By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Coping is a synonym for political management. It’s especially prominent in situations of intense conflict, when competing groups can’t make crisp decisions. It’s marked by doing a bit of this, and a bit of that, without overcoming the conflict. There’s also avoidance and ambiguity. Avoiding the knotty problems, and fashioning […]
Coronavirus chaos in Israel Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
Editor’s Note: Laurie Baron, Ph.D, envisions how U.S. President Donald Trump would rewrite the history of the United States. Here is a link to Part I, the colonial period. … The New Republic (not to be confused with the fake news magazine)
Satire: Trump’s Happy U.S. History, Part II Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA
On behalf of San Diego Jewish World, I would like to offer sincere sympathy to the parishioners and clergy of St. Peter Chaldean Catholic Church in Rancho San Diego and Our Mother of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in El Cajon, on whose houses of worship swastikas and hateful slogans were discovered on Saturday morning. [Donald H. Harrison, ‘Our Shtetl San Diego County’]
We join in the outrage over the vandalism at two churches Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, USA
In 1928 Herbert van Son, the uncle I never knew, was a young man of nineteen. The family lived in Hamburg and his father was a successful importer of tobacco. He arranged for his son to travel to Louisville and work as an apprentice to a business associate who was a tobacco farmer and trader there. He writes about the hot, damp climate and the warm relations between him and his employer, who helped him get settled and even took him to the Kentucky Derby. It was all interesting but very different to the life he had known in Hamburg,
The life and unexplained suicide of Uncle Herbert Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Travel and Food, USA
It was only in the past year that a number of Arab countries decided that the failure of the Palestinian Arabs to come to an agreement with Israel was dangerous for those selfsame countries. With an expansionist Shia-Muslim Iran threatening them, two Sunni-Muslim Arab states decided to put their citizens first and ally themselves with the most powerful state in the neighborhood, Israel. No longer would the security of the Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain (by “allying” with Israel) be vetoed by Palestinian Arabs, whose demand is NO normalization with Israelis. [Steve Kramer]
5781: A year with great potential Read More »
Middle East, Steve Kramer
I completed a presentation to a client in Beverly Hills whose suite was on the top floor of a swanky high rise office building. I entered the elevator and pressed the first floor button. The elevator descended only one floor and the doors opened. In walked Groucho Marx, the world famous comedian, and his financial manager. They moved to the back of the elevator and talked in quiet calm even tones. [Ira Spector]
A brief encounter with Groucho Read More »
Theatre, Film & Broadcast
Less than a month after the normalization agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain has also joined the peace train. I am all for it; peace and normalization are always better than war and animosity. But to be honest, I don’t see that the rest of the world is so excited about it, and I think this shows how isolated we are in the world. Despite the fact that Israel has established connections with countries that were previously enemies, no one is cheering, no one is sounding the festive trumpets. For all our efforts to be accepted, Israel, and Jews (though they may not recognize it), are excluded from the family of nations. [Michael Laitman, Ph.D]
What the world wants from the Jews Read More »
Lifestyles, Middle East
The story of the late Irena Sendler, who is credited with saving the lives of as many as 2,500 Jewish children, is already well known. She was honored by Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem as a Righteous Gentile more than 50 years ago. Books and movies have been written about her, with more to come, including one in which Israeli actress Gal Gadot, known as “Wonder Woman” to movie goers, has been signed to portray her. In this novel by James D. Shipman, we meet an Irena drawn from both the historical record and Shipman’s imagination. Some of the characters are real, but Irena’s chief antagonist, a Gestapo major called Klaus Rein, is fictional. [Donald H. Harrison]
A fictionalized account of a well-known Righteous Gentile Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison
The past three Sundays, the Israel Philharmonic Chamber Music Series featured some of their leading players: principal oboist, Dudu Carmel, on September 6; principal flutist, Guy Eshed, on September 13 and four principal string players — violinists David Radznisky and Dumitru Pocitari, violist Miriam Hartman and cellist Emanuele Silvestri — with their new conductor, Lahav Shani, at the piano, September 20. All these programs, as well as the first two, August 23 and 30, are still available on YouTube. [Eileen Wingard]
IPO on YouTube an experience in musical mastery Read More »
Eileen Wingard, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts
Yom Kippur begins on Sunday evening. It is considered to be the most holy day of the Jewish year. It is the only holiday even more special than Shabbat. But what makes this one day so important? It is a day devoted to thinking; thinking about yourself, thinking about your friends and family, about the world, and about God. It is finding out how you fit in and what you can do to make this world a better place for everyone. [Marcia Berneger]
Torah for Children: Yom Kippur, a Time to Reflect Read More »
Jewish Religion, Marcia BernegerConflict of interest allegations and failure to report contributions in a timely manner militate against Barrios’ candidacy. He needs to get his own house in order before he can become a steward of the people’s. Luckily for the voters, Sean Elo-Rivera, a trustee of the San Diego Community College District, is also a candidate in the 9th Council District, which Gomez is vacating to run for Congress. [Donald H. Harrison, “Our Shtetl San Diego County”]
SDJW Endorses Sean Elo-Rivera for City Council District 9 Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, USA
On Wednesday President Trump yet again refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power following the election: “Well, we’re going to have to see what happens. You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster.” Trump has demonstrated beyond any doubt that he has no respect for American democracy as such. His words should be seen as an assault on the very foundations of this country, which is first and foremost a nation that has always ensured and honored the smooth succession of executive authority. [Alon Ben-Meir]
Americans must insist on peaceful transfer of power Read More »
Alon Ben-Meir, USA
Now when worship services are curtailed, it seems logical and legitimate to stop the demonstrations. Though it is unlikely that Netanyahu would have shown up at a synagogue on Yom Kippur, he must be grateful to the festival for being liberated him not only from the noise outside his office and his home but, more important, from the implied threat to his tenure. [Rabbi Dow Marmur]
Bibi’s ‘Al Chet’s’ should include COVID19 bungling Read More »
Middle East
This Shabbos we read the portion titled Ha’azinu which means to hearken. The portion is primarily a warning of the consequences of disloyalty and betrayal. If the Jewish people will make poor choices, G-d forbid, there will be consequences – sometimes very harsh. Moshe imparted these words of wisdom in a poetical form. This particular song is written in a unique style within the Torah scroll, with each column split signifying that is a song or poem. Speaking of unique, in general we do not commit to memory the exact wording of the Torah, and if we do know it by heart we do not recite the words by heart. This portion we specifically do try to commit to memory so that we can recite it by heart. [Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort]
A Word of Torah: A Poem to Memorize Read More »
Jewish Religion, Yeruchem Eilfort-Rabbi