Unbroken Spirit: A Heroic Story of Faith, Courage, and Survival by Yosef Mendelevich, Gefen Publishing House; 2012; ISBN 978-965-229-563-7; 337 pages. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO –Feeling desperate that Jews were not allowed to emigrate freely from the Soviet Union, Yosef Mendelevich and a few compatriots planned some 42 years ago to hijack a […]
How Judaism survived the gulag Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Carol Davis VISTA, California — When Tevye, one of the most celebrated milkmen in the history of Broadway and star of the Joseph Stein (book), Jerry Bock (music) and Sheldon Harnick (lyrics) musical, Fiddler On The Roof, tries to explain to the audience why Jews do certain things (like keeping their heads covered all
Two golden mezuzot to ‘Fiddler’s’ star and director Read More »
Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & BroadcastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — One of the responses received to my recent columns (Some ideas for my American friends) deserves a column of its own. “I am still trying to understand why it is that Americans and Israelis both seem to believe that the US is responsible for Israel’s future (isn’t Israel a sovereign
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Having watched the July 27 opening ceremony of the 30th Olympiad on television, and having read Danny Boyle spent $42 million to produce that spectacle, I had the altogether unwarranted and vain notion that I could produce a shorter version, but one more compelling. While there were moments of
An alternative opening ceremony for the Olympics Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Elections instill panic. What should we do in order to solve the problems? Wrong strategy. There are not any solutions for the stickiest of the problems. The point is to select a candidate with the greatest chance of making things a little bit better, or only a little bit worse.
Reasons for Israeli misgivings about Obama AND Romney Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, USA
By Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California –This Shabbat is the 9th of Av, the saddest day of the Jewish year. Yet, Shabbat does not afford us the opportunity to grieve. For this reason, the fast is postponed to Saturday night. The time of the “Three Weeks,” leading up to Tisha’ b’ Av, are traditionally
Surfacing our inner heroes Read More »
Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Travel and Food
Einstein’s Jewish Science: Physics at the Intersection of Politics and Religion by Steven Gimbel; Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland; ISBN 978-1-4214-0554-4 ©2012, $24.95, p. 245, including endnotes, bibliography, and index By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California — In 1922, a year after winning the Nobel Prize in physics for what we know today as
Einstein at the crossroads of science and religion Read More »
Fred Reiss, EdD, Science, Medicine, & Education
By Eva Trieger VISTA–David Ellenstein, Artistic Director of North Coast Repertory Theater in Solana Beach, set aside some time for an interview between rehearsals for Fiddler on the Roof at Moonlight Amphitheater and his home theater’s summer tap dancing extravaganza. He has eagerly embraced the role of Tevye, an observant Jew, living in Czarist
Theatre director himself being directed as Tevye Read More »
Eva TriegerBy Carol Davis SAN DIEGO—Put on your dancing shoes and make haste to the Civic Theatre downtown. Memphis, the La Jolla Playhouses-bred musical that wound it’s way to Broadway picking up four Drama Desk Awards, four Outer Circle Awards and four Tony Awards including Best Musical along the way, is back in town for a
‘Memphis’ dances its way back to San Diego Read More »
Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
By Gary Rotto SAN DIEGO — The question is “How should the International Olympic Committee commemorate and remember the slaying of 11 Israeli Olympic Athletes at the Munich Olympics?” The conversation has focused on one answer, which, of course, is not the question, but only one answer. Whether on Facebook or via the petition
Remembering Israel’s athletes on their yahrzeits Read More »
Middle EastBy Daniel Halper WASHINGTON, D.C — No intellectually honest individual could examine the vast array of evidence and believe there has not been a spate of high-level national security leaks over the past months. Intimate details of the SEAL team raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan have been consumed by
Independent investigator needed to probe security leaks Read More »
USA
By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — As Governor Romney continues overseas travel that includes Israel, he doesn’t have to be ready to solve the problems of the region, or have a “peace plan” in his pocket. A few basic principles — previously observed by both Republican and Democratic presidents — will serve him well. 1.
Some tips for Romney’s Israel visit Read More »
Shoshana Bryen, USA
By David Brin ENCINITAS, California –Folks have been writing in, ever since I posted the latest version of my “Names of Infamy” essay. In fact, during just the last few days there has been a noticeable media swell – – a growing movement not to mention the name of the Aurora/Batman shooter. As reported by
Gun control, no! Machine gun control is another matter Read More »
USABy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Some anthropologists, like Mircea Eliade, argue that the biblical notion of time is essentially linear, while the Oriental notion of time is cyclical in nature. Eliade was only partially correct. The Jewish holiday cycle certainly has a strong cyclical element. If anything, Jewish concept of time
Jews must guard against gratuitous hatred Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi