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
By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — As a U.S. senator, Chuck Hagel went to great lengths to assure people he was not the “Senator from Israel,” and he seemed surprised when people objected to his remark, “The political reality is … that the Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here.” It was never […]
Did Secretary Hagel have an Israel epiphany? Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana BryenEchoes of Eden: Sefer Vayikra by Rabbi Ari Kahn; Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House, 2013; ISBN-10: 9652295922, 256 pages; $20.95 By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California –Rabbi Ari Kahn is one of the most imaginative scholars I have encountered in the Orthodox world. His new commentary on the Book of Leviticus is yet
Rabbi Kahn illuminates mysteries of Leviticus Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiBy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C — The discovery that Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev lived in the United States for a decade produced a spate of theorizing over “homegrown” terrorism and terrorists. Baseball, Google and iPhones are homegrown. There is nothing “homegrown” about Islamic terrorism, which is taught, bought and paid for by international sponsors, primarily
Boston terrorism not ‘homegrown’ Read More »
Shoshana Bryen, USABy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — Almost lost in the terrible events in Boston is the Obama administration’s dire warning last week that the window for diplomatic success in the Middle East is closing — not on Iran’s quest for nuclear capability; not on the Syrian war; not on sectarian violence in Iraq; not on
Enough with the ‘window of opportunity’ rhetoric Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana BryenBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel SAN DIEGO — The Psalms’ language is unabashedly picturesque; it full of nature imagery—as is the Siddur itself. One way to think of the metaphor is to see it as a moving image; it is not static. This thought is the simple premise behind the Nehahel Siddur: Nature serves to
New Orthodox siddur is intellectually attractive Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiBy Eva Trieger SAN DIEGO — It is the generally accepted modus operandi of stand up comedians to react to hecklers with quick jabs and caustic barbs. Well, Steve Hofstetter was at the top of his game at Riley’s Bar and Grill in the Point Loma neighborhood last Saturday, April 20. On a small stage,
Putting down hecklers is Hofstetter specialty Read More »
Eva TriegerBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO –Brian Helgeland’s 42 is an old fashioned Hollywood biopic. Spanning Jackie Robinson’s recruitment by the Brooklyn Dodgers and first year in the National League, the film presents idealized depictions of both Robinson played by Chadwick Boseman and Branch Rickey played by Harrison Ford. Ford steals the movie like Robinson stole
The Wandering Review: Jackie Robinson and the Jews Read More »
Lawrence BaronTrialogue and Terror: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam after 9/11 by Alan L. Berger, ed., Cascade Books, Eugene, OR; ISBN 978-1-60899-546-2 ©2012, $30.00, p. 255, plus index By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California — Domestic stories primarily covered the front page of the New York Times on September 10, 2001. Succeeding days and months would be
The post-911 world through interreligious eyes Read More »
Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish Religion
Story and photos by Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–There were so many things to do, exhibits to see, and people to schmooze with that unless you walked hand-in-hand with a companion during the entire time of the Israel Independence Festival, never letting go for even a minute, no person’s overall experiences there on Sunday,
San Diego celebrates Israel’s 65th birthday Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Donald H. Harrison EL CAJON, California — I had to ask director Martin Katz whether he had been thinking about death a lot lately. His upcoming play at Grossmont College, An Ordinary Day, is a comedy dealing with a lady who plans to commit suicide, only she is constantly being interrupted. It wasn’t so long
Director probes the lighter side of death Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson EIN BOQEQ, Israel — Just one and a half hours’ drive away from my home just outside Jerusalem lies the Dead Sea, the lowest place on earth, whose water is so salty that the human body can float quite easily on its surface. It rains very rarely and the temperature there never
Ah, the respite of the Dead Sea Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-VansonBy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Tarnaev brothers were cruelly successful, but they are far from the only terrorists over the past decade with big ideas about carnage in America. There is a temptation with each act of terror to see it as isolated, connected to the mental state of the actor, but not
Boston terrorism part of a larger pattern Read More »
Shoshana Bryen, USABy Jacob Kamaras/JNS.org The imam of a mosque that is managed by the Muslim Brotherhood-founded Muslim American Society (MAS) was initially invited to speak at Thursday’s interfaith service in Boston to honor the Boston Marathon attack’s victims, but that invitation was later rescinded by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s office, JNS.org has learned. The Islamic Society
Muslim speaker replaced at Marathon service Read More »
Jacob Kamaras, USABy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California –How the mighty have fallen! This past week, much has been said about one of Modern Orthodoxy’s greatest scholars of our time—Rabbi Michael Broyde, who allegedly has been using a fake ID to help promote his writings and Halachic scholarship. The use of aliases is common in much
Were those who attacked ethicist themselves ethical? Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi