The World We Share

John Kerry, who signed Paris accord for US, is Biden’s climate envoy

Washington (AFP) – Former secretary of state John Kerry helped broker the landmark Paris Agreement and signed it on behalf of the United States, a decision subsequently reversed by President Donald Trump.Now, he is set to be President-elect Joe Biden’s climate envoy, in a clear sign of the upcoming administration’s renewed commitment to fighting climate […]

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International, The World We Share, USA

Victory for the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant

With sewage increasingly able to be recycled into potable water that can be integrated with the city’s water supply, less treated water will need to undergo secondary treatment before it is returned via the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant (PLWTP) to the Pacific Ocean, according to U.S. Reps. Scott Peters and Susan Davis, both San Diego Democrats. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, The World We Share, USA

Streaming Jewish Programs (Nov. 15- 20)

Following are academic and popular programs of specific Jewish interest that may be accessed via the Internet. [Laurie Baron, Ph.D]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Lawrence Baron, Lifestyles, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

A Visit to the Hula Lake Area

The second Coronavirus lockdown has just ended, and the third one can already be seen in the offing. So anyone with a yen for a change of atmosphere and landscape had better utilize the opportunity to take to the open road, and get out of the house. So hubby and I decided to make for the north of Israel, to the Hula wetlands or lake area, since at this time of the year it serves as a stop-over and resting place for many migratory birds making their way from Europe to Africa for the winter. Israel’s location, between the Mediterranean Sea to the west and the arid Arabian desert to the east, has made it the preferred flight path for millions of birds migrating from their summer sojourn in Europe to Africa’s warm winter. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East, The World We Share, Travel and Food

Love each other as if your life depends upon it

PETACH TIKVAH, Israel — Patrick Vallance, Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of the United Kingdom, recently told the National Security Strategy Committee in London that “it’s unlikely we will end up with a truly sterilizing vaccine, something that completely stops infection.”As daunting as this estimate is, chances are that Vallance is underestimating the impact of the virus. The more likely scenario is that the virus will spread from humans to the animal kingdom, to plants, and from there back to people. It will be impossible to defeat it using regular methods. Our only option is to revolutionize our way of life. [Michael Laitman, Ph.D]

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International, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share

Good News from Israel (Nov. 1, 2020)

The vision of Israel’s innovators brings tomorrow’s dreams much closer to today’s world. This week’s newsletter includes visual innovations such as an eye-tracking app to reduce stress; facial analysis to warn of a stroke, plus new bio-markers and telemedicine to highlight diseases optically. Israeli technology enhances websites to benefit the visually impaired, removes toxic algae infesting clear blue lakes and helps our US allies to see in the dark. Far-sighted Israelis are kickstarting sport for children, and boosting training for adults in athletics as well as in the hi-tech arena. Many of Israel’s other achievements can only be described as “out of sight”! [Michael Ordman]

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Business & Finance, International, Michael Ordman, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Science, Medicine, & Education, Sports & Competitions, The World We Share, Travel and Food, USA

Enduring a Chubasco in Zihuatanejo

We watched from our cottage as rows of arched terra-cotta tiles slid off the steeply pitched roof of the open-air bar, sliding off in perfect sequence. First one row would go, and then when it was gone, the next row would begins its journey, like soldiers marching across a parade field. The raging bay-water, just a few feet away, hurled itself against the up-tilted rock outcrop, exploding like wet fireworks. Beyond the shore was an endless procession of peaks and troughs of white-capped waves that terrified my seasick soul. [Ira Spector]

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International, The World We Share, Travel and Food

Blessings and Pats on Their Heads

Not only humans gathered around computer screens, but animals too, for Internet Shabbat services Friday night conducted by Rabbi/ Cantor Cheri Weiss of the San Diego Outreach Synagogue.  This Shabbat, Jews around the world read Parshat Noach — the story of Noah’s Ark — and the rabbi figured it would be the perfect occasion to recite a “Blessing of the Animals” composed by Rabbi Jonathan Aaron of Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills, California. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share, USA

Streaming Jewish programs (Oct. 18-23)

Compiled by Laurie Baron, Ph.D SAN DIEGO — All times are Pacific Daylight Time. Sunday, October 18 8 am  Luca Ascoli, “The Jews of Italy,” Sephardic World. 8 am  Yevilah McCoy, “Keynote Address,” Jewish Coalition for Racial Equity Virtual Conference. 8 am Moshe Halbertal and Jonathan Sacks, “Strange New World- Conversations in Times of Crisis- Religious

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Lawrence Baron, Lifestyles, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Sports & Competitions, The World We Share, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

Streaming Jewish programs (Oct. 11-16)

  Compiled by Laurie Baron, Ph.D All times Pacific Daylight Time Sunday, October 11 11am  Mikhal Dekel, “Tehran Children: A Holocaust Refugee Odyssey,” Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum. Monday, October 12 10 am   Elai Rettig, “Israel’s ‘Special Relationship’ with the US,” Israel Center, Washington University. 10 am  Eliezer Diamond, “Generosity, Gratitude, and Faith: Rav Eliyahu Dessler’s

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Lawrence Baron, Lifestyles, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food, USA

A Peace Corps volunteer’s return to Morocco

Upon hearing the words Hamdullah wa inshallah, Mark Apel is transported as if in a time capsule to the many times he and Yossef Ben-Meir, President of the High Atlas Foundation (HAF), uttered them in gratitude for the food set before them or in hope for something good to come of their efforts as Peace Corps Volunteers. “It makes you more mindful of the moment,” he remarked in a recent interview conducted by Ben-Meir for HAF. Mark was born in France, son of an airman, whose family returned to the U.S. where he grew up in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Two months after graduation from Penn State in 1982, he joined the Peace Corps and came to Morocco. There, he was able to use his degree in environmental resource management and specialization in wildlife management as a fisheries volunteer. He had originally aspired to be a veterinarian, but his keen interest in wildlife, parks, and protected areas led him to this more holistic discipline. [Ellen Hernandez and Katie Bercegeay}

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International, The World We Share, Travel and Food

The raging fires also are within us

Entire neighborhoods are engulfed in fire; thousands have been evacuated from their homes in California. A historic and unusual summer thunderstorm and rare massive lightning strikes combined with record-breaking heat ignited devastating fires across the Golden State. Death Valley reported temperatures of 130°F in what is believed to be the highest temperature ever measured on Earth, and this is attributed to climate change. Other natural disasters around the globe endanger our very existence. What is nature trying to tell us? Its message is clear. We are unwanted guests on this planet unless we humans change. [Michael Laitman, Ph.D]

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Lifestyles, San Diego County, The World We Share, USA

In praise of diversity

Nature endowed us with the ability to observe and to learn that nothing exists unless its opposite supports its existence. Planet Earth, for example, is kept in orbit thanks to the balance between the Sun’s gravitational pull toward it, and the centrifugal force that pushes it away from it. Likewise, our lives revolve around the hours of darkness and light, and our vision relies on the range between seeing all the colors together, creating the color white, and no colors at all, creating the color black. Heat and cold, hunger and fullness, attraction and rejection, love and hate, all those are opposites that make our lives what they are. [Michael Laitman, Ph.D]

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The World We Share

Streaming Jewish Programs (Sept. 6-11)          

Laurie Baron, Ph.D, rounds up streaming programs of Jewish interest for scholars and lay people, from Sunday, Sept. 6 through Friday, Sept. 11

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Lawrence Baron, Lifestyles, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share, Travel and Food, USA