Home in Israel or U.S.A.? A Couple’s Dilemma

This is a memoir of an American falling in love with a French man who is more traditional in his religious observance than she is.  They marry and live for a while in France, but Israel calls to him.  She wants to live in the familiar U.S. of A.  He wants his family to be raised as traditional Jews in Israel. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Israel, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, USA

Nowhere Else I’d Rather Be: Santee-Trained Firefighter Volunteers in Israel During Wartime

By Dana Ben Kaplan SANTEE, California — This past September, I was contacted by the Emergency Volunteers Project (EVP) and asked if I would be available for another Israel firefighter training deployment, scheduled for October. I had been participating in these firefighter events in Israel for several years now (after retiring from the Santee Fire

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Israel, Opinion, San Diego County

Recorded Hanukkah Music to Provide Holiday Prelude Dec. 7

Enjoy a prelude to your first night of Hanukkah with Hanukkah Music, part of the series, Treasures from the Music Collection of the Astor Judaica Library. This free program will be held in the Astor Judaica Library of the Lawrence Family JCC on Thursday, December 7, 2:00-3:30 p.m. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County

Jewish Trivia Quiz: Henry Kissinger, Z”L

By Mark D. Zimmerman Henry ‍Kissinger ‍died ‍last ‍week ‍at ‍the ‍age ‍of ‍100. ‍Born ‍in ‍1923 ‍in ‍Germany, ‍Kissinger ‍and ‍his ‍family ‍fled ‍the ‍country ‍in ‍1938 ‍to ‍escape ‍increasing ‍antisemitism, ‍including ‍beatings ‍he ‍suffered ‍by ‍Hitler ‍Youth ‍gang ‍members. ‍He ‍went ‍to ‍college ‍in ‍New ‍York, ‍studying ‍accounting, ‍until ‍he ‍was ‍drafted ‍into

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Mark D. Zimmerman, Trivia, Humor & Satire

New Billboards in San Diego Bring Attention to Dangers of Hamas

NEW YORK (Press Release) — JewBelong, a national nonprofit organization that fights antisemitism and makes Judaism accessible, last week put up three new billboards in San Diego reading, “Let’s be clear. Hamas is your problem too.” The new slogan is in response to the antisemitism sparked by the Israel-Hamas war, which led to a 400%

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Israel, San Diego County

Who Are the Houthis and Why Are They Messing With Israel?

By Stephen M. Flatow (JNS) I opened a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, and there’s a fellow in uniform with red beret and camo uniform screaming into a microphone. My Arabic being non-existent, I was glad for the simultaneous translation identifying the screamer as one Gen. Yahya Saree, the spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi

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Israel, Middle East, Opinion, USA

Enough is Enough, Say Students Leaders and Israel Advocates

DENVER (Press Release) — Demonstrations outside Jewish National Fund-USA’s Global Conference for Israel November-December 3 appeared to feature supporters of Hamas, a designated terrorist organization in America, displaying placards of photos of the terror organization’s attacks on Israeli civilians accompanied by the text “Resistance by any means possible.” Protesters also defaced public property and etched

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Israel, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Women’s Groups Distressingly Mum about Hamas Raping Israeli Women, Children

Upon reflecting on my work as an advocate for battered women, I realize what drives me is my memory of how Jewish women were once deemed utterly dispensable; they were loathed and discarded after gang rapes by their Nazi tormentors. What I saw last month in the Hamas attack on Israeli women was eerily reminiscent of those atrocities of yesteryear. [Amy Neustein, Ph.D]

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Amy Neustein, Israel, Opinion, USA

‘Proof’ Delivers Despite Moments of Confusion

Catherine (Liliana Talwatte) is mourning her mathematician father Robert (Francis Gercke) who has recently passed after she took care of him through several years of mental illness.  Her sister Claire (Wendy Maples) comes in from New York for the funeral and wants to bring Catherine back with her. [Sandi Masori]

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San Diego County, Sandi Masori, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Biden Could be the ‘Last Zionist President,’ Former Israeli Diplomat Says

By Jacob Kamaras DENVER — Joe Biden could be the “last Zionist president” of the United States, former Israeli diplomat Ido Aharoni Aronoff said in a session at the Jewish National Fund-USA Global Conference for Israel in Denver on Sunday. That is because Biden is “part of that generation that understands the time when Israel

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Israel, Jacob Kamaras, USA

Community Supports SDSU Chabad House in Replacing Menorah Lost to Hate Crime

By Times of San Diego SAN DIEGO — A new menorah was installed Saturday outside the Chabad House, just east of San Diego State University. This bigger, brighter and vandal-resistant menorah – it weighs 1,500 pounds and is 20-feet tall – replaces one that was destroyed earlier this year in a suspected hate crime. Rabbi

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Jewish Religion, San Diego County

Rabbi Wayne Dosick: San Diego County’s Longest-Serving Rabbi and Still One of Its Most Innovative

Some people become increasingly conservative as they age; but the reverse has been true in Dosick’s life. He grew up in a Conservative congregation but decided to enter the Reform seminary of Hebrew Union College because he objected to the Jewish Theological Seminary of the Conservative movement on two grounds.  First, it still separated men and women during prayer services and Dosick opposed mehitzahs (physical barriers). Second the JTS leadership was then on record supporting the war in Vietnam in the mistaken belief that if the U.S. left Vietnam to the Communists, its support for Israel against its enemies also might be shaky. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Ben Dishman, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, San Diego County