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
Itamar Makes Friends: A Children’s Story of Jewish Brotherhood by Josh Hasten, illustrated by S. Kim Glassman, Geffen Kidz, Jerusalem, 2011, ISBN 978-965-229-567-5. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – This is a simple morality tale, but as is true with this genre, it raises some important questions, possibly even controversy. In brief, the story […]
He ain’t no country bumpkin; he’s my brother Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—At a recent ceremony marking the beginning of a year-long celebration of Congregation Beth Israel’s sesquicentennial, Rob Levi shared with me a copy of his book about his great-grandfather, Adolph Levi, one of the founders of the Reform congregation. Although he researched and published the book primarily for family use—and
The Levis’ personal Jewish history of San Diego Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History
By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Palestinian Unilateral Declaration of Independence is a cynical ploy that bypasses the necessary requirement for direct negotiations between the Palestinian leadership and the Government of Israel. Despite a last minute scramble by the White House intending to delay this action, it is all too likely that a vote
What are the stakes of a Palestinian UDI vote? Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana Bryen
By Donald H. Harrison SANTEE – A sensory garden, to further enhance blind people’s enjoyment when visiting the Santee Lakes, has been experiencing luxurious growth in its first five months. Aromatic roses are large, fat, and presumably happy, and other plants interesting to the touch like sage, rosemary, and English lavender are flourishing. With an
Santee Lakes boasts a garden for the blind Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – When Richard Greyson reached up and rotated an acorn on the branch of a Coast Live Oak between his thumb and finger, he was reenacting a scene that may have occurred many thousand times over the centuries in the area along the San Diego River that today
Mission Trails Park: A place to learn while exercising Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—The first monument at the Miramar National Cemetery, which one day will be the final resting place for nearly a quarter million veterans, was dedicated on Friday, Sept. 16, in honor of American Ex-Prisoners of War. Unveiled was a 15-foot-tall, seven-ton-statue, named “The Liberation Moment,” sculpted by Richard Becker
‘Liberation Moment’ at Miramar N.C. honors American ex-POWs Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—Congregation Beth Israel returned on Thursday night, Sept. 15, to its original home to install the president and board of directors who will preside over the Reform congregation’s sesquicentennial celebrations in the forthcoming year of the Hebrew calendar. Like the congregation, the building to which Beth Israel’s board members and
Installation of officers inaugurates Beth Israel’s sesquicentennial Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History
By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — The arrest and arraignment in New York of DSK (Dominique Strauss-Kahn) was somewhat ‘déjà vu’ for Israelis. There is something both terrible and fascinating in seeing a prominent, successful and influential personage brought down low in public. The sight of the haggard face and pitiful stance as they
The sexual hubris of some men in power Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – After we all were settled at our patio table at the Apollonia restaurant in the Costa Verde Shopping Center on Saturday night, Laura Simon reached into her purse and distributed three copies of a letter she had received from Bridgette C. Jenkins, head of the U.S. Monographs Section
Oldest author, newest news show anchor meet over Greek fare Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Donald H. Harrison EL CAJON, California – Imagine that you learned one day that the mother who died during your childhood was, in a sense, still alive; that without your knowledge, or that of any member of your family, cancerous cells from your mother’s cervix had been taken by her gynecologist, cultured in a
Henrietta Lacks studies multiply like cells through S.D. County Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, San Diego CalendarBy Donald H. Harrison BARONA INDIAN RESERVATION, California – We came here serendipitously on Saturday night. Our friends the Burstains live in Escondido. We live in the eastern portion of San Diego. We wanted to meet somewhere in between for dinner. “Let’s try the buffet at one of the casinos,” said I. “Let me check
Big winnings at Barona: the enjoyment of being made welcome Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonBy Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – They’re getting ready with the pyrotechnics for the closing programs Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings of this Labor Day Weekend of the San Diego Symphony’s Summer Pops—with Tchaikovsky’s boom-boom-booming 1812 Overture sure to create a stir at the nearby San Diego Convention Center and for all the boaters
Music and a Jewish subtext at the Pops Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel – People in this country are accustomed to grumbling about everything – the government, the cost of living and above all the weather. They are not, or at least have not been in the past, accustomed to doing anything much about any of them. This is in contrast to
Man-on-the-street protests focus on everyday annoyances Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East
By Donald H. Harrison MODESTO, California—A plaza located where five streets intersect boasts a life-size sculpture of a teenage girl seated on the side of a 1957 Chevrolet and a high school-aged boy leaning against it as they talk. It’s an ode to the movie American Graffiti by one of Modesto’s most famous former
A monument to a bygone time Read More »
Donald H. Harrison