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

The Wisdom of Gersonides

 It is tragic even bizarre that most rabbis today sermonize by quoting Midrashim as if what the Midrash states, despite being contrary to nature, actually occurred. They also quote the views of mystics, but not rational thinkers such as Maimonides other than to quote a legal view of his that parallels those of mystics, leading congregants to think that the rabbi is teaching them what Judaism wants them to know. They do not tell congregants that Midrashim are parables, stories designed like Aesop’s fables to make us think. They do not encourage congregants to think. They are, in essence, anti-rational. In view of this tragic practice, it is a good idea to view the ideas of some rational Jewish thinkers such as Gersonides. He was not of the intellectual level as Maimonides, but he was a thinker and will prompt us to think as well. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion

Transition time for elected officials and staffs

The weeks immediately following an election are exciting ones for officeholders, their campaign staffs, and for the staffs of outgoing officeholders.  This is the time when legislators learn what committees they’ll serve on; when campaign workers learn whether they will be hired by the new officholders, and when the staff of retiring or defeated officeholders begin looking for other jobs, both inside and outside government. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Business & Finance, Donald H. Harrison, Lifestyles, San Diego County, USA

Abraham, Sarah provided signposts for humanity

Everything accomplished by the Patriarchs and Matriarchs is a signpost for us going forward. They demonstrated the correct path and help us along it by having been trailblazers. Sarah didn’t truly die because her progeny are still alive. Sarah had a glorious career during which she and her life partner brought the awareness of the One G-d to a scattered and morally bankrupted populace. She helped changed the world. This can be seen because she successfully reared Yitzchak. Yitzchak would do Avraham and Sarah proud – he carried on with their legacy, successfully passing it on to Yaakov, father of the 12 Tribes of Israel. [Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort]

Abraham, Sarah provided signposts for humanity Read More »

Jewish Religion, Yeruchem Eilfort-Rabbi

Former mayoral candidate subject of dispute in race for City Council President

San Diego City Councilwoman Dr. Jen Campbell has taken exception to testimony by former mayoral candidate Tasha Williamson during a portion of the City Council meeting on Tuesday, Nov 10, when members of the public were invited to comment. Campbell said that Williamson interjected into her testimony on another matter the issue of the race for the presidency of the next City Council in which Campbell and Councilwoman Monica Montgomery Steppe are competitors. [Donald H. Harrison]

Former mayoral candidate subject of dispute in race for City Council President Read More »

Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Satire: Shifty Ways to Stay in Power

[Tune: Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover]
The issue is simply that I don’t want to leave.     
I’m not a loser so I don’t know how to grieve.                                                                                                     
I’m sure I’ll find something up my sleeve.                                                                                                          
There must be shifty ways to stay in power. …                                                                            

Satire: Shifty Ways to Stay in Power Read More »

Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox Conundrum

Israel is described as a racist country by its detractors. A sizable sector of Israel’s population currently lives in small, crowded apartments in poor, segregated, urban neighborhoods, where their extended families, synagogues, and institutions are located. They constitute about 12% of Israel’s population and most are counted below the poverty line. About half of the men are unemployed. Most of the families are dependent on government aid to supplement their meager incomes. They are prone to riot when they feel threatened by laws promulgated to the general population, often causing police intervention. They are the ultra-Orthodox, known here as the Haredim. Mainstream media coverage of this sector generally depicts them in negative terms. [Steve Kramer]

Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox Conundrum Read More »

Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Middle East, Steve Kramer

Streaming Jewish Programs (Nov. 15- 20)

Following are academic and popular programs of specific Jewish interest that may be accessed via the Internet. [Laurie Baron, Ph.D]

Streaming Jewish Programs (Nov. 15- 20) Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Lawrence Baron, Lifestyles, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

A Visit to the Hula Lake Area

The second Coronavirus lockdown has just ended, and the third one can already be seen in the offing. So anyone with a yen for a change of atmosphere and landscape had better utilize the opportunity to take to the open road, and get out of the house. So hubby and I decided to make for the north of Israel, to the Hula wetlands or lake area, since at this time of the year it serves as a stop-over and resting place for many migratory birds making their way from Europe to Africa for the winter. Israel’s location, between the Mediterranean Sea to the west and the arid Arabian desert to the east, has made it the preferred flight path for millions of birds migrating from their summer sojourn in Europe to Africa’s warm winter. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

A Visit to the Hula Lake Area Read More »

Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East, The World We Share, Travel and Food

Meet Sean Elo-Rivera, SD’s newest Jewish councilman

It will be very interesting to see what City Councilman-elect Sean Elo-Rivera and his wife Angela will be doing come November 2021.

The early part of November has been uncommonly meaningful for them the last several years. In November 2018, at a party to watch election returns attended by his and Angela Rivera’s family, Sean Elo dropped to his knee right after the initial vote for the Board of Trustees of the San Diego Community College District showed him winning, and asked Angela to marry him. [Donald H. Harrison]

Meet Sean Elo-Rivera, SD’s newest Jewish councilman Read More »

Donald H. Harrison, USA

UK celebrates Jewish fireman who saved lives during the Blitz

September 17, 1940 Errington was in the basement of an Auxiliary Fire Station in London when a bomb crashed through the building spreading death, fire and mayhem. Seven Firefighters were killed immediately. Once the daze cleared from his head a bit, Errington saw two surviving comrades trapped with him under the burning debris.  Errington freed one man, carrying him through the smoke and flames to the outside, saving the injured man. [Jerry Klinger]

UK celebrates Jewish fireman who saved lives during the Blitz Read More »

International, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History

Growing young and happy in older age

We learn profound lessons from the lives of Sarah and Abraham about growing young and happy in older age. Yet we still seem to have the need to turn to, for example, a famed Harvard University study that found the following personality characteristics relating to happiness in aging: A future orientation and the ability to plan positively (“I figure if I can do this when I’m 85, I’ll be doing pretty well.”) The capacity for both gratitude and forgiveness The ability to see the world through the eyes of another The desire to do things with, and for, people. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

Growing young and happy in older age Read More »

Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell