Global Shabbat project expects a million plus participants

rom November 15-16, 2019, more than 1 million Jews in over 1,500 cities around the world, including San Diego, will unite for the annual international Shabbat Project. Last year, the Shabbat Project attracted more than 1 million participants in 101 countries across 1,511 cities and towns. This year, organizers believe the initiative will top those numbers.

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International, Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA

Rosh Chodesh not observed as Torah commands

Like all other biblical holidays, Rosh Chodesh is not observed today as required by biblical law. This is because of changed social circumstances and because the principle element of the biblical worship was animal sacrifices, which was discontinued after the Romans destroyed the Jewish Second Temple in 70 CE. Additionally, the name of the celebration was changed from “Chodesh” to “Rosh Chodesh,” which in the Torah did not mean “New Moon,” but “First Month” and referred to the month now called Nissan when Passover occurs.

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Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion

JNF: Israel schooling leads to Jewish continuity

Dr. Sol Lizerbram, the Rancho Santa Fe resident who serves as national president of the Jewish National Fund, offers some statistics to back up the claim that sending a teenager to JNF’s Alexander Muss High School program in Israel can contribute in the long run to Jewish continuity.

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Judaism, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Sports & Competitions, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food, USA

Russia, Iran oppose Turkey in Syria

Kurdish forces, facing a well-armed and aggressive Turkey, appear to have turned to the Syrian government — meaning its sponsors in Iran and Russia — for rescue. It makes sense in historical terms, although it is likely to be bloody in current ones. Historical, in this case, means before the U.S. military presence in the northern part of the country.

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International, Middle East, Shoshana Bryen

‘Never Again is Now’ references Poway shooting

Evelyn Marcus and Rosa Zeegers are a Jewish lesbian couple who uprooted themselves from Holland and moved to the United States because they saw ugly anti-Semitic history repeating itself in Europe.  Anti-Semitic graffiti, beatings, rallies, bombings, and demonstrations all seemed to presage the same kind of Holocaust that their parents had lived through.  Now, they are seeing some of the same troubling signs in the United States — last Passover’s shooting at San Diego County’s own Chabad of Poway being just one example.

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego Calendar, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food, USA

Holland seems like a well-run country

It’s a lovely, well run place. The Dutch may be more German than the Germans. Or at least close cousins. Order is clear. Trains and trams are clean and on time. Perhaps within a minute or two. Buildings we’ve seen are spruced well, with gold and fresh paint on statues and other fancy fixtures. Lots of tourists, even in the early part of September. American English was the language of conversation in our hotel breakfast room.

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International, Ira Sharkansky, Travel and Food

New Mexico’s Crypto-Jews subject of informative tour

When Jordi was just ten years old, his grandfather said, “This is how we butcher a chicken,” as he demonstrated the kosher slaughtering method. Jordi’s grandfather thereby revealed that the family was Jewish, a startling surprise for a young boy in the 1990s living in Spain, whose family was ostensibly Roman Catholic like everybody else. This revelation, that they were Crypto-Jews (secret Jews), had a profound effect on Jordi, who eventually became the first rabbi in 500 years to be ordained in Spain.

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International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Steve Kramer, Travel and Food, USA