Israeli commentator Barry Rubin to lecture Oct. 14 in La Jolla
Barry Rubin
LA JOLLA, California (Press Release) — A free lecture about Israel’s struggle for peace and legitimacy will feature Middle East expert, Professor Barry Rubin, at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14, at the Sherwood Auditorium at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Rubin is the Director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya, Israel, editor of the prestigious Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal and author of 53 books about the Middle East.
The event is presented by the San Diego Israel Coalition, A Culture of Peace and is a prelude event for the “Yom Limmud: A Community Day of Learning” of the Agency for Jewish Education. For more information, visit www.ajesd.org.
“As the latest peace efforts get underway, Americans need to understand why it is so important for Israel, the Palestinians and the U.S. that peace is finally achieved,” according to Coalition Co-Chair Audrey Jacobs. “Israel has continually sought peace with her neighbors. For the past 16 years, it has made unprecedented efforts to reach a true and lasting peace with the Palestinians based on mutual recognition and a two state solution.”
Other organizations co-presenting this event are the Anti Defamation League, Hillel of San Diego, the Israel Center of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County, Tarbuton, T.E.A.M. and UCSD Scholars for Peace in the Middle East.
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Preceding provided by the San Diego Israel Coalition
Klezmer and Afro-Cuban percussion to mix in Oct. 12 concert
SAN DIEGO (Press Release)– Klezmer authority Yale Strom and Hot Pstromi will give a jazz concert mixing Yiddish, klezmer, jazz improvization and Afro-Cuban percussion at 8 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 12, in the Saville Theatre on the campus of San Diego City College.
Performers will include Jeff Pekarek on bass, Fred Benedetti on guitar, Tripp Sprague on saxaphone, Lou Fanucchi on accordion, Gene Perry on percussion, Yale Strom on violin and Elizabeth Schwartz providing the vocals.
Tickets are free for Jazz 88 members, an affiliate of Radio KSDS Jazz 88, and are $10 for non members.
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Preceding based on material provided by Hot Pstromi
‘Crazy Love’ author to address Project SARAH luncheon
SAN DIEGO (Press Release)– Project SARAH (Stop Abusive Relationships At Home), a program of Jewish Family Service, will feature Leslie Morgan Steiner, New York Times bestselling author and columnist for the Washington Post at the Glatt Kosher Luncheon and Program recognizing Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
The event takes place at Congregation Beth Am, 5050 Del Mar Heights Rd.,on Wednesday, October 20, 2010 from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Cost for the luncheon and program is $40 prior to October 1, 2010 and $45 after. Continuing education units are available for LCSWs and MFTs.
Leslie Morgan Steiner is the author of Crazy Love, a New York Times bestseller. Her memoir about surviving domestic violence in her first marriage takes readers on the baffling, terrifying journey of how she endured four years of domestic violence, eventually escaping and rebuilding her career and finding a happy family life with her second husband.
“Leslie’s presentation once again demonstrates to all of us about the critical need to recognize the devastating effects of domestic violence,” said Lauren Boucek, LCSW, Project SARAH Coordinator. “It reminds us that we need to do everything possible to keep the public aware of domestic violence and the urgency to fund programs and services to keep women and children safe.” Read more…
Hillary Clinton and Nasser Judeh upbeat about peace process
AMMAN, Jordan (Press Release)– U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Jordan’s Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh met with the news media on Thursday to discuss the peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
His Majesty King Abdullah the II had very productive conference and talks with Secretary Clinton earlier today. The talks, as you would all expect, focused on developments pertaining to the ongoing direct negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis that began in Washington on September 2nd and resumed in Sharm el-Sheikh and Jerusalem in the past two days. His Majesty reiterated Jordan’s firm, unwavering commitment to exert every effort to ensure the success of these negotiations and their fruitful conclusion with an agreed upon timeframe and the realization of the two-state solution whereupon independent, sovereign, territorially contiguous Palestinian state living side by side in security, peace, good neighborly relations, cooperation, and integration with Israel and the other countries of the region within a regional context that also leads to the achievement of comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace on the basis of internationally agreed upon terms of reference for Middle East peace and particularly the Arab Peace Initiative.
We are encouraged by the focused and concentrated course of direct negotiations thus far. President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu have met several times since the resumption of these direct talks on the 2nd of September. Secretary Clinton, who has presently attended several of these meetings herself with the two leaders, stated yesterday that the two sides have already delved into negotiations regarding all the core issues. And these core issues are Jerusalem, refugees, borders, security, and water. And of course, there is much discussion on settlements.
If you remember, Madam Secretary, many times when we have met in the past, we have spoken of the need to fast-track and pay special emphasis to borders and security, which may, in themselves, open the doors for a resolution of the – all points of contention. Read more…
Remembering the One who holds your hand
By Rabbi Baruch Lederman
Rabbi Baruch Lederman
SAN DIEGO –“K’rachaim av al banim, kain Tirachem aleinu…” Like the mercy of a father on children, may You (G-d) have mercy upon us… [Liturgy]
A little girl and her father were crossing a flimsy bridge. The father was kind of scared so he asked his little daughter:”Sweetheart, please hold my hand so that you don’t fall into the river.”
The little girl said, “No, Dad. You hold my hand.”
“What’s the difference?” asked the puzzled father.
“There is a big difference,” replied the little girl. “Dad, if I hold your hand and something happens to me, chances are that I may let your hand go. But, if you hold my hand, I know for sure that no matter what happens, you will never let my hand go.”
On Yom Kippur we must remember that Hashem (G-d) loves us with an infinite love and is waiting to hear our prayers and give us what we need. Even if our sins are black as night,
Hashem is waiting with open arms to lovingly receive us, just as a parent will always yearn for a child to return.
May we pour our hearts out to Hashem on Yom Kippur with purity and deep sincerity. May Hashem grant us a happy, healthy and sweet new year.
Dedicated by Dr. Arthur & Eileen Cummins.
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Rabbi Lederman is spiritual leader of Congregation Kehillas Torah in San Diego
Moonlight closes season with strong ‘Miss Saigon’
By Carol Davis
Carol Davis
VISTA, California –Every now and then it’s good to look back and reflect on the deeds and actions in which our country has been involved. There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned tragedy to bring us to our senses, or not. Take for example Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” and Claude-Michael Schönberg and Alain Boublil’s “Miss Saigon”.
Puccini wrote “Madama Butterfly” (“Miss Saigon” is based on that opera) in 1904. The story revolves around the arranged marriage between the American, U.S. Navy Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton and his geisha Cio-Cio-San, and ends in tragedy when Pinkerton and his ship leave the port and his Japanese ‘wife’ behind. He later returns to the States and marries an American woman.
Cio-Cio-San, who by now has a son, waits for Pinkerton because she believed him when he told her he would return for her. I’m sure I’m not spoiling anything for anyone when I tell you he had no intention of returning for her but when he finally does, she already knows he has married the American. In her mind, the only solution for her to save face and give her child a better life is for her to kill herself.
How and why we keep repeating our mistakes when it comes to our social behaviors is beyond me. Rather than taking the high ground instead of the lowest common denominator and acting like spoiled and entitled children when we are guests, occupy or are fighting in another country is still an unanswered question. But it happens over and over again which lends itself to yet another, more up to date version of “Butterfly”.
Fast forward to Vietnam, (the war lasted from 1955 to 1975) where once again American G.I.’s took the women of that country for their pleasure leaving behind thousands of ‘half breeds’ or ‘leftovers’; ‘children of the dust’ of Vietnamese mothers and U.S. soldiers. These children were left at orphanages or to fend for themselves and live in poverty and starvation in a country devastated by war. Neither story is about war, but the scars of war. Read more…
Eight universities to develop study programs in Israel
NEW YORK (Press Release)–Eight of America’s top universities will launch study abroad programs in Israel in 2011 and 2012 as part of a new initiative to encourage study abroad and academic exchange with Israel.
In an effort to increase the number of overseas students who choose to experience Israel, Masa Israel Journey is working to help turn Israeli universities and colleges into hubs of global higher education. Working with the Institute of International Education (IIE), Masa has selected eight institutions which will receive a total of $400,000 ($50,000 each) in seed grants to develop study programs with Israeli institutions of higher education.
The partnerships include Washington University’s Olin Business School with IDC Herzliya; Columbia’s Barnard College with Hebrew University; and the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business with the University of Haifa. The other participating universities are Arizona State University, Case Western Reserve University, Michigan State University, the New Jersey state-university system and the University of Florida.
Read more…
Mechanical engineering, studying chipped teeth, may determine what mammalian ancestors ate
TEL AVIV (Press Release) ― Were our early mammalian ancestors vegetarians, vegans or omnivores? It’s difficult for anthropologists to determine the diet of early mammalians because current fossil analysis provides too little information. But a new method that measures the size of chips in tooth fossils can help determine the kinds of foods these early humans consumed.
Prof. Herzl Chai of Tel Aviv University’s School of Mechanical Engineering, in collaboration with scientists from George Washington University and the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), has developed an equation for determining how the size of a chip found in the enamel of a tooth relates to the bite force needed to produce the chip. With the aid of this information, researchers can better determine the type of food that animals, and early humans, could have consumed during their lifetimes.
Teeth are the only relevant fossils with staying power, Prof. Chai explains. Made of hard, mineralized material, teeth from animals that are thousands of years old remain relatively intact. Teeth that display a greater number of large chips indicate that animals like our early ancestors were consuming harder foods such as nuts, seeds or items with bones. A lesser amount of small chips demonstrates that the animal’s diet more likely consisted of softer foods, such as vegetation. Dr. Chai’s findings were recently reported in the journal Biology Letters. Read more…
Israeli archaelogists unearth depictions of Greek deities at Sussita
SUSSITA NATIONAL PARK, Israel (Press Release) — A wall painting (fresco) of Tyche, the Greek goddess of fortune, was exposed during the 11th season of excavation at the Sussita site, on the east shore of the Sea of Galilee, which was conducted by researchers of the University of Haifa. Another female figure was found during this season, of a maenad, one of the companions of the wine god Dionysus.
“It is interesting to see that although the private residence in which two goddesses were found was in existence during the Byzantine period, when Christianity negated and eradicated idolatrous cults, one can still find clear evidence of earlier beliefs,” said Prof. Arthur Segal and Dr. Michael Eisenberg of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa, who headed the excavation. The city of Sussita is located within the Sussita National Park under the management of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, which has accompanied and assisted the excavation teams this season in enabling the continuation of excavation work and the conservation of the archaeological finds.
During the course of the excavations conducted by the team from the University of Concordia under the direction of Prof. Mark Schuler, in a residence that appeared, by the quality and complexity of its construction, to belong to one of the city notables, the excavators reached an inner courtyard with a small fountain at its center. Near the fountain they found a fresco of Tyche, who was apparently deified as the city’s goddess of fortune. Her head is crowned, her youthful gaze is focused, and she has abundant brown hair beneath her crown. According to the researchers, artistic analysis has indicated that the wall painting may be dated to the end of the Roman period or the beginning of the Byzantine period (3rd–4th centuries C.E.). Read more…
Commentary: U.S. Mideast record not comforting close to the action
By Ira Sharkansky
Ira Sharkansky
JERUSALEM–After doubtful claims of success in Iraq, and clearer failure in Afghanistan, the United States is tackling the problematical task of picking the good guys in Yemen.
Maybe not the good guys. Hopefully the best guys, or those who score least bad on the score of unreliability. Or more likely, those who are said to be reliable by Americans who may understand what is going on in that place.
Here as elsewhere, however, there is disagreement among the Americans who claim to know what can be done.
A few snippets that describe some of the problems:
“Opponents (of American military aid among American officials) . . . fear American weapons could be used against political enemies of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and provoke a backlash that could further destabilize the volatile, impoverished country.
The debate is unfolding as the administration reassesses how and when to use American missiles against suspected terrorists in Yemen following a botched strike in May. That attack, the fourth since December by the American military, killed a provincial deputy governor and set off tribal unrest.
Administration officials acknowledge that they are still trying to find the right balance between American strikes, military aid and development assistance — not only in Yemen, but in Pakistan, Somalia and other countries where Islamic extremist groups are operating. Read more…
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