Pierre Cardin, a designer who revolutionized fashion and built a couture empire, has died at the age of 98, France’s Academy of Fine Arts said on Tuesday. With Cardin, France has lost one of the greatest visionaries in fashion, known for co-developing futuristic fashion and marketing his name worldwide. The designer was born in Italy
French fashion designer Pierre Cardin dies at 98 Read More »
International
SAN JOSE, Calif. — We’ve been hearing for weeks about the crush of patients crowding intensive care units in hospitals as California copes with the worst phase of the coronavirus pandemic. But when the Golden State’s official calculation for statewide ICU capacity dropped to 0% late last week, it raised a question that anyone with
How can California have 0% ICU capacity and 1,300 available ICU beds? Read More »
USA
Washington (AFP) – US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris received her Covid vaccine live on television Tuesday and urged public trust in the process, while her choice of hospital highlighted the plight of the hard-hit African-American community. A mask-wearing Harris received the first of her two shots at United Medical Center, located in an area of
Harris vaccinated on camera, urges public to trust process Read More »
USA
Less than three months to the election, there are clear signs that things are changing. New parties; individual activists, some abandonment of Likud; lots of anti-Bibi. The major new players are Gideon Sa’ar, Naftali Bennett, Ofer Shelah, Ron Huldai, and Gadi Eizenkot. Shelah has left the party of Yair Lapid, Huldai is the Mayor of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Eizenkot is a former head of the IDF. [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D]
Alignments shifting as Israel heads for new elections Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
Melanie Rubin in our license plate maven, always on the lookout for vanity plates of Jewish interest, like this one saying LCHAIMM, with an extra ‘m’ perhaps to savor the wonderful taste of life.
Jewish-Interest License Plate: LCHAIMM Read More »
Melanie Rubin, Travel and Food, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA
The Reader’s Digest in July 2019 highlighted one quirky museum per state: the Alaska Hammer Museum; the Banana Museum in Mecca, in California’s Riverside County; Colorado’s Washing Machine; Mississippi’s Apron; Iowa’s Matchstick; and Ohio’s Pencil Sharpener museum. These are brick and mortar museums with street addresses, not the burgeoning online website museum. The author, Marissa Laliberte, overlooked the venerable Kool-Aid Museum in Hastings, Nebraska, in favor of the Klown Doll Museum in Plainview. I’ve been to the Mustard Museum in Horab, Wisconsin, and Idaho’s Potato Museum in Blackfoot. [Oliver B. Pollak, Ph.D]
There are museums for so many interests Read More »
International, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Oliver Pollak, Travel and Food, USA
Washington (AFP) – The US House of Representatives dealt a blow to President Donald Trump on Monday by rejecting his veto of a defense bill, setting the stage for the Senate to deliver the first veto override of his presidency. The Democratic-controlled House voted 322 to 87 to override Trump’s veto of the $740.5 billion
In blow to Trump, House votes to override veto of defense bill Read More »
Travel and Food
Wilmington (United States) (AFP) – President-elect Joe Biden said Monday that Donald Trump’s appointees at the Pentagon were stalling on the transition and warned that the United States faces security risks as a result. After he and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris were briefed by their transition teams on national security, Biden said that political appointees
Biden says Trump Pentagon stalling transition, posing risks Read More »
International, Middle East, USA
Perhaps it’s because vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer presage the end of the pandemic. Perhaps because the awful year of 2020 is almost over. Whatever the reason, humor and optimism are beginning to reemerge, and my mail box, and possibly yours too, are replete with examples. [Donald H. Harrison]
Humor, optimism resurface as 2021 nears Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Trivia, Humor & Satire
Should Orthodox congregations permit Zoom services? There is debate over whether this is permissible under Jewish law (Halakhah). I am not a major Torah scholar and do not pretend to be one. The answer needs to come form the rabbinic sages of our time. However today these answers must address issues of life or death. [Rabbi Bernhard H. Rosenberg]
Orthodox debate Zoom gatherings on Shabbat Read More »
Bernhard H. Rosenberg-Rabbi, Jewish Religion
In the first book of my series of Mysteries of Judaism, I pointed out that all of the biblical holidays, such as Passover, and rabbinical Jewish holidays, as Chanukah and Purim, were changed over the years. Some, as Passover on Nissan 14, even disappeared even though mandated in the Torah. Some, like Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, although many think these are the most holy of biblical Jewish holidays, are not mentioned in the Torah, both replace Bible holidays. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
Why do bad things happen to good people? Read More »
Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion
Ivry Gitlis, arguably the last great 20th-century violinist, died on December 24 in Paris aged 98.Born in 1922 in Haifa into a family of immigrants from Ukraine, he got his first violin at age five.At eight, as a child prodigy, he was introduced to the founder of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Bronislaw Huberman. The latter
Legendary Israeli violinist Ivry Gitlis dies age 98 Read More »
Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts
The Health Ministry announced that Israel is the first country to repackage vaccines to fight coronavirus, which will allow maximum public accessibility to the vaccine.”We at the Health Ministry broke our heads over how to get the vaccine to every point in the country, and evidently, the Israeli mind never ceases to surprise: Israel is
Health Ministry: Israel first country in the world to repackage vaccines Read More »
International, Middle East, Sports & Competitions
West Palm Beach (United States) (AFP) – After delaying for nearly a week and under pressure from all sides, US President Donald Trump finally signed a massive $900 billion stimulus bill Sunday, in a long-sought boost for millions of Americans and businesses battered by the coronavirus pandemic. The package “providing coronavirus emergency response and relief”
Trump, under pressure, signs $900 bn Covid relief bill Read More »
USA