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]

A Big Angry Statue of a Lion for Mefalsim Read More »

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]

Symposium Told a New Strategy Needed to Combat Antisemitism Read More »

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]

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Betty Friedan Read More »

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]

Own Your Accomplishments; Give Yourself Credit Read More »

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]

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Shelley Berman Read More »

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]

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

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]

‘English’ Probes Motivations and Problems of ESL Students Read More »

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]

OpEd: Iraq and Iran Complicit in the Tower 22 Attack Read More »

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]

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Jascha Heifetz Read More »

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

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Tom Lantos

His political career began in 1980, when as a Democrat he successfully challenged Republican Bill Royer, and went on to be reelected 13 times. His voting record was liberal on health care, conservative on spending, and protectionist on the environment. He was best known for his work on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where he advocated for the rights of such minorities as Christians in Saudi Arabia and Sudan and Tibetans in China. He declared Turkey’s mass killings of Armenians during World War I to be genocide, and he demanded that Japan apologize for forcing women in conquered countries into sex slavery. [SDJW staff]

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Tom Lantos Read More »

Holocaust, International, Israel, Middle East, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

Pennsylvania’s Electoral College Votes May Turn on Support for Israel in its War with Gaza

Pennsylvania native David McCormick now guarantees that the Israel-Gaza war will command attention until November as he attempts to unseat incumbent Democratic Sen. Robert Casey. Both are their parties’ presumptive nominees in the coming Pennsylvania Senate race. {Bruce S. Ticker]

Pennsylvania’s Electoral College Votes May Turn on Support for Israel in its War with Gaza Read More »

Bruce Ticker, Israel, Opinion, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Our Shtetl San Diego County: Rose Schindler’s Hologram Addresses Students

In technology similar to that seen at such presidential museums as the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, the Schindler family has preserved the memory of the late Holocaust survivor Rose Schindler by creating a hologram of her that can answer questions from students or other audience members. [SDJW staff]

Our Shtetl San Diego County: Rose Schindler’s Hologram Addresses Students Read More »

Holocaust, Israel, Jewish History, Lawrence Baron, Middle East, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Shanda File, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA