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 Donald H. Harrison KETCHIKAN, Alaska – Just as stories can be transcribed into writing in books, they also can be told with immense carvings on totem poles. The extended family that owns and operates Potlatch Park here has been producing both kinds of literature for the education and delight of the many visitors to […]
Native Alaskan stories writ large Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Donald H. Harrison VICTORIA, British Columbia – They say we can never go back again, certainly not back to those years of refinement marking the transition from the late 19th to the early 20th century. But “they” are wrong, as they so often are. You can go back, to a time of refinement, serenity,
Butchart Gardens evoke another, more refined time Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Shoshana Bryen Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — Political betting in Washington is that President Obama is preparing to demand that Syrian strongman Bashar Assad step down. After the Saudis, Kuwaitis, Bahrainis and Omanis – those bastions of human rights and civil liberties – withdrew their ambassadors from Damascus. After five months of brutal repression
What way out for Assad — and what consequences for the rest of us? Read More »
Shoshana Bryen
By Donald H. Harrison SAN FRANCISCO – In previous articles in this West Coast travel and sightseeing series, I have described visits to such Bay Area attractions as Alcatraz, the presidential yacht USS Potomac, the California Academy of Sciences, the Jewish Contemporary Museum, and the Wells Fargo Museum. Before taking leave of San Francisco,
Traveling, lodging and dining in San Francisco Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonBy Shoshana Bryen Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — Having written that “the mission” is what counts when sending American soldiers to protect, to fight and sometimes to die on our behalf, readers challenged us to define the mission in Afghanistan. We tried. Going back to the beginning of the Obama administration, we looked at what the
U.S. purposes in Afghanistan remain muddled Read More »
Shoshana Bryen, USA
Concord Stage Coach at Wells Fargo Museum By Donald H. Harrison SAN FRANCISCO – Joycee Wong missed the fourth-grade study week in Old Town San Diego when she moved with her family from Hong Kong to Chula Vista, California. Starting her U.S. schooling in fifth grade, she didn’t have the opportunity to learn very
Wells Fargo Museum interprets the ‘golden state’ Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonBy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. –They are all special forces; every American killed in service to our country is a special force. There have been 1,725 Americans killed in Afghanistan and 11,541 wounded (3,649 not returning to duty within 72 hours) before Saturday. But actual Special Operations forces are something else. One website that works
General questions about special forces casualties Read More »
Shoshana Bryen, USABy Donald H. Harrison SAN FRANCISCO – The writer Gertrude Stein was a woman of collaborations, alliances, and partnerships. The unorthodox web she wove gained her fame in the art world, celebrity in the popular media, and made her an icon among lesbians and gays. Her life is exhaustively chronicled in the “Seeing Gertrude
Contemporary Jewish Museum spotlights Gertrude Stein Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Donald H. Harrison SAN FRANCISCO – Anyone who flatters himself into believing that he has “been there and done that” will be quickly disabused of that conceit during a visit to the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. The sprawling complex houses a planetarium, tropical rain forest and aquarium as well
Many experiences rolled into one at California Academy of Sciences Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — As an alumna of the London School of Economics, I received the following notification by email at the beginning of March: ‘It is with great regret that I am writing to inform you … that the LSE Council has accepted the offer of resignation of Sir Howard Davies as
A disgrace for the London School of Economics Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Science, Medicine, & EducationBy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. –Raising the debt limit would not ordinarily be fodder for JINSA Reports but the deal will necessarily impact upon American defense policy and our ability to plan for the defense of ourselves, our interests and our allies, so a quick review is in order. The Numbers.Total defense-related spending in
A look at the post-deal Defense budget Read More »
Shoshana Bryen, USA
Yom Kippur Readings: Inspiration, Information, Contemplation by Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins, Editor; ISBN 978-1-58023-438-2 ©2011, $19.99, p. 311 plus Sources By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California — Why is Yom Kippur different from all other holidays? On all other holidays synagogues have a meager attendance, but on Yom Kippur they are filled to over
New book provides readings for Yom Kippur Read More »
Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish ReligionBy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — It should be hard to pick on Norwegians and their government this week, but it is impossible to overlook Svein Sevje, Norway’s ambassador to Israel. Trying to “outline the similarity and the difference in the two cases” (mass murder of Norwegians by a Norwegian and mass murder of
By Donald H. Harrison ALCATRAZ ISLAND, California – From the prisoners’ viewpoint, what was the worst thing about the federal prison here on “the rock” in the middle of San Francisco Bay? Was it the strict routines they had to follow? The loneliness? The chance that they may fall afoul of the rules and
Alcatraz: Its frustrations and escapes Read More »
Donald H. Harrison