Staff and Bylined Contributors

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Nathan Straus

He and his wife Lina Gutherz privately funded the Nathan Straus Pasteurized Milk Laboratory to combat infant mortality, and opened in Lakewood, New Jersey a Tuberculosis Preventorium for Children. During the Panic of 1893, his milk stations sold coal for the low price of 5 cents for 25 pounds. He opened homeless shelters for 64,000 people who paid a nickel each to get a bed and breakfast. He funded 50,000 meals for one cent each. At Abraham & Straus, he established a subsidized company cafeteria. [SDJW staff]

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Business & Finance, International, Israel, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

Jews and Palestinians, History and Memory

When I watched the unwatchable news on October 7, and then later doom scrolled through November and December and into 2024, inhaling episodes of rape and slaughter and captivity, but also excruciatingly moving scenes of incomplete family reunions, of young soldiers breaking down at funerals, and, of course, of women and children blown to bits in Gaza City and Khan Younis, a whispered prayer sometimes escaped my lips, “God, we don’t need any more stories.” [Rabbi Philip Graubart]

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Holocaust, Israel, Jewish History, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Parasha Yitro: Care for Yourself, as Yitro Instructed Moses

Like Moshe, burdened by his flock, we often wear ourselves thin in service. But just as Yitro offered wise counsel to Moshe to share the burden, remember that neglecting your own wellspring weakens you and those you serve. Self-care isn’t indulgence, it’s sacred stewardship. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

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Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Michael Mantell, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Saul Alinsky

He believed demonstrations should be novel and considered sit-ins to be passé.  He once threatened to ship a thousand rats to City Hall, which he described as a form of integration.  He had long lines of supporters exchanging their pennies for dollars at banks, and threatened to have a “piss in” at Chicago O’Hare Airport. [SDJW staff]

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

Letter from the Editor: How San Diego Jewish World is Changing

Beginning January 1st when I resumed my former position as publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World, we have been taking steps to expand and improve our coverage of the Jewish communities in San Diego, elsewhere in the U.S., Israel, and around the world. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Israel, Middle East, San Diego Calendar, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Technology, USA

SD International Jewish Film Festival Preview: ‘Kidnapped’

The movie viscerally reenacts the wrenching of Edgardo from his home, the anguish it caused his family, and the divisions it created among Italian Jewish leaders who worried that overt protests would jeopardize their already precarious position in the Papal States. [Laurie Baron]

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Lawrence Baron, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Adam Lambert

Lambert’s big break came in 2009  when he finished as runner-up to singer Kris Allen in Season Eight of American Idol, covering such songs as “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” “Black or White,” “The Tracks of My Tears,” “Mad World,” “If I Can’t Have You,” “One,” “Cryin’,” “A Change Is Gonna Come,” and “No Boundaries. [SDJW staff]

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California, International, Jewish Celebrities, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Former Shin Bet Interrogator Profiles Hamas Leader Yahya al-Sinwar in SDJW Interview

“They shouldn’t have sent him out of prison,” Koubi said. “I knew that he would make a lot of trouble. Sinwar had murderous eyes. He hates Israelis, Jews, and the ‘infidels’ — a very deep hating. He knew the Koran by heart and the charter of Hamas by heart. He told me even that they were planning to kidnap more Israeli soldiers. He was right unfortunately.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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California, Donald H. Harrison, Israel, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Our Shtetl San Diego County: Rabbi Nevarez Hopes to Calm Troubled County Human Relations Commission

“I’m not adding to the vitriol. My goal is to do my small part to help move the HRC away from that and into the effective, on-the-ground work that it was meant to do.” [SDJW staff]

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Ben Dishman, Donald H. Harrison, International, Israel, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors

OpEd: Israel Must Beware of Hard-Right’s Messianism

Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, both far-right ideologues in Netanyahu’s cabinet, have never tried to hide their wish to exile the Palestinians from Gaza. In their thinking, such an expulsion of the Palestinian population would allow Israel to return to its biblical borders. Then they would rebuild Gaza solely with Jewish inhabitants. [Amy Neustein, Ph.D]

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Amy Neustein, Israel, Opinion, Staff and Bylined Contributors