In an effort to balance the pessimistic reflections in my references to Micah Goodman’s analysis of the situation created by the occupation, let me now cite from the same essay by Goodman in The Atlantic in which he also suggests how the seemingly insoluble conflict between Israel and the Palestinians can be – as he puts it – shrunk, even if it can’t be resolved. [Rabbi Dow Marmur]
Shrinking the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Read More »
Middle East
San Diegans of various faiths will gather at 8:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 20, at the Marston House in Balboa Park, at 3525 Seventh Avenue (corner of Upas) to honor the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on what would have been five days past his 91st birthday. [Donald H. Harrison]
Jews, Christians, Muslims to join in MLK salute Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, USA
Stephen Karam’s drama The Humans, 2016 recipient of The Tony Award for Best Play, is currently showing at The San Diego Repertory Theatre downtown on the Lyceum Stage through Feb 2nd. I’ve said it in jest and in truth that I wouldn’t mind being a fly on the wall just to see what goes on behind closed doors in X Y or Z’s house. [Carol Davis]
A wall fly’s view of an intense family dinner Read More »
Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
Ruth Harber of Valley Center and Anne Frank, one of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust, share a similar life as young teenagers: both spent two years in hiding from the Nazis in the early 1940s. Although their lives mirror one another, Anne died in a concentration camp, but Ruth survived. [Robert Lerner]
Museum honors Holocaust survivor Ruth Harber Read More »
International, Jewish History, San Diego CountyJERUSALEM –US President Trump promises/threatens again to release his plan for resolving the Israel-Palestinian conflict before the March 2 elections in Israel. I haven’t read anything that takes the plan seriously or spoken to anybody who believes in it. But I’ve heard much about the conflict being insoluble. That is the view of Micah Goodman, one of the brightest stars on Israel’s current intellectual firmament. In a long essay in the April 1 issue if The Atlantic he tells us why the conflict cannot be solved (but it can be shrunk: whereof more another time). [Rabbi Dow Marmur]
Fears on the right, fears on the left Read More »
Middle East
Kings, princes, presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers will converge on Jerusalem this week for the Fifth World Holocaust Forum to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz. The race for hotel rooms has been frenetic and the prestige hotels have mainly been booked on a “first come first served” basis with a few exceptions. [Barry Shaw]
World dignitaries’ A-List converge on Jerusalem Read More »
Barry Shaw, International, Middle East, USA
This parsha opens the Book of Exodus. It covers the development of enslavement of the Israelites, the early life of Moses, his escape to Midian and marriage there, his recruitment by God to lead the Israelites, and his earliest encounter with Pharaoh. I have chosen to pursue three passages, with regard to their originality in the Torah text. [Irv Jacobs, MD]
Bible’s account of Moses’ early life has antecedents Read More »
Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish Religion
Thanksgiving dinner: A time for families to be thankful for one another even as they bicker about religion, politics and life-choices between forkfuls of turkey and glasses of wine. Brigid Blake and her boyfriend Rich have moved into a garden duplex in Chinatown. There are noises from above and a view of an alley filled with cigarette butts from the only window. The movers haven’t arrived with all of their stuff yet, so furnishings are pretty spare. It’s modestly pleasant by New York City standards. But driving in from the quiet suburb of Scranton, it’s not exactly what Brigid’s parents are used to. [Eric George Tauber]
‘The Humans’ speak to all of us Read More »
Eric George Tauber, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
A relatively few Jewish Democrats were endorsed by the San Diego County Democratic Party for offices on the March 3 primary ballot. In many races, they were passed over for their opponents. [Donald H. Harrison]
County Democrats endorse some Jewish candidates Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County
My owners pride themselves on being progressive. They monitor what they say to avoid offending the ethnic, gender, national, racial, or religious sensibilities of others. So it surprises me that they’re rather insensitive when speaking about dogs. I’m sharing this list of inappropriate canine adages and phrases to alert people to their negative connotations. {Humor by Laurie Baron]
A dog’s view of pawlitical correctness Read More »
Lawrence Baron, The World We Share, Trivia, Humor & Satire
President Trump gets many of his self-described “brilliant” ideas from surprising sources. Even the name of a pasta dish. A recent example: A White House chef was reading the president a list of possible holiday dinner dishes when he mentioned pasta putanesca. In Trump’s hearing, it was pasta “PUTIN-esca,” and his mind made a giant leap. “What a great idea,” he told himself. “Have a dinner honoring my favorite dictator, I mean strong leader — well, maybe second favorite – and make this the main dish at the event. [Satire by Joel H. Cohen]
Trump’s fantasy dinner celebration for Putin Read More »
Joel H. Cohen, Trivia, Humor & Satire
We have previously announced the names of four San Diegans who have been nominated on different slates to serve as delegates to the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem next October. San Diego County is also represented on the new Kol Yisrael slate, backed by a variety of organizations, including StandWithUs and the Israel-American Council, two of the fastest growing Zionist organizations in the U.S.. [Donald H. Harrison]
Two San Diegans on new Kol Yisrael slate Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, USA
Mendek Rubin was born in 1924 in Jaworzno, Poland, a town with over 2,000 Jews, about 15 miles from Auschwitz. He died in Carmel in 2012. When his daughter Myra was putting his papers in order she came across a manuscript In Quest of the Eternal Sunshine. It was a surprise and not a surprise. It was a surprise to find it, but she had already helped her father edit it decades earlier. She worked on the manuscript for a few days but the task was incompatible with raising her two children. And, “in the intervening years” she had “completely forgotten it existed.” [Oliver B. Pollak]
Posthumous Holocaust memoir a family affair Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Oliver Pollak
– Two policy positions should disqualify any candidate for president – casting a vote to invade Iraq or distorting Israel’s role in its struggle with the Palestinians. That would eliminate former Vice President Joe Biden and Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, the three consistent front-runners for the Democratic nomination. In October 2002, then-Senator Biden joined 76 other senators in voting to send troops to invade Iraq, and Sanders and Warren cannot pontificate on the Middle East for long without placing a disproportionate amount of blame on Israel. {Bruce S. Ticker]
Why I won’t vote for Biden, Sanders or Warren Read More »
Bruce Ticker, Middle East, USA