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 Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California —Irony I feel, is a very high form of morality. — JEAN STAFFORD This morning I received an email about how the Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh turns to Israel when his family needs medical attention. I know of very few countries that live by the ethic […]
Hamas chief’s brother-in-law went to Israel for treatment Read More »
Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Middle East
By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. –Americans are jaded by the size and shape of the financial crisis that ripped through banking in 2008. Bernie Madoff, AIG, “too big to fail,” Goldman Sachs, subprime lending, unfathomable derivatives, and underwater mortgages make it hard to work up much steam on yet another banking story. And you could
Standard Chartered Branch, Deloite & Touche accused of conspiring with Iran Read More »
Shoshana Bryen, USA
By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — Jennifer Devoldère’s The Day I Saw Your Heart is the Jewish Film Club’s (www.jewishfilmclub.com) DVD selection for this July and August. It stars Mélanie Laurent as X-Ray technician Justine Dhrey and Michel Blanc as her prickly father Eli. Ju, as she is called, seethes with resentment against Eli. When she
The Wandering Review: ‘The Day I Saw Your Heart’ Read More »
Lawrence BaronBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — The Jewish world has recently begun its new project of the Daf Yomi, or “Page of the Day.” Here is a brief history how the project originally began. Rabbi Meir Shapiro, leader of the World Agudath Israel, introduced a novel idea in 1923. He felt the
Some ways to participate in daily Talmud study Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — The recent attack upon the Sikh Temple in Wisconsin dredged up some old memories I thought I had buried. My story began not long after 2001. At that time, I was a rabbi in Glens Falls, New York, when the incident occurred. After the terrible 9/11
Attack on Sikh Temple stirs memories of Glen Falls Read More »
Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, USA
By Eva Trieger SAN DIEGO — Lenny Solomon has bass and treble clefs in his DNA. Inheriting this musical encryption from a long line of cantors on both sides of his family, Solomon has been involved with music since 1985. Though he was majoring in accounting at Queens College in New York, after three years
Shlock rocker Lenny Solomon promos ‘Daniel in Babylon’ Read More »
Eva TriegerBy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — The news is out — President Obama is not just watching the gory events unfold in Syria. The president signed an intelligence finding permitting the CIA to help the opposition with $25 million’s worth of non-lethal assistance, possibly including communications, logistics, and intelligence. Public acknowledgement of the finding follows
U.S. naively tries to buy friends in Syria Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana BryenBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Who says religious people aren’t funny? Where is Jay Leno when you need him? The world of the Ultra-Orthodox (a.k.a. “Haredi” and “Hasidim”) never fail to evoke laughter and irony. In their quest for personal piety, they will go to extremes to keep themselves away from
Some forms of haredi piety are really OCD Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi
By Mimi Pollack SPOKANE, Washington — Rabbi Tamar Malino is full of hope and optimism. She has started a new life in Spokane after leaving San Diego in 2008. She still has fond memories of her former congregation in Poway where she was both assistant rabbi and rabbi at Temple Adat-Shalom. In 2008, Rabbi Tamar
Former Poway rabbi building community in Spokane Read More »
Mimi Pollack, San Diego CalendarEnfold Me: A Novel of Post Israel by Steven Greenberg; 2012; ISBN 978-0-9856873-1-1; 280 pages; price unlisted By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — This brutal, shockingly violent novel imagines a high intensity earthquake that leaves Israel defenseless against an opportunistic strike by Iran and its Arab allies. When the smoke and dust clear,
Violent novel depicts Israel after its fall Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — The Ken Cinema (4061 Adams Avenue) will reprise Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive (2011) for the midnight shows this Friday and Saturday. The film which earned Refn the award for best director at Cannes is filled with gory killings that will repel squeamish viewers. For those who can stomach the
The Wandering Review: ‘Drive’ Read More »
Lawrence Baron
By Eva Trieger SAN DIEGO — According to Exodus 20, we are bid to “honor thy father and thy mother.” This edict presents something of a challenge for Pippin, son of Charlemagne, as we see in Pickwick Players’ courageous and feisty production at the Moxie Theater. This playful remake of the 1970s’ Broadway production entertains
Pickwick Players present ‘Pippin’ pretty playfully Read More »
Eva Trieger
By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel -In preparation for our summer in France, or perhaps simply because I like to think I can read books in French, I bought Anne Sinclair’s book, 21 Rue la Boetie. Reading it took me into the fascinating world of French art in the twentieth century, with extensive ramifications regarding
Picasso, Rosenberg and the Nazi looters Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-VansonBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel SAN DIEGO — Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook writes in his famous mystical and moral tract, The Lights of Penitence: The greatest impediment to the human spirit, upon reaching maturity, results from the fact that the conception of God is crystallized among people in a particular form, which goes back to childish habit
Anthropomorphizing God does HaShem a disservice Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi