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

Editor’s Surgery to Prompt SDJW Hiatus Dec. 15-Jan. 4

This publication will go on a hiatus that will begin Tuesday, December 15, 2020 and will continue through Monday, January 4, 2021.  Although San Diego Jewish World will remain on line, with its extensive archives,  no new stories will be filed during this period.  Advertisers will not be charged during the hiatus, even though their ads will continue to run. This three-week pause was necessitated by the fact that I will be having surgery on December 15th to remove a small meningioma from the surface of my brain – an operation that is expected to require a few days recovery period in the hospital followed by recuperation at home. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County

Jewish Poets, Voices to Feature Salovey, Thall, Gottleib

Todd Salovey, Lorraine Thall and June Gottleib are the three local poets to be featured in Jewish Poets—Jewish Voices’ opening program of its  2020-21 season. The virtual event will be streamed on Zoom Tuesday evening, December 8 at 7 p.m. There is no cost for this Astor Judaica Library offering. [Eileen Wingad]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eileen Wingard

EUCOM or CENTCOM for Israel?

The United States is Israel’s ally of first choice. And Israel remains one of the few countries the US can rely on to defend itself by itself and in coordination with American interests. Today, Israel lies in EUCOM – the United States European Command – while some analysts suggest it belongs in CENTCOM – the Central Command, encompassing the Middle East and parts of Southwest and Central Asia. [Shoshana Bryen]

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International, Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, USA

WOOF, a Zoom-like platform for dogs

It has been a long time since I’ve written one of my columns. Since my owners stay at home every day, I haven’t had many moments to gather my thoughts and dictate them to Laurie. He frequently drags me in front of his computer to show me off to his family and friends on ZOOM calls. The last time this happened it dawned on me that dogs should have a platform for communicating with each other during the pandemic too. [Laurie Baron for his dog Elona]

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Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire

‘Squad,’ ‘Quad,’ ‘Quint’ All Seek to Influence U.S. Foreign Policy

We’re rather familiar with “the Squad,” but what about “the Quint” and “the Quad?” For now, the latter two are more likely than the former to have importance to a potential Biden administration.With the announcement of Tony Blinken as secretary of State and Jake Sullivan as national security adviser, the anti-Israel far left is at bay for now — both men are known to be personally reasonably disposed toward Israel. But if the Quint has an impact on the administration’s Middle East policy, both regarding Israel and Iran, and the Squad joins in, the U.S. position in the region will suffer. [Shoshana Bryen]

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International, Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, USA

TV Series on Yom Kippur War drives home peace necessity

Valley of Tears, the dramatic series currently being shown on Israeli TV about events in the Golan Heights at the outbreak of the Yom Kippur war, has had me and many others spellbound each week. Although several of my friends and acquaintances have told me that they are unable to watch it as it brings back too many painful memories, I find myself compelled to watch. I quite understand their attitude, and am almost surprised at my own ability to persist through every graphic scene. I admit that I find it difficult to sleep afterwards, but some obsessive preoccupation with the events of that traumatic time brings me back to the screen every week. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish History, Middle East, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

A Word of Torah: A Giant’s Presence

The portion (Va-Yetzei) starts by telling us where Yaakov left, something we already knew. Why didn’t it just say, “And Yaakov went to Charan?” Rashi, the great classical commentator, explains a specific lesson from the seemingly extra phrase. When Yaakov, great Tzaddik (righteous man) that he was, departed Be’er Sheva it made an impact. Likewise, when he arrived in Charan it made an impact. That is what happens when a saintly person leaves a place and arrives somewhere else; it makes an impact. The influence of the holy is profound and enduring. [Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort]

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Jewish Religion, Yeruchem Eilfort-Rabbi

Thanksgiving Blessings and Tzedakah

I’m always fascinated at Thanksgiving time to see how rabbis express what is a central tenet of Judaism: giving thanks to the Almighty for the many blessings bestowed upon us.
For example, the Forward offered a prayer from the book, Talking to God: Personal Prayers for Times of Joy, Sadness, Struggle and Celebration  by Rabbi Naomi Levy of the Neshuva congregation in Los Angeles. The poem focuses on every day things—children’s laughter, our ability to breathe, having enough food to eat, living in adequate shelters, being clothed, being healthy, the special people in our lives, and residing in a country where people are free to practice their religion without fear. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA

Medical professionals lament holiday travel

My wife and I are in the medical field. My wife works on the front lines at a large medical center and watches the suffering that COVID inflicts.  Not just to the patients and their families but to the front line workers risking their lives to help others.  In the evening we watch the news showing these dedicated doctors, nurses and support staff, exhausted both physically and mentally, literally begging us to stay home this Thanksgiving.  The Surgeon General, the President-elect and many of our states’ governors also warn us not to make matters worse. They are ignored by a huge percentage of the population. [Ben Dishman, PharmD]

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Ben Dishman, Judaism, Lifestyles, USA

Contentment, Mindfulness and Judaism

The world has never been more advanced than it is now. Humans have found cures for many of the major illnesses that threaten us; we can travel across the globe in a matter of hours; and we can communicate with each other almost instantaneously. Virtually every problem humans have historically had, besides suffering caused by other people, has been mitigated to some degree. Why is it then that so many of us are still unhappy? Daniel Cordaro says that the problem doesn’t lie with the state of the world, but with the state of our internal being. [Shor M. Masori]

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Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Science, Medicine, & Education, Shor M. Masori

Trump is a good friend of Israel. We’ll see about Biden

In the recent election, American-Israelis voted 70%-30% for President Trump, the converse of how American Jews voted. That tells you Israelis value the president’s accomplishments abroad, feats which are not high priority for most Jews in the US. Under Trump, the US moved its embassy to Jerusalem, quit the Iran nuclear deal, recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, declared that Israeli “settlements” beyond the 1949 Armistice lines are not illegal, endorsed, in principle, an Israeli annexation of up to 30% of the West Bank, and brokered normalization agreements with three Arab states under the Abraham Accords Peace Agreement. All of these accomplishments deal with reality in the Middle East, not some tired, fanciful panacea about the necessity for a State of Palestine to allow peace in the Middle East.  [Steve Kramer]

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Middle East, Steve Kramer, USA

Janet Yellen to be 3rd consecutive Jewish Treasury Secretary

Among Jews nominated for important posts in the Biden Administration is Secretary of the Treasury-designate Janet Yellen, a former chair of the Federal Reserve.  Although she and her husband, Nobel Prize-winning economist George Akerlof, have not to date talked much publicly about their religious beliefs, it is known that as residents of Berkeley, California, decades ago, they attended services at that city’s Congregation Beth El, and that their son Robert Akerlof, who is now himself a professor of economics at the University of Warwick, was enrolled by them in the Beth El preschool. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA