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

Candidate Joe Leventhal: A Jew with a Catholic family

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]

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

JAFI brings teen emissaries in SD County home

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]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jerry Klinger, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share, Travel and Food, USA

Stocking up for emergencies an Israeli constant

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, & Education

Coronavirus ~ It’s our time to shine

I 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]

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Lifestyles, Science, Medicine, & Education, Yeruchem Eilfort-Rabbi

A Talmud-based Passover tale for children

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]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Parent of 3 SDJA students tests positive for coronavirus

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]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jerry Klinger, Jewish Religion, Lawrence Baron, Science, Medicine, & Education, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

S.D. County battens down for coronavirus siege

Our county battened down on Friday to wait out a coronavirus siege, with Jewish and general community institutions announcing closures as a precaution to prevent the virus from spreading.  In addition to the developments reported on Thursday, there were these additional developments to report on Friday. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

S.D. County battens down for coronavirus siege Read More »

Donald H. Harrison, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education

A Word of Torah: The infamous Golden Calf

This week’s Torah Portion is titled ‘Ki Tisa’, translated as, ‘And you shall count.’ The beginning of the portion tells us about the commandment to take a census of the men of Israel, from the ages of 20-60, who would be eligible to serve in the army. The census was not done in a typical fashion by direct count. Instead each person gave a half-shekel coin and those coins were then counted. The money taken from this census was used for communal needs. Later in our portion the difficult story of the infamous Golden Calf is related. … [Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort]

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Jewish Religion, Yeruchem Eilfort-Rabbi

The unexpurgated Oval Office address

It was obvious by the detached and halting delivery of President Trump’s Oval Office speech that it was composed by someone else and read off the teleprompter.  Since I am close friends with the Oval Office custodian, I obtained the draft that Trump wrote, but reluctantly tossed in the trash can.  Here is the short version of it. [Satire by Lawrence Baron, Ph.D]

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Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Biden’s victories reassure Jews worried about Sanders

Maybe now the threat of anti-Semitism – government-sanctioned anti-Semitism, to be specific – could be slackening with Bernie Sanders’s slackening presidential campaign. American Jews feared that a Bernie Sanders presidency would intensify the anti-Semitic movement that has been haunting our country, especially during the past few years. Had Sanders swept Super Tuesday states last week, we should still be worried. [Bruce S. Ticker]

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Bruce Ticker, Middle East, USA

Many S.D. Jewish institutions announcing coronavirus precautions

More and more Jewish organizations in San Diego County are announcing precautions and responses to the coronavirus pandemic, including Jewish Community Foundation, Jewish Family Service, Jewish Federation of San Diego County, Jewish National Fund, Lawrence Family JCC, Ohr Shalom Synagogue, Seacrest Village Retirement Community, Tifereth Israel Synagogue, and Western Jewish Studies Association. Following in alphabetical order, is a report about each. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

Many S.D. Jewish institutions announcing coronavirus precautions Read More »

Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

‘The Super Achievers’ probes Jewish Nobelists

The Super Achievers by Ronald Gerstl reveals the remarkable disproportionate Jewish contributions to world knowledge of science and heath, and the surprisingly high number of Jewish Nobel Prize Winners in these fields. Although Jews are only 0.2% of the world’s population, Jews were awarded 24% of the Nobel Prizes in science and medicine. Similarly, while Jews account for only 2% of the American population, they received 37% of the US Nobel Prize awards in these fields. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

‘The Super Achievers’ probes Jewish Nobelists Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, USA