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
Editor’s Note: As part of Congregation Beth Israel’s 150th anniversary celebration, San Diego Jewish World editor Don Harrison gave an after-dinner speech to the CBI Men’s Club on Wednesday, July 18, sketching ten Jewish pioneers of San Diego. Here is an edited version of that talk. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO– Having written a […]
Meet a minyan of San Diego Jewish pioneers Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish HistoryBy Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Congressman and San Diego mayoral hopeful Bob Filner, City Council member Marti Emerald, and various leaders of the business and academic communities have signed their names to a half-page ad in the U-T newspaper urging support for J-Street. The message on Page B10 of Sunday’s edition, July
J Street attracts some well-known San Diego Jews Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel SAN DIEGO — Comic-con came to a close on Sunday in San Diego! Some of my congregation’s members love dressing up for these conventions as Ninja-Turtles or as Captain America. As a child, I loved collecting comic books. I probably would not have learned to read as quickly as I did
Let’s hear it for Jewish super-heroes! Read More »
Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, San Diego Calendar
Photos and story by Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — As my wife Nancy drove grandson Shor, 11, and me to the San Diego Convention Center, we noted that the car in front of us, a Saturn, had a vanity license plate that in symbol and letters announced its occupant was a Star Trek fan.
Star Trek bonanza at Comic-Con convention Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
A Candle in the Heart: Memoir of a Child Survivor by Judith Mannheimer Alter Kallman; Wordsmithy 2011; ISBN 978-1-935119010-1, 315 pages, price unlisted. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–This is an unusual Holocaust memoir because it moves from a child’s terror to her comfort, back to terror and then to reassurance, in a journey that
An unusual Holocaust story from a child survivor Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Mimi Pollack SAN DIEGO — A Long Way to Midnight is a work in progress, looking for producers to bring it to life as a staged production. On Thursday evening, July 12, I attended a first reading at the Community Actor’s Theatre. Because it was a first reading, it was like a rough
‘Long Way to Midnight’ soon to be ready for prime time Read More »
Mimi PollackBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — How many times have we heard it before? Haredi rabbis are going to great lengths to prove a point. They have no intention of giving up their Torah study to serve in the Israeli army. Tens of thousands of Israelis protested and demand that the
Should the Haredi serve in the military or stay in a yeshiva? Read More »
Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Middle East
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO –Amid fans dressed as Super-Heroes, Walt Disney characters, and inhabitants of the Star Trek and Star Wars universes, two Jewish men named Stan on Thursday, July 12, assiduously worked the crowd, drumming up support for their latest ventures. Stan Lee, who as a Marvel Comic executive, brought forth
Stan Lee and Stan Mack market their creativity at Comic-Con Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
Story and photos by Mimi Pollack TECATE, Mexico — There are only 70 to 80 people left in Baja California who speak Kumeyaay, according to Michael Wilken Robertson, an anthropologist with a specialty in ethno-botany who is curator of the Kumeyaay Museum in this city hugging the U.S.-Mexican border. In a recent interview, Wilken
Cultural Museum brings ancient Kumeyaay ways to life Read More »
Jewish History, Mimi Pollack
Determinism or Free Will by Chapman Cohen; Literary Licensing LLC, Whitefish, MT; ISBN 978-1-2581-2881-4 ©2012 reprint of a book published in 1919, $25.95, p. 127 Free Will by Sam Harris; Free Press, New York ISBN 978-1-4516-8347-0 ©2012, $9.99, p. 81, including notes and index By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California–Judaism provides no help in settling
So do we have free will or don’t we? Read More »
Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish ReligionBy Rabbi Michael Samuel CHULA VISTA, California –Since our ancestors have not always treated one another respectfully or tolerantly, I thought I would focus on a sensible theme for this time of the year. Our lesson begins with a passage from the Talmud: Tolerance begins with respecting our neighbor. The Talmud relates the following story: “A
Shammai vs. Hillel all over again Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–Jonathan Edzant, 18, a recent graduate of Canyon Crest Academy, won a $1,000 award and, perhaps more importantly for his future stage career, had the opportunity over three rounds of judging to demonstrate his capabilities as a singer to regional theatre decision-makers. Edzant will enter UC Irvine’s theatre arts program
Edzant on the rise as a musical theatre talent Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO– There’s been a dearth of Jewish films this summer. I had been hoping to review something that’s currently in release at movie theatres, but I’ve had no luck. I saw The Avengers on the chance that Ben Grimm, the Jewish alter ego of the Thing, would make a cameo appearance, but
The Wandering Review: Jews of the summer blockbusters Read More »
Lawrence Baron
By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel –It was only after our father died, almost ten years ago, that my sisters and I could begin to tackle the daunting task of going through all the books, papers, and sundry objects that he and our mother had managed to accumulate in their roughly 20 years of life in
Collating my mother’s recipes Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson