By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — In the play Brooklyn Boy, novelist Eric “Ricky” Weiss (Cris O’Bryon) should feel as if he’s on top of the world. His roman-a-clef, also bearing the title Brooklyn Boy, has made it to Number 11 on the New York Times best seller list. Katie Couric has interviewed him
‘Brooklyn Boy’: When ‘success’ is not enough Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By J. Zel Lurie DELRAY BEACH, Florida– My father, Jacob “Yankel” Lurie and my mother, Ida “Hayele” Lurie, made aliya from Brooklyn to Haifa in 1929 a few months before the crash on Wall Street. My father, the owner of several ready-to-wear women’s fashion stores, was 54. My mother at 50 had brought up six sons and
Agudat Israel and the yeshiva that was never built Read More »
Jewish History, Middle East
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California–After reading Neil N. Winkler’s new book, Bringing the Prophets to Life: A Timely Look at a Timeless Story (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2011), I felt elated. Somebody in the Orthodox world has finally written a book on the Prophets! The study of the Tanakh remains one of the most
Was King David guilty of adultery? Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi
Tough Questions Jews Ask: A Young Adult’s Guide to Building a Jewish Life, 2nd Edition by Rabbi Edward Feinstein, Jewish Lights Publishing, 2012, 140 pages, ISBN 978-1-58023-454-2-51599, U.S. cover price: $15.99. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–Some years ago I interviewed a spokesperson for the Home Instruction for the Parents of Pre-School Youngsters program (or
Book review: ‘Tough Questions Jews Ask’ Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO – Moshe accomplished his great mission. He liberated the Jews from the bondage of Mitzrayim (Egypt). One could feel that his accomplishment was offset by the fact that most of the Jews in Egypt never made it to the promised land. Most of them perished along the way. The
Planning for our descendants’ future Read More »
Jewish Religion
By Gary Rotto SAN DIEGO — You know how we hear about social media surveys in Twitter or Facebook? How the media measures “what’s trending now” about a person or a political event? Well, Daniel Hernandez was “trending now” amongst my Facebook Friends immediately after the regional AIPAC Dinner in San Diego. The name probably
Intern who saved Giffords’ life sought her out because she’s pro-Israel Read More »
San Diego County
By Cynthia Citron LOS ANGELES — Quick! Who is Luiz Inacio da Silva? Or do you know him as “Lula”? Would it help if you were told that Time Magazine had named him one of the Most Influential People in the World in 2010? That Forbes ranked him One of the World’s Most Powerful People?
The odyssey of little Lula Read More »
Cynthia Citron
By Carol Davis ESCONDIDO, CA—It’s a pretty timely event, the dual openings of the Broadway hit, How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Lawrence Welk Theatre in Escondido recently opened the award-winning musical by Frank Loesser (music and lyrics), Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, and Willy Gilbert (book) while the revival is presently being played
‘How to Succeed’ a timely success for the Welk Read More »
Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. –The kerfuffle over the postponement of the highly touted “Austere Challenge 12” joint US-Israel military exercise is over. Officials in both countries are now on the same page: it was a “joint decision” having nothing to do with finances, Iran or politics, just “technical issues.” Regardless of the lid they’ve
Israel, U.S. differ over strategy for stopping Iran’s nuclearization Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana BryenBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — The Neturei Karta cannot bear looking at the face of a woman—whether a real woman, or merely the image of a woman’s face, which they find “erotic.” The philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas observed that the face is the only part of the body that we see in
Facing the doctrines of the Neturei Karta Read More »
Jewish Religion
By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO–When a child becomes Bar or Bat Mitzvah, one of the first mitzvot for which they assume responsibility is tefillin. One of the verses which the rabbis say refers to the mitzvah of tefillin is in parashat Bo: “And this shall serve as a sign on your hand and as
Why there are four tefillin compartments for the head but only one for the arm Read More »
Jewish Religion
By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — There’s new statistical evidence that when Israelis say that they’re secular, it doesn’t mean that they’re non-believers. Thus though 46% of Jewish Israelis describe themselves as secular, 80% say that they believe in God and 65% believe that the Torah is God-given in one way or another. When it
Israelis more ‘religious’ than they think they are Read More »
Middle EastBy Carol Davis VISTA, California–Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap began as a radio play in 1947. In 1952 the play opened in the West End in London and never really closed. 25,000 performances later it’s made it’s way across the ocean, across the continent to Vista where the Avo Theatre, with director Jason Heil at the
The Avo built a better ‘Mousetrap’ and theatre goers are flocking there to see it Read More »
Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & BroadcastBy Gary Rotto SAN DIEGO –The celebration of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has become a national day of service in many communities. For Congregation Dor Hadash, a very activist congregation, it’s difficult to pick one cause. The congregation creates an annual experience in song and action. In announcing the program, Dr.
Filner’s ‘Freedom Rides’ a family response to seeing Nazi concentration camps Read More »
USA