‘Choosing Judaism’ Provides Cheerful and Painful Accounts

Why do you want to become Jewish? How is Judaism, with its many rules and rituals, a more appropriate religion, than your former religion or lifestyle? How do you identify with the Jewish people in relation to Israel, world Jewry, the local Jewish community, and your local synagogue? These are just some types of questions that people are asked by a Bet Din, a rabbinical court, before their official conversion into Judaism. [Heather Z. Rothstain]

‘Choosing Judaism’ Provides Cheerful and Painful Accounts Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles

Author Dissects Popular Myths About the Bible

Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin’s latest book in his trailblazing series entitled Mysteries of Judaism IV;  Over 100 Mistaken Ideas about God and the Bible offers the reader a glimpse into this seasoned scholar’s views on many of Judaism’s most sacred beliefs concerning subjects as diverse as the importance of the creation narrative in the early chapters of Genesis, as well as many of the thorny problems emerging out of the creation narrative.  [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]

Author Dissects Popular Myths About the Bible Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi

Jewish Views of the Afterlife

The Bible says nothing about life after death. It does not mention heaven or hell as an abode after death. The Torah’s entire focus is on behavior that results in the betterment of life, human and non-human, on earth. The only rewards offered to those who need the carrot of physical rewards and the threatening stick of punishments are consequences that occur during a person’s life on earth. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

Jewish Views of the Afterlife Read More »

Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion

Jewish Family Service Has Unit to Help Jews in Need

The chief executive officer of Jewish Family Service of San Diego estimates that between 10 and 20 percent of the Jews who live in San Diego County are at or below the poverty line.  To help them, and any other Jew in need, JFS has created  a culturally-competent Center for Jewish Care, reports Michael Hopkins, the JFS CEO.  Currently, the center has three fulltime staff members, but according to Carole Yellen, JFS senior director of strategic partnerships, that number may soon be doubled. [Donald H. Harrison]

Jewish Family Service Has Unit to Help Jews in Need Read More »

Business & Finance, Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County

Movie Review: ‘Julia Scotti: Funny That Way’

I’ve heard it said that great comics use humor to mask a world of pain. Bouts of depression are common as is substance abuse. Jokes make a good cover. Robin Williams said, “I think the saddest people always try their hardest to make people happy because they know what it’s like to feel absolutely worthless and they don’t want anyone else to feel like that.” (Eric George Tauber)

Movie Review: ‘Julia Scotti: Funny That Way’ Read More »

Eric George Tauber, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

StandWithUs CEO Reflects on Israel/ Gaza War

StandWithUs is relieved that the fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed terrorist group Hamas seems to have ended with a ceasefire. We extend our deepest condolences to all those who lost loved ones in Israel as well as to the families of Palestinian civilians killed as a result of Hamas terrorism. We see this conflict as a horrific tragedy for Israelis and Palestinians alike. More than anything, we join people of good will who yearn for a future of justice and peace, where all people in the region can be free of the genocidal racism, extremism, and violence of Hamas. [Roz Rothstein]

StandWithUs CEO Reflects on Israel/ Gaza War Read More »

Middle East, USA

Music Rises Like A Phoenix

Telling the story of someone’s life without turning it into a thick biography is the art of the raconteur. The art is to seize upon a single, defining moment and work from there. Maestro Hershey Felder takes us to the deathbed of the famed composer Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff in Nicholas, Anna & Sergei: A new musical film by Hershey Felder. [Eric George Tauber]

Music Rises Like A Phoenix Read More »

Eric George Tauber, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

OpEd: Biden’s Mideast Policies Emboldened Iran, Hamas

It is hard to be against a peace agreement. Really hard. But the Biden Administration is giving it a go. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki slammed Donald Trump’s policies in the Middle East and called the Israel-United Arab Emirates-Bahrain Abraham Accords “DOA.” “We felt there was not a constructive action by the prior administration, aside from putting forward a peace proposal that was dead on arrival. We don’t think they did anything constructive really to bring it into the long-standing conflict in the Middle East.” [Shoshana Bryen]

OpEd: Biden’s Mideast Policies Emboldened Iran, Hamas Read More »

Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, USA

Why Israelis Continue to Live Next to Gaza Despite the Danger

For most people, it may be difficult to understand why residents sitting on the border to Gaza choose to live there. How could someone put themselves and their family at risk? It’s hard to imagine, especially when you have only 15 seconds to get into a “safe room,” a bomb shelter from the time a tzeva adom, red alert, is sounded, but there is a reason.  [Debbie Kornberg]

Why Israelis Continue to Live Next to Gaza Despite the Danger Read More »

Middle East, San Diego County, USA

New in the Terror Arsenal: Underwater Weapons

The Gaza war has seen thousands of missiles fired at Israel, the bulk of which have been shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system. But Hamas “terrorists” – which is how the US government defines them – have also deployed some new sea-going weapons that have the attention of Israeli intelligence. These weapons are of three types – commando underwater swimmers using swimmer vehicles that are used to smuggle weapons into Gaza and for commando operations; semi-autonomous small boats stuffed with explosives and; the latest, a large unmanned underwater vehicle, or UUV. [Stephen D. Bryen]

New in the Terror Arsenal: Underwater Weapons Read More »

International, Middle East, Stephen D. Bryen, USA