Israel Cuts Wait Time for 3rd Vaccine Jab, Relaxes Quarantine Rules

Published by DPA Israel has cut the recommended period between receiving a second Covid-19 vaccine shot and a booster dose from five months to three. The country also relaxed its quarantine period for those who test positive but are vaccinated. A statement from the Health Ministry’s director-general, Nachman Ash, said the booster recommendation was changed

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Middle East

Taking Care of Holocaust Survivors: Our Collective Responsibility

By Heidi Gantwerk SAN DIEGO — During turbulent times, Jewish Federation of San Diego County is laser focused on caring for Jews in need. More than 10,000 Jews in San Diego live at or near the poverty line, including includes seniors, Holocaust Survivors, single parents, and people with disabilities and mental illness. The Federation is

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Heidi Gantwerk, San Diego County

Donald Harrison: Relentless Pursuer of Jewish Stories

By Jacob Kamaras LA JOLLA, California — What’s there to say about Donald (Don) Harrison, founder of the San Diego Jewish World and our soon-to-be editor emeritus, that hasn’t already been said? The media coverage surrounding my impending ownership of the publication has focused on the $1 purchase price, my unconventional mixture of careers in

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Jacob Kamaras, San Diego County

YA Fiction: A Magical Journey to Save the Environment

This Young Adult novel is a mystical adventure in which four pre-teenage American girls representing the four cardinal directions are brought together to save the world from environmental disaster. The leader, Maia, representing the North, is a Lakota from South Dakota; the others are a Black-Jewish girl from New York (Sara, East); a Chicana from New Mexico, (Ava, South) and a Chinese girl who had been adopted by a Caucasian family in California (Yue, West). [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, The World We Share

Antisemitism Surfaces in Ohio Contest for U.S. Senate

Anti-Semitism is not just a symptom of the radical left. Anti-Semitism can come from the ultra-right as well. The following story has not received much press in the Jewish community. When anti-Semitism rears its presence—regardless which part of the political spectrum it originated from—as a Jewish community, we must address the issue. Failing to do so is nothing less than moral cowardness. [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]

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Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, USA

Man Accused of Hate Crimes against Gays, Jews

San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan announced criminal charges Monday against a man who attacked his neighbor on November 10 while yelling anti-gay slurs. Robert Frank Wilson, 40, is charged with one count of felony battery and a hate crime allegation. He was arraigned Monday in San Diego Superior Court in the South Bay and pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say Wilson blocked his neighbor’s driveway, got out of his vehicle and started yelling homophobic slurs at the victim. At one point, Wilson reached into the window of the victim’s vehicle and struck him in the face. [District Atttorney’s office]

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San Diego County

Conference of Presidents Denounces UN General Assembly Vote on Gaza War Investigation

The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (COP) on Monday issued the following statement: “We are appalled by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) vote to approve an open-ended Commission of Inquiry solely focused on Israel’s response to the conflict initiated by the Hamas terrorist regime last May, also known as ‘Operation Guardian of the Walls.’ … (Conference of Presidents)

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International, Middle East, USA

Jewish Trivia Quiz: Joe Biden

Speaking in 2013, Joe Biden said of the Jewish people, “You make up 11 percent of the seats in the United States Congress. You make up one-third of all Nobel laureates. So many notions that are embraced by this nation that particularly emanate from over 5,000 years of Jewish history, tradition and culture: independence, individualism, fairness, decency, justice, charity.” He concluded by saying what? [Mark D. Zimmerman]

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Mark D. Zimmerman, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Torah Portion for January 1, 2022

How do you manage the pressure of hail in your life? No, not the hail that might fall once every few years in our generally warm San Diego rainy seasons. The hail I’m referring to is that which comes as adversity and misfortune, the type that Pharaoh experienced in this week’s Torah reading. Pharaoh told Moshe after the plague of hail, “I’ve sinned this time and God is righteous and me and my people are wicked.” But as soon as the hail cleared, Pharaoh stepped back from his admission. [Michael Mantell, Ph.D]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

Travel: The Gates of Jerusalem

From time immemorial until the late nineteenth century, almost all of Jerusalem’s residents lived in the walled Old City. Divided into four uneven quadrants – the Jewish Quarter, the Muslim Quarter, the Christian Quarter and the Armenian Quarter – the Old City looms large due to its rich and multi-layered history, but it is actually quite small, at slightly less than 4/10 of a square mile. To give you a sense of perspective, it is less than 1% the size of modern Jerusalem. [Gedaliah Borvick]

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Middle East, Travel and Food

Israel sets goal of doubling number of Jewish settlers on Golan Heights

Published by Reuters UK JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s government set a goal on Sunday of doubling the number of Jewish settlers in the Golan Heights within five years, a move that could tighten its hold on the territory it occupied in fighting with Syria in 1967. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett cited then-U.S. President Donald Trump’s

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Middle East

Israeli hospital to give fourth COVID-19 vaccine shot in trial

Published by Reuters JERUSALEM (Reuters) -A major Israeli hospital will begin administering a fourth COVID-19 vaccine shot to 150 staff on Monday in a trial aimed at gauging whether a second booster is necessary nationwide, the facility said on Sunday. Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv said its trial would shed light on the efficacy

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Middle East