Play draws parallels between U.S. and Nazi Germany

For those old enough to remember the horrifying brutality and tragedy of the Second World War, Wendy Kout’s new play Never Is Now, the past is prologue” is almost too unbearable to sit through. Yes, it’s yet another Holocaust story, compiled from the testimony of ten Jewish survivors and presented by six actors, three men and three women, who change their personas as they switch from one character to another. (To read more, please click headline.)

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Cynthia Citron, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Love/Sick touches audience at Mira Costa College

nce again, the students of Mira Costa College and Theater School have brought us a winner. This time they explore the delightful, provocative depiction of many expressions of love. Through nine vignettes, John Cariani’s Love/Sick invites the audience into the most intimate moments between a couple, through the succession of two individuals. (To read more, please click on the headline.)

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Eva Trieger, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Our Shtetl San Diego County: October 6, 2019

Michael Jeser, the president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County, reports that $42,000 of a $100,000 fund to help Holocaust survivors already has been expended. “The first claim was filed in July,” he wrote in an email to Jewish community members.  “Since then, there have been 80 requests for emergency services … We were told that San Diego is accessing these funds at a faster rate than any of the other dozen communities who are part of this pilot funding program.” (To read more, please click on headline.)

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Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County

‘Just Kidding’: Trump seeks Israel’s help in election

President Trump has now added Israel to the nations he wants to supply him with information about possible scandalous or illegal activity on the part of political rivals.
 If Israel fails to do his bidding, he’s considering moving the U.S. embassy from Jerusalem back to Tel Aviv. (To read more of this satire, please click on the headline.)

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Joel H. Cohen, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Two rabbinic leaders disputed Torah in ancient times

Two Talmudic sages lived around 130 CE and disagreed on how to interpret the Bible. Rabbi Akiva won out, and Rashi, Nachmanides, and most ancient Bible commentators as well as most Midrashim follow his view. Others, such as Rashi’s grandson Rashbam, Abraham ibn Ezra, and Maimonides interpret the Torah as Rabbi Ishmael did. (To read more, please click on the headline.)

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Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Jewish Religion

The swastika in a U.S. military cemetery

Paul Eilert died of cancer in a Utah hospital in 1944. Eilert was a German POW. He is buried in a section reserved for POWs in Ft. Douglas, Utah. There are 20 other German WWII interments in the Utah U.S. military cemetery.  His is the only one with the Knights Cross and Oak Leaves, a very, very high military decoration for his actions against the enemy, clearly carved with a swastika into his tombstone.  Of the 800 German POW deaths in the U.S., from the lowest rank to generals, his unusual stone is the only one with the Knights Cross on his tombstone.  Research, so far, has found his name, nowhere.  Paul Eilert, the Swastika in the U.S. Military Cemetery, is a mystery. (To read more, please click on the headline)

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International, Jerry Klinger, USA

Jews excluded from British Holocaust commemoration

In a chilling message about the future of Britain, the University College Union in Britain sent out an email to all their groups informing them of the Holocaust Memorial Day 2020 commemorations next year. What is chilling is the fact that they listed trade unions, Roma gypsies, gays and lesbians, black people, Jehovah’s Witnesses, as the named victims of the Holocaust.

But thaey “forgot” to mention Jews!! (To read more, please click on headline.)

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Barry Shaw, International, Jewish History

Sefer Devarim and Jewish Sovereignty  

Sefer Devarim, the last “book” of Torah, is also called Deuteronomy because it contains many laws (1) that were not presented earlier and are especially relevant to the conquering and settlement of Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel). Commanded to conquer and “take possession” of Canaan, the Jewish people were apparently having doubts about whether this was possible, what it would cost in lives, if they would be successful, and what they should do with the Canaanites.  
Contemporary Israelis ask similar questions. Although the words of Torah guide our lives, some have a political meaning today, and may be, for some, controversial.  (To read more, please click on headline.)

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Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East

Mystery of Kol Nidre unfolded

Kol Nidre meaning all vows is an 8th century Talmudic legal document written to seek annulment of broken personal religious vows to God. It is in Aramaic, as is the Kaddish, and as a legal document there is no mention of God. Vows were taken very seriously, and supplicants appeared before three wise men (rabbinic court) and recited the Kol Nidre words three times to void their vows This ritual was practiced for centuries and eventually was added to the prayer book. Since it is not a prayer, it was placed before the actual beginning of Yom Kippur evening service. (To read more, please click headline.)

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Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel, z"l, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts