member of the Polish resistance, learned of a new camp established by the German Nazis in the Polish city of Oswiecim, toward what end no one knew yet. He volunteered to do the unthinkable: to purposely be captured by the Nazis and to be sent to the camp, which came to be known as Auschwitz. [Donald H. Harrison]
The Polish Spy Who Reported on Auschwitz from the Inside Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History
Using many sources, including hundreds of anecdotes, former US Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (1985-1987) and Under Secretary of Defense (2001-2004) Rabbi Dr. Dov S. Zakheim, author of Nehemiah: Statesman and Sage (Maggid Books, 2016), gives us a very informative and riveting, easy to read biography of one of the most important figures of ancient Jewry, Rabbi Judah the Prince (135-217), also called Rebbe, “Teacher.” He was the man who had Judaism’s Oral Law put into writing, called the Mishna, which became the basis of the Talmud. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
The Life and Times of Rabbi Judah the Prince Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Jewish Religion
“Teachers in a Texas school district were told last week that a new state law requiring them to present multiple perspectives about “widely debated and currently controversial” issues meant they needed to make “opposing” views on the Holocaust available to students.” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 10/14/2021 [Laurie Baron, Ph.D}
Satire: Both Sides Now Read More »
International, Jewish History, Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA
In this week’s Torah portion, we shall briefly compare the thoughts of Maimonides, Philo, and Spinoza on the subject of circumcision. We shall first mention some interesting citations from Philo, who spent considerable time explaining the rationale of Jewish precepts to the non-Jewish world. [Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel]
Lech Lecha and the Rite of Circumcision Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi
Sunbelt Publications Inc. published the first of the six books I have written so far. It was the biography, Louis Rose: San Diego’s First Jewish Settler and Entrepreneur. In the event that you haven’t heard of him, he was the man for whom Rose Canyon, Rose Creek, and the Roseville section of the Point Loma neighborhood were named. The Robinson-Rose Building in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park is another reminder of his legacy. [Donald H. Harrison]
Sunbelt Offers Free Copy of Louis Rose Biography to First 50 Who Request It Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego County
“Saying ‘Free Palestine’ is the beginning of what we meet to talk about on this issue,” says Canadian author Desmond Cole. As I moved on to read his further comments, I was anxious to finally learn what “Free Palestine” means. Many readers are probably cynical enough to expect Cole to disappoint. [Bruce S. Ticker]
Palestinian Slogans Displace Real-World Truths Read More »
Bruce Ticker, International, Middle East, USA
I saw the film Hannah’s War about the heroine and martyr Hannah Senesh on TV. I feel that it is a film everyone should see. It is very moving. Hannah Senesh is one of Israel’s most important heroines. She was born on July 17, 1921 in Budapest, Hungary, and died on November 7, 1944 in Budapest, murdered by a firing squad at age 23, after refusing a blindfold, but looking straight at the pro-Nazi Hungarian firing squad that killed her. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
The Legacy of Hannah Senesh Read More »
International, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Middle East
One of the mystical traditions of Judaism is that a person’s soul remains close to the body until the 30th day after death, when it departs for the next world. [Donald H. Harrison]
‘Game of Life’ Modernizer Reuben Klamer Honored in Death Read More »
Business & Finance, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education
By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — A reunion of people who, like my husband, were born in 1940, i.e. now aged 80, might sound over-optimistic, but these were no ordinary people. These were men and women who were born and brought up in Kiryat Haim, a settlement situated on the coast slightly north of
Turning the Clock Back Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, LifestylesBy Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — One of the most lamentable recent events was the death of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, who was born in 1948 and died on November 7, 2020. He was a British Orthodox rabbi, philosopher, theologian, award-winning author, international religious leader, respected moral voice, and public figure. He
The Legacy of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks Read More »
Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion
San Diego’s eminent Israeli folk dancer teacher, Yoni Carr, will be going back to Israel as a returning citizen, a toshav hozer. After 37 years of teaching Israeli Dance in San Diego, Yoni was feted by two events…. (Eileen Wingard)
Esteemed Israeli Dance Teacher Returns Home Read More »
Eileen Wingard, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
Every step we take in life carries with it magnificent opportunities, but when we are promised that we will be made into a great nation, that we will be blessed, that we will become a blessing, what would make us hesitate to take that step? Abraham, following his Divine calling more than 3700 years ago, took a step that changed the world. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]
Answering Your Divine Calling Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell
Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid is arriving in Washington for talks with a wide range of American political figures and establishments. But most important is likely to be his peer-to-peer meetings with counterpart Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The last such meeting took place in May, at the end of the Hamas rocket war against Israel, abetted by intense incitement to anti-Israel violence by the Palestinian Authority (PA). That meeting, between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and PM/FM Benjamin Netanyahu, was itself cordial, but it laid out a wide gulf in the priorities of the two countries — and that gulf remains for FM Lapid. [Shoshana Bryen]
Lapid and Blinken Have Numerous Differences to Overcome Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, USA