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
I can’t get no Ivermectin, I can’t get no Ivermectin.
‘Cause I search and I search and I search and I search.
I can’t get no, I can’t get no … [Satire by Laurie Baron, Ph.D]
Satire: Ivermectin Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire
After a year’s absence, Western States Jewish History, a half-century-old journal, has made its reappearance in a new format. No longer a quarterly, the journal will be published semi-annually by Texas Tech University Press, under the editorship of Jonathan L. Friedmann, professor of Jewish Music History at the Academy for Jewish Religion-California in Los Angeles. [Donald H. Harrison]
‘Western States Jewish History’ Now Semi-Annual and Peer-Reviewed Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Oliver Pollak
We support the Forgotten People Fund of Netanya, which has Israel’s largest Ethiopian Israeli population. Our grass roots fund, composed solely of volunteers, attempts to fill the gaps left by the city’s social services department. The ultimate mission is to help our local Ethiopian Israeli community members to better themselves. FPF depends on donations to carry on the important undertakings like assisting the community to obtain professional qualifications, such as managers, teachers, lawyers, nurses, and engineers. See the website at: http://www.fpf.org.il. [Steve Kramer]
Fund for Ethiopian Israelis Needs Replenishing Read More »
Middle East, Steve Kramer
This is a biography of two Dutch Jewish sisters who survived much of World War II living under assumed identities in a country villa located on a high knoll in the middle of the woods near Amsterdam. [Donald H. Harrison]
Biography Tells of Hiding in a ‘High Nest’ from the Nazis Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History
Rabbi Abraham Chill (1912-2004) gives readers of The Mitzvot, The Commandments and their Rationale a very readable listing of the commonly accepted list of biblical commands, presented in the order in which they appear in the Five Books of Moses. He identifies the location of the command in the Bible, and gives the explanations offered by various highly respected ancient rabbis, including Maimonides, Nachmanides, Abarbanel, ibn Ezra, Radak, Ralbag, Rashi, Sforno, Saadiah, and 15 others. He describes each of the 23 rabbis that he quotes. As my uncle, Rabbi Dr. Sidney B. Hoenig, Dean, Bernard Revel Graduate School, Yeshiva University, wrote in his Foreword to the book, “His work presents in digest form each and every perspective of every one of the 613 divine commandments and, in clear style and comprehension, makes the reader part of the whole gamut of thinking in Oral Law perception.” [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
Explanations of the 613 Biblical Commandments Read More »
Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion
This book, intended for students in late elementary and early middle schools, tells the story of two Ukrainian teenage sisters who are taken prisoners by soldiers of the Soviet Union. The soldiers and the sinister Soviet NKVD believe that however anti-Nazi the sisters might have been during the just-ended World War II, they also were opposed to the expansionist designs of the Soviet Union. From the standpoint of the commissars, although the girls were just teenagers, they were enemies of the state. [Donald H. Harrison]
A Nuanced Children’s Novel of the Post World-War II Era Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. HarrisonLike Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur does not exist in the Bible. It replaces another day known as Yom Hakippurim. Yom Kippur is singular, “day of atonement,” while Yom Hakippurim is plural, “day of atonements.” The biblical Yom Hakippurim is mentioned in Leviticus 16:29–31, 23:27–32, and Numbers 29:7–11. No work was permitted on this day, special sacrifices were offered, there was a ceremony consisting of two scapegoats, and the Israelites were only obliged to te’anu et nafshoteikhem. This is improperly translated as “you must afflict your souls.” [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
Yom Kippur and the Holiday the Romans Destroyed Read More »
Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion
This memoir more appropriately might have been titled “The Life of Riley,” except for the fact that title was immortalized in the 1940s and 1950s by radio and television actor William Bendix, who portrayed aircraft worker Chester A. Riley on both media. “Riley” in the instance of this book, is a black Flat-Coated Retriever, who remained very much a puppy even well into adulthood. The Beckerman family–which included the author’s husband Joel, son Josh, and daughter Emily — also owned various goldfish, many of whom they collectively named “Larry” (even those who occupied the fish bowl at the same time); a chinchilla; and a bearded dragon (lizard), but Riley was the star and most beloved of all these pets. [Donald H. Harrison]
Memoir of a Happy, Chaotic Life of a Pet Owner Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Lifestyles, The World We Share, Trivia, Humor & SatireLike most Martians, I live beneath the planet because it is too hot or cold. When I occasionally venture up to the top to catch some sun or see the stars, I have been angered by how littered the landscape has become with metal vehicles from earth which are collecting samples of our soil and rocks or hovering above the surface. Since most of them bear the insignia of a place called the USA, I’ve decided to lodge a complaint with its leader. [Laurie Baron, Ph.D]
Satire: Take Me to Your Leader Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire
By Jacob Kamaras (JNS) The new mural on the wall of the Korean American Federation of Los Angeles building, unveiled on Aug. 23, contains the State of Israel’s logo at the bottom of the artwork. Rather than a one-off project, the mural embodies the broader efforts of the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles
Consul General Emphasizes Israel’s Diversity Read More »
International, Jacob Kamaras, Middle East, USAI believe that Western governments’ strategy of restraint and “fairness” when dealing with Iran, Russia, etcetera, are like taking a knife to a gun fight. That strategy doesn’t work with non-democratic countries, which are unconcerned with the welfare of their citizens. For them, it’s all about the mission of the ruling class. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea – none of them respect restraint or fairness. That type of soft policy only engenders a loss of respect for those countries that espouse it. [Steve Kramer]
OpEd: West Must Stand Up to Totalitarian Governments Read More »
International, Middle East, Steve Kramer, USA
“Games We Played” is about people, specifically the two main characters, who have psychological and sexual hangups and issues which complicate their lives, as well as those of the people around them. The chapters are written from the viewpoints of the two main characters, Rachel, now an actress in the New York area, and Stephen, a rather mixed-up young man and military drop-out, living in California. As children Rachel and Stephen lived near one another and played together, though their games sometimes involved some kind of sexual element. In addition, Stephen had been indoctrinated with neo-Nazi ideology by his grandfather, with whom Stephen and his mother lived, and this penetrated their childhood games. Rachel had what was seemingly a normal family, with a psychiatrist father and home-maker mother. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]
Novel Relates Tangled Lives of Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivor, Neo-Nazi Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson
When Shmuel Silverberg, 18, was shot outside Yeshiva Toras Chaim in Denver’s West Colfax neighborhood on Tuesday, Aug. 17, his assailants were not satisfied. Silverberg ran away from them, and they chased him just inside the school where fellow students tried to perform CPR on him. Silverberg, who was studying at the religious school as a post-high school student from Cleveland, was rushed to the hospital, where he died, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. [Bruce S. Ticker]
Murder of Yeshiva Student Highlights Need for Gun Control Read More »
Bruce Ticker, USA
This week’s parasha is one of the most formidable and alarming chapters of the Torah. We find fourteen verses of the good things that will happen to the us if we faithfully obey Hashem’s divine commandments. And then, we read 54 verses that warn of the converse, the curses that will befall us if we do not faithfully observe all His commandments. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]
Torah Reading for August 28, 2021 Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell