Two Women of Valor building trust and community

The plague of 2020 still hangs heavily in the air, shuttering our theatres and concert halls. But thanks to the miracle of YouTube, the 27th Annual Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Arts Festival goes on. Highlighting the lives and contributions of hard-working women, two of this year’s Women of Valor are Heidi Gantwerk, Board Chair of San Diego Jewish Academy, and Sharleen Wollach of the Jewish Community Foundation. [Eric George Tauber]

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Eric George Tauber, Judaism, Lifestyles, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

New Normal: Some Ways Our World May Evolve

The world as we knew it before the pandemic has been altered. We are experiencing a different way of living; some of those changes will continue into the future. I am neither an economist nor a historian nor an epidemiologist, so my predictions are based on what I read as a lay person and my guesses are as good as yours. I may not even be around to see how far I have gone astray. [Natasha Josefowitz, ACSW, Ph.D]

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Lifestyles, Natasha Josefowitz

How students can respond to anti-Israel sentiment

The bulk of the [StandWithUs] presentation addressed the basic scenario of students being harassed or excluded from events because they are seen to be pro-Israel. Issues ranged from college professors openly advocating against Israel, to students being kept from marching with or supporting groups like Black Lives Matter because of their beliefs. [Marcia Berneger]

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Marcia Berneger, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

ADL, NAACP, want corporations to pause FB advertising

The Anti-Defamation League, joined by such non-profit organizations as the NAACP, Sleeping Giants, Color of Change, Free Press, and Common Sense, has announced a “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign to encourage advertisers to “pause” their purchases on Facebook during the month of July. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Middle East, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Torah portion condemns gossip, negative tale-telling

Like many slanderers do according to our sages, they [ten spies] begin with flattery, from “the land flows with milk and honey,” it’s bounteous and fertile, and end with evil, to the people in it are nefillim, giants, and compared to these terrifying people who could cause our hearts to collapse “We looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them.” From their lack of trust in Hashem they spread lies, calamities, fear, dibah (defamation) leading to the people wanting to overthrow Moses and Aaron. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

Alternative Middle East peace plan needs Arab backing

The question is, what might deter Netanyahu at this juncture from moving ahead with annexation? The only way the Palestinians can freeze Netanyahu today is if they immediately announce that they are willing to negotiate a peace accord, and send that message unambiguously to the US. It is equally important that the Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia and joined by Jordan and Egypt (who are already at peace with Israel), offer to recognize Israel conditionally upon entering immediately into good-faith negotiations with the goal of reaching a two-state solution, which can satisfy much of what all the stakeholders are seeking. [Alon Ben-Meir, Ph.D]

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Alon Ben-Meir, International, Middle East, USA

The Hush sounds of Zina Schiff’s violin

My sister, concert violinist Zina Schiff, has championed many contemporary Jewish composers, including Australian-based David Hush (1956-). She has performed his works on two CDs: King David’s Lyre and the all-Hush recording, Nesia, released by LMA Recordings. On this disc, Zina performs six pieces for solo violin: Lachash (Incantation), Kinah (Elegy), Nesia (Journey), Sinfonia, Lullaby and Melody. She also plays Contrapuntus, a duo for violin and viola, with violist, Victoria Voronyansky. The recording concludes with Hush’s Prelude and Fugue and Sonata for cello, featuring Mirjam Ingofsson, cello and Ursula Ingofsson-Fassbind, piano. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, USA

Author probes the philosophy of the Torah

Judaism Reclaimed: Philosophy and Theology in the Torah is an interesting book written by R. Shmuel Phillips who attempts to create a philosophical midrash of the text using primarily two important Judaic thinkers: Maimonides and Samson Raphael Hirsch, the founder of Modern Orthodoxy. [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi

‘Unorthodox’ draws critical response from Chabad women

The Netflix miniseries Unorthodox, about a woman who leaves her husband, casts off the ways of the Satmar Hasidim, and seeks to rebuild her life in the secular world, drew Zoomcast rebuttals on Monday night from a first cousin of the author upon whose 2012 memoir the series was based, as well as from educators and rebbetzins of the Lubavitcher Hasidim, better known as Chabadniks, here in San Diego County. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Morocco struggles with development plans

I have long been and remain a believer in Morocco’s existing frameworks for the people’s development. There is, after all, a lot to like. Municipalities are to create development plans made from the participation of all communities and groups. Environmental management is understood to integrate the local people. Agricultural programs seek to achieve the value-chain with communities of small landholders. Morocco is committed to the goals of decentralization, renewable energy, liberation of women and youth from social and economic hindrances, and well-established southern unity. Multicultural preservation is a non-equivocal national choice. [Yossef Ben- Meir]

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Business & Finance, International, Middle East, Yossef Ben-Meir

Another Jewish perspective on ‘Black Lives Matter’

Even as our nation is convulsing from the unprecedented and converging crises of COVID-19 and the (mostly peaceful) street protests manifested under the canopy of ‘Black Lives Matter,’ some in our Jewish community have expressed concerns and indignation: there are scattered elements of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism expressed by BLM. The May 30 riotous disturbances that occurred in the Fairfax section of Los Angeles, including the defacing of a synagogue with Nazi symbols, have sharpened these Jewish sentiments and denunciations. [Ben Kamin]

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Jewish History, Jewish Religion, USA

Two spies who had faith and ten who didn’t

Moses chooses twelve men to slip into the city as spies. They’ll gather intel to see if the city is safe to conquer. Two spies, Joshua and Caleb, return with good news. “If God is on our side, we can take over the town.” Ten spies return, quivering and complaining. “There are giants in the town. We will lose everything if we try to enter.” Moses and the people have a problem. One group is not telling the truth. Who should they believe? [Marcia Berneger]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Marcia Berneger, Travel and Food

George Floyd, Israel’s annexation plans, and coronavirus

The length and weight of protests by Whites as well as Blacks may spur yet another step toward equality in treatment, along with the lowering of Confederate statues. We’ll see. And likewise the quarrels here about the promise or threat of extending Israeli sovereignty to parts of the West Bank where there are settlements, Israeli law, flags, and loyalties, but a lack of the recognized extension of formal Israeli boundaries. [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D]

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA