‘Just Kidding:’ Tariff relief on Jewish-loved Chinese products

Claiming a “mutual love affair, unlike any other in history” between himself and the Jewish people, President Trump is rolling back tariffs on several product imports from China that are favored by Jews.
 
In a series of tweets, the president said: “Nobody loves the Jews the as much as I do, and no world leader – including Bibi —  is loved more by Jews than I am. So I’m doing them a dollars-and-cents buying favor.” (Please click on headline to read more)

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Joel H. Cohen, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Kashrut involves not only a hechsher but also ethical behavior

Excerpt: Through seven sections, Kashrut and Jewish Food Ethics examines a broad swath of the kosher landscape. Who inspects the inspectors certifying kosher products and are the stamps on kosher meat truly a mark of adherence to traditional values? What are the moral underpinnings of eating kosher meat and what should they be? There is more to kosher meat than slaying by a trained shochet, there must be concern for animal welfare. Family-owned farms, bought out, are now part of mechanized slaughterhouses, whose chief aim is profit. Does a neglected animal, or one needlessly made to suffer, deserve the label kosher even if properly killed? (Please click headline to read full story)

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Travel and Food

A nostalgic, educational visit to London

Excerpt: This year’s visit started with a bang, the sun was shining and we had been invited to tour the House of Lords by a sitting member who had attended the LSE at the same time as I had, but had gone on to have a stellar career in the law, eventually being made a baroness. She had seen my articles about life in Israel in the AJR Journal and contacted me last year, when we visited her in Oxford. Because parliament had been ‘prorogued,’ i.e., suspended, by the Prime Minister, the place was deserted apart from a few security personnel. Nonetheless, we were taken around the opulent building, parts of which date back to the thirteenth century, while much of it was restored in the nineteenth century after a fire. We felt very privileged to be taken around by our friend, who also treated us to a lovely meal at the Wolesley restaurant. (Please click headline to read full story)

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Travel and Food

Fighting anti-Semitism at local levels of government

Excerpt: In Paterson and Trenton, both iconic cities in New Jersey, Michael Jackson and Kathy McBride are members of the city council today, and towards the other end of the country, Patrick Little is running for council in Garden City, Idaho, a suburb of Boise. Little is a white nationalist and a Republican. and Jackson and McBride are African-American Democrats.

Jackson played the race card in Paterson after he was admonished for proclaiming “Jew us down” during a council meeting on September 10 while debating the reconstruction of a local stadium, according to The Paterson Press. “That was meant with no malice,” Jackson said, noting that he learned the phrase during his “upbringing.”

The councilman subsequently questioned if the city administration was doing enough to quell violence involving young African men. In an argument with Mayor Andre Sayegh, he said the phrase was used by people to describe haggling. “I never use it,” the mayor said. (Please click headline to read full story)

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Bruce Ticker, USA

‘Methuselah’ offers some humorous corrections to the Bible

Excerpt: When God dictated the Bible to Moses, it was perfect – every word and every letter was flawless. But a so-called scholar Laumentenkup recopied the Bible and made many mistakes. He couldn’t see the dirt under his fingernails and drank too much fermented grape juice. Methuselah wants to correct as many errors as he can. The following are some of his corrections.

There was no snake in Eden. God created a toothless tortoise as a companion for man so he wouldn’t be lonely. When this didn’t work, God put Adam asleep and created a woman from his third tonsil and ever since then women have spoken a great deal. (Please click headline to read full story)

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

In field of immunology, AI is needed to sort through all the data

Excerpt: Considering the existence of widespread data on the human immune system, most of it not easily connected, this is an enormous task for a human mind.  
In a humorous aside, Dr. Shen-Orr, recalling the classic Faustian Pact with the Devil, offered that the Devil came to our scientific labs 20 years ago (the genome and its derivatives), and offered a great ‘data dump.’  He tricked us, since the sheer volume of it makes no sense.

But with Super Computers and applied AI, it is possible to begin to sort the data and find patterns which give us direction into how to treat those yet untreatable.  (Please click headline to read full story)

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Irv Jacobs, MD, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education

 Our Shtetl San Diego County: September 21, 2019

Items in today’s column include:
*No Jewish unity when it comes to local politics
*Political dots and dashes
*The continuing tragic aftermath of the shooting at Chabad of Poway
*Congresswoman Davis on student loan forgiveness, forced arbitration
*Conductor David Amos schedules a concert season honoring Beethoven’s 250th birthday
*Mazel Tov! Mazel Tov!

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Donald H. Harrison, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, USA

Undecided whether to listen to my body or mind

So here is my dilemma: I used to be the kind of person who said “yes” to everything and everyone and loved it. My motto: “Go everywhere, do everything, meet everyone, always say ‘yes, I can help!’” I now have become the kind of person who hesitates when asked to go somewhere or do something, preferring to stay home. It is a matter of energy—I don’t seem to be able to muster enough to make the decision to go, let alone to actually go. My mindset is: “I am too tired!”

Some of my friends have said: “You’re in your nineties; honor your age, listen to your body, don’t push yourself.” Somehow this does not help. I am still curious about the play, the movie, the luncheon. I have always suffered from a disease called “ATMS” (afraid to miss something), better known today as “FOMO” (fear of missing out). So I have lived my life in the fast lane and loved every moment of it.

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Lifestyles, Natasha Josefowitz, San Diego County

Our Shtetl San Diego County: September 20, 2019

I have met other people who can recall song lyrics from the 1950’s on, but none, absolutely none, whose memory is as phenomenal as that of Judy Gumbiner, the retired San Diego State University director of career services.

With the High Holy Days approaching, soon thereafter to be followed by Succot and Simcha Torah, Judy and I were discussing the impressions of the Jewish Bible that a popular music fan might derive from pop music and Broadway show tunes.

Here are some of the “lessons” we (mostly she) came up with:

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County