Global Jewish population estimated at 14.8 million

As we prepare to welcome the Jewish year 5780, the number of Jews worldwide stands at 14.8 million, compared to 14.7 million in 5779. Of these, 8.1 million live outside Israel (including 5.7 million in the United States). In Israel, the number of Jews is 6.7 million (compared to 6.6 million in 5779). The updated estimates were published by Professor Sergio Della Pergola of Hebrew University in the American Jewish Year Book 2019. (To read more please click headline.)

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International, Judaism, Middle East, USA

The letter that Avigdor Liberman will never write

The “letter” below has, of course, never been written; it’s a product of my imagination. Yet without a move along its lines, Israel won’t have a government and we may have to go to elections again, which is both ridiculous and scandalous. Avigdor Lieberman could save us from it. But will he?

Dear Jewish citizens of Israel,
(To read more, please click on the headline)

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Middle East

‘A Trace of Smoke’ set in pre-war Berlin

Excerpt: I chose this book by Rebecca Cantrell because it promised to describe what life was like in Berlin in the early 1930s. I was not disappointed. Apart from the somewhat lurid plot of the novel, the book contains a vivid account of the way Berliners lived and loved at that time, the rising political power and physical presence of the Nazi party and – in a particularly sensational way – the life of the homosexual community there. (To read more, please click on the headline)

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

Some results, but not enough, from U.N. Climate Action Summit

I could not possibly applaud enough the young men and women who flooded the streets in hundreds of cities around the world demanding from their government to take immediate and long-term action to combat climate change. By the same token, I could not condemn and denounce more vehemently Mr. Trump and many of his ilk, like Bolsonaro of Brazil, for their criminal disregard of the catastrophic peril that climate change represents. By denying the threat that climate change poses and its devastating harm to countless living creatures, they are systematically undermining any chance we still have of avoiding a terrible catastrophe, including a mass extinction of species the likes of which the modern world has never seen. (To read more, please click on headline)

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Alon Ben-Meir, International, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share, USA

Notes on Torah reading for September 28, 2019

The thrust of this parasha is modeled after the format of an ancient covenant treaty. The scene is set in the Plains of Moab on the east side of the Jordan, shortly before the death of Moses.  This is to be followed by entrance to the promised land under Joshua’s leadership.

A word about ancient covenants.  Unlike modern times wherein parties sign an arranged legal contract, the ancients performed ceremonies, characterized by proclamations, writings of the terms, proclamations of blessings and curses, erection of steles, and sacrifices.  Curses include acts that symbolized the fate of violators.  They would cut up the body of an animal, then the parties passed between the pieces, symbolizing what would happen to either if he/she violated the treaty.   

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Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish Religion

Our Shtetl San Diego County: September 25, 2019

Items in this column include: 
*A few of Bern Schwartz’s works now at Museum of Photographic Arts
*Jewish Federation’s Men’s Event Dec. 8 to feature comedian Modi Rosenfeld
*Political Dots and Dashes
*Cohn Group of Restaurants to temporarily manage four more eateries
*Mazel tov! Mazel tov!

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Business & Finance, Donald H. Harrison, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Sports & Competitions, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food

An Orthodox guide to workplace behavior

Making It All Work: A Practical Guide to Hashkafah & Halacha in the Workplace by Avi Wasserman and Miryam Wasserman; Philipp Feldheim publisher;  ISBN-10: 16802-50310; 538 pages; Price $25.00 By Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel  CHULA VISTA, California — The authors of Making It All Work present the Orthodox Jewish community with an interesting book about some

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi

Rabbi Phillips authors tome on Jewish philosophy and theology

By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin JERUSALEM — Judaism Reclaimed: Philosophy and Theology in the Torah by Shmuel Phillips, a rabbi and lawyer with a law degree from the University of London, is a book filled with interesting information inspired by his understanding of the views of Maimonides and Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. The book has

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

Gerald Robbins masterful at new Coronado music festival

By Eileen Wingard CORONADO, California — This past weekend, a new music festival was initiated at the Coronado Library, and concert pianist, Gerald Robbins, brother of  longtime Coronado resident, Bonnie Fox, helped launch the concerts by participating in two of them. At 1 p.m. Saturday, September 21, Robbins performed a solo recital on the Coronado

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County