When it comes to pro-Israel and pro-Jewish activities, there are organizations to combat the negatives and organizations to accentuate the positives. Both kinds of groups are necessary. Examples of each came to me in my email today. [Donald H. Harrison]
Combating negatives, accentuating pro-Israel positives Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, USA
To the melody of ‘Smoke Gets in Your Eyes’
Flames that engulf the trees,
Smoke that makes us wheeze.
“Rake the forest floor!
Climate’s not the cause, I won’t pass more laws.” …
[Satire by Laurie Baron, Ph.D]
‘Smoke Gets in Our Lungs’ Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire
Upon hearing the words Hamdullah wa inshallah, Mark Apel is transported as if in a time capsule to the many times he and Yossef Ben-Meir, President of the High Atlas Foundation (HAF), uttered them in gratitude for the food set before them or in hope for something good to come of their efforts as Peace Corps Volunteers. “It makes you more mindful of the moment,” he remarked in a recent interview conducted by Ben-Meir for HAF. Mark was born in France, son of an airman, whose family returned to the U.S. where he grew up in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Two months after graduation from Penn State in 1982, he joined the Peace Corps and came to Morocco. There, he was able to use his degree in environmental resource management and specialization in wildlife management as a fisheries volunteer. He had originally aspired to be a veterinarian, but his keen interest in wildlife, parks, and protected areas led him to this more holistic discipline. [Ellen Hernandez and Katie Bercegeay}
A Peace Corps volunteer’s return to Morocco Read More »
International, The World We Share, Travel and Food
The Anglo-Australian multinational company Rio Tinto – the largest iron ore mining company in the world – demolished two 46,000-year-old Aboriginal rock shelters in May. What is particularly disturbing about this event is that Rio Tinto was apparently acting entirely within the law. Which is to say that this kind of tragic and wanton destruction will continue to happen unless stricter regulations are enacted. [Sam Ben-Meir, Ph.D]
Juukan Cave Destruction a Loss for Humanity Read More »
International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Sam Ben-Meir, Science, Medicine, & Education
Like many of you, Michal and I haven’t visited anywhere overnight since March. Regardless, we didn’t want to celebrate our significant wedding anniversary at home in our apartment. Besides that, the anniversary occurs this year on the eve of Yom Kippur; obviously, no celebration then. After considering a vacation at various locales in Israel’s Galilee or Golan regions during the early part of September, we followed the example of another anniversary couple and booked two nights in Jerusalem, where we always have a good time. [Steve Kramer]
A Mini-Vacation in Jerusalem Read More »
Middle East, Steve Kramer, Travel and Food
One of the traditions on the first day of Rosh Hashanah is tashlich, when Jews symbolically cast away their sins by tossing breadcrumbs into a body of water (though the ceremony can take place at any time during the High Holidays until Hoshana Rabah, the 7th day of Sukkot). The ceremony arose from a verse from the prophet Micah (7:19), which states, “He will take us back in love; He will cover up our iniquities, You will hurl all our sins into the depths of the sea.” Last year, Hillel at Stanford University partnered with another student organization to celebrate Tashlich in a non-traditional way. What did they do? [Mark D. Zimmerman]
Jewish Trivia Quiz: Tashlich Read More »
Mark D. Zimmerman, Trivia, Humor & Satire
When we started we had $350 in the bank. (There was very little freelance art in town in 1962.) We took any job that came along at just about any price that would generate some income. The first job was copying, in calligraphy style, a poem a sweet old woman composed in memory of her deceased sister. I delivered the poem to her home and walked a few blocks to her bank to cash the fifteen dollar check she gave me in payment. The check bounced and I walked back to her home and collected cash. I wondered at the time if this was an omen. Another of our earliest commissions was for a Mexican Restaurant. It was a black and white ink illustration of a Mexican sombrero lying on a serape. Again We were paid 15 dollars. The restaurant repeatedly used that illustration in their advertising for 20 years. [Ira Spector]
Life as a small businessman in San Diego Read More »
Business & Finance, San Diego County
Amid the glitzy lifestyle that author Susannah Marren described so well in her previous novel, A Palm Beach Wife, the Cutler family sisters, Elodie and Aubrey, face a real-life crisis that will challenge all their conceptions in their label-conscious bubble world. [Donald H. Harrison]
Should a woman carry her sister’s child? Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison
Growing up, Judaism always took center stage, but when I moved to Pittsburgh to study directing at the School of Drama at Carnegie Mellon University, suddenly theater was in the spotlight. For the first couple of years, it felt like I had to give up practicing Judaism in order to pursue theater full time. Choosing rehearsals over Shabbat or having to miss High Holiday services for class felt like I had opted to practice the religion of theater over Judaism. [Adira Rosen]
With theaters dark, all the world must now be a stage Read More »
Eileen Wingard, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA
A brilliant script by Richard Hellersen brought Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass back to life face-to-face on my computer careen. I felt like a fly on the wall (better than a front row seat) watching two brilliant portrayals by Hawthorne James as Douglass, and Ray Chambers as Lincoln in heated conversations actually documented by playwright Hellersen from meetings and correspondence between these two iconic and historic figures. [Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel]
Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass in Civil War debate Read More »
Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel, z"l, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA
Talk show after talk show, comedian after comedian, everyone’s trying to be funny, to make us laugh. But they really needn’t go a long way to do that. Seemingly, all they have to do is find a topical issue, invite a guest or talk about a certain person, and then drag their names through the mud for the entertainment of the audience. [Michael Laitman, Ph.D]
Humor, Not Mockery Read More »
Lifestyles, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Trivia, Humor & Satire
Those who regard The Jerusalem Post as Holy Writ – and I know such people – may have been startled by the concluding sentences in last week’s column by the paper’s editor: “Israel is in an unprecedented crisis, and this government is not functioning, It is time for it to go home.” [Rabbi Dow Marmur]
Pray for the future of Israel Read More »
Middle EastThe first time I ever saw or stepped on a tennis court was in 1949 when I was sixteen and got a job at Camp Watitoh near Tanglewood in the Berkshires as a maintenance worker. One of my first jobs was to brush and roll the tomato-colored clay tennis courts smooth early every morning. That was boring but tolerable in the cool early morning air. So now I was the tennis court maven, and was assigned to build two new courts in the lower unshaded unused part of the camp property. [Ira Spector]
Some 70 years of love for tennis Read More »
International, Lifestyles, San Diego County, Sports & Competitions, Travel and Food, USA
I can recommend two enjoyable holiday books for young readers to enjoy on the holidays and all year long! [Marcia Berneger]
Jewish Books for Children: Chanukah & Tu B’Shevat Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Marcia Berneger