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

Mainstream Democrats, Bowing to Progressives, Let Israel Down

It was Congress’s first certain body blow to American Jews in modern times, though Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib may feel that they were denied a chance to achieve it on Yom Kippur and had to settle for the first day of Sukkot. The so-called “progressives” in Congress led Democrats to commit an act of war against the Jewish people on Tuesday, when the House leadership slashed $1 billion incorporated into the spending legislation for Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system in an emergency spending package. [Bruce S. Ticker]

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Bruce Ticker, Middle East, USA

Are There anti-Orthodox Views in Ecclesiastes?

Kohelet (also spelled Qohelet), Ecclesiastes in Greek and now English, is read during the holiday of Sukkot. We do not know why this book was chosen from among the books of the Bible called The Writings. A popular explanation is that Sukkot is a happy holiday and Ecclesiastes is read to add a calming, some sobriety. The following is my review of The Anchor Bible commentary of the book. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

Are There anti-Orthodox Views in Ecclesiastes? Read More »

Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion

Satire: Hey Senator Manchin

To the tune of Officer Krupke:                                                    

Dear stubborn Joseph Manchin
You gotta understand.
Can you make an exception?
Pass the bills Biden has planned.                                                                                                                       
The GOP’s are flunkies.
They’re pawns of Donald Trump.
Mitch McConnell thinks you are a chump.  [Laurie Baron, Ph.D]

Satire: Hey Senator Manchin Read More »

Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

Tzimmes Offers Full Array of Jewish Music in ‘The Road Never Travelled’ CD

Tzimmes, the Vancouver-based Jewish band under the direction of Moshe Denburg, has just released a two-disc recording, The Road Never Travelled, celebrating  its 35th anniversary. This is the group’s fourth album.
Denburg figures prominently in all the selections, as vocalist, guitarist, composer or arranger. The Montreal native, son of Orthodox Rabbi Chayim Denburg and Yiddish singer Miriam Denburg, attended Yeshivah University, following in the footsteps of his father and older brother, Judah Denburg. There, along with religious studies and academics, Moshe learned to read and notate music. Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Jerusalem’s Music Academy furthered his Judaic and musical education. World music then beckoned, with time spent in India and Japan. In addition to forming Tzimmes, in 1986, a band frequently hired for British Columbia’s Jewish simchas, Denburg, 15 years later in 2001, founded The Vancouver International  Cultural Orchestra, an organization for which he still composes and with which he remains affiliated. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Questions to Ponder During Sukkot

Rabbi Abraham Chill (1912-2004) gives readers of his book The Minhagim, Hebrew for customs and ceremonies, a very readable discussion of many Jewish practices, focusing on 27 holidays and events: synagogue, Shabbat, Rosh Hodesh, Yom Kippur, Passover, Shavuot, Tisha B’Av, Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, Hanukkah, Tu B’Shevat, Purim, marriage, birth, pidyin haben, bar mitzvah, tallit and tzitzit, tefillin, keriat shema, shemoneh esreh, birkhat kohanim, tahanun, Torah reading, ein k’elohenu, meals, mezuzah, and death and mourning. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin}

Questions to Ponder During Sukkot Read More »

Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion

S.D. International Film Festival Features Flics For Every Palate

If you’re a fan of the silver screen, you are in for a treat! Block off your calendars for October 14th through the 24th for the 20th anniversary of the San Diego International Film Festival. This extravaganza of films contains a vast array of genres including narrative films, documentary films and short films. With great sensitivity to the pandemic and public safety the SDIFF is offering many of the films virtually, while other films will be presented all around San Diego’s beautiful and iconic backdrops including Balboa Park, the USS Midway and the Catamaran Resort Hotel and Spa, paying homage to America’s Finest City. [Eva Trieger]

S.D. International Film Festival Features Flics For Every Palate Read More »

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

Burlington, Vermont, Grapples with Israel-Palestinian Conflict

Twas two nights before Yom Kippur, when all through Burlington City Hall, a half-mile from Lake Champlain’s eastern shore, many a creature of sorts was stirring…stirring up unrest for Jewish Vermonters, 5,400 miles from the land that inspired a City Council resolution urging “justice and (a) peaceful end to (the) Palestine and Israel conflict.” [Bruce S. Ticker]

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Bruce Ticker, Middle East, USA

‘A Boy in Winter’ Brings Privation, Fear, Horror of Holocaust Graphically to Life

A Boy in Winter by Rachel Seiffert; Virago UK, 2020; ISBN: 9781844-089963; 256 pages; £8.99 ($12.37). By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — A Boy in Winter appears initially to be an firsthand account, told from the viewpoints of the various individuals involved – both directly and indirectly – in the roundup and murder of

‘A Boy in Winter’ Brings Privation, Fear, Horror of Holocaust Graphically to Life Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

Comparing Events in the Bible with Those in Former Ancient Documents

By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — It should surprise no one that there are multiple examples of similar events in the Bible and former ancient documents, such as an early tale of the flood written long before the story of Noah, because as Solomon wrote, “There is nothing new under the sun,”

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Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion

A Clear, Readable, Engaging Guide to Maimonides

Maimonides’ Hidden Torah Commentary — Exodus 22-40 by Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel; First Edition Design Publishing 2021; ‎ISBN: 9781506-904610; 386 pages; $24.95. By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — “Maimonides’ Hidden Torah Commentary — Exodus 22-40″ is a very informative book. Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel, spiritual leader of Temple Beth Shalom in Chula

A Clear, Readable, Engaging Guide to Maimonides Read More »

Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion