By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—Chief docent Janet Bartel removed a barrier and stepped into the archaeological dig area at Mission San Diego, beckoning others to follow. Two sets of shallow pits, with a dirt walkway in between, were on the southwestern side of the mission quadrangle. Approximately at the middle of the inner […]
San Diego’s historic places: archaeology at Mission San Diego Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, USA
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—It is not uncommon on Saturdays at Mission San Diego to find a bride posing at the landmark bell tower – two romantic images in white. “Whenever they established a mission, they would put a cross in the ground, and some kind of bell, and dedicate the mission
San Diego’s historic places: the bells of Mission San Diego Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Numbers are not everything in the assessment of public policies, but they can at least justify questions about the efforts officials are making in X as opposed to Y. The X in this case is the dispute between Israel and the Arabs. The Y is greater violence close to the Mexican border
U.S. focus needed on problems at its borders Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Rebuilt in 1931 by the Civilian Conservation Corps, the church at Mission San Diego features a broken crucifix that intentionally has not been repaired. There are no arms on the figure of Jesus on the cross, but in 1970 when Monsignor Brent Eagen saw it in
San Diego historic places: the church at Mission San Diego Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, USA
By Cynthia Citron HOLLYWOOD–On the 55th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s death, April 18, 2010, his secretary, Helen Dukas, called a press conference at Theatre West in Hollywood. She wanted to talk about an earlier press conference, held on March 14, 1934, on the occasion of her boss’ 55th birthday, celebrated with a symposium in his
'Secretary' tells Einstein's secrets in one-woman play Read More »
Cynthia Citron, Middle East, USA
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—At “Generations Day” on Tuesday, April 20, when parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents trooped to Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School to learn with their school children, this year’s lesson figured to be a snap. As the day corresponded with Yom Ha’Atzma’ut, Israel’s Independence Day, the teachers decided the all-school
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—Three Franciscan Padres whose lives are celebrated at Mission San Diego are Father Junipero Serra, who founded this mission and eight others, Fermin Lasuen, who succeeded Serra as president of the missions and founded nine more, and Luis Jayme (also spelled Jaime), who is remembered as the first Christian martyr
San Diego historic places: Three padres of Mission San Diego Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–National holidays are occasions for reflection. The linkage of Memorial Day and Independence Day was designed to focus on the miseries and hopes of being Jewish and Israeli, so there should be no surprise that they work on our emotions, this year as in the past. Memorial Day is heart wrenching stories of
Reflecting on Israel's national mood and dilemmas Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA
By Toby Klein Greenwald GUSH ETZION, Israel — In his official Memorial Day speech at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu described how, as a young soldier, two of his fellow soldiers, 19 years old, were killed during a lethal military operation, and how one of them, David Ben Hamu, died in
Rooms of the Heart: The bridge between Yom HaShoah and Yom Hazikaron Read More »
Middle East, Toby Klein Greenwald, USA
By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — General Petraeus’s widely remarked-upon but little-read testimony before Congress made note of: “Ungoverned, poorly governed and alternatively governed spaces. Weak civil and security institutions and the inability of certain governments in the region to exert full control over their territories and conditions that insurgent groups can exploit to create
World should recognize Lebanon as state sponsor of terrorism Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, USABy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C.–According to The New York Times, “Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has warned in a secret three-page memorandum to top White House officials that the United States does not have an effective long-range policy for dealing with Iran’s steady progress toward nuclear capability.” A journalist wrote to JINSA, “It seems
Is Obama scapegoating Israel to cover his Iran failures? Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, USA
By Carol Davis SOLANA BEACH, California—When Henrik Ibsen wrote Ghosts in 1881 it was labeled sensational. Not in a positive way however, but shockingly and indecently sensational according to all reports! What’s so shocking to today’s audiences, I’ll venture to say, is the way women were thought of back then way before any
Ibsen’s ‘Ghost House’ a perfect fit for North Coast Rep Read More »
Carol Davis, Theatre, Film & BroadcastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–This is the time of Israel’s Memorial Day and Independence Day. Appropriate to the season, I’ve received two e-mails with items that some may see as a bit too assertive for their taste. Yet they tell important elements of the Israeli narrative. It is not the whole story of the Middle East, but
Jewish refugees from Arab lands may be a factor in overall peace settlement Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–Old Mission Dam, a.k.a. Padre Dam, is celebrated as both a California Historic Landmark and as a National Historic Landmark for being one of the first irrigation projects on the West Coast of the United States, having been built between 1813 and 1816 by Franciscan padres and Kumeyaay
San Diego’s historic places: Old Mission Dam Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, USA