By Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb NEW YORK –He was an old man, and in many ways came from a very different world than I. And yet he taught me more than anyone else ever did. One of the things he taught me was that no one suffers as much as a parent who loses a […]
Aaron remained silent Read More »
Jewish Religion
By David Amos SAN DIEGO –One possible definition of heaven on earth is seven days of listening to chamber music for the entire day, plus non-stop feasting on Italian and Sicilian food daily for lunch and dinner. All at a seaside resort. This is what I experienced one fine week in November of 1996, when
Memories of a jurist at an international music competition Read More »
Travel and Food
By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — What was supposed to be a routine ceremony in the official residence of the President of Israel turned out to be a spirited rebuttal in the current debate about the relationship between Israel’s Supreme Court and the Knesset. It has been flamed by a new proposal by Minister of
Peres and Grunis oppose letting Knesset override Supreme Court Read More »
Middle East
By Donald H. Harrison EL CAJON, California–Of course administrators and faculty members at Grossmont College are smart, but they aren’t always very technically minded. Some of them, you’ll forgive the expression, are “klutzes” when it comes to the computers and audio-visual equipment that are on the “smart carts” in some 150 classrooms on the
‘Piece of Cake’ technician is lauded by Grossmont College Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — The weekend report of a German-owned, Ukrainian-chartered ship carrying weapons to Syria should raise questions and alarm bells. Der Spiegel reported that the Atlantic Cruiser, owned by the German company Bockstiegel, had been chartered by the Ukrainian White Whale company to pick up Iranian-origin cargo in Djibouti. White Whale
Is Syria running out of ammo? Read More »
International, Shoshana BryenBy Judy Lash Balint JERUSALEM — A few days ago, within a week of Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, my mother’s youngest brother passed away. His passing made me reflect on the long tentacles of the Shoah that leaves its mark on lives until today. Isi was the youngest of five children, born in 1926
Kindertransport child felt uprooted the rest of his life Read More »
International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Among the non‑Orthodox rabbis who were placed in the concentration camps, Rabbi Leo Baeck provides one of the most outstanding examples of shepherding of that era. Baeck’s saintly conduct served as an inspiration to all who were with him in the camp. In the years prior
Rabbi Leo Baeck never left the Jewish people’s side Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO –“‘Give me liberty or give me death,” said the American Revolutionary War orator Patrick Henry. “And, while you’re at it,” add community members at the high school named after him, “give me a decent performing arts center too!” Since Patrick Henry High School’s construction in 1968, its students have had to
A community is determined to get its PHAME Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California –Nothing challenges the belief in a benevolent God like the ubiquity of evil in the world. For the Jewish people, the experience of the Holocaust revealed the inadequacy of traditional theology. The God of the Exodus seemed “to be out for lunch.” Asked in more simple and
Remembering a rabbi who would not forget his fellow Jews Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Israel and the United States are at another hiccup, or maybe something more. Catherine Ashton, serving as the European Union’s foreign minister and the chair of a meeting in Istanbul between Iran and representatives of Britain, France, Germany, Russia, the United States and China, is upbeat after the first
Tension increases between U.S. and Israel over Iran Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, USABy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM –I surmise that most of the media in the Diaspora that report on Israel will describe the way the Government of Israel handled the “flytilla” earlier this week to have been not only successful but also prudent. That’s not the only impression I get here. To recap: Several hundred activists
How did Israel handle ‘flytilla?’ Depends on whom you ask Read More »
Middle EastDear Chancellor Reed, Over two months ago, 1,800 members and supporters of the California Jewish community — including hundreds of CSU students, parents, alumni, and donors — signed a letter to you expressing their outrage over the University-hosted web pages of CSU Northridge Mathematics professor David Klein, which include anti-Semitic material promoting the economic, cultural and academic boycott of the Jewish
AMCHA’s open letter to CSU Chancellor Reed Read More »
USABy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — A lick of historicism would serve the Obama administration well in its much-too-friendly relationship with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and other manifestations of the Arab uprising. There is a political space between going to war with countries that do not share our democratic norms and principles, and embracing them
U.S. should oppose Islamic dictatorships as it did Soviet ones Read More »
Shoshana Bryen, USA
By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Only a 15-minute walk from our home in French Hill is Mt Scopus. That is the site of the Social Science Faculty and several other units of the Hebrew University. A half-hour walk around the perimeter of Mt Scopus–outside the campus–is a good way to spend a cool morning.
A walking tour of Jerusalem with Ira Sharkansky Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East