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 life and unexplained suicide of Uncle Herbert

In 1928 Herbert van Son, the uncle I never knew, was a young man of nineteen. The family lived in Hamburg and his father was a successful importer of tobacco. He arranged for his son to travel to Louisville and work as an apprentice to a business associate who was a tobacco farmer and trader there. He writes about the hot, damp climate and the warm relations between him and his employer, who helped him get settled and even took him to the Kentucky Derby. It was all interesting but very different to the life he had known in Hamburg,

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Travel and Food, USA

5781: A year with great potential

It was only in the past year that a number of Arab countries decided that the failure of the Palestinian Arabs to come to an agreement with Israel was dangerous for those selfsame countries. With an expansionist Shia-Muslim Iran threatening them, two Sunni-Muslim Arab states decided to put their citizens first and ally themselves with the most powerful state in the neighborhood, Israel. No longer would the security of the Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain (by “allying” with Israel) be vetoed by Palestinian Arabs, whose demand is NO normalization with Israelis. [Steve Kramer]

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Middle East, Steve Kramer

IPO on YouTube an experience in musical mastery

The past three Sundays, the Israel Philharmonic Chamber Music Series featured some of their leading players: principal oboist, Dudu Carmel, on September 6; principal flutist, Guy Eshed, on September 13 and four principal string players — violinists David Radznisky and Dumitru Pocitari, violist Miriam Hartman and cellist Emanuele Silvestri — with their new conductor, Lahav Shani, at the piano, September 20. All these programs, as well as the first two, August 23 and 30, are still available on YouTube. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

A fictionalized account of a well-known Righteous Gentile

The story of the late Irena Sendler, who is credited with saving the lives of as many as 2,500 Jewish children, is already well known.  She was honored by Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem as a Righteous Gentile more than 50 years ago.  Books and movies have been written about her, with more to come, including one in which Israeli actress Gal Gadot, known as “Wonder Woman” to movie goers, has been signed to portray her.  In this novel by James D. Shipman, we meet an Irena drawn from both the historical record and Shipman’s imagination.  Some of the characters are real, but Irena’s chief antagonist, a Gestapo major called Klaus Rein, is fictional.  [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison

SDJW Endorses Sean Elo-Rivera for City Council District 9

Conflict of interest allegations and failure to report contributions in a timely manner militate against Barrios’ candidacy.  He needs to get his own house in order before he can become a steward of the people’s. Luckily for the voters, Sean Elo-Rivera, a trustee of the San Diego Community College District, is also a candidate in the 9th Council District, which Gomez is vacating to run for Congress.  [Donald H. Harrison, “Our Shtetl San Diego County”]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, USA

A Word of Torah: A Poem to Memorize

This Shabbos we read the portion titled Ha’azinu which means to hearken. The portion is primarily a warning of the consequences of disloyalty and betrayal. If the Jewish people will make poor choices, G-d forbid, there will be consequences – sometimes very harsh. Moshe imparted these words of wisdom in a poetical form. This particular song is written in a unique style within the Torah scroll, with each column split signifying that is a song or poem. Speaking of unique, in general we do not commit to memory the exact wording of the Torah, and if we do know it by heart we do not recite the words by heart. This portion we specifically do try to commit to memory so that we can recite it by heart. [Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort]

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Jewish Religion, Yeruchem Eilfort-Rabbi

GI Film Festival spotlights a Jewish violinist

When Enlisted Man Stuart Canin boarded a  European-bound U.S. Army transport ship near the end of World War II, he carried with him his barracks bag, rifle, and a violin. Challenged by an officer about what he thought he’d need a violin for, Canin, then a teenager, replied “You Never Know.” He was so right. [Donald H. Harrison, “Our Shtetl San Diego County.”

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Melanie Rubin, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

A Torah song of privilege and poverty

What’s with Moshe and his songs? We’re familiar with the “Song of the Sea,” יָשִֽׁיר־מֹשֶׁה֩ אָ֣ז, in Exodus where we sing of praise for the miraculous redemption following the crossing of the sea while Ha’azinu  הַאֲזִינוּ — “listen” – teaches us in a dramatic artistic way something more broadly about the important role of our attitude in life. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

Chronicler tells of Jewish rescuers during Holocaust

Jews who Rescued Jews During the Holocaust is an extraordinary initial publication of the compiled research of Moshe Gromb. The work is precisely summarized, factual, clinical, telling the stories of 100 of the over 2,000 harrowing stories he has collected. [Jerry Klinger]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Middle East

Minority rules in selection of President, composition of U.S. Senate

Under the constitution, a president can be elected by a minority of voters, and the majority of senators can be elected collectively by a minority of voters. Trump was elected by a minority as were the 53 Republicans who now control the Senate, and they are authorized to stack the Supreme Court with right-wing justices whose rulings often threaten the welfare and freedom of the people. [Bruce S. Ticker]

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Bruce Ticker, USA

Zoom, FB, YouTube block Leila Khaled speech to SFSU

Zoom, Facebook and YouTube cancelled use of their platforms Wednesday for the airing of a San Francisco State University sponsored webinar featuring airline hijacker Leila Khaled of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, with Zoom citing its obligation to obey U.S. law. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Study underway of S.D.’s South African Jews

The South African Jewish American Community, better known as SAJAC, has issued its annual magazine for 2020, reporting that San Diego State University Prof. David B. Cline is conducting oral history interviews with community members. The magazine’s writers also offer suggestions on coping with COVID19, and Alzheimer’s Disease, and additionally they profile young entrepreneurs, visual artists, and poets, among other articles. [Donald H. Harrison, “Our Shtetl San Diego County”

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish Religion, Lawrence Baron, Lifestyles, San Diego County