By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–It may be time for Barack Obama to visit the Knesset. Anwar Sadat’s visit in 1977, and his opening words “In the name of God, Mr. Speaker of the Knesset, ladies and gentlemen . . .I come to you today on solid ground to shape a new life and to establish peace. […]
Should Obama make a Sadat-like visit to the Knesset? Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USASamuel’s Daughter by Ann Brener, BookSurge Publishing, 2010, 230 pages, ISBN: 1439249911, paperback, $14.95 By Laurel Corona SAN DIEGO–In the spirit of Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent, Ann Bremer takes three individuals mentioned briefly in the Babylonian Talmud and fleshes them out into a rewarding story about life in the Jewish Diaspora in the third-century
'Samuel's Daughter' is a sweet love story Read More »
Travel and FoodBy Cynthia Citron LOS ANGELES – Who knew sex could be so tedious? In David Hare’s The Blue Room 11 acts of intercourse are conducted without heat, or charm, or intimacy, or humor, or foreplay. The acotrs climb all over each other into a black out, and from there, it’s just “wham, bam, thank you, ma’am” and “Where are my shoes?” Moreover, if a cardinal rule of acting
So who knew sex could be so boring? Read More »
Cynthia CitronSACRAMENTO (Press Release)–Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced today that 460 insurers have agreed in writing to a moratorium on future investments in 50 companies identified by the California Department of Insurance (CDI) to be doing business with the Iranian energy, nuclear and defense sectors. “This level of participation in the moratorium signals tremendous progress in
460 insurance companies to boycott investments in companies doing business with Iran Read More »
Travel and FoodBy Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Okoronkwo Umeham and his wife, Gail Feurzeig Umeham, have heard rumors that the Mexican government may apologize for his wrongful incarceration in a Tijuana Federal Detention Center earlier this month, but so far that is all that the reports have turned out to be – rumors. To my
Schmooze and News for all us Jews Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, USA
Will You Freak-Out or Hunker Down? ATLANTA, Georgia–Sometimes motivation is forced upon us. We are thrust into the Un-comfort Zone. And, whether we sink or swim depends on how we respond to the situation. How do you react during a crisis? Here are the stories of two men who faced a crisis late in life
The Un-Comfort Zone with Robert Wilson Read More »
Travel and FoodSAN DIEGO — In the weeks before Pesach I am asked more questions about one topic more than anything else: kitniot. Kitniot are vegetables and grains that Ashkenazic Jews avoid eating during Pesach even though they are not chametz. “Kitniot” are often erroneously translated as “legumes.” However, while most legumes are kitniot (i.e., beans and peas),
The reasons we don't eat kitniot during Pesach Read More »
Travel and FoodBy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C.–Sometimes it takes a while for a story to come full circle. Last week, we reported on a ForeignPolicy.com blog that said American military officers in CENTCOM blamed U.S. relations with Israel for American weakness in the region. The ForeignPolicy blog went viral on the web, attracting other “authoritative” statements blaming
General Petraeus sets record straight on Israel Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, USABy Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO–Rabbi Yosef Charif of Slonim was known for his sharpness and insight. Every year as Pesach approached, he received a multitude of queries concerning the intricate laws of the holiday. One year, he received a distressed looking woman on Erev Pesach morning, asking for an audience with the Rabbi. The
When a noted philanthropist went broke Read More »
Travel and Food
By Natasha Josefowitz, Ph.D. LA JOLLA, California– Potentially difficult conversations are the conversations we put off because we assume they will be unpleasant at best or escalate into acrimony at worst. And yet it must be done. It can be anything from needing to tell an elderly parent he or she should stop driving (my
Preparing for unpleasant but necessary conversations Read More »
Natasha Josefowitz
Broken Birds: The Story of My Momila by Jeanette Katzir, www.brokenbirds.com , 2009, ISBN-10: 978-0-615-27483-6, 375 pages, $17.95 By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – I once had a friend who seemed to take sustenance from hearing about other people’s troubles. She had a bundle of her own problems, and seemed to light up learning,
Family squabbles detract from Holocaust memoir Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonBy Carine Chitayat and Iris Pearlman SAN DIEGO–The Adopt A Family Foundation (AAFF) is an organization which matches Israeli terror victim families with an American contact family. This program sets into motion an unprecedented partnership of Jewish souls. This valuable contact enables the terror victim family to begin to rebuild their traumatized lives with added
Israeli victims of terror find support in San Diego Read More »
Middle East, USAHAIFA, Israel (Press Release)–Sexual abuse in childhood increases the chances of high-risk pregnancy, according to a new study conducted by Prof. Rachel Lev-Wiesel, Head of the Graduate School of Creative Arts Therapies at the University of Haifa, Lee Yampolsky and Dr. Tzachi Ben Zion, Deputy Director of Soroka Hospital. “Even when a woman willingly and happily commences
Adults who were sexually abused as children may be retraumatized by adult pregnancy Read More »
Travel and Food
By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Things are not happy on the US-Israel front. Ha’aretz has taken the unusual step of putting a cartoon in the upper middle of its first page. It shows Bibi pushing a wheelbarrow full of construction material to his meeting with a scowling Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. There were two meetings in
U.S.-Israel relations decline as Jerusalem apartment units climb Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA