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
A last-minute recommendation to include a special unit on Arab-Americans in California’s revised Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC) has drawn criticism from Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa (JIMENA) and StandWithUs. [Donald H. Harrison]
What should school kids learn about the Middle East? Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
Inon Barnatan, Israeli-born director of the La Jolla Music Society’s Summerfest, has announced a scaled-down festival featuring six concerts, August 21-29, all to be streamed on the internet. They are reasonably priced at $15 a concert and feature seven outstanding artists. [Eileen Wingard]
La Jolla Music Society re-imagines its Summerfest Read More »
Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County
Here are streaming Jewish lectures from Sunday, Aug. 16 through Friday, Aug. 21. {Laurie Baron, Ph.D}
Streaming Jewish Lectures (Aug. 16- 21) Read More »
Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Lawrence Baron, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USAVia Twitter, U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Thursday, Aug. 13, that a third Arab country, the United Arab Emirates, has agreed to a formal peace with Israel, following the lead of Egypt and Jordan, which respectively normalized relations with Israel in 1979 and 1994. Trump’s Tweet included a joint statement with Trump from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the United Arab Emirates. [Donald H. Harrison]
Israel, UAE sign peace accord, Trump announces Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, USA
Is your glass half empty, half filled, or as mine is, filled with 6 ounces of water? Yes, “the link is what you think,” and this week’s Torah reading underscores this idea with its words, “See, this day I set before you a blessing and a curse…” Couldn’t this pasuk have begun, “This day I set before you blessing and curse…”? Why begin with “See”?[Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]
Seeing and choosing the righteous path Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell
Trump played magician on Saturday when he announced a series of unilateral steps that is all flash and no substance. At first glance, he told America that the public will continue to receive unemployment checks and continue a moratorium on evictions. Reporters swiftly exposed the fine print. Trump said people will receive $400 weekly instead of the $600 they were receiving until July 31. But then each state must contribute $100 of that money, which means that the feds would offer $300. Nor would the provisions guarantee the eviction moratorium. [Bruce S. Ticker]
Playing election politics with the coronavirus Read More »
Bruce Ticker, USAUniversity High School junior Zachary Patterson and Grauer School senior Jason Wexler are co-recipients of the 2020 Peter Chortek Leadership Award created as a memorial to Chortek by his family. [Our Shtetl San Diego County by Donald H. Harrison]
Education, cancer battling win Chortek Awards for students Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food“She was extraordinarily nasty to Kavanaugh, Judge Kavanaugh, now Justice Kavanaugh. She was nasty to a level that was just a horrible thing the way she was.” Donald Trump (Otherwise known as Derogatory Donald) on Kamala Harris. (Laurie Baron, Ph.D)
The irony of Trump calling Harris ‘nasty’ Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA
Back in June 2016, when California’s then Attorney General Kamala Harris was successfully campaigning for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate to succeed the retiring Barbara Boxer, I asked her at the United Domestic Workers Union Hall in San Diego about the ongoing Israel-Palestinian dispute. [Donald H. Harrison]
Jews cheer, jeer Kamala Harris as Biden’s VP nominee Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, USAWe reported on Monday that Hillel International had announced a new nationwide initiative to combat antisemitism. Today, we’ve learned that StandWithUs, which has an active chapter in San Diego, has launched a new division called “Rabbis United.” (Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison)
StandWithUs launches ‘Rabbis United’ Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
I read an article by a professor who wanted to show that science and religion are similar. I think that the support he offers for his view is simplistic and, worse, it is wrong. The professor argued that both science and religion have the same outlook and are therefore alike. Both, he wrote, marvel at the universe and enjoy what they see. (Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin)
Science and religion are quite different Read More »
Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Science, Medicine, & EducationWhether you want to electrify your peak performance under pressure at work, at home, or in your local park, boost your confidence and mental toughness in your gym, amplify your leadership or ignite team cohesion in your company it takes motivation, goal setting, relaxation, concentration, imagery, and self-talk. It takes an exceptional mental workout to arouse a healthy, wellbeing promoting physical workout, wherever that may take place. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D}
You won’t exercise without this Read More »
Lifestyles, Michael Mantell, Sports & CompetitionsLast week, we carried the news that Rose Ritch stepped down from her position as student body vice president at the University of Southern California because of the harassment she had to endure for being a supporter of Israel. On Monday, Hillel International announced a new initiative to train campus administrators on how to recognize and deal with antisemitism. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
Hillel announces initiative to combat antisemitism Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, International, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
The bountiful new book, Rita Blitt: Around and Round (Tra Publishing, 2020), looks back at the long and prolific career of this notable American artist. If Blitt’s work is about anything then it is about the exuberance, the joy, the sometimes almost mad ecstasy of creative spontaneity. Much of her work is suffused with a kind of wild and kinetic extemporaneity, which seems to resound with a forceful but unforced “Yes!” – a Yes to life, a Yes to the world, a Yes to the here and now, the living moment pregnant with infinite possibility. Her gestural art is dynamic, uninhibited, and no less sensuous for being abstract. In the improvisational, rhythmic musicality of her paintings, Blitt expresses with unerring directness the energy and intensity of embodied imaginative experience. [Sam Ben-Meir, Ph.D]
Spontaneous Lines: The Art of Rita Blitt Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Sam Ben-Meir