Exploring ‘The Other Side’: Journeys in Baja California

With ethnic studies being required in K-12 public school and at the California State University, I recently picked up a book published by my friends at Sunbelt Publishing in El Cajon to engage in some welcome learning about another ethnicity. The Other Side: Journeys in Baja California by Judy Goldstein Botello, which I chose from Sunbelt’s warehouse at 1250 Fayette Street was not newly issued, but it was on topic and quite readable. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, San Diego County, Travel and Food

A portrait of my pop

grew up in the fifties, through the fits and starts of adolescence, the revealing mysteries of puberty and the inculcation of ambition all Jewish boys are indoctrinated with before leaving home. Growing up I never thought of my father as handsome or ugly. He was just “Pop.” He was good to me as a kid, but was afflicted with a terrible depression that permeated his personality and behavior and prevented a close relationship between us. His perpetual sadness limited his sharing of his life’s experiences and wisdom gained that might have guided me from making some of the mistakes I made later in life. [Ira Spector]

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Lifestyles, USA

In praise of diversity

Nature endowed us with the ability to observe and to learn that nothing exists unless its opposite supports its existence. Planet Earth, for example, is kept in orbit thanks to the balance between the Sun’s gravitational pull toward it, and the centrifugal force that pushes it away from it. Likewise, our lives revolve around the hours of darkness and light, and our vision relies on the range between seeing all the colors together, creating the color white, and no colors at all, creating the color black. Heat and cold, hunger and fullness, attraction and rejection, love and hate, all those are opposites that make our lives what they are. [Michael Laitman, Ph.D]

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The World We Share

A Word of Torah: The first fruit of the Almighty

This week we read the portion titled ‘Ki Tavo’, which means ‘When you will come (into the Holy Land). The beginning of the portion details the laws of the Bikurim – the First Fruits. The Jewish people were commanded to bring a yearly first fruit offering in the Holy Temple. In fact, the Jewish people are called the first fruit of the Almighty. Why? [Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort]

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Jewish Religion, Yeruchem Eilfort-Rabbi

Jewish Teen Foundation invites high schoolers to apply

The Jewish Teen Foundation (JTF) is recruiting San Diego County Jewish high school students to learn about philanthropy, tikkun olam, and tzedakah. Under auspices of the Jewish Community Foundation, “teens will learn grant making, collaboration, public speaking, and constructive discourse skills while building their own personal networks,” according to a JTF news release. [Donald H. Harrison, “Our Shtetl San Diego County”

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, USA

Fiction: Mendel the Chasid Moves to Boynton Beach

I had stopped off for a Mocha Java Grande with extra mocha and cinnamon. To be sure to stick to my diet, I threw in two Nutra-sweets. He was sipping a glass of water from a plastic cup at a corner table. Sweat visibly thickened through his white, long-sleeve shirt buttoned at the collar. He had a long black coat, a bit dirty and frayed at the hem, that touched the floor. His oversized black-felt hat, with the extra-large, firm brim, lay on the table. His full grey-flecked beard wiggled whenever his hand nervously readjusted his black yarmulke. Mendel’s large gentle eyes cried his tired confusion. He was out of his element. It was 82 degrees outside, very bright and humid. [Jerry Klinger]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jerry Klinger, Jewish Fiction

Anthology personalizes racism, oppression, loss

In my continuing quest to learn the stories of other peoples – in what you might call independent ethnic studies for a Jewish septuagenarian—I picked up Reclaiming Our Stories 2 and was intrigued by one of the fellows pictured on the cover.  He was wearing a shirt with the slogan, “Peace for Palestine.”  I wondered what kind of peace he had in mind. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County

Fiction: Velvl and the Vanishing Chicken

Once upon a time, there was a sleepy Russian village named Mushpushshushnia. That’s my village. Once upon a time, there was a charming, bright, kind, but misunderstood and underappreciated 12-year-old boy named Velvl. That’s me. Once upon a time, Papa told me to fetch a chicken to slaughter. And that’s where the story begins. [Michael Ginsberg]

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Jewish Fiction, Michael Ginsberg, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Fashion: What your clothing says about you

As a Jewish young professional new to town, I have the chance to reinvent myself. New cities bring new beginnings. Like many women, I have a love-hate relationship with my closet. Stuffed to the brim with tops, bottoms, dresses, and more, I am often faced with a host of options juxtaposing the infamous “I have nothing to wear” syndrome. With so many pieces to coordinate for outfits—combined with being in a new place—I began to wonder what type of image I wanted to project. [Teresa Konopka]

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Lifestyles, Teresa_Konopka

Streaming Jewish Programs (Sept. 6-11)          

Laurie Baron, Ph.D, rounds up streaming programs of Jewish interest for scholars and lay people, from Sunday, Sept. 6 through Friday, Sept. 11

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Lawrence Baron, Lifestyles, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share, Travel and Food, USA

Kushner’s snarkiness hampered Black-Jewish relations

Perhaps Jared Kushner could not resist. When the NBA shut down last week, Kushner told CNBC. “The NBA players are very fortunate that they have the financial position where they’re able to take a night off from work without having to have the consequences to themselves financially. So they have that luxury, which is great.” [Bruce S. Ticker]

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Bruce Ticker, Sports & Competitions, USA

Father-son reflections before the High Holy Days

If we want to keep Yiddishkeit alive, if we want to make Bubbie and Zeide in heaven shep nachas and be proud, if we want to feel the Presence of Gd in our lives and know Gd has our back, then we must show some enthusiasm about Gd and Jewish life. I would like to read to you a series of email letters that a father from Atlanta, writes to his son in Los Angeles that brilliantly illustrates this. Let me first tell you that the letters are a complete figment of my imagination, yet I see much of myself in them. Maybe you too, will see reflections of your own life in these very private and intimate letters. [Rabbi Dr. Bernhard H. Rosenberg]

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Bernhard H. Rosenberg-Rabbi, Jewish Religion