Congress members demand swastika removal from VA cemeteries

House Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Ranking Member John Carter (R-TX), and full House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) and Ranking Member Kay Granger (R-TX), today sent a bipartisan request to Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie urging that all gravestones inscribed with swastikas and messages honoring Hitler be removed from military cemeteries. [Press release from the House Appropriations Committee]

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International, Jewish History, USA

Donald Trump, Henry Ford, and ‘Bloodlines’

President Trump’s recent remark about Henry Ford’s “good bloodlines” has aroused curiosity and controversy. Trump actually is not the first president to subscribe to the discredited notion that there is such a thing as “good” blood and “bad” blood. But you have to go back nearly a century to find another American head of state who openly embraced such notions. [Rafael Medoff, Ph.D]

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International, Jewish History, USA

Pressing issues face Israel during Bibi’s trial

On his way to court to hear the charges against him and to confirm that he understood them, Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the nation to “explain” what all that was really about: the Left could not defeat him at the ballot box. (In fact, Likud, the party he leads, got more and more votes in successive elections. No single political party in Israel has ever had greater support.) Therefore, his political opponents decided to unseat him by abusing the judiciary (encouraged by the attorney-general and former cabinet secretary), the police (including its former national chief) and, of course, the media. He reiterated the mantra that the charges are pure fiction, invented by forces of evil. [Rabbi Dow Marmur]

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Middle East

A tune for Memorial Day? ‘Here’s One,” in fact, four

One of the earliest Memorial Day commemorations was organized by a group of freed slaves in Charleston, South Carolina, after the Civil War, less than a month after the Confederacy surrendered. So it is fitting that, in honor of Memorial Day, I write about my sister Zina Schiff’s 1994 4-Tay CD, Here’s One” featuring works by American composers, including “The Deserted Garden,” by African-American composer Florence Price. Inspired by African-American spirituals, the simple beauty of “The Deserted Garden” reflects the somber longing for lost loved ones. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, USA

Zooming through Jerusalem’s religious sites

Traditionally, the Memorial Day weekend is one of the busiest of the year for travelers, but not so in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.  However, technology, in the form of a Zoom meeting, whisked me on Sunday, May 24, from my home in San Diego and on to a tri-religious journey to Jerusalem, under the auspices of the America Israel Friendship League (AIFL). [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Sports & Competitions, Travel and Food, USA

Anne Frank sculpture draws thanks from President Rivlin

Outside of the Jerusalem bedroom city of Ma’aleh Adumin, on the main road adjacent to a school, is a huge new bronze sculpture themed on Anne Frank. It was placed just last week.  The sculpture was funded by the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation. It is the artistic creation of Sam Philipe, the noted Israeli sculptor.  It is not interpretive; It is not abstract; That was a condition of funding.  It is real. [Jerry Klinger]

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International, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Middle East

A guide to the trials of Israel’s prime minister

The most serious case concerns Case 4000. This is the case in which Bibi is charged with a media bribery scheme with the owners of Bezek and Walla communications and media companies. In this case, the owners, Shaul Elovitch and his wife, Iris, are also co-defendants with a separate legal team. The charges claim that Walla gave Bibi favorable coverage in exchange for him making government policies favoring Elovitch’s Bezek company to the value of around 1.8 billion shekels. [Barry Shaw]

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Barry Shaw, Middle East

Wilderness weariness

There is no escaping the wild, chaotic terrain of the wilderness of life. Resisting the notion that life is fickle, fighting the uncertainty of the wilds of natural life, demanding predictability and expectedness in an otherwise disordered and often confused civilization, are futile. Many seem to believe that we live in an empty, befuddling and often frightening wasteland, one made even more worrisome by COVID-19. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

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Lifestyles, Michael Mantell

The Great Trait Debate

The question for you is, do YOU know your whole person, your personality traits, that you can draw on to help you live healthier, better? After all, if you are seeking the best in contemporary health care, you’d be wise to seek integrated medical health providers that treat all of you, that understand how your personality traits impact your attitudes and drive you toward a healthy lifestyle – or toward an unhealthy lifestyle. Let’s define “personality” as found in David C. Funder’s The Personality Puzzle “as an individual’s characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior, together with the psychological mechanisms—hidden or not—behind those patterns” [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

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Lifestyles, Michael Mantell

San Diegan Carla Berg performs in concert Sunday

In the video above, Carla Sitton Berg and her daughter Liora Sitton Berg of San Diego perform a mother-daughter duet urging us “Don’t Dream It’s Over.”  Carla, wife of  Geoffrey Berg, a board officer of Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School, will be among artists presenting a free online concert Sunday at 3 p.m for which you can register via this website. The concert is co-sponsored by Music on the Inside (MOTI) and Balanced Guitar (BG) “through their shared belief in community and the powerful role of music, especially now.” [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Israel scours globe for coronavirus protective equipment but P.A., Hamas reject such aid

As nations scrambled to obtain desperately needed medical equipment, Israel quietly coordinated a massive 150 medical cargo flights operation, involving El Al and Israel’s fabled Mossad intelligence agency, to scour the globe for much needed drugs, ventilators, protective clothing, and test kits. Huge El Al Dreamliners were converted into cargo planes as part of Israel’s emergency measures. Israir Airlines also sent planes to the Far East including to Shenzhen for medical supplies, and to bring stranded Israelis back from Vietnam. [Barry Shaw]

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Barry Shaw, International, Middle East

StandWithUs celebrates 19th anniversary of its founding

StandWithUs celebrated the 19th anniversary of its founding on Thursday with an international webcast that showcased its growth and successes helping students on college campuses, high schools and middle schools learn about Israel and defend against anti-Semitic attacks. The program was emceed by comedian Elon Gold and also featured the singing of “Hatikvah,” Israel’s National Anthem, by Rabbi/ Cantor Alison Wissot of Temple Judea of Tarzana, California, and a popular, optimistic Hebrew song by Israeli singer David Broza on the theme of “things will get better.” [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA