By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO –The final paragraph of parashat Sh’lach L’cha contains the mitzvah of tzitzit: “The Lord said to Moses as follows: Speak to the Israelite people and instruct them to make for themselves fringes (tzitzit) on the corners of their garments throughout the ages; let them attach a cord of blue […]
The origin, styles and purpose of tzitzit Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Israeli media has put on one of its circuses of prolonged discussions following the publication of the State Comptroller’s Report on the incident invovling the Turkish ship Marmara carrying protesters toward Gaza in May, 2010. The essence of this report is that Prime Minister Netanyahu did not carry out all of
Comptroller’s report reignites Marmura debate Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
By Barry Rubin HERZLIYA, Israel — The Egyptian Supreme Constitutional Court has just invalidated the parliamentary election there. The parliament, 75 percent of whose members were Islamists, is being dissolved. The military junta has taken over total authority. The presidential election is still scheduled to proceed. In short, everything is confused and everything is a
A military coup in Egypt Read More »
Middle EastEL CAJON, California (Press Release) — Students in classrooms across the Grossmont College campus will be discussing Silent Spring, the book credited with helping to launch the environmental movement of the 1960s, during the 2012-2013 academic year. Grossmont College will be participating with five regional universities and several organizations in a collaboration studying similar themes from
San Diego area colleges to focus on ‘Silent Spring’ Read More »
Science, Medicine, & Education
By Cynthia Citron LOS ANGELES — “Here at the Geffen, I consider myself a curator of a museum of theatrical fare,” said Randall Arney, artistic director of the Geffen Playhouse. Arney was responding to the question posed by Terence McFarland, CEO of the LA STAGE Alliance: “What is artistic direction and how can you tell
What do artistic directors actually do? Read More »
Cynthia Citron
Story and photos by Ilene Lerner BOSTON– “We are here because the meek shall inherit the earth,” stated Steven Greenberg, the executive director of the Vilna Shul, Boston’s Center for Jewish Culture, as we sat on the Vilna’s front patio. The Vilna Shul is a synagogue museum on the backside of Beacon Hill, and is
The Vilna Shul of Boston recalls era of Jewish immigration Read More »
USA
By Donald H. Harrison POWAY, California –Jeanne Feldman, 96, was memorialized Thursday, June 14 in the Ner Tamid Synagogue sanctuary that bears her name and that of her husband, Morey. Noting that the couple lived unassumingly while giving generously to philanthropies, Rabbi Nadav Caine said the Feldmans personified a Talmudic teaching that what people
Philanthropist memorialized in sanctuary named for her family Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — The United States has the least centralized government, with the strongest norms in behalf of individual freedom among well-to-do democracies. Among its detailed traits are –Variations in public policy between states and localities –Commendable indications of research and innovation in science, medicine, and technology –High flow of immigrants–not all of them legal–seeking individual
Prestigious U.S. universities not worth their extra price Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Science, Medicine, & Education
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — I received a phone call from a happy Yoni Peres on Wednesday night, June 13, a few hours after his father, Israel’s President Shimon Peres, was presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House. Yoni, a veterinarian who occasionally
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO– Earlier this week, my 11-year-old grandson Shor participated in a ceremony marking his promotion from elementary school to middle school. Next week, his 5-year-old brother Sky will participate in another ceremony commemorating his advancement from pre-school to kindergarten. Like most parents, grandparents and occasional great-grandparents, we were
Multiple meanings of pre-school and grade school graduations Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonBy Evelyn Gordon WASHINGTON, D.C. — On May 10, the official Israel Defense Forces blog posted an article titled “The 2012 Terror Attacks Against Israel You Never Heard About.” The title is somewhat misleading, since in fact, none of these attacks actually took place: They were thwarted by the IDF’s unsung but daily
Still plenty of terror threats coming from PA territory Read More »
Middle East
Foreign Letters, Directed by Ela Their (USA: 2012) By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — Accessibility to films with Jewish themes has never been greater. Before the mass marketing of VCRs in 1975 and the founding of the first annual Jewish film festival in San Francisco in 1980, the only Jewish movies the majority of filmgoers
The Wandering Review: ‘Foreign Letters’ Read More »
Lawrence Baron
By Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb NEW YORK — Imagine standing at a crossroads. We have all been there. We have all experienced moments in our life’s journey when we had to make a crucial choice and decide whether to proceed along one road or along another. (Except for Yogi Berra, of course, who famously said,
Comparing choices made at the crossroads Read More »
Jewish Religion
By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO — This past week marked the 45th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem, June 7, 1967—an event not planned by Israel, but sparked by Jordanian shelling into the western side of the city during the Six Day War. I was there within weeks: a 14 year-old Israeli-American visitor, welcomed
Jerusalem, a city of contrasts, transcends the arguments about it Read More »
Middle East