Congregations to commemorate Pittsburgh massacre

#ShowUpForShabbat was initiated by AJC following the cold-blooded murder of 11 Jewish worshipers on October 27, 2018, during Saturday morning services. Exactly six months later, on April 27, the Chabad House in Poway, near San Diego, California, was attacked, leaving one Jew dead, also at a Shabbat service.

“The sanctity of Jewish houses of worship, the sense of American Jewish security, changed dramatically after these fatal terror attacks,” said AJC CEO David Harris. “But the outpouring of support from political and religious leaders, as well as participation in #ShowUpForShabbat, was energizing, demonstrating Americans’ determination to come together to fight hate, in this case hatred of Jews.”

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Jewish History, USA

Netanyahu maneuvering in run-up to election

the current prime minister of Israel is doing his utmost to show himself to the electorate as a statesman with an international profile. That’s why he went to see the British prime minister Boris Johnson, who could only give the visitor half-an-hour of his time. This doesn’t seem to have been enough for Netanyahu to remember his host’s name. I saw him refer on television to his visit to Prime Minister Boris Yeltsin….

Today, Netanyahu is seeing Russia’s Vladimir Putin who may want Netanyahu re-elected. There’s much to suggest that Putin secretly approves of Israel pounding Iranian positions in Syria because he doesn’t want anybody else than himself to breathe down the neck of President Assad.

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International, Middle East, USA

GI Film Festival Preview: ‘That’s Mine’

Suppose you were a military careerist, one who has risen to the rank of colonel with responsibility as a brigade commander. Suppose also that you were coming up for a promotion that would put an entire armored division under your command.

In the case of Roni (Shimon Mimram), the promotion is conditioned upon him extending the period of his military service – ordinarily a requirement that would cause him no qualms.  But over the last two years, Roni has been replaying in his head a conversation he had with his son Roy. (Or Ben-Melech)

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Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego Calendar, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Notes on Torah Reading for September 14, 2019

….you see among the captives a beautiful woman and you desire her and would take her to wife, you shall bring her into your house, and she shall trim her hair, pare her nails, and discard her captive’s garb. She shall spend a month’s time your house lamenting her father and mother; after that you may come to her and possess her, and she shall be your wife. Then, should you no longer want her, you must release her outright. You must not sell her for money; since you had your will of her, you must not enslave her.”

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Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish Religion

Humoring the Headlines: September 11, 2019

On Monday President Trump told reporters: “I don’t want to allow people that weren’t supposed to be in the Bahamas to come into the United States, including some very bad people and some very bad gang members and some very, very bad drug dealers.”  The seeds of his 2020 stump speech have been planted.  Here’s our forecast of what he’ll say.

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Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Amadeus, a Hit at the North Coast Rep

When the lights went up we met an old and disabled Antonio Salieri in a wheel chair. From that moment he dominates the stage with his powerful presence, strong voice, and excellent diction.  He talks about his first meeting with young Mozart, and openly confesses his jealously, and intense envy of Mozart’s outstanding talent. From then on Salieri dedicated his life to destroy his rival’s career and spoiling any chances of his success.

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Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel, z"l, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, The Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Climate change activist foresees necessary cannibalism

A behavioral scientist from Sweden thinks cannibalism of corpses will become necessary because of the effects of climate change. The name of this person is Magnus Söderlund, and he is associated with the prestigious Stockholm School of Economics. In his dystopian vision of the future, he proposed that in order to truly take on the effects of climate change, we must “awake the idea” that eating human flesh should be discussed as an option in the future.

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International, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi

Our Shtetl San Diego: September 10, 2019

Subjects in this column:
* Nine Israeli professors join faculties at three area universities
*Traffic will detour during two days of construction at Schwartz Courthouse
* Republican Famela Ramos joins race to succeed Susan Davis
* ADL, Aspen Institute name Nathan Fletcher to Civil Society Fellowship
* San Diego’s New StandWithUs Director Has Roots in the Region
* Preliminary hearing Sept. 19 in Chabad of Poway shootings 

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Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA