Balloting begins Jan. 21 for World Zionist Congress

Between Jan. 21 and March 11, American Jews may participate in the selection of U.S. delegates to the World Zionist Congress, which will meet in Jerusalem from Oct. 20-22 to help set policy for three major Jewish organizations: the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish National Fund, and the Jewish Agency for Israel.  The Congress’s policy decisions will influence how approximately $1 billion is allocated. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Israel’s severe weather eclipses political news

Our recent headlines have featured the weather. Despite a prediction in the Fall that this would be a relatively dry winter, the last couple of weeks have set a record of rainfall that surpasses anything in the most recent 50 years. Coastal cities of Naharyia, Tel Aviv, Ashdod and Ashkelon have been hit by flooded streets that have washed away cars, and required pedestrians to be carried across flooded streets in the buckets of tractors and in the trucks of the IDF. [Ira Sharkansky, PhD]

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Travel and Food

No one is listening!

Last July, I wrote an article, “Wanted: listeners, not interrupters” for this publication.  I received several revealing responses from friends and others, each with the same opening sentence,” I am guilty of being a poor listener.”   Frankly, their confessions were not surprising, as poor listening is endemic.  Even after I met with the same friends later there was little change in their behavior.   No one is listening! [Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel, z"l, Lifestyles

Australia’s wildfires are a warning to us all

It seemed only natural, after hearing and reading about the terrible conflagration in Australia, to reach out to our friends and acquaintances there to ask how they were faring. Most sent back fairly optimistic replies, reassuring us that their lives and homes were not in danger, though the ever-present smoke made daily life less pleasant. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Middle East, The World We Share, USA

Diverse stories at Chula Vista Holocaust exhibit

A span of 31 years separates the late Max Weinstock’s birth from that of Ursula Israelski, but both were profoundly affected by the Holocaust. They are among the featured South Bay residents, living and dead, whose lives are celebrated at the year-long “Project RUTH: Remember Us The Holocaust” exhibit now on display at Chula Vista’s main library, 365 F. Street, Chula Vista. [Donald H. Harrison]

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

Gender-bending at San Diego Junior Theatre

Last Friday, I popped into the office of San Diego Junior Theatre (based in Casa del Prado in Balboa Park) to say hello to their Artistic Director, Desha Crownover. She was both excited and exhausted about opening night of their “gender fluid” production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Having written about issues related to gender identity before, I smelled a story. [Eric George Tauber]

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Eric George Tauber, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

German’s diary tells of opposition to Hitler

For the first time, I read the courageous secret diary of a man and wife who did what they could to record what they saw, they heard, and they felt living in Nazi Germany.  They had been denounced.  They had barely escaped the concentration camps, the Gestapo, and probable death for being in opposition to Hitler.  They knew what they had to do, what they could still do, even if they could not shape the present.  They hoped their diary might shape the future when another Hitler could arise somewhere in the world in another vaunted high cultured and “free” society.  The diary, a series of volumes that remained hidden long after the war had ended, eventually ran to almost 1,000 pages. [Jerry Klinger]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History

Santee-trained firefighter volunteers in Israel

A couple of days after we started working, rocket fire from Gaza began pouring into Israel. The Station Commander conducted a walkthrough of the in-house bomb shelter. These are not only present in every Fire Station, but in all new residential occupancies. Around 450 rockets were fired toward Israel in the course of about 36 hours. I finally had to silence my “Red Alert – Israel” app if I wanted to try to get some sleep. Two other EVP members (both from Texas) were deployed not far from where I was, and they got a photo of an Iron Dome interception over their Station. Yet the Israeli Firefighters seemed quite calm. They would even change the TV channel to watch soccer, whereas we American Firefighters were staring at the TV watching surveillance camera video of the interceptions, and any rockets which may have passed their missile defenses. Watching the public’s reaction during the missile warning sirens, I couldn’t help but wonder what people in San Diego would say and do if we had continuous barrages of rockets coming across our border. [Dana Ben Kaplan]

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Middle East, San Diego County, Travel and Food

‘Lucky Ones’ suffers from poor writing, editing

I have very mixed feelings about this book {“We Were the Lucky Ones”]. On the one hand, it is a hearfelt attempt to reconstruct the experiences of various members of the author’s family (grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins) during the Holocaust. On the other, however, the writing does not flow easily, and the fact that the narrative is mainly (though not solely) in the present tense jars on my sensibilities as a reader. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Jewish History, USA

Artistic genius of Félix Vallotton

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is currently presenting through Jan. 26 the work of Félix Vallotton, an artist who has been largely neglected relative to his contemporaries, such as Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard. This makes the present exhibition all the more welcome, and fascinating. Vallotton’s work unquestionably merits the renewed attention — his paintings possess a mysterious quality, narrative appeal, and attention to detail, as well as invoke a delicious sense of irony and wit. [Sam Ben-Meir, PhD]

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International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, USA

Jewish trivia quizzes: Jeopardy, Herman, Giuliani

Jeopardy continues to make the news. Host Alex Trebek and his wife recently gave an interview to Michael Strahan about his struggle with pancreatic cancer. One of last week’s episodes has raised some controversy when a contestant’s answer of Palestine as the location of the Church of the Nativity was not accepted (with Israel being given as the correct answer). And the show is generating huge ratings with its Greatest of All Time tournament between Brad Rutter, Ken Jennings, and James Holzhauer, with the winner to be determined this week. Over the years there have been many Jeopardy questions with a Jewish theme. In 2015, returning champion Choyon Manjrekar won a match despite his wrong answer to the question “A Christian hymn and a Jewish holiday hymn are both titled this, also the name of a 2009 Tony-nominated musical.” What was his funny/controversial wrong answer that went viral at the time? [Mark D. Zimmerman]

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Mark D. Zimmerman, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Eureka! Koren Tanakh best Bible commentary ever

The Koren Tanakh of the Land of Israel is without doubt the best Bible commentary in English. I say this after using over a hundred such books while writing my own books on the Bible, such as my many volumes on the differences between the Hebrew Bible and its Aramaic translation called Onkelos. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Jewish Religion

Climate activist warns deniers financing movies

“All is not well on the cli-fi front,” Diamond said. “The Kingsman movie franchise appears to be a repository for conservative politics. When I saw the movie I could not believe they were able to persuade a bunch of decent minded actors to portray the climate scientist as the villain, fulfilling many a right-winger’s fantasies. The same was true of the Disney movie, Tomorrowland, starring George Clooney, a noted liberal activist, in 2015. Both movies portray the arch-villain as a climate scientist and climate change as the purview of a cabal of elitists. It looks to me that the cli-fi wars are well underway.” [Dan Bloom]

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The World We Share, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Rivals jab Jacobs, Gomez in 53rd CD debate

In an otherwise peaceful debate Sunday, two Democrats with military backgrounds launched salvos against the front-runners in the race to replace Rep. Susan Davis in the 53rd Congressional District. Their targets: Qualcomm heir Sara Jacobs and San Diego Councilwoman Georgette Gómez (with the local Democratic Party as collateral damage). [Ken Stone, Times of San Diego]

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Ken Stone, San Diego County, USA