Jewish emigre from Nazi Germany was MLK’s tutor

Just the other day, I received an email from Jean Klugman in Boston that read: ”Hello Dan. My cousin Heather Siegel just sent me a copy of the article you wrote nine years ago, in 2011, in the San Diego Jewish World about a Jewish Boston man who served as Martin Luther King’s German-language tutor at  Boston University when MLK was studying for his PhD exam in the 1950s.” In my article for this online newspaper in 2011, I was not able to give the name of the man I was writing about, since I did not know his name and saw no way I would ever find out. But Jean solved the mystery. [Dan Bloom]

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Jewish History, USA

Behind the byline: Jerry Klinger

Though he lives in Boynton Beach, Florida, Jerry Klinger writes stories for this publication from all over the United States and the globe.
Klinger is president of the Jewish American Society of Historic Preservation, an organization which he largely funds. It has erected more than 100 historic markers honoring Jewish-American contributions in this country, Europe, and Israel. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA

Jewish melody infuses German, U.S. chamber music

… They first performed at the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum in 2019. This year, in observance of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp they will premiere the first public performance of a piece composed for them by Laurence Sherr of Kennesaw State University in Georgia. Sherr has a specialty in music of the Holocaust. The program will be cosponsored by the German and Italian Counsels of Los Angeles. Audiences should be prepared for remarkable music, by a remarkable globe-trotting couple. [Oliver Pollak, PhD]

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Oliver Pollak

Can robots help elderly, lonely people?

We have a problem. A silver tsunami is coming our way. It is the baby boomer generation, that high curve on population charts, which has reached retirement age. Not only is our elderly population increasing—the largest growth is people age 85 and older and by 2050 the global population of 65+ year olds will have doubled—but the number of working-age people and fertility rates are shrinking. So, we will have more people needing care and assistance and fewer people available to provide these services. [Natasha Josefowitz, PhD]

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Lifestyles, Natasha Josefowitz

Rabbi Ralph Dalin honored by WZC nomination

Other items in today’s column include: * Political bytes * Recommended reading By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO –  Mathematics tell us that Rabbi Ralph Dalin, San Diego’s Jewish community chaplain, has approximately as much chance of winning a delegate spot at the World Zionist Congress as, say, the Red Sea has of splitting again. 

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

We should strive to fix our imperfections

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public and private life, including employment, education, transportation and access to all places available to the general public, became law in 1990. On occasion, I find myself giving a ride sharing trip with someone who has a handicap permit. Typically, I am told by the handicapped individual that he will bring the permit so we can make parking a bit easier and closer to the venue we are attending together.

There is no question as to the different reasons why a person is entitled to this placard and the necessity it provides and the validity that it justifies. Nevertheless, for a moment I think to myself, “Hey, that’s great, but wait a minute, Baruch Hashem I don’t have a disability; I should not take advantage of this.” [Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky]

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Jewish Religion, San Diego County

‘A Hidden Life’ and ‘The Sound of Music’

Opposition to Nazi power is a theme of two stories set in the Austrian Alps. The musical The Sound of Music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II featuring the von Trapp Family Singers appeared on Broadway in 1959. The 1965 film starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer broke Gone with the Wind box office records. It ran 174 minutes and won five Academy awards. The sound track sold over 20 million albums. It was loved. [Oliver B. Pollak]

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International, Oliver Pollak, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

There are tools for fighting the anti-Semites

Fast-forward to this past September when Nicholas Bogan, 17, sent his store manager a message that he was “celebrating the Jewish holiday tomorrow night.” In Eatontown, N.J., 75 years after the Holocaust, Francesco Scotto Di Rinaldi responded: “F-k the Jewish. Put them on fire/like Hitler was trying to do/He had a point,” according to The New York Post. Predictably, Bogan never returned to his part-time job as a pizza delivery driver, and two months later he filed a lawsuit against the owners of the restaurant, Maurizio’s Pizzeria & Italian Ristorante, a short drive from Asbury Park. [Bruce S. Ticker]

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Bruce Ticker, Jewish History, USA

Jacob’s Ladder by Chagall up for auction

For the first time in over two decades a painting by Marc Chagall will be going up for auction in Israel. Tiroche Auction House will be hosting the Israeli & International Art auction on January 25th – featuring paintings by a number of Israeli masters, including Reuben Rubin, and Yosl Bergner. The highlight of the evening however is Chagall’s Jacob’s Ladder (1970-1974), a theme to which the artist would return at least a dozen times in paintings and drawings. [Sam Ben-Meir, PhD]

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International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Sam Ben-Meir

Campaign heats up for WZC delegate spots

The campaign for 152 delegate spots to the World Zionist Congress meeting in Jerusalem next October is heating up with Americans for Peace & Tolerance  accusing a rival Hatikvah slate of trying “to take over the Congress and get hold of its $1 billion budget which will be used for various and sundry community causes — including, if they get their way, anti-Israel activity.” Americans for Peace and Tolerance leader Charles Jacobs is part of the slate of the ZOA (Zionist Organization of America) Coalition. [Donald H. Harrison]

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