California state lawmakers on Thursday announced $2.5 million in funding to support the expansion of Holocaust Museum LA, including for a new learning center pavilion and new programming for younger learners at the Los Angeles venue. [JNS.org]
Los Angeles Holocaust Museum Receives $2.5M in State Funding Read More »
USA
Although most Judaic, Christian, and Muslim commentators and thinkers interpret the Akedah as having actually occurred while Abraham was in a wakeful state of consciousness, Maimonides hints that there may be another way of interpreting the story. Maimonides mentioned on many occasions how the Divine speaks to mortals in either a dream, or by granting them a visionary experience. Perhaps the Akedah was also a visionary experience. [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]
Maimonides on The Akedah and Biblical Visions Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi
Police units in Denver are searching for the person or person who defaced a public school with swastikas and anti-Semitic, racist and homophobic messages over the weekend, as well as those responsible for the vandalism of a local Jewish day school. [JNS.org]
Antisemitic Vandals Deface 2 Denver Schools Read More »
USA
Turkish media outlets on Thursday reported that 15 individuals had been arrested on suspicion of spying for Israel, following a large-scale operation by local security forces. According to local reports, 200 members of the Turkish security forces took part in the series of arrests. [Israel Hayom via JnS]
Turkey Arrests 15 as Israeli Spies Read More »
International, Middle East
Published by New York Daily News NEW YORK — A Manhattan judge shot down a request Thursday from jailed British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell to conduct jury selection for her sex trafficking trial in secret. Judge Alison Nathan ruled that legal precedent regarding the public’s right to follow a trial overrides Maxwell’s fears that further publicity
Judge denies Ghislaine Maxwell’s request for jury selection secrecy Read More »
Shanda File
If you were going away by car for a few days, could you have lunch at a 2,000 year old seaport, once the most modern in the world? Or, could you spend a few days in a Holy City which once was – and still might be – the center of the Kabbala movement? Recently, Michal and I enjoyed a 3-day getaway in northern Israel doing those things. [Steve Kramer]
A Sightseeing Trip to Caesarea and Tzfat, Israel Read More »
Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Travel and Food
Although the severity of the pandemic appears to be diminishing, the experience of last year should teach us that mass celebrations of holidays are usually preludes to new surges. With that in mind, here are some guidelines for how to deal with trick or treaters this year. [Laurie Baron, Ph.D]
Satire: Sick or Treat! Halloween Guidelines During COVID-19 Read More »
Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA
Mary Christine-Bader, a defender of U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, has a penchant for confusion. Try to make sense of the passage below. I sure can’t. “(Rep. Betty McCollum) pointed out that ‘innocent Palestinians who live under military occupation are regularly killed by Israeli security forces’ and have no Iron Dome to protect them,” Bader writes in a commentary for her hometown paper in Minneapolis, The Star Tribune; McCollum represents St. Paul, Minn. [Bruce S. Ticker]
Anti-Israel Columnists Need to Stick to the Facts Read More »
Middle East, USA
The 6th Annual TAPESTRY: A Community Celebration of Jewish Learning will be presented on Saturday, October 23 and Sunday, October 24, as a hybrid this year: [Eileen Wingard]
Tapestry Has Diverse Jewish Learning Opportunities Oct. 23-24 Read More »
Eileen Wingard, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA
As yet more evidence that Jewish students have continued to be targets of bias on university campuses, a Spring 2021 poll by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, together with the Cohen Research Group, revealed that 65% of students in the leading Jewish fraternity and sorority have “felt unsafe” on campus, while 50% of students surveyed have felt “the need to hide their identity.” [Richard L. Cravatts, Ph.D]
Intimidation of Jewish College Students on the Increase Read More »
Middle East, Richard L. Cravatts, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
By Natasha Josefowitz, ACSW, Ph.D. LA JOLLA, California — The title of the book is intriguing: Wiser: The Scientific Roots of Wisdom, Compassion, and What Makes Us Good by Dr. Dilip Jeste. I was eager to read it and hopeful that I would indeed become wiser. I will turn 95 on October 31. I still
How to Gain More Wisdom: Insights from Dr. Dilip Jeste’s New Book, ‘Wiser’ Read More »
Lifestyles, Natasha Josefowitz
Published by Reuters By Lisa Baertlein LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Southern California’s Los Angeles and Long Beach ports handle the most ocean cargo of any ports in the United States, but are some of the least efficient in the world, according to a ranking by the World Bank and IHS Markit. In a review of
California ports, key to U.S. supply chain, among world’s least efficient Read More »
USA
A cofounder and former executive director of the Friendship Circle of San Diego, Elisheva Green, has resigned “with a broken heart” from the organization founded to help children and adults with disabilities, citing irregularities in the organization’s governance by members of the family of disgraced former rabbi Yisroel Goldstein of Chabad of Poway. [Donald H. Harrison]
Friendship Circle Cofounder Resigns, Citing Control by Family of Disgraced Rabbi Read More »
San Diego County, Shanda File, USA
By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. Radical Chesed…Kol Yisroel Chaverim. Are you open to holiness in your life? If so, how open are you? This week’s parasha, Vayeira, filled with abundant trials, passions and complications of family and communal life, can be a guide to doing just that. After all, it begins, “Now the Lord appeared
Parashat Vayeira: Being Open to Holiness Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell