SAN DIEGO (Press Release) — San Diego Jewish Academy (SDJA) soon will provide more programs and campus experiences to the entire community with the addition of Adam Benmoise to its leadership team as SDJA’s first-ever Director of Auxiliary Programs. The expansion of SDJA’s auxiliary programs reflects the school’s recent growth and will generate income to […]
Haftorah reading for Tazria is 2 Kings 4:42-5:19 By Irv Jacobs, M.D. LA JOLLA, California — The readings for this week are two different ones: Ezekiel 45:16-46:18 and 2 Kings 4:42-5:19. For unclear reasons the rabbis have offered these both. I will ignore the Ezekiel passages, having read my fill of this unduly greatly disturbed
Haftorah for April 2, 2022 Read More »
Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish Religion
By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO — In this week’s parasha, Tazria, we discover tzara’as, which we have come to know in modern terms as leprosy. While this disease is uncommon today, who hasn’t found a spot or two on their body, had a biopsy and been told, B’H, “all is clean?” This seems
Parashat Tazria-Hachodesh: Connecting Our Physical and Religious Lives Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell
This is a novel that traces a Jewish family through several generations from a shtetl in Poland to the big city of Warsaw, and later onward to Scotland, Germany, and England over the course of pogroms and two world wars. It is marred in the telling by a series of errors that might have been eliminated through more careful research or fact checking [Donald H. Harrison]
Factual Errors Detract from Jewish Family Saga Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison
SANTA CRUZ, California (Press Release) — For the first time in over 20 years, and only the second time in nearly a century, the University of California (UC) system is considering adding a new admission requirement that will force all California high schools to teach the controversial and antisemitic “Liberated” ethnic studies curriculum, exposes a
By Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D JERUSALEM — It has been a busy week in Israel. The death of Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, age 94, and the gathering of what was estimated as more than 325,000 supporters to participate in the funeral. Interviews featured reasonable sounding ultra-Orthodox speaking in reverence about the rabbi’s work in leading, and achieving
Busy Week in Israel Temporarily Puts Ukraine on Back Burner Read More »
International, Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, Opinion, USA
(JNS Wire) Though unseasonably cold weather and torrential downpours brought a very different vibe to the 11th annual Jerusalem Marathon on Friday, March 25, the devoted staff, volunteers and supporters of ADI (adi-israel.org), Israel’s most comprehensive provider of residential and rehabilitative care for individuals with severe disabilities, braved the freezing rain and muddy Jerusalem streets
ADI’s Running Team Shines the Light of Inclusion on Rainy Jerusalem Marathon Read More »
Middle East, Sports & Competitions
By Mark D. Zimmerman MELVILLE, New York — The Academy Awards ceremony took place this past weekend. Among the Jewish nominees were actor Andrew Garfield, film editors Myron Kerstein & Andrew Weisblum, documentary filmmaker Jay Rosenblatt, director Stephen Spielberg, and Maggie Gyllenhaal, who was nominated for her adapted screenplay, The Lost Daughter. Garfield played Jonathan Larson, the Jewish
Jewish Trivia Quiz: The Academy Awards Read More »
Mark D. Zimmerman, Trivia, Humor & Satire
Night of Beginnings: A Passover Haggadah; Text and art by Maria Falk; Published March, 2022, University of Nebraska Press as a Jewish Publication Society book. By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO — When a Haggadah is written by a founding mother of feminist Judaism, as poet and author Marcia Falk is described, the reader
‘Night of Beginnings:’ A Spiritually Moving and Thoughtful Haggadah Experience Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell
Lowell Blankfort, a liberal Jewish Democrat, became co-publisher and editor of the staid, very conservative Star-News in 1961, and immediately began to shake up the old order. In his very first editorial, he announced that the community newspaper no longer would run columns by U.S. Rep. James Utt. Blankfort explained that Utt’s “so-called ‘column’ from Washington, or weekly political diatribe, is being dropped, pronto. Mr. Utt is the Republican Congressman from Santa Ana who, due to some deft GOP gerrymandering 10 years ago, also has been foisted on National City and Bonita.” [Donald H. Harrison]
Liberal Jewish Newspaper Publisher Made His Mark in a Conservative Town Read More »
Business & Finance, California, Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USAThe two offered Haftorah Readings for Shemini are 2 Samuel 6:1-7:17 and Ezekiel 36:16-38 By Irv Jacobs, M.D. LA JOLLA, California — The readings for this week are two widely different ones. The rabbis apparently couldn’t agree to get their act together, so left us with two to choose from. Accordingly from one source, we
Haftorah for March 26, 2022 Read More »
Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish Religion
By Natasha Josefowitz, ACSW, Ph.D. LA JOLLA, California — What is it in our human genes that makes us forever dissatisfied with what we have and with what is? Why do we look for a way of obtaining more? More of what? I see three areas of possible strivings, conflict and reasons for war: power,
Power, Territory, and Belief Systems – The Three Causes of Conflict Read More »
International, Middle East, Natasha Josefowitz, Opinion, USA
By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — It’s time to share my Oscar predictions for the major categories. Although my accuracy is usually 80% to 90% depending on the year, prognosticating has become trickier as the Academy has expanded its membership and altered how it conducts its elections. Rather than provide my preferences, I base my
Oscar Predictions for 2022 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
By Gedaliah Borvick JERUSALEM — The annual World Happiness Report was released a few days ago. The list starts out pretty much as expected, with Finland, Denmark, and Iceland — countries that are relatively prosperous, not involved in wars, and shielded from constant global scrutiny — taking the top spots. But that Israel is ranked
The Source of Israel’s Happiness Read More »
Gedaliah Borvick, Lifestyles, Middle East, Opinion