Just as the Latino and Jewish communities share so much in common, so do the United States and Israel. We share common roots as nations of immigrants. We share core values at the heart of our democracies – a free press, civil rights, an independent judiciary and more. [Georgette Gomez]
Congressional candidate Gomez on Jews, Israel Read More »
Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, USA
– In Exodus 3:11, after God has asked him to go to Pharaoh in Egypt, Moses asks: “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should take the children of Israel out of Egypt?” Hashem answers simply, “I will be with you.” Not just with you, near you. But to be one with you, to experience fully your struggle, your anguish and your pain in accomplishing what is being asked of you. Hashem is saying, I believe, “I will be one with you just as you are one with the people for whom you care so much.” [Michael Mantell, PhD]
God pleased with Moses’ compassion, empathy Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell
In playwright Steven Dietz’s Bloomsday, currently in a charming and reflective production at North Coast Repertory Theatre though Feb. 2nd, Robert (Martin Kildare), a handsome and rather distinguished 50-something former professor tells the audience ‘that” Ulysses is the most under-read and over praised piece of doggerel ever hemorrhaged onto the world! Don’t take my word for it. Ask half the critics and every college sophomore on earth. [Carol Davis]
Whatever you think of ‘Ulysses,’ ‘Bloomsday’ delights Read More »
Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
Micha “Mitch” Danzig, an attorney who currently serves as advisory board president of the San Diego chapter of StandWithUs, is hoping to return to Israel in October – as one of 152 delegates allocated to the United States at the World Zionist Congress. [Donald H. Harrison]
Danzig seeks World Zionist Congress delegate slot Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, USA
North Coast Rep’s s Bloomsday is a sweet and charming story of love lost, re-imagined, and possibly regained. Bloomsday is a clever switch of past and present with four excellent actors taking us along their past, or is it the present? [Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel]
‘Bloomsday’: A time-bending love story Read More »
Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel, z"l, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
For Glenn Schwartz in Philadelphia, writing a cli-fi novel about the weather came easy. He’s a certified broadcast meteorologist who has done the weather on TV for 40 years of his 47-year career. His specialty has been in forecasting and severe weather, especially hurricanes. He co-authored the award-winning Philadelphia Area Weather Book in 2002 and was inducted into the Philadelphia Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame in 2010. His debut novel is titled The Weathermaker and is written under the byline of Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz. More on the nickname later. [Dan Bloom]
Weather forecaster publishes cli-fi novel Read More »
The World We Share, USA
In charge of these auditions in this show is the director, Zach, (Jeffrey Ricca) who barks out orders to this chorus of those wannabe chosen. He does this by relentlessly probing, questioning, and eliminating while all the while getting under their collective skins by having each one give a brief background of themselves as the “I Hope I Get It” mantra is chanted in the background. This is the heart of A Chorus Line. One by one Zach prods, encourages and yells out orders from some place in the back of the ‘theatre’ for information from each with the usual suspects and personalities standing out over and above the others. [Carol Davis]
Welk Village revives ‘A Chorus Line’ Read More »
Carol Davis, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
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]
Balloting begins Jan. 21 for World Zionist Congress Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA
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]
Israel’s severe weather eclipses political news Read More »
Travel and Food
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]
No one is listening! Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel, z"l, Lifestyles
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]
Australia’s wildfires are a warning to us all Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Middle East, The World We Share, USA
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]
Diverse stories at Chula Vista Holocaust exhibit Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County
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]
Gender-bending at San Diego Junior Theatre Read More »
Eric George Tauber, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
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]
German’s diary tells of opposition to Hitler Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History