Jewish Trivia Quiz: Sukkot 5782
What athlete, actor, celebrity or other famous person was in the news this past week because of Sukkot? [Mark D. Zimmerman]
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Travel and Food‘Jewish Nose’ Jokes Aren’t Funny; They’re Dangerous
A political candidate in Virginia, a television game show host, and a Washington, D.C. historian seem to think that jokes about “Jewish noses” are funny. They’re not. In fact, they’re dangerous. [Moshe Phillips]
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International, Jewish History, Middle East, USAAntisemitism in the ‘New West’
Do you worry that Jew-hatred might affect your comfortable American life? Do you think that Jew-haters will ignore you because your “Jewishness” is unimportant for you? If not, why not? Does this worry – if you feel it – fall below your concern for abortion legislation, diversity and gender issues, climate change policies, etc.? With this in mind, it’s time to wake up to the “new” West. [Steve Kramer]
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Middle East, Steve Kramer, USABig and Small Controversies in Israel
Do you want to think big? Focus on what Mahmoud Abbas said in a recorded speech delivered to the United Nations in New York. If Israel doesn’t withdraw completely from the West Bank and East Jerusalem (he also said Gaza, but Israel has already withdrawn from there) within a year, Palestine will charge Israel with heinous crimes before the International Criminal Court. Meanwhile, he’s volunteering to negotiate final borders. The 1967 lines, wherever they are, figure in his threat. [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D]
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International, Ira Sharkansky, Lifestyles, Middle East‘Nevergreen’: A Satiric Commentary on Contemporary College ‘Values’
Following a chance meeting aboard an airplane, a doctor simply identified as “J.” is invited to give a lecture at Nevergreen College, which was built on an island that formerly housed an insane asylum. When the time for the lecture arrives, no one is there to attend it, not even the woman who invited him. He delivers it nevertheless. The following morning, he tours the campus, noticing at a student club expo that there are tables for almost every kind of belief, however ridiculous or contradictory. [Donald H. Harrison]
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. HarrisonTorah Reading for October 2, 2021
As we once more begin our annual reading of the Torah, we recount the grandeur of Hashem’s creation. Some may think they’ve already read it enough times to know it all. But in his 1971 sermon on Parshat Bereishis, Rabbi Norman Lamm z”l asked how might we bring ourselves to Bereishis once again with a new perspective, ready for new learning. How can we look at Bereishis with renewed eyes? {Miahael R. Mantell, Ph.D}
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Jewish Religion, Michael MantellBook on Maimonides Clarifies Many Rules of Judaism
Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel, author of Maimonides’ Hidden Torah Commentary, Leviticus, has made a significant contribution to posterity by writing this beautiful book and bringing the thinking of Maimonides and many dozens of others, ancient and modern, Jewish and non-Jewish, rational and mystic, to his readers. Among many other sources, he focuses on the writings of Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, his Guide of the Perplexed, his commentary to the Mishnah, his ethical work Shemoneh Perakim, as well as his Responsa, and even the Commentary on Exodus that his son Abraham wrote. This volume follows his successful books about Maimonides on Genesis and Exodus. He reveals much that many people do not know and does so in a clear easy to read and engaging fashion. There is much in these books that we can learn. [Rabbi Dr. israel Drazin]
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiJewish Tales of the Old West: A Butcher on the Comstock
During the 1870’s, the population of Nevada’s legendary Comstock Lode, then at the height of mining fever, surged to nearly 25,000. In the canyons and down the slopes, housing was scarce, the noise was unceasing, the air nearly unbreathable and the violence endemic.1 Between them, the towns of Virginia City and Gold Hill were a crowded jumble of miners’ cabins, stamp mills, luxury mansions, hotels, restaurants, saloons, stores and stables, all built over an underground city of mining tunnels, adits and shafts. These underground works ultimately produced over 300 million dollars’ worth of precious ore that built the city of San Francisco and made fabulous fortunes for the fortunate. Among this crowd of fortune-seekers lived a Jewish community of about 500, and one of its most influential members was a butcher from Germany named Mark Strouse (1845-1898). [Susan E. James, Ph.D]
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Business & Finance, Jewish History, Travel and Food, USARemember ‘Grapes of Wrath’? ‘Mother Road’ at SD Rep is the Sequel
The name John Steinbeck evokes images of the hay-field covered American southwest, the Dust Bowl, hungry children with dirty faces, and men and women scarred by depression and poverty. Where Grapes of Wrath left off, a new, more hopeful tale is reimagined by American-born, Latino playwright Octavio Solis. His new play, Mother Road, will kick off the return to theater with San Diego Repertory’s run October 7-31. [Eva Trieger]
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Eva Trieger, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & BroadcastNotes on September 25, 2021 Haftorah
These entirely prose ‘verses,’ from our previously encountered fantasy-crazed Prophet Ezekiel, have no connection to the assigned Shabbat Torah portion in the middle of Sukkot. The Torah passages depict dialogue between Moses and God. In the Torah, first God concedes to ever-curious Moses a look at his back. God then pronounces directions to observe the Sabbath and the three annual festivals. [Irv Jacobs, M.D.]
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Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish Religion‘Squirrel Hill’ Portrays Pittsburgh Community Where Tree of Life Massacre Occurred
This journalistic tour-de-force tells the story of October 27, 2018, the day an antisemitic gunman snuffed the lives of 11 congregants at the three small congregations that occupied the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is not simply a depiction of the carnage, but also a portrait of the community in which it happened. Author Oppenheimer, a former religion columnist for The New York Times, methodically tells us the stories of the victims, including those who barely escaped with their lives, and of the diverse reactions in the community to the shooting. There were those who organized vigils; those who protested a photo-op visit to the synagogue by then President Donald Trump with his wife, Melania, daughter, Ivanka, and son-in-law Jared Kushner. Additionally, there were trauma tourists, compelled perhaps like moths to a flame, who wanted to see the site. There were also presumptuous would-be helpers, who felt they knew better than Squirrel Hill’s residents how the victims should be mourned. And there were fundraisers, who through various appeals including a Go-Fund-Me effort, raised millions of dollars for the families of the victims and for the congregations themselves. [Donald H. Harrison]
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Travel and Food, USATaking the Risk of Expressing Our Opinions
In our society, we are often afraid to speak honestly and directly. We don’t want to upset, offend, or step on someone’s toes. We fear being seen as aggressive, pushy, opinionated, demanding, or critical so intensely that we often pussyfoot around and avoid what really needs to be said. And while I applaud our new-found sensitivity to other people’s feelings, effective communication is often needlessly sacrificed. [Natasha Josefowitz, ACSW, Ph.D]
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Lifestyles, Natasha JosefowitzJewish-Interest License Plate: METUKAH
Melanie Rubin is the license plate maven, frequently spotting plates of Jewish interest. She is so enthusiastic about this that some of her friends have followed suit. [SDJW]
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Melanie Rubin, Trivia, Humor & SatireBirds of a Feather
By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Under the title “Early Birds: Soaring with the Ancients,” the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem has put together an exhibition of archaeological items from the Land of Israel and the Ancient Near East depicting birds of various kinds. Upon entering the exhibition area and before inspecting even one
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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish History, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education