Big Boss Bubeleh entertained on Fair’s final day

By Eileen Wingard DEL MAR — July 4th was the third time that Yael and Vlady were invited to perform at this year’s San Diego County Fair. I heard their 3:00 p.m. performance that final day of the fair, on the O’Brien Stage, near Gate 5. Yael’s sultry singing voice is beautifully supported by her […]

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

Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel’s shares his songs

SAN DIEGO — Here is a collection of songs recorded by Cantor Sheldon Merel during his tenure as cantor at Congregation Beth Israel.  Click on any title to hear Cantor Merel’s recorded rendition.  In some cases, the songs are accompanied by an explanatory article indicated by a date alongside. Adon Olam Adon Olam, Jazz Version

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Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel, z"l, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County

Holocaust, detention centers, and Ocasio- Cortez

By Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — The dentist in the television series Seinfeld, Tim Whatley, D.D.S., converted to Judaism in order to tell Jewish jokes, so perhaps Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claimed Jewish roots to exploit Jewish suffering – and in the process created a sideshow that diverted attention from the suffering of migrants held in

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Jewish History, USA

Douglass would have disagreed with Kaepernick

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — This past week, the American flag became a focal point as we celebrated the Fourth of July. The Wall Street Journal reported how NIKE was forced to recall a shoe that featured the “Betsy Ross” flag on the heel. Colin Kaepernick who signed a multi-million-dollar sponsorship

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Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Sports & Competitions, USA

Comparing Holocaust and slavery reparations

By Dorian de Wind The Moderate Voice AUSTIN, Texas — During the Holocaust, Nederlandse Spoorwegen, or NS (the Dutch national railway company), on behalf of the Nazi occupiers, operated the trains that transported more than 100,000 Dutch Jews, first to “transit camps” and then to the Dutch border. There, the Dutch Jews were transferred to

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Dorian de Wind, International, Jewish History, USA

30- year- old Holocaust research still relevant today

The Journey Back From Hell: Conversations with Concentration Camp Survivors by Anton Gill, Grafton Books, 1988. By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Although published thirty years ago, this book is at least as relevant today as it was when it first appeared. As the survivors of concentration camps grow old and die it is

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Jewish History

Tracking down a memory in Victoria, B.C.

By Donald H. Harrison VICTORIA, British Columbia – Thanks to the U.S. Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886, M.V. Star Princess made a required stop in this Canadian provincial capital, providing a brief opportunity for my wife Nancy and me to hunt down a honeymoon memory. That 133-year-old protectionist piece of legislation banned foreign flagged

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Travel and Food, USA

The 527 -year- old pact between Jews and Basques

.…and won’t you please release us from our commitment of 1492 to preserve the Jewish cemetery.  The city wishes to build on those grounds, which today is encircled by our growth…’ Restpectfully,  The Vitoria City Council (January 1952) (paraphrased) At Vitoria by Marcia Sue Riman Selz, Ph.D. Archway Publishing, 2016 Reviewed by Irvin H. Jacobs,

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish History

New Mexico’s Holocaust and Intolerance Museum

Story an photos by Oliver B. Pollak ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico – We’re in Albuquerque for the 75th birthday of Dr. Steve, the father of my daughter-in-law Erika. Steve’s wine cellar with red wines dating back to the early 1980s was an added pleasure. New Mexico’s Jewish history is more complicated than the rest of American

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Jewish History, Oliver Pollak, Travel and Food, USA