Scaling back in a weight loss therapy session

Bebe and I dreamed up an obesity control group to fulfill a requirement for our Master’s thesis. Our idea was to have several overweight people live 24 hours a day for seven days within the same confine, performing a regimen of controlled diet, exercise, and group therapy. Bebe and I would be the facilitators and active participants in the group. With my wife’s consent, I volunteered to use my home for the setting. My wife and kids cooperated and moved out for a week to a friend’s home. [Ira Spector]

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Lifestyles

Sara Jacobs urges ‘quick impact’ action on COVID

Sara Jacobs, whom unofficial election returns and her opponent’s concession point toward her being our next congresswoman, says the new Administration and the new Congress should seek immediately to pass legislation that will help all Americans recover from the economic and medical impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, USA

YAAANA offers courses on Yiddish language, songs

The Yiddish Arts and Academics Association of North America (YAAANA) is opening registration for its “Not Your Usual Intensive Winter Yiddish Language and Culture Program.” The first Yiddish winter intensive program in the San Diego area, it will run from December 6-20, 2020 virtually over Zoom. The winter intensive will include language and conversation (shmues) courses, as well as a cultural program, including Yiddish yoga, four different song workshops, and a special event by San Diego’s favorite klezmer musician, Yale Strom. YAAANA hoped to host this program in person, but in keeping with safety guidelines due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it moved the programming online. The organization expects that the virtual element to its winter intensive will make it possible for those from all around the world to take advantage of its offerings this winter. The teachers live both locally, in San Diego, and abroad, with instructors Zooming in from such cities as New York, Berlin, England, and Toronto. [YAAANA press release]

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Lifestyles, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County

A Word of Torah: Effective Prayer 101

In this week’s portion the Torah continues the narrative of our righteous Patriarch, Avraham. When we study his devotion to G-d we are truly awestruck by his profound connection and his willingness to do ‘whatever it took’ to fulfill the desires of the Master of the Universe. Avraham became known to all subsequent generations because of the enormous tests that he successfully navigated. Put into modern American terms, “Avraham batted 1,000.” [Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort]

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Jewish Religion, Yeruchem Eilfort-Rabbi

Bipartisan support for Israel is still alive despite ‘squad’ reelection

Much remains uncertain in Tuesday’s election in the US, but for Israel, one thing is clear: It still has many friends in Congress from both parties.Leaders throughout Israel’s history have turned to Congress for support and for leverage when facing obstacles in promoting Israeli interests via the president. No prime minister has used that strategy

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Middle East, USA

Editorial: Rabin’s children

Twenty-five years ago this week, on Nov. 4, 1995, a right-wing extremist squeezed the trigger of a Beretta pistol and twice shot Israel’s prime minister, a war general turned practitioner of peace who had signed the 1993 Oslo Accords and Israel’s peace treaty with Jordan in 1994.Yigal Amir’s name lives in infamy. Yitzhak Rabin’s name

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Middle East

Comparing Torah (Va-Yera) with Ancient Practices

Va-Yera shows Abraham’s hospitality toward strangers, who turn out to be messengers of God. The messengers’ report that Sarah will have a child in a year.  It also includesGod’s plan to destroy Sodom and Gemorrah; Abraham’s plea to save those cities if a small number of righteous persons lived there; the encounter of Lot with Sodomites while he hosted two visitors; the destruction of those cities and Lot’s escape with two virginal daughters; incest between the daughters and Lot; Abraham’s further travels and encounters with King Abimelech of Gerar; Sarah giving birth to Isaac; the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael from the family; the Akedah of Isaac; and lastly more genealogy of Abraham’s kin. [Irv Jacobs, MD]

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International, Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish Religion, Middle East

Torah For Children: Choose the right path

This week’s Torah portion (Va-Yera) begins with three men stopping to visit Abraham and Sarah. They might have been messengers of God or even God’s angels, coming to tell Abraham that Sarah would give birth to a son within one year. Because they are old, Sarah laughs at this idea, but the messengers assure them both it will happen. [Marcia Berneger]

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Jewish Religion, Marcia Berneger

Story of Nazi brutality published during WWII

This is not an easy, light-hearted read. Far from it. It describes in harrowing detail the experiences of George Heisler, who is one of seven men who escaped from a prison camp somewhere in rural Germany. The year is 1935, and anyone suspected of opposing the Nazi regime is liable to be summoned by the Gestapo, arrested and sent to a prison camp. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International

Speaking out against hate during global Kristallnacht remembrance Nov. 9

Marcia Tatz Wollner, the Western Regional Director of March of the Living, urges people to participate in the worldwide “Let There Be Light” project on the evening of Monday,  Nov 9, through the early morning hours of  Tuesday, Nov. 10.  The project commemorates the 82nd anniversary of Kristallnacht, when the Nazi government ordered the destruction of synagogues and Jewish businesses throughout Germany and Austria. [VIDEO story by Sandi Masori]

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International, Jewish History, Marcia Tatz Wollner, San Diego County, Sandi Masori