Susan Davis provides fact sheet on coronavirus

Congresswoman Susan Davis, D-San Diego, has issued a fact sheet about the coronavirus.  We republish it here: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first identified on February 11, 2020 in Wuhan, China. The first infections were linked to a live animal market, but the virus is now spreading from person-to-person. It often spreads between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet) and through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes…. [ Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, USA

Historians, biographers probe Jewish Cleveland

Cleveland Jews and the Making of a Midwestern Community contains a pair of biographical essays, which I read with considerable interest, and more than a majority of essays of the historical type, dealing with such phenomena as the growth of Jewish Orthodoxy in Cleveland; the impact of Jewish philanthropy on that city; the growth of Jewish schools; The development of feminist ideals among Jewish women’s organizations;  Black-Jewish relations in Cleveland; suburbanization of Cleveland’s Jewish community; Reform Judaism in the Cleveland suburbs; and programs to assimilate into Jewish society refugees from the Soviet Union. [Book review by Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, USA

San Diegans’ dream trip leads to new website

In 2017, newlyweds Jonathan Moed and Zoe (Jurkowski) Moed went on a year-long dream trip around the world, and now Jonathan is pursuing a “passion project” to help high-tech start up entrepreneurs in developing nations realize dreams of their own. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Business & Finance, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA

Biblical Tabernacle had parallels in other cultures

This parasha deals exclusively with orders (from God) for building the desert Tabernacle tent, including its contents and its immediate surrounding structures. Much detail is conveyed, despite which the reader remains puzzled as to how the construction could be achieved. Also, estimates of the amounts of materials prescribed suggest an unmanageable amount of weight to be carried about in the desert for 40 years. [Irv Jacobs, M.D.]

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Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish Religion

A Word of Torah: Living with the times

This week’s Torah portion is titled, Terumah, which means gifts. Just as last week’s portion – which dealt in detailed specifics of Torah law in everyday life – represented a dramatic shift from the portion before – which told the story of the 10 Commandments – so too this week’s portion makes another dramatic turn and conveys the specifics of building the Tabernacle. The word ‘Tabernacle’ comes from the Latin ‘tabernaculum,’ which means ‘tent.’ The Torah describes this unique mobile structure as the Mishkan (Dwelling Place) and as the Ohel Mo’ed (Tent of Meeting).

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Jewish Religion, Yeruchem Eilfort-Rabbi

‘…I Am Proud To Be A Socialist’

It is sad, appalling, and outrageous that much of what Bernie Sanders is advocating is denigrated as “socialist,” as if it were a stigma detached from the day-to-day realities of life that affect every American man, woman, and child. I have and continue to be apolitical, but for me, anything to do with human rights matters because in the final analysis, no one has any right whatsoever to undermine another person’s right to be free, to believe, to feel secure, and to be treated humanely and equitably, as long as it does not infringe upon someone else’s rights. [Alon Ben-Meir, PhD}

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Alon Ben-Meir, USA

History tells of Nazi looting of Rosenberg gallery in Paris

Based on extensive research, the author describes what happened to the Paris art gallery that her grandfather, Paul Rosenberg, owned and directed in the first part of the twentieth century, until the invasion and occupation of France by the Germans in 1940. When France was taken over by the Germans all Jews, including the Rosenbergs, were deprived of their citizenship and property. In its heyday the Rosenberg Gallery exhibited the works of painters such as Matisse, Braque, Picasso and others with whom Paul Rosenberg maintained warm relations and in some cases, especially that of Picasso, a close friendship. Many of these artists were defined as ‘degenerate’ by the Nazis, although that did not prevent them from using these works for their own ends, often selling them to museums and collectors who paid handsomely for them.[Dorothea Shefer Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, USA

13-year-old cello virtuoso to perform in San Diego

SAN DIEGO — Fresh from winning gold medals in two major international music competitions, the 13-year-old Israeli cellist, Nahar Eliaz, will be coming to San Diego for a recital Saturday evening, March 7, 7:30 p.m. at Congregation Beth Am, 5050 Del Mar Heights Rd., San Diego, CA, 92130. The prodigious young talent received the grand prize in the London virtuoso competition which will lead to a performance at the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall in London on April 14 of this year.  She also received two top prizes earlier this month from the Vienna Music Competition. In this contest, Nahar garnered the gold medal in the Strings-Young Artist division, and the Beethoven Centenary Award for the most outstanding performance of a work by the great composer.  Beethoven’s 250th birthday is being celebrated throughout the world. [Eileen Wingard]

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

347 rabbis denounce Sanders’ comment about AIPAC

Two Reform rabbis from San Diego – Devorah Marcus of Temple Emanu-El and Jeremy Gimbel of Congregation Beth Israel – are among 347 rabbis who have signed a letter rejecting the “outrageous comments” made by Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). In announcing he would not attend the AIPAC Policy Conference in March, Sanders, who like the rabbis is Jewish, said “I remain concerned about the platform AIPAC provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights. For that reason, I will not attend their conference.”  In a press release, AIPAC subsequently described that comment as “truly shameful.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, USA

Sidewalk Talk Project helps end people’s isolation

Five years ago in San Francisco, an experienced psychotherapist, Traci Rubles, was inspired to help people increase their connections to one another.  Noting the importance of personal connections to good mental health, she decided to go out on the sidewalk and invite people to sit and talk while she provided heartfelt listening.  Since that time, Sidewalk Talk has flourished and is now in 92 cities around the world. [Bobbi Cohen]

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Lifestyles, San Diego County

Why God wanted a sanctuary built

This week in parasha Terumah, (“gift,” “portion’ or “offering” depending on whether you read the Jewish Publication Society, the Stone edition or the Soncino chumash ) we learn the many specific details of the building of the Tabernacle, Hashem’s dwelling place. It says in the parasha, “And they shall make Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst” וְעָ֥שׂוּ לִ֖י מִקְדָּ֑שׁ וְשָֽׁכַנְתִּ֖י בְּתוֹכָֽם (Exodus 25:8). [Michael Mantell, Ph.D]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

Sanders has short coattails, if any at all

Possibly our first Jewish president, and already Americans are panicking. This sigh of relief: Democratic leaders and others are raising concerns about an overreaching agenda and a misguided approach to Israel, not over his religion or ethnicity. It looks like that, anyway. We must face it – the election of a President Bernie Sanders could become a reality. It is yet too soon to predict the outcome, but this one result is foreseeable: Sanders will confront an adversarial Congress, if not a hostile Congress. [Bruce S. Ticker]

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Bruce Ticker, Middle East, USA

Palestinian commentator: BDS hurts us

Bassam Eid is a Palestinian author and commentator, who may be seen frequently on Israeli television.  While he is critical of various Israeli policies, he also speaks out frequently against corruption in both the Palestinian Authority and Gaza Strip.  On Tuesday evening, at the Fairbanks Country Club, in this affluent community wedged between northern San Diego and Rancho Santa Fe, Eid condemned the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement as being harmful to ordinary Palestinians. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, USA