By Rabbi Ben Kamin ENCINITAS, California — In director Steve McQueen’s haunting movie, “12 Years A Slave,” the kidnapped black protagonist, during one long grueling and painfully allegorical segment, is shown hanging from a tree with a noose choking his neck and one foot desperately tapping the muddy ground for balance and life. The spiritual
Obama is being spiritually lynched Read More »
USANEW YORK – Israeli President Shimon Peres on Monday, Nov. 25, awarded The State of Israel’s Presidential Medal of Distinction to Nobel Laureate and esteemed author and activist, Elie Wiesel. The medal, which is the highest civilian honor in the State of Israel, is bestowed by the President onto individuals who have made an outstanding
Peres awards Medal of Distinction to Wiesel Read More »
Middle East
U.S. signing of Iran deal harms Israeli interests, most Israelis say in poll (JNS.org) In a new Israel Hayom poll, 57.8 percent of Jewish Israeli respondents said they believe the U.S. harmed Israeli interests by signing the nuclear deal with Iran over the weekend. Only 20.6 percent said that the U.S. did not harm
JNS news briefs: November 25, 2013 Read More »
International
By Eric George Tauber SAN DIEGO — I first saw Rhona Gold in a staged reading of The Jewish King Lear at the REP. Then, more recently in a reading of Jewish Shorts at the JCC in which she was particularly memorable as the teacher of a tongue-in-cheek conversion class, Jewish 101. After I saw
From Hodel to Yenta: A conversation with Rhona Gold Read More »
Travel and Food
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–Celebrating her 99th birthday with family and friends at a Westgate Hotel brunch, Gabriella Hartstein Auspitz Labson, with the help of film maker Yale Strom, showed a documentary on Sunday, Nov. 24, about her life in a town that changed hands between Czechoslovakia and Hungary, and her subsequent rescue
Story of a rescuer retold at 99th birthday brunch Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
Some songs for Chanukah By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO― Afghanistan (Tune: Oh Hanukah) Afghanistan, Afghanistan, Your future is certain. . Our troops will defend you To profit Haliburton. There’s no more Osama, To terrorize our land. But President Obama Still fears the Taliban. And while we are fighting, Iran is enriching its core. For domestic
Humoring the Headlines: November 24, 2013 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire
By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — The title of the lecture, ‘An Ode to Salonika: the Ladino Verses of Boueno Sarfatty,’ was not particularly enticing, but I decided to go along anyway. In the event, I was taken by surprise and completely captivated by the erudition, mental agility and linguistic ability of the speaker,
In remembrance of a heroine of Salonika Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish HistoryBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — This is not the time for anything close to a complete assessment of the agreement with Iran. Commentators can find points where Israel’s insistence might have shaped the final deal, but so far the tendency of Israeli officials and party leaders–not all of them right of center–is to complain that
Lieberman wants Israel to make new friends Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–Friends from many walks of life gathered to pay tribute to Laura Simon on Saturday night, November 23, in anticipation of her 108th birthday, which comes Nov. 26. If you can’t remember the date, check with Interim Mayor Todd Gloria’s office. He proclaimed Nov. 26th to be “Laura Simon
Friends fete 108-year-old phenom, Laura Simon Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonBy Steve Kramer Eyal Zisser is Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and the Yona and Dina Ettinger Chair of Contemporary Middle Eastern History at Tel Aviv University (TAU). Professor Zisser recently spoke to the English Speaking Friends of TAU at their monthly lecture on the present situation in the Middle East, particularly in Syria.
U.S. image in decline throughout Middle East Read More »
Middle East, Steve KramerBy Rabbi Ben Kamin ENCINITAS, California — A letter to President John F. Kennedy. Dear Mr. President, You are so omnipresent, fifty years after Dallas, so vividly alive for those of us who have any memory of you while you were here with us, that it doesn’t seem all that preposterous to send you
A letter to President John F. Kennedy Read More »
USA
By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO–On Wednesday evening I was among 1,000 Jewish men who were privileged to hear former Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, speak at the annual UJF Men’s Event. Among other comments, Ambassador Oren said that today there are two great centers of Jewish life: Israel and North America.
Israel and the Diaspora: Jewish concepts are changing Read More »
Jewish ReligionSyracuse University suspends ties with Palestinian school, joining Brandeis (JNS.org) Syracuse University became the second school in a week to suspend its relationship with the Palestinian Al-Quds University in Jerusalem following a Nazi-style rally at Al-Quds, The Jerusalem Post reported. The school’s Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism halted ties with Al-Quds. “We are very
JNS news briefs: November 22, 2013 Read More »
International
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–I think it is only fair to warn student journalists that anything they write for their publications–anything–may follow them around for the rest of their lives. Now, this can be a good thing, as in two tales I will soon relate, or it can be a very bad thing, if
What we write follows us Read More »
Donald H. Harrison