SAN DIEGO — Two young Israelis are serving as shlichim (“ambassadors”) at UCSD and SDSU with Hillel of San Diego. Niran Avni and Hen Caspi are part of a national cadre of nearly 60 Jewish Agency Israel Fellows. The program, which is a collaboration of Hillel and the Jewish Agency for Israel, places outstanding young
Israeli shlichim serve UCSD and SDSU Read More »
San Diego County
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California —There is hardly a day that passes when I don’t marvel at the power of individuals to move mountains and change history. Abraham believed he could change and transform the world. It is all the more remarkable, when we consider Abraham’s age. The Torah tells us that
Grihalva Seeks School Board Seat Southwestern Jewish Press, March 8, 1957, Page 5 In speaking before various groups and organizations, Richard A. “Dick” Grihalva, incumbent, San Diego Board of Education member who is seeking election for the four-year term, has stressed the importance of maintaining a comprehensive and strong adult educational program and claims the
Adventures in San Diego Jewish History, March 8, 1957, Part 3 Read More »
Adventures in SD History
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Bobby Greene doesn’t like to take credit. She typically defers to her husband Norman Greene, who is the current president of the Louis Rose Society for the Preservation of Jewish History. Sometimes, she even tries to say my biography of Louis Rose was responsible . But we
The lady deserves the credit Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, International, Science, Medicine, & EducationBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Richard Falk is again in the headlines. The professor emeritus of political science, after a long career at Princeton, now the Special Rapporteur to the UN Human Rights Council on Occupied Palestinian Territories, has called for a boycott of companies that do business with Israeli settlements in the West Bank
Falk’s approach to Israel-Palestine utterly one-sided Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel –How we got onto the topic of education about the Holocaust I don’t quite know, but in a recent conversation with some friends I happened to say that I didn’t think it appropriate or beneficial for Israeli high-school students to go on school trips to Poland to visit concentration
Should Israeli kids skip concentration camp visits? Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle EastBy Paul Greenberg and Yvonne Greenberg SAN DIEGO — “When I now pick out bananas to eat, I always pick out the ones that are covered with freckles because those are the ripe ones. (Before doing this book) those are the ones I used to avoid,” explained Rich Cohen, author of The Fish That Ate the
The Jewish banana king subject of Book Fair lecture Read More »
San Diego CalendarBy Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–I am very thankful for the “mute” button on the television’s remote control. That way I don’t have to listen to the strident ads by which San Diego mayoral candidates Carl DeMaio and Bob Filner and congressional candidates Brian Bilbray and Scott Peters, and all their respective “independent” backers, presumably
Are kindergartners running for public office? Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonWe Need 500 Southwestern Jewish Press, March 8, 1957, Page 3 Are there 500 people in our community — 500 men and women — who are willing to give their time for: 1. The saving of Jewish lives? 2. The rescue of oppressed Jewry in Europe, Egypt and North Africa? 3. The building of Israel
Adventures in San Diego Jewish History, March 8, 1957, Part 2 Read More »
Travel and Food
By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — Last week I wrote about the well-known midrash that compares Noah’s moral immaturity to Abraham’s moral maturity. Noah, the “hero” of the flood story, was saved because: “…Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his age; Noah walked with God.” (Gen 6:9) However, later on when
Walking beside, before, and behind HaShem Read More »
Jewish Religion
On September 13, inFOCUS editor Matthew RJ Brodsky interviewed Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut. Over the course of his four terms in the U.S. Senate, Senator Lieberman became known as one of Congress’ most influential voices on security issues. He has been at the forefront of efforts to increase American investment in defense and transform
Lieberman wants Islamist extremism to be identified Read More »
Middle East
By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO — When we think of Avodas Hashem (Service of G-d) it pays to think of it as we would think of a business, as the following story illustrates: One day, at a top-level meeting of a successful corporation: “Please bring me the test results of the new personnel. I
The test ‘Our Boss’ sets out for us Read More »
Jewish ReligionReport: UN Human Rights Council to call for Israel boycott (JNS.org) The United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) plans to release a report calling for a boycott of companies doing business with Israel, the Washington Free Beacon reported. The Free Beacon obtained an HRC report (http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/UN-Report-Sept-2012.pdf) targeting Hewlett-Packard, Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions, Veolia Environnement, Group 4 Security,
JNS news briefs: October 26, 2012 Read More »
InternationalBy David P. Goldman WASHINGTON, D.C. — Syria’s two million Kurds have become a wild card in the country’s crisis, after the Assad regime encouraged Kurdish autonomy as a ploy against its Sunni opposition in the ongoing civil war. The importance of the small Syrian Kurdish zone extends far beyond its possible role as a
Syria’s withdrawal from Kurdish areas worries Turkey Read More »
Middle East