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
By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. –Amid the Arab upheaval of past 18 months, a question has crept among the speeches, demonstrations, riots, elections, battles and massacres – Is Israel better off, or worse off, for the revolution among its neighbors? Certainly Wael Ghonim of Google, and the positive nature of the short-lived “Arab Spring” raised
The bitter fruits of the Arab Spring Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana Bryen
Compiled by San Diego Jewish World staff New Officers Elected To Lead United Jewish Fund Southwestern Jewish Press, January 11, 1957, Pages 1, 6 New officers of the United Jewish Fund for 1957 were elected last Wednesday at the first Directors meeting for 1957. Directors selected Milton Y. Roberts as President to succeed Morrie
Adventures in San Diego Jewish History, Jan. 11, 1957, Part 1 Read More »
Adventures in SD History, Jewish History
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Talmudic wisdom urges us to be circumspect with our behavior as a community when a tragedy strikes home. Because of our collective and corporate sense of identity, we are all responsible for the moral condition of our communities. This idea can be seen in one of
Requiem for a friend, John Smithson Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi
The Street Sweeper by Elliot Perlman. Riverhead Books, New York. 626pp, 2012, ISBN 978-0571236848 By David Strom SAN DIEGO — Elliot Perlman wrote an engrossing novel about today and the “not so recent” past. He has beautifully integrated knowledge of the Holocaust with the American Civil Rights Movement of the fifties and sixties through characters
‘Streetsweeper’ intertwines Holocaust and U.S. Civil Rights Movement Read More »
Travel and Food
By David Amos SAN DIEGO — One of the most spectacular pianists of the Twentieth Century died in 1995. Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. To most people he is, and was, not a household word, although his reputation in Europe far exceeded his recognition in the United States. Nevertheless, he was one of the legendary greats. Michelangeli
Michalangeli was one of the most colorful classical pianists Read More »
Travel and Food
By Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort CARLSBAD, California–On Monday, June 11, ’12, history was made as the National Hockey League’s Los Angeles Kings became champions. Wait a minute! What does a Chabad Chasidic Rabbi know about hockey? Actually, not a lot (but I am teachable). The Los Angeles Kings were born a mere couple of years after
Hockey Kings capture Chabad rabbi’s heart Read More »
Jewish Religion, Yeruchem Eilfort-Rabbi
By Danny Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — After I wrote a commentary here on June 3, 2012 about global warming and climate change and what all this might mean for the future existence of Israel as a state in the arid Middle East, an Israeli scientist that I contacted told me that he thought I
Israeli professor says global warming caused by sun, not man Read More »
Science, Medicine, & Education
By Cynthia Citron HOLLYWOOD — If you’re pining for perfect pratfalls, you’ve got to see Stoneface because its star, French Stewart, has them down prat. Stewart, best known for his six seasons as the alien Communicator in TV’s 3rd Rock from the Sun, displays a breathtaking physicality as he portrays comedy icon Buster Keaton in a role custom-tailored for
‘Stoneface’ a hilarious tribute to Buster Keaton Read More »
Cynthia Citron