writer’s block
The Messianic mess The Jews for Jesus are coming to town in September, launching their largest-ever missionary blitz in San Diego. It’s my duty as a journalist and community spokesperson to tell you...
View Articletalkin’ torah
How the High Holidays began This month’s Torah portions Sept. 4: Ki Tavo (Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8) Sept. 11: Nitzavim/Vayelech (Deuteronomy 29:9-31:30) Sept. 18: Haazinu (Deuteronomy 32:1-32:52) Sept....
View Articlemusings from mama
Is this cowboy kosher? When we entered the dining room at the dude ranch we’d selected for our family vacation, I couldn’t believe my eyes. A few feet away from me stood a tall, lean man in his late...
View Articlejewish reader
Living in a dream state What’s it like to live in Israel? For most American Jews, whose experience of Israel consists mainly of Israel Independence Day fairs and sightseeing tours of Israel, the only...
View Articlejoel’s world
Say no to shul For many Jews, the High Holiday services are like the Department of Motor Vehicles: you spend a lot of money for anonymous service, you’re packed into a cramped room waiting for the...
View Articlediary of an aliyah
Driving on Yom Kippur I knew Yom Kippur was coming, because the stores were full of popcorn displays, aimed at secular Israelis who stayed home and watched videos. I was shopping with my friend...
View ArticleOwner of a Jewish heart
Trevor Rabin, formerly of the super-group Yes, recalls growing up in an observant South African home. In an odd twist of fate, Trevor Rabin was working on a space-related project when the shuttle...
View ArticleChoosing “The Chosen”
Almost cast in the film version, North Coast Rep’s David Ellenstein stages Chaim Potok’s classic novel – for the fourth time. David Ellenstein is one of the many Jewish lovers of Chaim Potok’s “The...
View ArticleThis old house
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict comes to Balboa Park, as the financially struggling House of Israel coexists uneasily with the new House of Palestine. Most Sunday afternoons at the international...
View ArticleGuster: Trio of Life
How three nice Jewish boys from the ‘burbs became, uh, three nice Jewish boys playing bongos and guitar on the road. The all-Jewish trio Guster has played the following in concert: a shofar, “Hava...
View ArticleArarat on the Erie
On the day after Rosh Hashanah in 1825, the visionary – and slightly daffy – Mordecai Manuel Noah declared the Jewish homeland… in Buffalo, New York. September 15, 1825 – the day after Rosh Hashanah –...
View ArticleCondoms for Israel
A pair of UCSD students come up with a novel way to reach apathetic college students: Zionist prophylactics. A condom is a powerful piece of rubber. It can prevent a pregnancy. Or it can give birth to...
View ArticleMichael Lerner: The most controversial Jew in America
He is relentlessly critical of Israel. He eulogizes Rachel Corrie. And he’s done more for peace than any conservative we know. One of the most controversial Jews in America will be speaking in San...
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