Staff and Bylined Contributors

Jewish Biography: Arthur Kösztler and the 13th Jewish Tribe

There is no missionary in Judaism, which sharply limits the mobilization potential of this religion. Therefore, in the Khazar Khaganate, in which only a part of the elite accepted Judaism, there could not be an intensive violent spread of religion, similar to what took place in Christianity and Islam. Therefore, the Jews were so few among the Khazars that they could not by themselves be a source of intensive spread of the Jewish religion. [Alex Gordon]

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

Being a Kid Again at the JCC’s Israel Festival

We made our rounds checking out the different booths and activities. We sought out some and discovered others. The avira (atmosphere) was incredible. People were happy, children were running around laughing, everyone was just enjoying the festivities. In the center of the field, there was still a reminder that we are waiting for our hostages. [Miriam Gershenson]

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Albert Kreimerman, Israel, Miriam Gershenson, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

‘The Butler Did It’ Offers Plays Within Plays

Under Dennis Floyd’s direction this fast-paced, silly adventure depicts the return of the once-admired Broadway director, Anthony J. Lefcourt, presenting his newest whodunit–not a thriller!–that features an aging starlet, a dewy-eyed ingenue, a doddering actor who can’t learn his lines, a street kid attempting to pass as a schooled butler, and an out-of-work actor-cum-detective. [Eva Trieger]

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Eva Trieger, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Novel Imagines Political Consequences if Aging Could Be Reversed

Geiderman presents us with an opportunity to imagine what it would be like to suddenly grow younger than one’s daughter, but rather than diving deeply into that story, he had another story in mind – one which, I am sad to say, was not nearly so interesting. It plowed the familiar ground of political intrigue. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Takeaways From the JNF’s CEO Most Recent Trip to Israel

Our Emergency Response Centers, vital to the feeling of security these communities need, are not just physical manifestations of security that will house fire, rescue, civil defense, and medical services; they signal to the volunteers who will operate out of them that their destiny is in their own hands; it’s something they can control, a feeling very much needed today. [Russell Robinson]

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Israel, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

OpEd: The Lion’s Trail Passes Through Desert City of Dimona

David Ben Gurion toyed with the idea of a revived Mamshit becoming the Capital of Israel if the state ever came to be. Necessity was reality. Ben Gurion declared Israel’s independence in Tel Aviv in 1948. Dimona was too remote, too hard to get to, and endured a harsh climate [Jerry Klinger]

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

Three Intriguing Stories Lead to One in ‘The Boy with the Star Tattoo’

The highly readable novel juxtaposes three stories: 1) love and survival in Vichy France;  2) Jewish efforts shortly after World War II to find European Jewish orphans who could be brought to Eretz Israel; and 3) the drama of Israel “stealing” its own ships from under the eyes of the French. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Israel, Jewish Fiction, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors

‘Kosher Jammers’ Links Jewish and African-American Jazz

From the 1920’s through the early 1950’s, luminaries like Harold Arlen (Hyman Arluck) Yip Harburg (Isidore Hochberg) and countless others wrote tunes that became the jazz standards that helped make Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, Teddy Wilson, et al, world famous. [Yale Strom]

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Antisemitism, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

U.N. Engaged in Subterfuge, Sabotage in Response to Sandberg’s Film on Hamas Rape of Israeli Women and Girls

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres “all but publicly declared Hamas had not used sexual violence” against Israeli women and girls. Alt Miller pointed out that in Guterres’ annual report titled “Conflict-Related Sexual Violence” he paradoxically failed to list Hamas among the organizations that had employed sexual violence in the past year. [Amy Neustein, PhD]

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Antisemitism, International, Israel, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Federal Patents, UCSD Investments Become Issues in Gaza War Fallout

Local Republican Congressman Darrell Issa is concerned that anti-Israel sentiment may influence decision-making at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.  And, at UC San Diego and other University of California campuses, unionized graduate student workers, have voted to authorize a strike in reaction to campus officials calling in law enforcement to clear out war protesters’ encampments. [SDJW staff]

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California, Israel, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Technology, USA

Pique Cited as Reason Biden Canceled Bomb Deliveries to Israel

President Biden withheld delivery of 3,500 bombs to Israel in part because critics of the Jewish state may abandon him next Nov. 5, denying Democrats another four-year term in the White House. However, a revealing New York Times piece on Sunday suggests that Biden’s prevailing reason was aggravation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. [Bruce S. Ticker]

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