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: September 23, 2019

Items in today’s column: *Climate warming emergency drives Micah Perlin’s Assembly candidacy *Personal wealth vs. political endorsements in 53rd C.D. race *Some of the honorable traits animals share with humans *A play about immigration has premiered at the Old Globe Theatre *Mazel tov! Mazel tov! *Passages By Donald H. Harrison Climate warming emergency drives Micah […]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego County, The World We Share, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Kashrut involves not only a hechsher but also ethical behavior

Excerpt: Through seven sections, Kashrut and Jewish Food Ethics examines a broad swath of the kosher landscape. Who inspects the inspectors certifying kosher products and are the stamps on kosher meat truly a mark of adherence to traditional values? What are the moral underpinnings of eating kosher meat and what should they be? There is more to kosher meat than slaying by a trained shochet, there must be concern for animal welfare. Family-owned farms, bought out, are now part of mechanized slaughterhouses, whose chief aim is profit. Does a neglected animal, or one needlessly made to suffer, deserve the label kosher even if properly killed? (Please click headline to read full story)

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Travel and Food

A nostalgic, educational visit to London

Excerpt: This year’s visit started with a bang, the sun was shining and we had been invited to tour the House of Lords by a sitting member who had attended the LSE at the same time as I had, but had gone on to have a stellar career in the law, eventually being made a baroness. She had seen my articles about life in Israel in the AJR Journal and contacted me last year, when we visited her in Oxford. Because parliament had been ‘prorogued,’ i.e., suspended, by the Prime Minister, the place was deserted apart from a few security personnel. Nonetheless, we were taken around the opulent building, parts of which date back to the thirteenth century, while much of it was restored in the nineteenth century after a fire. We felt very privileged to be taken around by our friend, who also treated us to a lovely meal at the Wolesley restaurant. (Please click headline to read full story)

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Travel and Food

Fighting anti-Semitism at local levels of government

Excerpt: In Paterson and Trenton, both iconic cities in New Jersey, Michael Jackson and Kathy McBride are members of the city council today, and towards the other end of the country, Patrick Little is running for council in Garden City, Idaho, a suburb of Boise. Little is a white nationalist and a Republican. and Jackson and McBride are African-American Democrats.

Jackson played the race card in Paterson after he was admonished for proclaiming “Jew us down” during a council meeting on September 10 while debating the reconstruction of a local stadium, according to The Paterson Press. “That was meant with no malice,” Jackson said, noting that he learned the phrase during his “upbringing.”

The councilman subsequently questioned if the city administration was doing enough to quell violence involving young African men. In an argument with Mayor Andre Sayegh, he said the phrase was used by people to describe haggling. “I never use it,” the mayor said. (Please click headline to read full story)

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Bruce Ticker, USA

‘Methuselah’ offers some humorous corrections to the Bible

Excerpt: When God dictated the Bible to Moses, it was perfect – every word and every letter was flawless. But a so-called scholar Laumentenkup recopied the Bible and made many mistakes. He couldn’t see the dirt under his fingernails and drank too much fermented grape juice. Methuselah wants to correct as many errors as he can. The following are some of his corrections.

There was no snake in Eden. God created a toothless tortoise as a companion for man so he wouldn’t be lonely. When this didn’t work, God put Adam asleep and created a woman from his third tonsil and ever since then women have spoken a great deal. (Please click headline to read full story)

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion

 Our Shtetl San Diego County: September 21, 2019

Items in today’s column include:
*No Jewish unity when it comes to local politics
*Political dots and dashes
*The continuing tragic aftermath of the shooting at Chabad of Poway
*Congresswoman Davis on student loan forgiveness, forced arbitration
*Conductor David Amos schedules a concert season honoring Beethoven’s 250th birthday
*Mazel Tov! Mazel Tov!

 Our Shtetl San Diego County: September 21, 2019 Read More »

Donald H. Harrison, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, USA

Our Shtetl San Diego County: September 20, 2019

I have met other people who can recall song lyrics from the 1950’s on, but none, absolutely none, whose memory is as phenomenal as that of Judy Gumbiner, the retired San Diego State University director of career services.

With the High Holy Days approaching, soon thereafter to be followed by Succot and Simcha Torah, Judy and I were discussing the impressions of the Jewish Bible that a popular music fan might derive from pop music and Broadway show tunes.

Here are some of the “lessons” we (mostly she) came up with:

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County

Contrasting Christian and Jewish ideas of repentance

Repentance doesn’t magically absolve people of wrongs they committed. It’s not abracadabra. Jewish repentance practices such as saying prayers and giving charity are designed to remind people to take practical measures to correct their behavior. It is a mistake to believe that Jews go to the synagogue during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and say prayers because many of these prayers will cause God to wipe out the wrongs we committed. Prayers do not do this. The purpose of the prayers is to prompt us to correct the wrongs we did in the past and change our future behavior. It is we who do the change.

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Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr.

Hounding the Headlines: September 20, 2019

This is the first time I am residing with a Jewish family that celebrates what I think is called the High Collie Days.  I’m not exactly sure what that entails, but I want to fit in.  Tomorrow night is Sleek Coat, and, I definitely have one.  People recite prayers and readings about forgiveness.  I might skip it because I haven’t attacked any dogs, bit any humans, or scared any people in the past year. 

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Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Book Review: ‘A Field Guide to the Jewish People’

Co-author Dave Barry is a well-known syndicated humor columnist; Alan Zweibel has written comedy for television programs including Saturday Night Live and Curb Your Enthusiasm;  and Adam Mansbach is the author of Go the F*ck to Sleep and You Have to F*****g Eat – the titles of which indicate a certain enthusiasm for F-bombs, which, in my opinion, appear all too frequently in the current collaboration.

Co-authors Barry, Mansbach and Zweibel have their comedy credits – and that may be enough to make this book popular, despite its very questionable taste.  Mixing Torah and F-Bombs, to my way of thinking, is more derision than humor, and the fact that two of the co-authors are themselves Jewish (Barry is a Presbyterian) doesn’t excuse that.

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion

D’var Torah for September 21, 2019

This is the time of the year when we reflect, when we turn inward, review our past year’s successes and disillusionments, with the purpose of looking forward to a better year…in other words, gezunt, hatlacha and parnassa.

The parasha begins with “When you arrive,” and ends with “When you have arrived at this place.” We are to be joyful, to be sameach, not simply because we feel we’ve succeeded, but because it is a commandment to do so.

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell