We’re a month away from a potential shock to what is more or less peace involving Israel, Palestinians, and other Arabs. July 1 is the date in the agreement between Likud and Blue and White for the onset of movement to impose Israeli sovereignty on parts of the West Bank. Will it happen? That depends, in part, if the government lasts that long. [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D]
Israel and the annexation muddle Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
Now in paperback, A Bend in the Stars takes its name from the idea posited by Albert Einstein that light during a solar eclipse will bend around the darkened celestial object. One of the main characters in this novel is Vanya Abramov, a mathematician who believes his calculations together with photographs not only could prove Einstein’s theory but improve upon it. However, more than a few obstacles face Vanya’s potential bid for international recognition and perhaps even a Nobel Prize. [Book review by Donald H. Harrison]
A tale of adventure, romance, and Russian anti-Semitism Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison
George Floyd’s death was tragic. What made his death all the more tragic is that it was at the hand of a policeman. As a country, we need to do some serious soul-searching. I am reminded of the early 19th century Baptist preacher, C.H. Spurgeon (1834-1892), where he writes about Cain’s question: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]
Putting police practices under the microscope in the wake of George Floyd’s death Read More »
Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, San Diego County, USA
To say that Black Lives Matter does NOT take away from the fact that ALL life is precious, it merely emphasizes the fact that Black lives are under attack in disproportionate numbers and attention needs to be drawn to it. To say Black Lives Matter is to say that unarmed African Americans are three times more likely to killed by police than their White counterparts even though they are 1.3 times more likely to be unarmed than their White counterparts. [Rabbi Carlos Huerta]
Jews and the Black Lives Matter movement Read More »
Jewish History, USA
Author Jacqueline Saper, part of a Jewish family, the daughter of an Iranian university professor and a British mother, an assistant airport manager, describes growing up in a wealthy and idyllic setting, a large house with opulent furnishings in the Tehran neighborhood of Yousefabad, dining in the best restaurants, attending private schools, travelling back and forth between England and Iran, and surrounded by maids and household laborers. [Fred Reiss, Ed.D]
Modern woman tells of life under the ayatollahs Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish History, Middle East
Laurie Baron, PhD, compiles a list of streaming films and documentaries covering racial violence in America.
Streaming movies about American racial violence Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA
In 1990, journalist Wolf Blitzer joined CNN as a reporter, and he eventually became a news anchor and host of CNN’s Sunday interview show, Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer. He has won numerous honors including an Emmy and the Anti-Defamation League’s Hubert H. Humphrey First Amendment Freedoms Prize. Blitzer’s parents were Auschwitz survivors who emigrated to Buffalo where he was raised. He studied Hebrew at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and one of his first jobs was as a Washington correspondent for the Jerusalem Post. Not everyone is a fan of Wolf Blitzer, however. Which of the following has criticized Wolf Blitzer? [Mark D. Zimmerman]
Jewish trivia quiz: Wolf Blitzer Read More »
Mark D. Zimmerman, Trivia, Humor & SatireIsrael’s greatest ally is unquestionably the US. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Netanyahu, Israel has augmented its reliance on America and the West with an outreach to the East, primarily China, which has become its second-largest trading partner. The US sees Chinese inroads into Israel as a threat to itself. [Steve Kramer]
U.S. wary of China’s economic interest in Israel Read More »
Business & Finance, International, Middle East, Steve Kramer, USA
The streets of La Mesa were bustling Sunday with disaster tourists checking out the ruins, taking pictures and remarking on the devastation. On Saturday night, a mob of rioters -joining what was supposed to be a peaceful demonstration protesting police brutality- threw rocks and bottles at the La Mesa Police Department Headquarters. Looted bottles of liquor became incendiary bombs, turning the Chase Bank and Union Bank on Spring Street into heaps of charred concrete, twisted metal and still smoldering pieces of lumber. Construction crews had already begun clearing the debris, but it’s a big job that has only just begun. [Eric George Tauber]
Street talk in a riot’s aftermath Read More »
Eric George Tauber, San Diego County, USA
Imagine if President Trump tweeted a salute to Shavuot that included a critique of individual commandments. Here’s how I envisioned the president’s take on the holiday {Satire by Joel H. Cohen]
Satire: Trump critiques the Ten Commandments Read More »
Jewish Religion, Joel H. Cohen, Trivia, Humor & Satire
My sister, violinist Zina Schiff, has championed the works of many contemporary composers, as illustrated by her recordings. The 1998 release of the Peter Jona Korn (1922-1998) Violin Concerto was a result of my friendship with the composer. At it US premiere with the Baton Rouge Symphony. Korn’s friend, Peter Paul Fuchs, was the conductor; the country’s foremost music magazine, Musical America, came to review the concert; and the composer himself, was in the audience. [Eileen Wingard]
Music of Peter Jona Korn performed by Zina Schiff Read More »
Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts
Here in San Diego County, peaceful demonstrators honored the memory of George Floyd, the African-American victim of a white Minneapolis policeman who continuously and fatally pushed his knee into Floyd’s neck, hampering the prone man’s ability to breathe. The demonstrators’ cries for racial justice were heart-felt, appropriate, and in need of urgent redress. Also, here in San Diego County, particularly in La Mesa, rioters of diverse racial backgrounds dishonored George Floyd, using his unwarranted death as an excuse for arson and looting. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
George Floyd honored, dishonored by protests, riots Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, USAHow many times must a black man say
That he is gasping for air?
How many police must stand idly by
As he dies while they silently stare?
{Parody by Laurie Baron}
The answer is burning in the night Read More »
Lawrence Baron, USAStandWithUs, the international organization that battles anti-Semitism on college, high school, and middle school campuses, is engaged in a drive to prevent wording of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) anti-Israel movement from being restored to a proposed, ethnic studies model curriculum (ESMC) for schools throughout California. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
California battle resumes over ethnic studies Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Sam Litvin, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA