By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — There are at least three ways of getting it wrong on Israel’s election day. One: Israel rightly prides itself on its democratic structure. As the country isn’t divided into ridings where the first past the post candidate is elected, in theory every vote counts. That’s why today, election day, […]
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Middle EastBy Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb NEW YORK –Did you ever sing in a choir? If you did, you will easily be able to appreciate what I am about to describe. I well remember singing in a choir, and I recall three different scenarios which occurred in my choir with my choirmaster, who was invariably also
3 types of choirmasters, 3 types of leaders Read More »
Jewish Religion
The Imposter Bride by Nancy Richler, St. Martin’s Press, (c) 2013, ISBN 978-1-250-01006-4, 360 pages, $24.99 By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO –Shortly after World War II, an Eastern European lady assumes the identity of a dead woman and agrees to travel to Canada to marry Sol Kramer. Once she gets there, however, for reasons
Novel probes mystery, impact, of missing mother Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonEditor’s Note: Here is the text of President Barack Obama’s second inaugural address, as provided by the White House press office. THE PRESIDENT: Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief Justice, members of the United States Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens: Each time we gather to inaugurate a President we bear witness to the
Obama, in second inaugural, calls for extending the dream Read More »
USANetanyahu will not uproot major Jewish communities in any peace deal (JNS.org) Despite losing some ground to the new HaBayit HaYehudi (Jewish Home) party and a resurgent Labor Party, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s combined Likud-Yisrael Beitneu ticket is expected to win the election, and he will remain as prime minister. In an interview on
JNS news briefs: January 21, 2013 Read More »
InternationalBy David Amos SAN DIEGO–The Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra will present its second series of concerts of the 2012-13 season on Sunday, January 27, at 4:00 p.m., and Tuesday the 29th at 7:30 p.m. The orchestra is in the midst of its 39th year of continuously giving concerts to the San Diego community at large.
TICO concerts to invoke faraway lands Read More »
Travel and FoodBy Danny Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — There’s a Jewish story everywhere, for sure, and this one spans three continents and winds its way from North America to Taiwan to Israel. Let me explain. Peter Kubicek, now 83, lives in New York, but he was born in Czechoslovakia, a nation that no longer exists. The
Post-Holocaust story spans three continents Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — The good news about 92 year-old Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef – whom the Shas party describes as its spiritual leader but who acts more like its sole owner – is that he has made a complete recovery from his mini stroke. The bad news about him is that he continues
Will Bennet succeed Netanyahu as prime minister? Read More »
Middle East
By Cynthia Citron SANTA MONICA, California — So this Jewish atheist gets into a conversation with an atheist convert to the Church of England… Sounds like there should be a shaggy dog punch-line at the end, but instead you get Mark St. Germain’s riveting play, Freud’s Last Session , an imagined discussion between Sigmund
Sigmund Freud vs. C.S. Lewis in philosophical repartee Read More »
Cynthia CitronBy Fred Reiss, Ed.D WINCHESTER, California — A news story under the byline of Jonathan Mizrahi has been making its way around the Internet. The story says that this year will be the only time that Chanukah will fall on Thanksgiving. So, is the story true? Yes and no. President Lincoln in 1863 proclaimed a
Truly rare occurence: Chanukah-Thanksgiving Read More »
Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish Religion
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — For the close reader, the current issue of The Journal of San Diego History offers some interesting information of local Jewish interest, one article in particular contrasting the philosophy of merchant Julius Wangenheim with those of many of his non-Jewish neighbors for whom the construction of Camp Kearny
Wangenheim remembered fondly in history journal Read More »
Jewish HistoryBy Abraham H. Foxman NEW YORK — It is fitting that the United Nations, as part of the international commemoration of the Holocaust on January 27, is paying tribute this year not only to the millions of innocents who died in the Nazi gas chambers, but also to those who made extraordinary sacrifices to hide
Remembering Those Who Had Courage to Care Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — One definition of a hypocrite is an individual who is guilty of faults more serious than those done by others that the hypocrite condemns as intolerable. Evolving events in northwestern Africa invite another look at Barack Obama’s comment that Israelis–and especially Benyamin Netanyahu–do not know what is good for
Hypocrisy in U.S. policy on fighting Muslim terrorists Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, USABy Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — Although helping those in need is one of my fundamental guiding principles, I rarely give to individuals who solicit funds on street corners. When someone with a sign reading “Anything Helps. God Bless” walks by my car I usually look away. I am never sure whether such people
Should we give to street corner beggars? Read More »
Jewish Religion