We endorse Joe Biden for President

Other items in today’s column include
*Political bytes
*Jewish organizations
*In memoriam

By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO – This publication proudly endorses Joe Biden for President.

We will give credit to President Donald Trump where it is due. We applauded his decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and to recognize the Golan Heights as Israeli territory rather than Syria’s. We also applaud the role his Administration played in facilitating a peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and between Israel and Bahrain.  We hope that  before his Administration ends that other Arab governments will likewise recognize that the time has come for what the late Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres called “The New Middle East.”

We’d like to see Donald Trump celebrate these achievements in retirement.

We believe that Joe Biden will conduct himself as President with civility and decency.

We believe that Joe Biden will focus on bringing our divided nation together.  We believe him when he says he will be the President for Democrats and Republicans alike.  We appreciate that he called out anti-Semitism in his first debate with President Trump on Tuesday night.  We were alarmed, on the other hand, that the President declined to call out White supremacy by name and, just the reverse, seemed to encourage it when he said, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.”

There are disagreements we had with Joe Biden when he served as former President Barack Obama’s vice president.  We were among those who were wary of the nuclear accord with Iran, fearing correctly that the money sent to Iran as part of that agreement would be used to foment more anti-Israel, anti-Sunni warfare in the Middle East.  We do not believe that Iran bargained in good faith, and we believe that the prime objectives of the mullahs is not the wellbeing of Iran’s people but rather the xenophobic destruction of the United States, which it calls “the Great Satan,” and of Israel, which it calls “the Little Satan.” We believe that as President in his own right, Joe Biden will be just as wary of Iran and will be cautious in any efforts at rapprochement.  We think he’ll apply to Iran what former President Ronald Reagan once said in discussing the Soviet Union: “Trust but verify.”

We believe that Joe Biden will listen to the scientists concerning the best ways to deal with the Covid19 pandemic. We believe he will use the bully pulpit of the Presidency to encourage wearing masks, maintaining social distance, vaccinating when scientists say it is safe to do so, and helping us to understand that we must sacrifice some of our personal preferences in order to defeat a common foe.

We believe that Joe Biden will adopt a compassionate policy towards immigrants, remembering his own immigrant roots and those of millions of other Americans who came to this country looking only for economic opportunity and a chance to contribute to their adopted land.

We believe Joe Biden when he warns against efforts to undermine American confidence in the mail ballot system, and we believe him when he says that the results of the election should be respected no matter who is the winner and who is the loser.

*
Political bytes
*Kelvin Barrios has suspended his campaign for the 9^th District seat of the San Diego City Council after it was announced by the San Diego County District Attorney’s office that Barrios was under investigation for financial reporting irregularities.  While Barrios’ name remains on the ballot, the development seemed to clear the path for an election victory of his fellow Democrat Sean Elo-Rivera, a trustee of the San Diego Community College District and a member of the local Jewish community.

*Barbara Bry and Dr. Jen Campbell, the two Jewish members of the San Diego City Council, were among those included in the Council’s unanimous vote to create an Office of race and Equity within city government.  Likewise, the two councilwomen were among those voting unanimously to repeal a law more than a century old that outlawed “seditious language,” which critics said violates the First Amendment.

*
Jewish organizations

*Members of the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) plan to walk in coalition with other groups around the Supreme Court building on Friday, Oct. 2, in a demonstration dubbed “Ruth’s Revolution” marking the conclusion of the shiva period for Associate Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

*The Cantors Assembly and Black Music Ministers jointly produced a video of the song “Total Praise” by Richard Smallwood.  Cantor Alisa Pomerantz-Boro, formerly of Tifereth Israel Synagogue of San Diego, conceived and produced it and was among the participants.  It may be viewed via this website.   The lyrics are as follows:
Lord, I will lift mine eyes to the hills
Knowing my health is coming from You
Your peace You give me in times of the storm

You are the source of my strength, Hallelujah
And You are the strength of my life, yes You are
I lift my hands in total praise to You

Lord, I will lift mine eyes to the hills
Knowing my health is coming from You
Your peace, You give me in times of the storm

You are the source of my strength
You are the strength of my life
I lift my hands in total praise to You

You are the source of my strength
You are the strength of my life
I lift my hands in total praise to

Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen

You are the source of my strength
You are the strength of my life

*
In memoriam
Am Israel Mortuary reported the following deaths in our community:

—Evelyn D. (Hickman) Frankel, 90, died Thursday, Sept. 24.  Her funeral was conducted Sept. 27 by Rabbi Devorah Marcus of Temple Emanu-El. Evelyn Frankel’s family provided this obituary for the Carlsbad resident: “Born October 18, 1929 in High Point, NC, Evelyn will be lovingly remembered by her children, Paul (Laura), and Charlie (Stephanie), grandsons Justin Tapner, Jacob Frankel and Samuel Frankel, her great granddaughter Riley Tapner as well as her nieces and nephews: Kenneth A Hickman, Arlene Dawn H. Hickman, Suzanne Hickman Sands, Lisa Marie Hickman, Michele June H. Haugsnes, Richard Joseph Hickman, Donna Wynne Hickman, Mark Gilford, Beth Alden Gilford, and Peter Gilford plus her sister-in-law Isabelita L. Lopez. Evelyn and her husband, Bob, made their home in Croton-on-Hudson, NY for 42 years before moving to La Costa Glen in Carlsbad, CA. Evelyn has been a resident at the Glenbrook Assisted Living Health Center in Carlsbad, CA for the past two years. Evelyn was a warm, loving, and devoted wife and mother. Blessed with a caring heart and a desire to help others, Evelyn worked as a Registered Nurse when she was younger at the Roosevelt Institute in New York City and continued to volunteer at Phelps Memorial Hospital in Tarrytown, NY after she retired. When her sons were older, Evelyn went back to school receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, NY in 1979. Services for Evelyn will be held Sunday, September 27, 2020 at 9:00 a.m., at Sorrento Valley Chapel at El Camino Memorial Park, 5600 Carroll Canyon Rd, San Diego, CA 92121. Those who so desire may make memorial donations to Mercy College (https://alumni.mercy.edu/support/Mercy).

—Joel Rott, 80, died Saturday, Sept. 26. Graveside funeral services will be conducted by Rabbi Arnold Kopikis at 2 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 1, at El Camino Memorial Park, 5600 Carroll Canyon Road, San Diego.

—Ruth D. (Abrams) Slonim, 97, died Saturday, Sept. 26.  Rabbi Sammy Seid of Ner Tamid Synagogue officiated at graveside services at 9 a.m., Wednesday, Sept. 30 at El Camino Memorial Park, 5660 Carroll Canyon Road, San Diego.

*
Donald H. Harrison is co-publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World.  He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com.  Free obituaries in memory of members of the San Diego County Jewish community are sponsored on San Diego Jewish World by Inland Industries Group LP in memory of long-time San Diego Jewish community leader Marie (Mrs. Gabriel) Berg.