Lifestyles

Vaccine for Covid-19 must touch the heart

One by one, countries are scrambling to sign billion dollar contracts to buy potential vaccines to Covid-19. At the moment, the development of an effective vaccine is highly questionable, at least according to WHO Secretary General António Guterres and White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, who both stated that an effective vaccine is unlikely in the immediate future, if ever. [Michael Laitman, Ph.D]

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Lifestyles

Letting go of our attachments

As I get closer and closer to departing this planet—being in my mid-nineties is a warning bell—I look around and wonder what will I miss? Actually, this is a stupid question. When I’m dead, I will obviously not miss anything. What is it that makes this so uncomfortable? It is not death itself; it is the leaving of people and things that have mattered. [Natasha Josefowitz, ACSW, Ph.D]

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Lifestyles, Natasha Josefowitz

The Mantell CHAIR method

Henry David Thoreau once shared that he had three chairs in his home, “…one for solitude, two for friendship, and three for society.” Doesn’t that provide you with remarkable insight about the value of a chair? Chairs provide comfort, stability, relaxation, style and for Thoreau, “…solitude, friendship and society.” [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

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Lifestyles, Michael Mantell

Wildfires illustrate difference between spiritual and physical

Even while back in Petaluma, our family experienced life on the wild side, or better worded: wild-fire side. We awoke to find ashes on the car and all windows in the house closed to protect from the low air quality.  As we kept a watchful eye as the Lightning Complex Fires continued to spread, we tried to look at the events around us to see what we could learn to become better people. We looked at the difference between the physical and spiritual.  [Rabbi Rafi Andrusier]

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Lifestyles, The World We Share, Travel and Food, USA

Entertaining God, Hollywood style

A sincere group of people in the movie making industry felt the need to rekindle ties to their Jewish heritage. Aware they had a special talent and perspective to bring to religious worship and celebration of God, they formed their own synagogue up north in Los Angeles. They chose an ordained rabbi from the movie business who was a producer and scriptwriter to be their spiritual leader. He graduated from the same high school as myself, Thomas Jefferson in Brooklyn New York. [Ira Spector]

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Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Making a feline friend in a new sunny city

After graduating college in New York, I moved to Seattle.  Having finally landed my first job, I was excited to put my aeronautical engineering degree to work and design jumbo jets for a premier aerospace company.  Everything was great—Seattle has a thriving Jewish community, a vibrant arts scene, and spectacular nature.  However, it also has rain.  A lot of rain.  Did I mention the rain? [Teresa Konopka]

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Lifestyles, San Diego County, Teresa_Konopka, The World We Share, Travel and Food

Daily Zoom shul-hopping to recite Kaddish

The pandemic quarantine began in mid-March. One week later, my mother died in her sleep. She was 97 and lived in New York. I live in California. Our New York daughter “Zoomed” mom’s graveside funeral and we sat shiva online. So much of this time has been trying and sad. We miss our grandkids—even though we see them on FaceTime or Zoom almost every day. And we will forever regret not being able to say a proper good-bye to mom in person. [Irv Kass]

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Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Pandemic ended our childhoods

We can get all teary-eyed over it, but it won’t help. The world we knew until the beginning of this year is over and will not return. And with it, it took our childhood. Until Covid-19, we were like kids wrecking up the house doing whatever they want while the parents are out on business. But Covid showed us that they’re not gone; they’re just invisible. And instead of showing up and yelling at us, they sent an invisible force with the odd name, SARS-CoV-2, aka, the novel coronavirus, which sent us home and told us to stay home. And every time we come out, it returns and lands another blow until we learn we must obey. [Michael Laitman, Ph.D]

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Lifestyles

Failing to forgive hurts you more than them

What do you do when you are offended, hurt by other people’s words or actions? I believe we all have been hurt at some point of our life, maybe betrayed, and disappointed by a friend, boyfriend, girlfriend or even a brother or sister. After any offense you might  get angry, bitter; you might start automatically to dislike that person, maybe even hate him, wish him the worst. [Rabbi Dr. Bernhard H. Rosenberg]

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Bernhard H. Rosenberg-Rabbi, Lifestyles

Masks, Zoom diminish non-verbal communication

When we are in a conversation with another person our bodies begin to synchronize with each other, our gestures and facial expressions mirror each other. It is when this happens that we begin to truly hear one another. When we are face-to-face, we unconsciously pick up small changes, which give us clues as to what the other is feeling. It might be a slight flush, an enlargement of pupils, a change in voice pitch, a stiffening of the spine, all unconscious reactions to either the subject or the tone of the conversation. We are constantly monitoring peoples’ responses to what we are saying. In texting and emails, we miss the most important part of the interaction, which is the impact our words are making. [Natasha Josefowitz, ACSW, Ph.D]

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Lifestyles, Natasha Josefowitz

Former La Jollan saves a life at son’s wedding

On Tuesday night, Aug. 11, I was dancing at my son’s beautiful wedding. We held the festivities outdoors at the Gush Etzion winery to comply with the Covid-19 coronavirus restrictions that are currently in place in Israel. The guest list was limited to very close friends and family. As I am not only a Pulmonary and Critical Care physician but also a first responder for United Hatzalah, I had my medical kit with me in the trunk of my car as is my usual practice. [David Kupferberg, M.D]

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Lifestyles, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education