Siba top dog by human, not canine, standards

While New Hampshire was voting in the presidential primary held this past Tuesday, the judges for the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show were selecting the winner of the Best in Show Award.   They chose a standard poodle named Siba.  Now I have nothing against poodles per se.  Indeed, they are highly intelligent, but in dog shows, superficial beauty is valued more than smartness.  That is why Siba received  the Westminster pewter trophy and hand-engraved Steuben crystal bowl as her rewards.  By the way, I find it obvious that these prizes are intended for Siba’s owners and not Siba whom I’m sure would prefer a year’s supply of filet mignon fed to her in the bowl and trophy which I surmise will end up in some display case. [Elona Baron as told the Laurie Baron]

Siba top dog by human, not canine, standards Read More »

Lawrence Baron, The World We Share, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Lindbergh biography details his anti-Semitism

Aviator Charles A. Lindbergh was the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, New York to Paris, landing at Le Bourget Aerodrome on May 20, 1927.  Ever since then, San Diego has been bedazzled by the daring pilot, naming after him its airport on San Diego Bay, a park near Balboa Avenue west of the 8095, a school in Clairemont Mesa (also named for humanitarian Albert E. Schweitzer),  and a street near Otay Valley Regional Park. A new book by Candace Fleming, intended for Young Adults, is The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh.  Besides recounting the famous flight that made him a cultural icon, and the horrific kidnapping of the first child born to him and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh, the book tells how Lindbergh became an acolyte of Nobel Prize winning surgeon Dr. Alexis Carrel, with whom he worked on experiments designed to provide human beings with immortality.  Together, Carrel and Lindbergh dreamed of creating a panel of immortals who could devote themselves to eugenics, a field once popular in the United States that held that the human race could be improved through selective breeding of superior people and the sterilization of interior people.  It was a “science” that Adolf Hitler and the Nazis turned into their ideology. [Donald H. Harrison]

Lindbergh biography details his anti-Semitism Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, USA

Dita Kraus’ memoir tells of Shoah, early Israel

Antonio Iturbe, a Spanish author, wrote a fictional account of Dita (Polachova) Kraus’s life titled The Librarian of Auschwitz, in which Dita was cast as a heroine who risked her life to expose children at the notorious Nazi death camp to a few books on diverse subjects.  The point of the story, for many, was that in spite of the inhumanity all around them, there were people for whom kindness, literature, learning, and knowledge remained paramount objectives. Now comes Kraus’s own memoir of her remarkable life, which gives us a fuller picture of who she is, and the experiences she had pre- and post-Auschwitz. [Donald H. Harison]

Dita Kraus’ memoir tells of Shoah, early Israel Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East

A Stone Barrage over sentence recommendation

The New York City Bar Association has asked the House and Senate Judiciary Committees to investigate Attorney General William Barr’s intervention on behalf of Roger Stone fearing that it “threatens public confidence in the fair and impartial administration of justice.”  The charges barraging Barr might lead the Association to disbar Barr.  That would bar Barr from practicing law. [Satire by Lawrence Baron, Ph.D]

A Stone Barrage over sentence recommendation Read More »

Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Orlanskys spend their 71st Valentine’s Day together

Danny and Arlene (Addleson) Orlansky, who celebrated their 71st Valentine’s Day as a married couple on Friday, say the man who was their Cupid was the late Rabbi Morton Cohn of Congregation Beth Israel. Two years after the end of World War II, on a Sunday when Arlene was being installed as president of the Temple Youth League, Rabbi Cohn suggested that because the teens of the only three synagogues in the county (Beth Israel, Tifereth Israel, and Beth Jacob) didn’t know each other, they should have the occasion double as a dance in his Reform congregation’s social hall. [Donald H. Harrison]

Orlanskys spend their 71st Valentine’s Day together Read More »

Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, San Diego County, USA

Sinai revelation not just in past

Amidst a majestical display of thunder and lighting, through the fog of a cloud, the Israelites are given the Torah, by God. Right before most of the action takes place, the Torah tells us when the revelation was going to take place. It says that the Israelites arrived at Sinai on “this” day. Rashi points out that this is an unusual word choice. By telling us a story of events that took place in the past, the Torah should have said “that” day. But, by switching the tense, the Torah is teaching us a very important lesson. It is teaching us that, despite some of us believing that the revelation on Mount Sinai was one moment in time, a thing of the past, Revelation can and does take place in the present, today, and whenever else we choose to experience it.  [Rabbi Joshua Dorsch]

Sinai revelation not just in past Read More »

Jewish Religion

Puppets, opera combine in ‘Hansel and Gretel’

Composer Engelbert Humperdinck’s 1893 storybook Opera, Hansel and Gretel, based on The Grimm Brother’s tale of the same name is the current fare at the Civic Center on Feb. 14th and 16th. This is the third time in the opera’s history producing Humperdinck’s work. [Carol Davis]

Puppets, opera combine in ‘Hansel and Gretel’ Read More »

Carol Davis, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Two children face European anti-Semitism

By some strange coincidence – or perhaps not – in the same week as many world leaders gathered in Jerusalem to mark (celebrate?) the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, I was in the middle of reading a book about one child’s experience of anti-Semitism. And that child’s experience reminded me of one of my own at a similar age. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

Two children face European anti-Semitism Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International

Isachar Zacharie: Lincoln’s Chiropodist and Spy

In early 1863, a friend discussed with Abraham Lincoln the idea of restoring European Jewry to its ancient homeland in Palestine. Lincoln agreed that the vision of a Jewish state in the Holy Land merited consideration. “I myself have regard for the Jews,” he is reported to have said. “My chiropodist is a Jew, and he has so many times ‘put me on my feet’ that I would have no objection to giving his countrymen ‘a leg up.’” Lincoln was referring to Isachar Zacharie, his foot doctor and confidante. Zacharie’s relationship with Lincoln was complex, but two things are clear: first, Zacharie had Lincoln’s confidence and, secondly, he represented American Jewry in Lincoln’s eyes. [Michael Feldberg, Ph.D]

Isachar Zacharie: Lincoln’s Chiropodist and Spy Read More »

Jewish History, USA

Calls mount for Stephen Miller’s resignation

Three San Diego County representatives – Democrats Susan Davis, Mike Levin, and Scott Peters – are among 108 members of the House and 24 Democratic Senators who thus far have called for the dismissal or resignation of Stephen Miller as a White House senior adviser, according to national news reports. Their call, reinforced by commentary from Jewish organizations disavowing the white nationalist sentiments of Miller, who is Jewish, came in the wake of leaked emails indicating that Miller has been pushing a xenophobic agenda. The emails were leaked to the Southern Poverty Law Center by a former Breitbard News reporter last November. [Donald H. Harrison]

Calls mount for Stephen Miller’s resignation Read More »

Donald H. Harrison, International, Middle East, USA

172 years later, Communist Manifesto still resonates

This month marks 172 years since the first publication of the Communist Manifesto. All around the world people will be commemorating February 20th with group read-alouds, and other ways of noting the occasion. Undoubtedly, this is a moment that we should not allow to pass without some reflection on the meaning to us today of Marx and Engels’ pamphlet. [Sam Ben-Meir, Ph.D]

172 years later, Communist Manifesto still resonates Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Business & Finance, International, Sam Ben-Meir, USA

How Maimonides dissected the Exodus account

Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel’s books on Maimonides’ interpretations of the biblical book Exodus, Maimonides Hidden Torah Commentary: Exodus 1-20, reveals much that many people do not know and does so in a clear and easy to read fashion. While 448 pages long, and filled with information, it is only the first of his two books on Exodus. It is superb. His two books on Genesis have already been published. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazinl]

How Maimonides dissected the Exodus account Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi

Judicial systems and the 10 Commandments

This parasha deals with a complimentary visit by Moses’ father-in-law Yitro to the Israelite camp; his offer of advice to Moses to delegate judicial duties on a hierarchical basis, rather than exhaust himself doing it all himself; Israelites then move toward Sinai amid God’s instructions; and there receive the Ten Commandments and instructions to build an altar. I have chosen two passages, with regard to seeking similarities, from the Internet, with other ancient literature. [Irv Jacobs, M.D.]

Judicial systems and the 10 Commandments Read More »

Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish Religion

CPA can make tax season less stressful

Following is an article by guest writer Tara Weisinger, CPA, who is Director of Taxes at Rowling & Associates. For many people, filing their taxes and all that comes with that can be very stressful.  While I think it’s safe to assume not too many people enjoy paying taxes, there are several things you can do to make the process less painful each year, including getting help from a CPA. The tax code is complex and constantly changing.  It is important to have someone on your side who knows the law and will ensure you pay the least amount of taxes possible. [Tara Weisinger for Sheryl Rowling]

CPA can make tax season less stressful Read More »

Business & Finance, Sheryl Rowling