Remarkably, although Yehuda Halevi’s well-known book is filled with illogical ideas, many Jews call the poet a philosopher and rabbi, although he was neither, and praise his book. I will show some of the illogical matters. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
Yehuda Halevi did not live up to his reputation Read More »
Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Jewish Religion
By all accounts, Prime Minister Netanyahu may turn out to be one of the beneficiaries of the coronavirus crisis. Benefit #1: As his sidekick the minister of justice has closed the courts, his trial, due to have started this week, has been postponed for a couple of months or more. Benefit #2: The call for a unity government to better respond to the crisis will mean that he may stay in office for a considerable time, even though his bloc doesn’t have the required minimum 61 votes of the 120 Members of Knesset. [Rabbi Dow Marmur]
Coronavirus prompts delay in Netanyahu’s trial Read More »
Middle East
Thou shalt not covid thy neighbor’s wife or anyone else in your neighborhood. … The early bird fetches the toilet paper. … [Humor column by Lawrence Baron, Ph.D]
Adages for the Age of Coronavirus Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire
It’s been two weeks since the election, and just now the President has interviewed party heads, and selected Benny Gantz to have the first chance at forming a coalition. Earlier signs of a minority government with Blue and White, Meretz-Labor, and Israel Our Home, with outside support from the United Arab List, have faded, but not completely.Two members of Blue and White and one of Meretz-Labor have indicated their opposition to allying with the United Arab List, and that brings Gantz’s vote down to 59. [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D]
Politics and coronavirus in Israel Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
San Diego City Council candidate Joe Leventhal says, “I’m Jewish and my family is Catholic.” He explained in an interview that although he had two Jewish parents, when they divorced, they both married non-Jews; his mother Deena Leventhal to a Catholic; his father Larry Leventhal to a non-practicing Christian. Even when his parents were together, they were so secular that they gave him as a boy the choice of whether he wanted to attend Hebrew school to study for a bar mitzvah. “I ended up saying no, and I regret it, and that is part of why I wanted my kids to be raised with religion because I felt I missed something being raised without it,” he said. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
Candidate Joe Leventhal: A Jew with a Catholic family Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education
What were the circumstances a number of years ago when Bernie Sanders said the following?–“All in all, it’s not so bad. When it’s good, it’s good. If it doesn’t feel right, just say no. There’s always tomorrow. There’s always tomorrow. It could be worse. Now, let’s just thank God you have your arms, you have your legs, let’s eat.” [Jewish trivia quiz by Mark D. Zimmerman]
Jewish trivia quiz: Bernie Sanders Read More »
Mark D. Zimmerman, Trivia, Humor & Satire
Stalin ruled from the mid-1920s to 1953. Vladimir Berger was born in 1931. In 1937, at the age of 6, his father, Iosif Shmulevich Berger, was arrested by the secret police. Vladimir, his mother and sister never saw him again. The family went from being reasonably well off to selling what they had to make ends meet. [Book review by Oliver B. Pollak, Ph.D]
‘Fate of Our Fathers’ tells horror of Stalin’s purges Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Oliver Pollak
At last! The long-established, but until now little-recognized, syndrome that afflicts Jewish women is finally getting the attention it deserves. The illness, known at Post-Purim Blues, shares some symptoms with Post-Partum Blues, the depression that some mothers experience after the birth of their baby. With help from friends, relatives and professionals, those afflicted with either problem generally overcome the ailment in a short period of time. [Just Kidding column by Joel H. Cohen]
She’s got the Post-Purim Blues Read More »
Joel H. Cohen
Three Israeli youth who have been serving in San Diego County as shlichim (emissaries) for the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) left for Israel on Sunday — their one-year tours in the United States interrupted by the shutdown of many area Jewish institutions in reaction to the spreading coronavirus. Opportunities to interact with Jews on an organized level having been greatly reduced in San Diego County, the three 18-year-olds will return to Israel where, after a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all returnees to Israel, they will be able to do volunteer work and have Pesach seders with their families. [Our shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
JAFI brings teen emissaries in SD County home Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jerry Klinger, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share, Travel and Food, USA
Herut, the Zionist educational activist movement, has developed a playlist of easily available, high quality documentary movies that will enhance any viewer’s knowledge of Israeli history, Zionist ideals, and Middle East politics. [Moshe Phillips]
Zionist education during a global pandemic Read More »
International, Jewish History, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts
I’m ready. I had no need to stock up on toilet paper, pasta, tins of food or any other staple, as I am always certain to have good supplies of those items. Anyone, like myself, who has lived in Israel, and especially Jerusalem, for over fifty years, has learned to always be well supplied with good stocks of foodstuffs. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]
Stocking up for emergencies an Israeli constant Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Lifestyles, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education
When Israel was hit by a monstrous fire, Palestinian firefighters crossed the Green Line with their firetrucks and risked their lives to save Israelis. And when Palestinians are hit by COVID-19, Israel’s public health professionals work side by side with their Palestinian colleagues, supplying them with test kits, medicine and knowhow. “There are no borders here…There is no ‘them’ and ‘us,’” Brig. Gen. Ghassan Alian, the commander of Israel’s Civil Administration in the West Bank, told Israel Radio last week. In such times, you cannot but wonder why Israelis and Palestinians do not harness their shared humanity, their common sense and their sense of common future to end the bloody conflict between them. Unlike pandemics, wildfires and earthquakes, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is manmade. And this manmade calamity can be undone by humans – if they find it within themselves to relate to the other as humans, as equals, as equally human. [By James B. Klutznick and Aviva Meyer]
Israelis, Palestinians join forces against coronavirus Read More »
Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
I humbly submit that it is our time to shine. Yes! Of course we should take the precautions mentioned by the governmental agencies. Certainly we should be washing our hands with soap as much as possible and using hand sanitizer when we cannot wash. Indeed it would be wise to postpone our planned cruises and other international (or perhaps even domestic) travel. And yes, if your children’s school says to keep the kids at home that is what we should do. But none of that means we are meant to helplessly cower under our beds fearing our own shadows! If the government says we need to place distance between each other they mean PHYSICAL distance. Since we are challenged with maintaining physical distance it is time to close the spiritual distance! [Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort]
Coronavirus ~ It’s our time to shine Read More »
Lifestyles, Science, Medicine, & Education, Yeruchem Eilfort-Rabbi
Somewhere in Eastern Europe, in a little Jewish village, a woman who had been preparing to burn the last pieces of collected chometz in anticipation of that evening’s Passover seder, was startled to see a white mouse jump up on her table, steal a piece of bread, and leave crumbs behind as it ran away. [Book review by Donald H. Harrison]
A Talmud-based Passover tale for children Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Trivia, Humor & Satire