Rescue Flight Brings 100 Jewish Children From Zhitomir, Ukraine, to Safety in Israel

By David Isaac (JNS) They fled a war zone with little more than the clothes on their backs. Less than two weeks later, they were greeted on the tarmac by the prime minister of Israel. The two events bookended an escape that took a group of 100 Jewish children from the Ukrainian city of Zhitomir […]

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International, Middle East

‘The Hidden Saint:’ Delving Into Demons and Jewish Fantasy

“The Hidden Saint,” by Mark Levenson; Level Best Books (February 2022); Paperback ISBN 978-1-68512-023-8, $17.95; eBook ISBN 978-1-68512-024-5, $5.95; 312 pages. By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — The popular best-selling author Jonathan Kellerman is right to call The Hidden Saint “ingenious” and “compelling.” Many ancient Jews and non-Jews, as well as many

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Travel and Food

Parashat Vayikra/Shabbat Zachor: Seeking Forgiveness and Repairing Damage

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO — This week we begin a new book of the Torah, Sefer Vayikra, the book of Leviticus, and we read the Torah reading by the same name, Parashat Vayikra. In addition, this Shabbat we read from a second Sefer Torah since it is Shabbat Zachor, the Shabbat of Memory, the Shabbat observed before Purim. The

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

After Russia Bombs Babi Yar, Revisiting a Letter on Auschwitz

By Karen Yaffe Lottes WASHINGTON GROVE, Maryland — Last week, the Russians bombed Babi Yar in Ukraine, a monument to the victims of the Holocaust. This seems the right moment to share portions of a letter my grandfather, Richard Yaffe, wrote in 1949 after visiting Auschwitz. My grandfather was a journalist and in 1949, between

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Holocaust, International, Opinion

World War II Novel Glosses over a Tough Moral Decision

A Girl During the War by Anita Abriel; New York: Atria Books © 2022; ISBN 9781982-181185; 317 pages; $17. SAN DIEGO – Many people have asked themselves if they had lived under the Hitler regime, and if they weren’t Jewish, would they have had the courage to protect a Jew, knowing if they were caught

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Seacrest Foundation’s Women’s Auxiliary Announces 44th Annual Gala

ENCINITAS, California (Press Release) — Seacrest Foundation’s Women’s Auxiliary presents the 44th annual gala on June 12, 2022. The Reunion Gala promises to be a joyful regathering to celebrate the strength and commitment of the Seacrest community of supporters. This special reunion will be held outdoors at a private residence and vineyard in Rancho Santa

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San Diego County

North Coast Rep’s ‘The Homecoming’ Puts the Fun in Dysfunctional

By Eva Trieger SOLANA BEACH, California — If you ever wanted to know who put the “fun” in dysfunctional, all hands point towards the North Coast Rep’s latest cast of The Homecoming.  This offbeat, quirky, Pinter play is a hilarious romp from start to finish. Kudos to David Ellenstein for directing this British comedy, and

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Eva Trieger, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

The Catastrophe in Ukraine: More Questions Than Answers

By Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D JERUSALEM — The war continues, at high intensity. Pictures of suffering refugees, more than a million getting to Poland, Moldova, Romania, and Hungary. Picking at bundles of donated clothing, and being fed soup and drinks. Severe shortages of food and medicines in Ukrainian cities. Heavy Russian shelling. Much destruction of homes.

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International, Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, Opinion

Satire: Translating Putinese

By Laurie Baron Denazification=DeNATOization Ukrainians=Lapsed Russians Special Operations=Asymmetrical war waged until the world starts saying Kiev again Genocide=What lapsed Russians do to ethnic Russians Act of War=Anything that aids the lapsed Russians Chernobyl =What will happen to other nuclear reactors if the lapsed Russians resist Nuclear High Alert=Your next infrastructure projects should be building bomb

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Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Cantor’s Archive Led to Book on Philippine Rescue of European Jews

Enthralled by the stories Cysner told, Harris immediately asked the UC Santa Barbara History Department if she could change her dissertation subject so that it could be based upon Cysner’s experiences, both in Poland, where he was a prisoner of the Nazis, and in the Philippines, where he later became a prisoner of the Japanese. The department agreed, even though this meant changing Harris’ academic advisor and the schedule of courses to which she would commute from her home in San Diego. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, California, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food

The Delegitimization Campaigns Targeting Israel and Ukraine

By Ben Cohen (JNS) Attempting to refute the spreading claim that Russian soldiers wounded in Ukraine were receiving only $100 in compensation (the official line is that they receive $28,000), Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t miss the opportunity to return to his latest favorite theme. “Russians and Ukrainians are one nation,” Putin told a meeting

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International, Middle East, Opinion