The Complex Legacy of German Chemist Fritz Haber

By Alex Gordon HAIFA, Israel — In 1919, the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to German scientist Fritz Haber “for the synthesis of ammonia from its constituent elements.” Ekstrand, president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, said that Haber’s discoveries were extremely important for agriculture and the prosperity of mankind. Scientists of […]

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Alex Gordon, International, Opinion

California Legislature’s Budget Agreement Includes $36 Million for Holocaust Survivor Assistance Program

(Press Release) On Wednesday, the California Assembly and Senate released their joint budget agreement, a critical step in the State’s annual budget approval process. It affirmed the four Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California (JPAC) priority items totaling $93.2 million in Governor Newsom’s May budget proposal will likely be funded, and included two new JPAC

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California, Holocaust

California Ethnic Studies Controversy Connects Woke Political Indoctrination and Antisemitism

By Jonathan S. Tobin (JNS) In the past year, controversies over whether critical race theory (CRT) and associated leftist ideologies were being imposed on public schools throughout the country have been something of a dialogue of the deaf. On the one hand, concerned parents worried about a trend in which educators have adopted radical ideas

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California, Opinion, Science, Medicine, & Education

Israel’s Weizmann Institute Joins NASA Planetary Defense Exercise

(JNS) Representatives from the Weizmann Institute’s Physics Faculty in Rehovot joined more than 100 astronomers worldwide in a recent NASA planetary defense exercise. As part of the exercise, David Polishook, a member of the faculty and also director of Weizmann’s observatory, deleted a previously detected “near-Earth object” asteroid from the asteroid database, to see if

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Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Tel Aviv: Israel’s Playground

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — To start with, Tel Aviv features the Mediterranean Sea, with its long sandy beaches, kept relatively clean by the municipality, with designated areas for people to play games (ah, the dreaded “matkot” with their constant noisy batting to and fro of a ball against wooden bats), another area

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Lifestyles, Middle East, Travel and Food

Jewish-Themed Television Comes to San Diego

LOS ANGELES (Press Release) — On May 31, Cox Communications entered into a national affiliation agreement with Jewish Life TV (JLTV). As part of the agreement, JLTV launched in the San Diego market. JLTV is the nation’s largest and most robust English language, Jewish-themed television network in several markets, including California (San Diego, Orange County,

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California, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

William Paterson’s Senate Plan of 1787, No Gun Control in 2022

By Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA — After Adam Lanza murdered 20 children and six adults at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., Democrats in 2013 represented 184 million Americans in the Senate and Republicans represented 118 million, according to a guest on a news program this past week. Yet the Republicans stopped dead legislation to

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Bruce Ticker, Opinion, USA

Charles Ray at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

By Sam Ben-Meir Charles Ray (b. 1953) — undoubtedly one of the most conceptually and visually breathtaking sculptors alive today — is enjoying something of cultural moment at present, with four exhibitions on two continents, including “Charles Ray: Figure Ground” at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Throughout his career, Ray has been engaged in

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Sam Ben-Meir, USA

Uvalde Ricochets

By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — I suspect Vladimir Putin of planning the mass shooting in Uvalde to overshadow news coverage of the war in Ukraine. The Texas legislature is considering a bill to arm fetuses with tiny Derringers. It plans to drum up popular support for the measure with the slogan, “The only thing

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Lawrence Baron, Opinion, USA

Baseball Stars on the Outside, Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden Discuss Recovery on the Inside

By Jacob Kamaras LA JOLLA, California — For the average New York transplant (or any baseball fan) living in San Diego, the first thing that comes to mind upon the mention of outfielder Darryl Strawberry or pitcher Dwight “Doc” Gooden is each player’s time with both the New York Mets and New York Yankees franchises

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Jacob Kamaras, San Diego County, Sports & Competitions

The Bitter Laughter and Tragic Fate of the First Writer of Anti-Soviet Jokes

By Alex Gordon HAIFA, Israel — The German historian and political scientist Otto-Ernst Schüddekopf wrote, “Walter Rathenau (the future German Foreign Minister, assassinated by the Nationalists in 1922 as one of the ‘ Elders of Zion’ – A.G.), who visited Radek in a Berlin prison in 1919 as an authority and read him his elegant

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Alex Gordon, International, Opinion

Parashat Bamidbar and Shavuot: The Multifaceted Importance of Counting

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO — This week’s parasha is read on the Shabbat before the celebration of Shavuot (this year beginning on Saturday evening, June 4, and concluding on Monday evening June 6). Both the parasha and the holiday involve counting. In the parasha, we learn of the importance of counting each

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell