Lifestyles

Synagogue offers ‘J.E.D. Talks’ on second Sundays each moth

San Diego Outreach Synagogue (SDOS) held its first J.E.D. Talk last Sunday. J.E.D stands for Jewish Experiences Discussed. “Everyone has a story to tell and an experience to share,” states Rabbi-Cantor Cheri Weiss, spiritual leader of SDOS. The talks are planned for the second Sundays of the month and will feature SDOS members sharing how their own experiences and/or expertise connect to their Judaism. [Marcia Berneger]

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Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Marcia Berneger, San Diego County

Excavating the memorabilia of a lifetime

What a wonderful opportunity the pandemic has given us—the gift of free time to sort through old files and letters that we have been procrastinating about for years. The time has come to unearth them from the bottom drawers and old boxes stuffed in garages and store rooms. We hang on to these memorabilia to connect us to a past event or time in our lives, and, when we touch them again, they trigger a flood of memories unavailable to us without that little piece of paper, that letter, that card, that document. [Natasha Josefowitz]

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Lifestyles, Natasha Josefowitz

Aces have a place at the table

When we speak of this community, we often stop at the Ts or just abbreviate LGBT+. But the A in LGBTQIA stands for Asexual or “Acers.” These are people who really don’t want an intimate partner of either sex. Resisting societal and familial pressures, Acers are content to just be. I’d like to talk about one such person who played a pivotal role in my own family. [Eric George Tauber]

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Eric George Tauber, Lifestyles, Obituaries & memorials

Here’s to whatever comes: the uncertainty of life

Instead of acknowledging that all of life is uncertain, accepting it and growing through it, many find themselves anxious, apprehensive, and filled with destabilizing fear when faced with uncertainty. But when are we not NOT faced with ambiguous, unpredictable and” novel, uncertainty? There is no crystal ball of certainty. (Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D)

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Lifestyles, Michael Mantell

Beth Jacob issues rules for outdoor davening

– Beth Jacob Congregation responded quickly to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order on Monday, once again closing down indoor places of worship in response to the spiking coronavirus pandemic. The governor’s order also included fitness centers, offices for “non-critical sectors,” personal care services, malls and  hair salons and barbershops. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, USA, Videos

Humor: NY retiree to California examines Florida brethren

A short while ago, I visited a third world country. Visas were no longer necessary, but that may change after the next election. The country’s name is South-Eastern Florida. I was there to reunite with long lost Jewish friends of fifty years ago from the New York City area. We had scattered to all corners of the United States seeking fortune, fame, and families. I found some of my comrades via the Internet. I also sought out several cousins who had relocated to this sun-drenched nation. [Ira Spector]

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Lifestyles, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

Bill Harrison, z”l, has a place of his own

When my brother  Bill Harrison and I were growing up in New Rochelle, New York, we shared a room.  As you walked in, his bed was against the wall on the right, and mine was against the wall on the left.  Bill, who was five years older than I am, grew tired of me crossing over to his side of the room where I would inspect his things, and sometimes play with his “grown-up” stuff.  So he did what any big brother might do, he banned me from his side of the room. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Lifestyles, Obituaries & memorials

Short story: Dirty Dishes

The summer of 1965, I was not quite 17, not quite 5-foot-7, and not quite a college freshman. I was also broke, and I was convinced that I held the school record for number of crushes on girls who couldn’t quite remember who I was when I called for a date. I couldn’t do anything about my age or height, but I decided to solve my other two problems with a summer job at a Catskill Mountains hotel, piling up tips and meeting girls – Jewish preferred, but not required. [Michael Ginsberg]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Lifestyles, Michael Ginsberg, USA

Between Hunkering Down and Resurgence

The euphoria lasted exactly two weeks. As June progressed the general rejoicing and premature self-congratulation on the part of the government came to an abrupt stop. The dreaded second wave had arrived. The curve which had been flattened reared its ugly head again, and alarm bells started ringing as the number of infections rose drastically. The idea of returning to the theatre and the concert hall vanished like the proverbial mirage. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Lifestyles, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Many broken Americans respond with dignity, patience

We absolutely do not feel personally safe in the current national environment. And a horrifying number are frightfully sick while an explicable number are losing their lives. We have both viral illness and viral racial injustice–they have eerily converged into an uncommon veil of American disease, distrust, disavowal–but, yes, hope. We the people, the authentic American body-psyche, have become the default leadership of our complex nation. Knowing that we’ve been forgotten, many of us have decided to remember what principles this country telegraphed when we threw off the shackles of royal colonialism. [Ben Kamin]

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Lifestyles, San Diego County, USA

White moves first; is chess racist?

Given the assault on “whiteness” that we see today, some people of the ultra-left claim that chess is a racist game since it pits the “whites” vs. the “blacks.” To certain individuals, this game accentuates the problems some see in race relations. To make matters further complicated, the white pieces go before the black pieces. This is perceived by those who consider themselves “woke” (people who are super-sensitive to racism) as a “racially biased.” [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Lifestyles, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA