Donald H. Harrison

Donald H. Harrison

Donald H. Harrison is the publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World. 

Harrison began his journalism career in 1962 on the UCLA Daily Bruin.  Following graduation he joined the staff of the Associated Press, and later became politics writer for The San Diego Union.  Afterwards he pursued a career in tourism, helping to establish San Diego’s Cruise Ship Program as well as Old Town Trolley Tours of San Diego.  He also wrote for such Jewish publications as the San Diego Jewish Press Heritage and San Diego Jewish Times before starting San Diego Jewish World in 2007.

Don’s  latest work is the three-volume Schlepping and Schmoozing Along the Interstate 5.  

He is the author of six previous books.  Those with links may be obtained on Amazon.

‘Gift Shop of Gratitude’ Links Common Souvenir Items to How Readers Experience Life

Playing Cards suggest a gallery of portraits of the people most influential in your life; bobbleheads might immortalize the people you put on a pedestal; scented candles might bring back favorite aromas such as burning leaves in Fall (now outlawed for reasons of air pollution) or perhaps the smell of a relative’s pipe tobacco. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Business & Finance, Donald H. Harrison, Staff and Bylined Contributors

A Jewish Tale Woven Through Napoleon’s Campaign in Egypt and Eretz Israel

This Jewish love story is woven into an account of Napoleon’s unsuccessful war in Egypt and Ottoman Palestine in the final years of the 18th century. Descriptions of the battles and the wanton cruelty of both sides in the war pitting mainly French Christian troops against indigenous and Turkish Muslim defenders remind current-day readers of the murderous barbarism attendant to Hamas’ invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Israel, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Daughter Pictures Life of Mother Who Died Two Hours After Giving Her Birth

Two hours after Lola Kantor was born, her mother died of complications in childbirth. Lola was given her mother’s first name, but, of course, she had no memory of her. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Israel, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Violin is the Centerpiece of a Holocaust Story

Nazis pounded on the door and confiscated the treasured violin, throwing it onto a flatbed truck, breaking its string, and then putting it in storage in a cellar, where dust filled its body and extreme weather warped and cracked it.  In the years after the Nazis’ defeat, the cellar was found, and the violin located.  A luthier lovingly repaired it. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Short-Story Collection Provides Tour of Human Situations and Emotions

This collection of short stories by Roberta Silman is similar to a travelogue, but instead of journeys through locales, these trips are through human emotions in given situations, especially, but not exclusively, through loss and dying. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Fiction, Staff and Bylined Contributors

City Attorney Declines to Bring Charges against 64 Anti-Israel Demonstrators Arrested at UCSD Spurring Protests from Former U.S. Rep. Lynn Schenk, Others

City Attorney Mara W. Elliott’s office has announced that “we do not intend to file criminal charges against the 64 people arrested” at the anti-Israel encampment on the UC San Diego campus last May. According to a statement, the decision was made “after a months-long review” of “substantial body-worn camera footage and all other available evidence.” [Donald H. Harrison]

City Attorney Declines to Bring Charges against 64 Anti-Israel Demonstrators Arrested at UCSD Spurring Protests from Former U.S. Rep. Lynn Schenk, Others Read More »

California, Donald H. Harrison, Israel, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Travel and Food, USA

‘Mufti’ Will Satisfy Neither Historians nor Graphic Arts Fans

This book is an amalgam of two genres: History and Graphic Non-Fiction. I don’t think it will satisfy devotees of either genre.  For graphic arts fans, there are too many pages filled with writing, rather than drawings.  For the serious student of history, phantasmagoric images detract from the work’s verisimilitude. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Israel, Jewish History, Middle East, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Compassion and Civility Keys to Improving the World, Says Activist Rabbi

Rabbi Yanklowitz spoke with San Diego Jewish World about the roles compassion and civility can play in people’s personal interactions, in the run-up toward America’s Nov. 5 presidential election, and in the ongoing war between Israel and Iran and Iranian proxies. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Israel, Jewish Religion, Philanthropy & Volunteerism, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Editorial: Kamala Harris for President and a Democratic Slate for Congress

I am disgusted by the rhetoric at the Trump rally in New York City’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday and alarmed that such major news organizations as The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times have decided to make no endorsements in the presidential race. I was mulling endorsements before, but now I feel the time is imperative to take a stand, even though I know that whichever way I decide, I’ll disappoint some of our readers. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Antisemitism, California, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, Israel, Opinion, San Diego County, Sports & Competitions, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Suspicious Device, Not a Bomb, Forces Evacuation of International Cottages

Numerous international cottages of Balboa Park’s House of Pacific Relations were shuttered Saturday, Oct. 26, as police and the FBI investigated a suspicious package that had been hoisted on the flagpole of the House of Israel. [Donald H. Harrison and Miriam Gershenson]

Suspicious Device, Not a Bomb, Forces Evacuation of International Cottages Read More »

Donald H. Harrison, International, Israel, Miriam Gershenson, Philanthropy & Volunteerism, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Travel and Food, USA