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

Novel: Time-traveling teens save Shoah victims

In this novel for young adults,  two members of the “Bad Love Gang” slide down a ravine, find a tunnel, and discover the headquarters of another project that was even more hush-hush than the Manhattan Project.  It was an ultra-secret effort to build a time machine that might change history in the event an atomic bomb couldn’t do the job. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison

JAFI’s Isaac Herzog brings unity message to SDJA

Isaac Herzog, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and once Opposition Leader in the Knesset, met on Friday with small groups at Leichtag Commons, the San Diego Jewish Academy, and the Jewish Federation of San Diego, as part of his mission to build stronger bridges between Jews of Israel and the Diaspora. I caught up with him at the San Diego Jewish Academy, where he was welcomed by Charles Wax, the chairman of Waxie Sanitary Supply, who was the first president of the 40-year-old Academy, and also is a donor to JAFI’s “Wings” program which supports “Lone Soldiers” from abroad who are injured or wounded during their service with the Israel Defense Forces. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Middle East, San Diego County, USA

Scientists and artists collaborate in SDAI exhibit

There is a new exhibit at the San Diego Art Institute (SDAI) that should appeal to many tastes as it is an innovative show that pairs artists and scientists together. What a brilliant idea to combine art and science together! The new installation, “Illumination,” paired 16 artists with seven scientific institutions, along with ten artists doing their own interpretation of science, nature, and technology. The curator of this show, Chi Essary, did a wonderful job pairing the artists with their scientific counterparts. [Mimi Pollack]

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Mimi Pollack, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County

Oscar Predictions for 2020

Think of my predictions as the Oscar version of Real Clear Politics. I compile the predictions made in key Hollywood trade publications to determine the likely winners.  These reflect what insiders know about voting trends among members of the Academy.  I list the favorite and the second most likely if the favorite loses.  Since I have been doing this, my predictions have been right 90 % of the time.  [Laurie Baron, Ph.D]

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Lawrence Baron, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Crowds queue for Anne Frank exhibit

To the surprise and gratification of organizers, a crowd numbering in the thousands snaked around the Timken Museum on Thursday, Feb. 6,  in order to see what was planned to be a one-day exhibition on Anne Frank sponsored by the Consulate-General of the Netherlands and the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. At an evening reception, officials of the gallery announced that the exhibit, which has been touring schools around the country, would be extended through Saturday before it has to be packed up and shipped to its next destination. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, USA

A 10-year-old boy encounters anti-Semitism

Albert Cohen wrote this book when he was eighty years old and approaching death, as he states early on in this book. It describes his experiences and emotions when, on his tenth birthday, he encountered a street vendor in Marseilles, where he was living at the time. A small crowd had gathered around, and the boy was fascinated by the colorful goods the vendor was selling, so bought some trinkets with the money his mother had given him for his birthday. The vendor noticed the boy’s dark hair and eyes and began insulting him for being Jewish, telling him to ‘shove off, scum,’ and ‘we don’t like dirty bloodsucking Jews here.’ The people around him either laughed or kept quiet, adding to the boy’s pain. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish History

Kirk Douglas: Star of David and Hollywood

Like many Jews of his generation, he had changed his name to avoid revealing that he was born Issur Danielovitch, the son of poor Jewish immigrants who lived in Amsterdam, New York. Even before that, he adopted the Americanized surname of his uncle Avram Demsky and preferred Isadore over Issur. {Lawrence Baron, Ph.D]

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Lawrence Baron, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials

The making of an international Jewish film festival

  Other items in today’s column include: * A graveyard film inspired the SDIJFF chair * Political bytes * Coming our way * Recommended reading By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – You can tell a lot about any of the 35 movies to be shown at the 30th annual San Diego International Film Festival

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Gun laws, not more prosecution of slapper, needed

Last week Attorney General William Barr traveled to Boro Park in Brooklyn and vowed to bring down the full weight of the federal government upon anti-Semitic violence. Who did he target? She who slaps Jews or those who gun us down? Our esteemed attorney general went after what must be the most dangerous of these forces. He announced federal hate-crime charges against…drum roll, please…Tiffany Harris. [Bruce Ticker]

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Bruce Ticker, Jewish History, USA

A minyan of Jews on local election ballots

As we go into the final month before the March 3 primary election in California, I’d like to mention the names of Jewish candidates on the ballot for our readers to consider.  We’re not making any endorsements in the primary election (although I personally announced for Amy Klobuchar) , but we’d like you to know who they are.  In some cases, like Democratic presidential candidates Michael Bloomberg and Bernie Sanders, they oppose each other.  [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Obituaries & memorials, USA

On God, the Healer

Does your physician heal you from illness or prevent you from becoming ill in the first place? Maimonides informs us: “The greatest of all physicians is the Lord, of Whom it is said ‘I am the Lord thy physician.’ As proof of this, it is written ‘I will not place upon you the illnesses which I have placed upon ancient Egypt.’ Who is truly the good doctor? Not the person who heals the sick from their diseases, but rather the one who helps the person from becoming sick and sees to it that he maintains his health.” [Michael Mantell, Ph.D]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell