By Steve Kramer KFAR SABA, Israel — Michal and I recently returned from a mini-vacation in Jerusalem, which featured the annual Jerusalem Film Festival. While much of Europe and the U.S. is sweltering, Israel is “enjoying” its usual hot summer weather, with no rain expected until the end of September or early October. So, […]
Summertime Films in Jerusalem Read More »
Israel, Steve Kramer, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food
Contributors and creators of Maggid Comics, a new monthly magazine collection of Jewish-themed comics, pondered during a Comic-Con panel Friday such questions as what Jewish stories are, and which, among them, are their favorites. [Donald H. Harrison]
Comic-Con Panel: What are Jewish Stories? Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Judaism, San Diego County, Shor M. Masori, Travel and Food, USA
By Eva Trieger ALPINE, California — While archaeologists largely agree that Noah’s Ark found its final resting place on Mount Ararat in Turkey, I beg to differ. I have, with my own eyes, seen evidence that makes me believe the ark came to rest right here in Alpine, California, less than an hour east of
Children’s Nature Retreat in Alpine Takes a Page From Noah’s Ark Read More »
Eva Trieger, San Diego County, Travel and Food
By Jacob Kamaras LA JOLLA, California — Where’s the beef? The famed commercial catchphrase is precisely what San Diego’s kosher consumers have long asked regarding their local restaurant scene. (My sincerest apologies for dropping a Wendy’s slogan in an article about kosher food — I just couldn’t resist.) This situation was particularly dire after the former
Where’s the (Kosher) Beef? San Diego’s Restaurant-Goers Finally Have an Answer Read More »
Jacob Kamaras, San Diego County, Travel and Food
Ridberg had plenty of opportunities to compare the different denominations of Judaism before she committed to Reconstructing Judaism. As a child in Rockville, Maryland, she attended the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, which offers classes from kindergarten through 12th grade. Her family belonged to a Conservative synagogue. After graduating with a major in women’s studies and communication arts from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, she worked with the Reform movement in Washington D.C. In the nation’s capital, she also attended the non-denominational Farbrengen Havurah, “one of the oldest havurot that came out of the 1960s-1970s era.” [Donald H. Harrison]
By Gedaliah Borvick JERUSALEM — Nachlaot is a cluster of over two dozen Jerusalem neighborhoods centrally located between Sha’are Chessed and the famous Machane Yehuda shuk. Nachlaot, which means lands of inheritance, became home to communities of Jews who emigrated from many different lands throughout the Diaspora. Nachlaot’s neighborhoods were established beginning in the 1870s
Nachlaot: A Cultural Mosaic of the Jewish Diaspora Read More »
Gedaliah Borvick, Israel, Travel and Food
Cooking is Lebovitz’s world. The kitchen from which she has been banished, for that one night only, officially has been named “Grammy’s Kitchen” in honor of Lebovitz, 85, who is called “Grammy Sheila” by the nine children and 15 grandchildren of Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort and Rebbetzin Nehama Eilfort, as well as by other younger members of the congregation. [Donald H. Harrison]
On This Special Day, Caterer is Refused Entry to Chabad of La Costa’s Kitchen Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA
I was shocked on Old Town Trolley’s “Ghosts and Gravestones Tour,” not by any ghosts or spirits, but while learning about the callous disregard that San Diego city administrations of the past had for graveyards and the mortal remains of people who had lived, worked, and, in some cases, had built our city. [Donald H. Harrison]
San Diego’s Historic Disregard for the Sanctity of Cemeteries Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, Shor M. Masori, Travel and Food
It took over 100 years before the JCC Association of North America chose someone from the U.S. West Coast to serve as its chairman. That person was Gary E. Jacobs of San Diego, a former president of the Lawrence Family JCC, Jacobs Family Campus in La Jolla. As his four-year term was concluding, the JCC Association turned again to a San Diegan, David Wax, a retired executive with the San Diego-based, multistate Waxie Sanitary Supply company. [Donald H. Harrison]
2 National Leaders of the JCC Movement Got Their Starts in San Diego Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA
By Eva Trieger SAN DIEGO — The saying goes that if you ask two Jews for their opinion on most topics, you will get three answers. While that may be so, one overriding unifier is our love of homemade challah and decadent babkas. These Jewish baked goods have helped inform the American-Jewish identity of baker
Chicago Roots Shape San Diego Author’s Creative Challah and Babka Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eva Trieger, San Diego County, Travel and Food
Ruth Mastron, the president of the House of Israel in Balboa Park, has had an active love affair with that nation since 2008, the year she first volunteered to work for three weeks on an Israeli Army base. [Donald H. Harrison]
Ruth Mastron, House of Israel President, Volunteers for Janitorial Work in Israel Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Israel, Jewish History, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA
Troubador Sharon Katz, who won fame in South Africa as the leader of the Peace Train that brought together a 500-member choir representing that country’s many ethnicities, provided a free concert Monday evening, June 26, at the Bunny Chow restaurant, whose owners were instrumental in bringing her to the San Diego/ Tijuana region where again she has been promoting peace through music. [Donald H. Harrison]
Katz Concert Brings Bunny Chow Diners to Their Dancing Feet Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Travel and Food, Videos
Four times a year on a weekday night, Jewish poets and poetry lovers convene in the Samuel & Rebecca Astor Library on the Jacobs Family Campus of the Lawrence Family JCC to recite or hear Jewish poems and songs. {Donald H. Harrison]
Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center Showcases Budding and Established Poets Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, Travel and Food
By Sandi Masori DEL MAR, California — School is out and that means that the San Diego County Fair is in! The annual event continues with the rides, exhibits, games and of course the everything-fried-and-on-a-stick food. Every year they come up with a new item that is combined with something unlikely, put on a stick,
Can You Eat Healthy Food at the Fair? Absolutely! Read More »
San Diego County, Sandi Masori, Travel and Food