By Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb NEW YORK — If you have raised a child, you have had this experience. Your little boy or girl came home from school with a sample of his or her artwork. To you it just looked like a hodge-podge of scribbles, random color smears. But your child exclaimed, “Look, Mommy,
Jewish tradition condemns the scoffer Read More »
Jewish Religion
By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — I learnt the term that heads this page last Tuesday at a meeting in the Knesset. It was coined as a variant of the Hebrew for “money laundering” (halbanat hon) to read halbanat khok. The occasion was a meeting hosted by Zahava Galon, the leader of Meretz, to which
Efforts to preserve Migron called ‘law laundering’ Read More »
Middle East
Rasputin and the Jews: A Reversal of History by Delin Colón; ISBN 978-1-4610-2775-1 ©2010, $15.00, p. 110, including bibliography By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California — The controversies over the deeds and exploits of Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin, an illiterate faith healer and prophet from nineteenth century backwater Russia, continue to swirl around his legacy nearly
Was Rasputin actually a friend of the Jews? Read More »
Fred Reiss, EdD, International
-Third in a Series- By Donald H. Harrison BORREGO SPRINGS, California– Utilizing a converted military troop-carrier-and-cargo truck, California Overland Desert Excursions offers visitors to the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park the combination of three off-road adventures in a single trip. The company’s owner, Joe Raffetto, utilizes both of his previous careers–advertising man and biologist–to make the
Exploring a dry lake, slot canyon and Borrego badlands Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Carol Davis LA JOLLA, California– When my family was young and we used to pile into the car for any number of our family excursions, I never dreamed some of them would come back to haunt me. Recently, I attended Moving Arts The Car Plays: San Diego, a concept developed and conceived by Paul Stein.
‘The Car Plays: San Diego’ an unusual and different theatre experience Read More »
Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & BroadcastHAIFA (Press Release)– A new program at the University of Haifa will train students to be unofficial “ambassadors” for Israel on the Internet. The students will learn how to confront the delegitimization of Israel that is present on the World Wide Web and on social networks in particular. “Many Israelis don’t know how to respond to
U. of Haifa to inaugurate program to combat anti-Israel propaganda Read More »
Science, Medicine, & Education
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — The accidental burning of the Quran in Afghanistan raises some important questions: How does one dispose of old religious literature? The 18th century Muslim scholar Allamah Haskafi, author jurisprudence text Durr-Mukhtar, wrote of the disposal of the no-longer wanted Qurans: “If one decides to get rid
How different religions dispose of worn-out holy books Read More »
Jewish Religion
By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO –In the snowy village of Chardon, Ohio yesterday, a teenage gunman from another school entered the cafeteria of Chardon High School and opened fire—wordlessly—into the bodies of several other students. At the time of this writing, there are three confirmed deaths. The wounds, of both flesh and spirit, the
Saturation television coverage of school shootings intensifies fear Read More »
USA
By Eileen Wingard RANCHO SANTA FE, California — Yes, Israel is a leader in high tech start-ups. But it also continues to produce a plethora of high quality musicians. Proving that point were two concerts last week featuring scholarship recipients of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, one of the institutions which nurtures high quality music education
Israeli musicians enthrall local audiences Read More »
Eileen Wingard
By J. Zel Lurie DELRAY BEACH, Florida — On the Presidents Day weekend I flew to Virginia to attend the funeral of my kid brother, Leon, who had died at 96. The obituary in the Washington Post said that he had died peacefully but reluctantly in the arms of his partner, Alice. “He wanted to live
Thoughts at the funeral of a 96-year-old younger brother Read More »
Obituaries & memorialsBy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM–To mark the latest heated exchanges about Jerusalem between the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas and the Prime Minister of Israel Binyamin Netanyahu, I decided to make my first trip on the city’s new light railway (streetcar). It took me to the Arab villages – now Jerusalem suburbs –
Jerusalem railway strengthens Israel’s ‘united city’ claims Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansksy JERUSALEM –The leap of Barack Obama from the academic and political provinces to the White House, and now Rick Santoram knocking at his door highlights a significant weakness of American democracy. Democratic it is, but too much so when individuals with no experience in foreign policy can think of themselves in
Would world be better off if U.S. had parliamentary system? Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, USA
-Second in a Series- By Donald H. Harrison BORREGO SPRINGS, California — Today if one stares at the ridge line of the mountain behind the Palms at Indian Head, one can make out nature’s sculpture of an Indian who evidently was lying on his back and contemplating the bright stars in this desert town’s
The Palms at Indian Head reconstructs its glory days Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonBy Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO –They were not always close as little girls—that three year gap put the younger, Debra, at a social disadvantage with Sari. When Debra, with pinwheel eyes and theatrical exuberance, entered the esteemed Shaker Heights High School, Sari was already a senior and a celestial presence in the theater department.
Can’t help but kvell over two daughters Read More »
Travel and Food