By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO– It was reported in the international media that a huge, luxury Cineplex is being constructed in the suburban Israeli community of Kfar-Saba. I have some sensibilities regarding this matter. It’s not that I’m opposed to the admirable development that is a trademark of this miracle nation-state, its edgy high-tech […]
This is not my grandma’s Israel Read More »
Middle East
By Isaac Yetiv, Ph.D. LA JOLLA, California — It was revealed by whistleblowers that the Department of Justice had sold, or given, 2000 weapons to the Mexican drug cartels which ended up killing one American Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry, and hundreds of Mexicans. This ill-conceived, and apparently ill-executed, adventure involved spending taxpayer money –we
Why Congress holds Holder in contempt Read More »
USA
By Audrey Jacobs SAN DIEGO — This week I witnessed a miracle. I stood together with more than 400 Christians and Jews of all ages holding hands in prayer for Israel in downtown La Jolla. This was at the “Israel Miracle: How a Small Nation has Changed the World” event created in just six days
An alliance in love for Israel Read More »
Travel and FoodBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM –The “West Bank” is a tricky place legally, politically, and semantically. There is one semantic conception that it is everything on the west bank of the Jordan River, all the way to the Mediterranean. More limited and conventional is the notion that it is the area between the Jordan River and
Levy Report seeks to legalize ‘West Bank settlements’ Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
By Carol Davis SOLANA BEACH, California — North Coast Repertory Theatre is having fun this month with the George Haimsohn and Robin Miller (book and lyrics) and Jim Wise (music) 1968 tongue-in-cheek musical Dames at Sea that is set in the 1930’s as a takeoff on the big dance shows of the Busby Berkeley musical
Thumbs up for a cast on its toes Read More »
Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
By Cynthia Citron NORTH HOLLYWOOD –So there’s one cast (the Kinsmen). Then there’s another (the Thanes). And then there are the Hurlyburlys. It’s the Antaeus Company’s way of making sure that if an actor is called away in the middle of a run to star in a film by Ron Howard or a TV show
Meet Jessica Olson, who makes double costumes Read More »
Cynthia Citron
By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO — Pinchus cared about G-d’s honor and accomplished outstanding things because of it. The daughters of Tzelofchad cared deeply about the Land of Israel and as a result, accomplished amazing things. When we care passionately about something, incredible things can happen as the following true story, written by Abraham
What helped an addict kick her habit Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Yoel Ganor JERUSALEM — My wife, Orly, and I recently returned to Israel after having completed a multi-city trip in the United States performing workshops for Hebrew-language educators. We espouse a new approach to teaching the Jewish People’s ancient language, one that draws heavily on new technology and unconventional techniques. The Hebrew language is a
A more rapid way to learn Hebrew as a second language Read More »
Science, Medicine, & Education
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — How many times have we heard it before? Haredi rabbis are going to great lengths to prove a point. They have no intention of giving up their Torah study to serve in the Israeli army. Tens of thousands of Israelis protested and demand that the
Should the Haredi serve in the military or stay in a yeshiva? Read More »
Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Middle East
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO –Amid fans dressed as Super-Heroes, Walt Disney characters, and inhabitants of the Star Trek and Star Wars universes, two Jewish men named Stan on Thursday, July 12, assiduously worked the crowd, drumming up support for their latest ventures. Stan Lee, who as a Marvel Comic executive, brought forth
Stan Lee and Stan Mack market their creativity at Comic-Con Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
Story and photos by Mimi Pollack TECATE, Mexico — There are only 70 to 80 people left in Baja California who speak Kumeyaay, according to Michael Wilken Robertson, an anthropologist with a specialty in ethno-botany who is curator of the Kumeyaay Museum in this city hugging the U.S.-Mexican border. In a recent interview, Wilken
Cultural Museum brings ancient Kumeyaay ways to life Read More »
Jewish History, Mimi PollackBy Gabriel Max Scheinmann WASHINGTON, D.C. — Israelis understandably feel imperiled by the misnamed “Arab Spring.” Their country’s three-decade peace treaty with Egypt is under assault, its strategic alliance with Turkey has dissolved, and its closest regional ally, Jordan, is withering from domestic protests. The breakdown in political authority has flooded Israel’s borders with
Israel grows stronger as neighbors unravel Read More »
Middle EastBy Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO — The new president of Egypt has himself acknowledged that the military tyranny is still in charge, even as the good people of Egypt swallow the bitter truth of their brief, vanishing dream. Libya teeters; the Palestinians still smolder with the Hamas-Fatah blood conflict; Syria kills its own children
Don’t confuse Civil Rights Movement with Arab uprising Read More »
Middle East
I Shall Not Hate by Izzeldin Abuelaish; Walker & Company, New York, 2010. 238 pages. By David Strom SAN DIEGO — Izzeldin Abuelaish is an amazing person. Being born and raised in the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza strip did not deter him from becoming a spokesperson for peace everywhere in the world and,
A man of peace from Gaza Read More »
Travel and Food