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

Our Shtetl San Diego County: October 9, 2019

Items in today’s column include:
*Congressional effort underway to protect San Diego’s clean water supply
*Jewish Studies events at San Diego State University
*Dr. Seuss Enterprises to debut Green Eggs and Ham on Netflix
*Political bytes
*Rabbi, recalling R-E-S-P-E-C-T popularized by Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding, says society needs more
(To read more, please click on the headline.)

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Down Under they don’t trust U.S. media

I have a few email addresses from congressmen and senators in Washington. I sometimes get responses to what I send or have to say to them. Some of them have read the SDJW and have seen Alon Ben-Meir’s article entitled ‘Repercussions of Israel’s Fractured Democracy’ (nothing wrong with that article) and Bruce S. Tickers story ‘Impeachment unlikely to affect Democratic control of the House’???. So I won’t send Joel Cohen’s item entitled “Trump seeks Israel’s help in Election” because one or more dopey members of Congress might take it seriously and make an issue of it. (To read more, please click on the headline.)

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Alon Ben-Meir, Bruce Ticker, International, Joel H. Cohen, John McCormick, Lawrence Baron, USA

Kapparot ceremony is unnecessary cruelty to animals

Yom Kippur has its own unique customs and traditions, and one of the most historically controversial customs involves taking a chicken and swinging it around one’s head. When I was a Hassidic youth, I recall getting up early in the morning before dawn to reenact the tradition better known as “Shlugging Kaparos,” or “Kapparot.” (To read more, please click on the headline.)

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Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, The World We Share

Humoring the headlines: October 7, 2019

Rudy Giuliani finally recognized that admitting the crimes the president is accused of is not a good legal strategy.  Therefore, he is concocting more subtle ways of conveying to foreign leaders that they should investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter for corruption.  Here’s a draft for a future call he plans to make to the Chinese Embassy. (To read more of this satirical column, please click the headline.)

Humoring the headlines: October 7, 2019 Read More »

Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Love/Sick touches audience at Mira Costa College

nce again, the students of Mira Costa College and Theater School have brought us a winner. This time they explore the delightful, provocative depiction of many expressions of love. Through nine vignettes, John Cariani’s Love/Sick invites the audience into the most intimate moments between a couple, through the succession of two individuals. (To read more, please click on the headline.)

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Eva Trieger, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Our Shtetl San Diego County: October 6, 2019

Michael Jeser, the president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County, reports that $42,000 of a $100,000 fund to help Holocaust survivors already has been expended. “The first claim was filed in July,” he wrote in an email to Jewish community members.  “Since then, there have been 80 requests for emergency services … We were told that San Diego is accessing these funds at a faster rate than any of the other dozen communities who are part of this pilot funding program.” (To read more, please click on headline.)

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Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County

Two rabbinic leaders disputed Torah in ancient times

Two Talmudic sages lived around 130 CE and disagreed on how to interpret the Bible. Rabbi Akiva won out, and Rashi, Nachmanides, and most ancient Bible commentators as well as most Midrashim follow his view. Others, such as Rashi’s grandson Rashbam, Abraham ibn Ezra, and Maimonides interpret the Torah as Rabbi Ishmael did. (To read more, please click on the headline.)

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Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Jewish Religion

The swastika in a U.S. military cemetery

Paul Eilert died of cancer in a Utah hospital in 1944. Eilert was a German POW. He is buried in a section reserved for POWs in Ft. Douglas, Utah. There are 20 other German WWII interments in the Utah U.S. military cemetery.  His is the only one with the Knights Cross and Oak Leaves, a very, very high military decoration for his actions against the enemy, clearly carved with a swastika into his tombstone.  Of the 800 German POW deaths in the U.S., from the lowest rank to generals, his unusual stone is the only one with the Knights Cross on his tombstone.  Research, so far, has found his name, nowhere.  Paul Eilert, the Swastika in the U.S. Military Cemetery, is a mystery. (To read more, please click on the headline)

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International, Jerry Klinger, USA

Hounding the headlines: October 4, 2019

Until I was adopted by the Barons, I didn’t know much about cats.  To be sure, when I was on the street, I saw more of them than stray dogs.  While I couldn’t wait to find a home, the cats who prided themselves on being feral relished their freedom.  The Barons owned two cats, both of whom ignore me.  Their vacant stares can only be described as catatonic. (To read more, please click on headline.)

Hounding the headlines: October 4, 2019 Read More »

Lawrence Baron, Lifestyles, The World We Share