By Rabbi Ben Kamin ENCINITAS, California — Bart Giamatti, the Yale president who became the short-lived commissioner of baseball in 1989 (as well as its laureate) spoke and wrote lyrically of the game’s enduring magic and bucolic hold on the American imagination. (So brutally ironic that this academic poet of our national pastime succumbed to […]
The urban green spaces where yarns are woven Read More »
Travel and FoodBy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — Though the news, leaks, speculations and spins about the efforts to cobble together a coalition before time runs out in another week or so dominate the public discourse in Israel, the volatile situation on its borders isn’t being ignored either. As so often in Israel, professors are frequently
Arab Spring devolves into tribal anarchy Read More »
Middle EastObama to Jewish leaders: No ‘grand peace plan’ coming on Israel trip (JNS.org) President Barack Obama said in a meeting with American Jewish leaders on Thursday that he does not intend to propose a “grand peace plan” on his upcoming trip to Israel, but that a peace effort might be launched within the next “six,
JNS news briefs: March 8, 2013 Read More »
InternationalBy Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO –The Kapischnitzer Rebbe, Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heschel (1888-1967), was renowned for his love of every Jew. He lived in a very modest apartment. The furniture was simple and the floors were worn. Yet that was all he and his wife needed. One day, the Rebbe’s daughter said to him,
What is a ‘necessity?’ Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — Can you imagine over 12,000 Jews and non-Jews gathered together in the same place for the same purpose? I would not have thought it possible, except I just returned from the AIPAC 2013 Policy Conference in Washington, D.C. and saw it myself. The last time I attended a Policy
Excitement of attending an AIPAC conference Read More »
USAThe Gaon of Vilna and His Messianic Vision by Arie Morgenstern, translated by Naftali Greenwood. Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House, 2012, Pp. xiii + 446; plates. Cloth, $29.95. I would give this book 4 stars! -First in a series — By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California –The Vilna Gaon’s life is the stuff that
The Vilna Gaon: a rationalist and a mystic Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi
Editor Donald H. Harrison has recently returned from a roundtrip cruise between San Diego and the Hawaiian Islands. Following is his fourth in a series of stories. By Donald H. Harrison KURTISTOWN, Hawaii — Usually my thinking about coffee runs no deeper than “do I want sugar or artificial sweetener to go with it?” although
Decisions, decisions. How should we choose our coffee? Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–The fighters who seized a patrol of UN Peacekeepers across the border on the Golan Heights explained their actions by the assertion that the UN as well as Bashar al-Assad and his soldiers are agents of Israel. In the eyes of some, made important at least momentarily by their weapons and putting
Seizure of U.N. peacekeepers demonstrates Mideast perils Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastIsrael fears UN will pull peacekeepers from Golan Heights (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israel has expressed concern that the United Nations peacekeeping force in the Golan Heights may pull out altogether after Syrian rebels snatched 21 UN troops in the cease-fire zone bordering Israel, the French news agency AFP reported on Thursday. An international
JNS news briefs: March 7, 2013 Read More »
International
SAN DIEGO– Melanie Rubin, our license plate maven, spotted this vanity plate, owned by Safta L, who no doubt is very proud of all her grandchildren. Whatever else the “L” stands for, it stands for “love.”
Jewish-interest license plate: Safta L Read More »
Jewish Religion, Melanie RubinBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Two separate issues are telling us something about the status of Israel in international perspective. One is the visit of President Barack Obama, which has triggered hopes and fears of what he will do when he gets here, up to and including a timetable for the withdrawal of a half
International images at odds with Israeli reality Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Michael Hayutin SAN DIEGO — Inflicting pain on oneself is a rather strange phenomenon. Most of us have read about or seen images of religious fanatics intentionally hurting themselves. There was a tradition among some in the Philippines to reenact the crucifixion each Easter. Young men would volunteer to have nails pounded through the
Ritual flagellation, American Jewish style Read More »
USA
Editor Donald H. Harrison has recently returned from a roundtrip cruise between San Diego and the Hawaiian Islands. Following is his third in a series of stories. By Donald H. Harrison VOLCANO, Hawaii — The artist who created a Hawaiian Christmas ornament for the White House Christmas tree during the presidency of George W.
Jewish Hawaiian artist created White House Christmas ornament Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonBy Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO — Katori Hall was 28-years old when she wrote the imagined sequence of her play, ‘The Mountaintop’—now in its West Coast premiere at the San Diego Repertory Theater. Although she hails from Memphis, and recalls her mother’s anguish on the night of April 4, 1968, when Dr. Martin Luther
Play imagines the last hours of Martin Luther King Jr. Read More »
Travel and Food