Federal Probe Opened Into Alleged Antisemitism at University of Southern California

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) — The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced it has opened an investigation into a complaint alleging the University of Southern California (USC) allowed a hostile environment of antisemitism to proliferate on its campus, resulting in the resignation in August 2020 of its Jewish student government vice

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California, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Parashat Matot – Massei: Helping Our Synagogues Do Better

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. When you walk into a synagogue, what do you feel? A deep-rooted home, a sense of connection and a feeling of being appreciated regardless of your age, religious ritual practices, sexual orientation, cultural background, family life? I seek to feel an authentic connection, a well-anchored link and emotional stir to

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

13-Year-Old San Diegan Donates $1,800 of Bar Mitzvah Gifts to Help His Homeless Neighbors

SAN DIEGO (Press Release) – The San Diego Rescue Mission received a donation of $1,800 from Leo Fink, a 13-year-old San Diego resident from Carmel Valley who recently had his bar mitzvah and wanted to give part of his gift money to help his neighbors experiencing homelessness. Leo has been volunteering at the San Diego

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Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, San Diego County

StandWithUs Files Amicus Brief Countering Anti-Israel Bias and Antisemitism in the Clifton, NJ Board of Education

CLIFTON, New Jersey (Press Release) — The StandWithUs Saidoff Legal Department proudly announces its filing of an amicus brief on July 25, 2022, in support of Complainant-Appellant Elisabet h Schwartz, to help combat inflammatory anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric by members of the Clifton Board of Education in Clifton, New Jersey. StandWithUs’ brief responds to a

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Middle East, USA

Single Mom Stokes Her Son’s and Her Own Jewish Faith

After her divorce from her cantor husband, author Zark wanted to make certain that the small son whose custody they shared would be brought up Jewishly in both homes.  She wanted to make Shabbats and the full range of Jewish holidays interesting and accessible to her son, and in the process, she reflected upon the meanings of the holidays, Torah passages, and various Jewish customs. [Donald H. Harrison]

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

San Diego Finds Itself at the Center of the Jewish Community Center Universe

By Jacob Kamaras LA JOLLA, California — It’s relatively rare for the top lay leader of a Jewish organization with national or continental reach to be based on the West Coast, let alone in San Diego. That makes the leadership trajectory at the JCC Association of North America all the more unique. In late May,

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Jacob Kamaras, San Diego County, USA

My Week With the Maccabiah Team USA Delegation

By Liora Berkstein SAN DIEGO — My experience at the Maccabiah Games was unforgettable. I had the extraordinary opportunity to be a part of the iCenter’s Educational Cohort’s “Israel Connect Week,” which took place July 5-12, 2022, the week before the opening ceremonies of the Maccabiah games in Israel held July 12-26. The iCenter focuses

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Middle East, Opinion, Sports & Competitions, USA

Surveying the Full Range of Jewish Life

The Book of Jewish Knowledge, Rabbi Yanki Tauber, ed., The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute, Brooklyn, NY, ©2022, ISBN 978-1-63668-012-5 p. 432, plus Appendices, $69.75. By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California – Is it feasible to adequately convey the skills, information, and wisdom acquired by the Jewish people who, after nearly 4,000 years of living in

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish History, Jewish Religion

The Missing Word

By Jerry Klinger Adolph Sutro was the 24th mayor of San Francisco, 1894-1896. He was a Jewish-American immigrant from Germany, a brilliant mining engineer, entrepreneur, real estate developer, art and literary collector. Sutro was a self-made millionaire who made his first fortune in Nevada’s Comstock silver boom, constructing the famed Sutro Tunnel outside Virginia City.

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Travel and Food

Satire: The Unexpurgated Draft of the Right to Contraception Act

By Laurie Baron The House of Representatives passed the Right to Contraception Act to protect “a person’s ability to access contraceptives and to engage in contraception, and to protect a health care provider’s ability to provide contraceptives, contraception, and information related to contraception.” The text of the bill, however, was considerably abridged from the original

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Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Kolender Was City’s First Jewish Police Chief, County’s First Jewish Sheriff

A member of the Jewish community, known for his self-deprecating sense of humor, Kolender grew up at the Reform Congregation Beth Israel. However, when it was time for his bar mitzvah, he honored his grandfather’s wishes and had it at Beth Jacob Congregation, which is Orthodox. “The rabbi there was Baruch Stern, and it was the first bar mitzvah for him after the war,” Kolender told me back in 1996 when I profiled him for the now defunct San Diego Jewish Press-Heritage. Rabbi Stern’s children “had been killed in front of him by the Nazis, and he started crying and I started crying, and I’m not sure if we ever did get through the whole thing. It was something I never will forget.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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California, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA

San Diego Event Featuring Israeli Actress Expands to National Audience Due to Unprecedented Demand

(JNS) The land of Israel is “the most misunderstood country on earth,” according to Israeli actress, producer, author, and activist, Noa Tishby, who was recently named the Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism & the Delegitimization of Israel by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As one of the nation’s most popular “positively Israel” keynote speakers,

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Middle East, San Diego County, USA