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Stephen Schwartz’s Midrash: ‘The Children of Eden’

Just as Stephen Schwartz has yet to be recognized widely as a great commentator on the Torah, so too has Children of Eden lacked its moment in the spotlight. Both Schwartz and this musical are well-kept secrets that beg to be brought
into conversation with the study of Bereshit. [Adira Rosen]

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Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Red Buttons

He won an Academy Award as the Best Supporting Actor in Sayonara, a movie drama about the prejudice faced by an American airman who marries a Japanese woman, played by Miyoshi Umeki, who won the Academy Award as best supporting actress. More movies came later including Hatari!; Five Weeks in a Balloon; The Longest Day; The Poseidon Adventure; They Shoot Horses Don’t They; Pete’s Dragon; When Time Ran Out; and 18 Again! [SDJW staff report]

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Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

Jewish Biography: Banker Ludwig Bamberger Almost Was Hanged as a Revolutionary

“The Red Jew” was probably the richest revolutionary in history. His range of occupations was immeasurably broad, and his activities were full of attempts to improve Germany and to forget the Jewish people. He became one of the first statesmen of a united Germany, but remained an outsider in the society of which he aspired to be a full member. [Alex Gordon, Ph.D]

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Alex Gordon, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors

A Big Angry Statue of a Lion for Mefalsim

Hamas threw themselves at the Mefalsim gate, their bodies piling up on top of the murdered corpses of Jews who had tried to escape the Nova Music festival about a kilometer down the road.  Hamas made certain no Jew reached the gate.  The defenders of Mefalsim made sure no monster made it inside the perimeter.  Mefalsim took losses, houses were smashed with RPGs, members died in their safe rooms. [Jerry Klinger]

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Antisemitism, Israel, Jerry Klinger, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Travel and Food

Symposium Told a New Strategy Needed to Combat Antisemitism

America’s Jewish community always knew that there was no vaccine or antidote for the disease of antisemitism, but prior to Oct. 7th, it felt the disease could be kept in check.  “We developed a containment strategy, a firewall, to make sure that here we could keep it in the sewers, with the covers on,” Abe Foxman told a “Standing Together” symposium Sunday that was jointly sponsored by the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Federation of San Diego. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Israel, Jewish History, San Diego County, Sandi Masori, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Technology, USA

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Betty Friedan

In 1963, she wrote The Feminine Mystique, which described the “problem that has no name” at the beginning of the book: “The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many years in the minds of American women. It was a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning [that is, a longing] that women suffered in the middle of the 20th century in the United States. Each suburban [house]wife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries … she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question – ‘Is this all?’ ” [SDJW staff]

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Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

Own Your Accomplishments; Give Yourself Credit

I’m answering emails and half watching the 2024 Emmy Awards on TV, mostly to see the fancy dresses and gorgeous humans. I gaze up from my laptop as Niecy Nash-Betts accepts her trophy for Outstanding Supporting Actress, proudly raises it to the sky, and yells “I’m a winner, baby!” Now, I am watching with my full attention. I see Niecy give a powerful, emotional acceptance speech, which includes a loud shout-out to an unusually recognized person. [Shayna Kaufmann]

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Lifestyles, Shayna Kaufmann, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Shelley Berman

He started doing stand-up comedy during the 1950s, leading to a recording contract with Verve Records. His album “Inside Shelley Berman” won the first Grammy Award for “Best Comedy Performance-Spoken” and his voice was the inspiration for the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Fibber Fox. He appeared in episodes of numerous television series including Curb Your Enthusiasm in which he played Larry David’s aged father, a role for which he received an Emmy nomination in 2008. He also had many movie credits, and taught humor writing at the University of Southern California. [SDJW Staff]

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Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

Our Shtetl San Diego County: Local Volunteers Fly to Israel to Pick Fruit

Lauren Lizerbram of Rancho Santa Fe, the First Lady of Jewish National Fund-USA, extols the experience she had on a 4-day volunteer mission picking fruit at a kibbutz 3.7 miles from the Egyptian border.  The wife of JNF-USA President Sol Lizerbram noted that Thai workers are no longer available in southern Israel, site of the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas terrorists.  “The farmer said he would have absolutely lost his entire crop if it wasn’t picked,” she reported.  “And this was only one farmer.  There are many farmers like him.” [SDJW staff]

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Israel, Obituaries & memorials, Philanthropy & Volunteerism, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

‘English’ Probes Motivations and Problems of ESL Students

Set in Iran in 2008, the play follows a teacher and her students in a small school where the students are preparing for the TOEFL exam (test of English as a foreign language).  As the play progresses we learn the hopes, dreams and fears of each character as they share why they are studying English, and they try to find their voice. [Sandi Masori]

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International, Middle East, San Diego County, Sandi Masori, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

OpEd: Iraq and Iran Complicit in the Tower 22 Attack

Admiral John Kirby, the coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, said explicitly that the United States is not looking for a war with Iran. He failed to mention that Iran has proclaimed itself at war with the United States and has been using its proxies to attack US bases and killing and wounding American soldiers for years. Iran now controls Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. [Shoshana Bryen and Stephen Bryen]

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Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Stephen D. Bryen, USA

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Jascha Heifetz

At age of 7, he made his concert debut, performing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in Kovno. In 1910, he entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory and studied under Leopold Auer. At the age of 12, in Berlin, he met Fritz Kreisler, who was so impressed by the boy’s playing, he reportedly commented, “We may as well break our fiddles across our knees.” [SDJW Staff]

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California, Israel, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Staff and Bylined Contributors