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
There isn’t a Torah parsasha that doesn’t have an exact link to what’s going on in the world during the week we read its teachings. This week we read from Vayakhel and Pekudei and, lo and behold, once again we experience an inspirational nexus with our contemporary lives and a biblical passage. [Michael Mantell, Ph.D]
Learning, following Torah when synagogues are closed Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell
e are definitely in uncharted territory. Today (Tuesday, March 17), for the first time, I had to livestream a funeral because of coronavirus and social distancing that is being mandated by governmental agencies across the country. My team spent hours yesterday developing Chabad Virtual Academy; a place where anyone, anywhere, can log in and participate in a class on varied Jewish subjects, or watch them at a later time. In this regard we are not unique. Thousands of institutions are doing the same; allowing people unfettered access to everything from Torah classes to opera. [Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort]
Acts of joy might help overcome the coronavirus Read More »
Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Yeruchem Eilfort-Rabbi
With the coronavirus threatening people’s health in the first major pandemic we have seen in over a hundred years, Jewish tradition has much to say about the importance of handwashing. As a “priestly people,” (Exodus 19:6), priests in the Torah were always instructed to wash their hands whenever they enter into the Tent of Meeting or upon entering the Temple.
Just how serious is this precept? [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]
Torah laws foresaw need for good hygiene Read More »
Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Science, Medicine, & Education
Attorney Joe Leventhal, who is seeking election in the 5th San Diego City Council District, once served as a “gatekeeper” for U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, deciding what memos should go to him, which should first be vetted by others, and reading his proposed speeches for accuracy. It was a pretty heady job for a young lawyer, just 26 years old. Previously having served on the staff of U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson (R-Illinois), he had observed then that “Washington at the highest levels of government is actually run by all of these folks under 40, even under 30 — the Administration, Capitol Hill, even at the Supreme Court. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
Council candidate tells of being Cheney’s gatekeeper Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, San Diego County, USA
Remarkably, although Yehuda Halevi’s well-known book is filled with illogical ideas, many Jews call the poet a philosopher and rabbi, although he was neither, and praise his book. I will show some of the illogical matters. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
Yehuda Halevi did not live up to his reputation Read More »
Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Jewish Religion
Thou shalt not covid thy neighbor’s wife or anyone else in your neighborhood. … The early bird fetches the toilet paper. … [Humor column by Lawrence Baron, Ph.D]
Adages for the Age of Coronavirus Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire
San Diego City Council candidate Joe Leventhal says, “I’m Jewish and my family is Catholic.” He explained in an interview that although he had two Jewish parents, when they divorced, they both married non-Jews; his mother Deena Leventhal to a Catholic; his father Larry Leventhal to a non-practicing Christian. Even when his parents were together, they were so secular that they gave him as a boy the choice of whether he wanted to attend Hebrew school to study for a bar mitzvah. “I ended up saying no, and I regret it, and that is part of why I wanted my kids to be raised with religion because I felt I missed something being raised without it,” he said. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
Candidate Joe Leventhal: A Jew with a Catholic family Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education
Three Israeli youth who have been serving in San Diego County as shlichim (emissaries) for the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) left for Israel on Sunday — their one-year tours in the United States interrupted by the shutdown of many area Jewish institutions in reaction to the spreading coronavirus. Opportunities to interact with Jews on an organized level having been greatly reduced in San Diego County, the three 18-year-olds will return to Israel where, after a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all returnees to Israel, they will be able to do volunteer work and have Pesach seders with their families. [Our shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
JAFI brings teen emissaries in SD County home Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jerry Klinger, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share, Travel and Food, USA
I’m ready. I had no need to stock up on toilet paper, pasta, tins of food or any other staple, as I am always certain to have good supplies of those items. Anyone, like myself, who has lived in Israel, and especially Jerusalem, for over fifty years, has learned to always be well supplied with good stocks of foodstuffs. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]
Stocking up for emergencies an Israeli constant Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Lifestyles, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & EducationI humbly submit that it is our time to shine. Yes! Of course we should take the precautions mentioned by the governmental agencies. Certainly we should be washing our hands with soap as much as possible and using hand sanitizer when we cannot wash. Indeed it would be wise to postpone our planned cruises and other international (or perhaps even domestic) travel. And yes, if your children’s school says to keep the kids at home that is what we should do. But none of that means we are meant to helplessly cower under our beds fearing our own shadows! If the government says we need to place distance between each other they mean PHYSICAL distance. Since we are challenged with maintaining physical distance it is time to close the spiritual distance! [Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort]
Coronavirus ~ It’s our time to shine Read More »
Lifestyles, Science, Medicine, & Education, Yeruchem Eilfort-Rabbi
Somewhere in Eastern Europe, in a little Jewish village, a woman who had been preparing to burn the last pieces of collected chometz in anticipation of that evening’s Passover seder, was startled to see a white mouse jump up on her table, steal a piece of bread, and leave crumbs behind as it ran away. [Book review by Donald H. Harrison]
A Talmud-based Passover tale for children Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Trivia, Humor & Satire
A parent of three San Diego Jewish Academy students has tested positive for coronavirus, according to Chaim Heller, the retiring head of the school. In a letter to other parents sent on Saturday (Shabbat) , he wrote, “The parent was at school during the past week. Their children, who are in grades, 1, 3, and 6, were in many rooms, including the Ulam (Auditorium), many times during the past week as well. They were with their friends acting in a regular, non-distance manner during that time. Effectively, they could have been with anyone from the school, from ECC [Early Childhood Center] to high school.” [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
Parent of 3 SDJA students tests positive for coronavirus Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jerry Klinger, Jewish Religion, Lawrence Baron, Science, Medicine, & Education, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA
Other dogs in the neighborhood have been asking me what precautions they should take to avoid catching the coronavirus. That is why I have formed the Canines Defy Coronavirus (CDC) taskforce. Here are its first recommendations: [Hounding the headlines humor column by Elona Baron, as told to Lawrence Baron]
A dog’s advice about coronavirus Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire
– In these days of the coronavirus pandemic, we now ask five questions at our Passover seders. [Humor column by Jerry Klinger]
Now it’s the five questions of Passover Read More »
Jerry Klinger, Jewish Religion, Trivia, Humor & Satire