A Very Personal Trip to Prague

From the moment we entered the city, I felt the presence of the Jews who are no longer there. I wondered about every Czech person we met (and they were all lovely).  Where were their parents or grandparents during the Shoah? Did they help or hide any Jews, or did they stand along the sidewalks and cheer the Germans as they entered the city?  I loved the magnificent architecture, taking my photo next to a statue of Franz Kafka, walking the picturesque streets, but my soul couldn’t escape the past. (To read more, please click on the headline.)

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International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Toby Klein Greenwald, Travel and Food

A unity government in Israel?

There are signs that Israel will be spared the nightmare of a third election. The politicians of the two major parties may be coming to their senses. Prime Minister Netanyahu, who engineered the second election less than a month ago, has realized that he lost mandates in this second round and, for all we know, internal polls may be indicating that he may fare even worse next time. His rival Benny Ganz of the Blue and White party also seems to sense that compromise is best. He has made it known that he’s prepared to join forces with Netanyahu’s Likud in a rotation as prime minister. (To read more, please click on headline.)

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Middle East

Notes on Torah Reading for October 12, 2019

This parasha more or less recapitulates Chapter 31, but in a poetic form recited “by Moses” before they are to cross the Jordan to enter the promised land. After the poem, prose text tells the assembled Israelites, that Moses will ascend Mount Nebo, overlook the promised land from the east, and die there. With a new curiosity for biblical poetry, I have explored its elements as expounded by Professor Emeritus Jeffrey Tigay of the University of Pennsylvania in his commentary on Deuteronomy, published by the Jewish Publication Society (1996). (To read more, please click on the headline.)

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Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish Religion

Our Shtetl San Diego County: October 10, 2019

Items in today’s column include:
*Google service places inappropriate ads on our website
*Lineup for “Tapestry” on Nov. 17 announced
*Nikki Haley featured in L’Chaim Magazine
*Political bytes
*Twelfth Night at the Old Globe
*Coming Our Way
(To read more, please click on the headline.)

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Shakespeare shines on a dark night

Every actor needs to keep some Shakespeare in his pocket for auditions. They must speak their speeches “trippingly on the tongue” (Ham 3:2) making Elizabethan iambic pentameter sound like their natural cadence. And every year, for the past eighteen years, the San Diego Shakespeare Society has presented Celebrity Sonnets in which eminent performers present verse from the Bard. On Monday, Oct 7, 2019, devotées and newcomers came out to the Old Globe for Sonnets and Speeches: A Celebration of Shakespeare’s Women. (To read more, please click on the headline.)

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Eric George Tauber, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Hounding the Headlines: October 10, 2019

Once upon a time, there was group of Kurdish Kangals who wanted to control the areas where they resided.  Since those enclaves were located inside other countries, their rulers perceived these dogs as a threat, mistreated them, and derogatorily called them Curs. One of these countries was the land of the Turkeys.  It once had reigned over a large empire.  (To read more of this satire, please click the headline.)

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Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire

D’var Torah for October 12, 2019

This week’s parasha begins with “Listen, O heavens, and I will speak! And let the earth hear the words of my mouth!”

הַאֲזִינוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם וַאֲדַבֵּרָה וְתִשְׁמַע הָאָרֶץ אִמְרֵי־פִי

The parasha immediately draws our attention to two key words, two essential capabilities, to key gifts, hearing and listening. To see that though, depends on two other facilities, vision and sight. Let’s understand this in the service of our striving to live a more fully engaged life, with more openness and receptivity to the world around us. (To read more, please click on the headline.)

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

Our Shtetl San Diego County: October 9, 2019

Items in today’s column include:
*Congressional effort underway to protect San Diego’s clean water supply
*Jewish Studies events at San Diego State University
*Dr. Seuss Enterprises to debut Green Eggs and Ham on Netflix
*Political bytes
*Rabbi, recalling R-E-S-P-E-C-T popularized by Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding, says society needs more
(To read more, please click on the headline.)

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Congress must provide food security for military families

By Abby J. Leibman and Kelly Hruska WASHINGTON, D.C. — We often hear that Congress never gets anything done. However, there’s at least one piece of legislation that Congress has passed reliably for over fifty years: the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which sets policies and priorities for our nation’s military. The reason for this

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San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA