For Mideast plants, it’s dew or die

TEL AVIV (Press Release)― When the scientific and spiritual worlds collide, they do so in the most surprising ways. Classical meteorological and plant science has, in the last century, insisted that dew negatively affects plant life, leading to rot and fungus. But in the Judeo-Christian tradition, dew is most welcomed as an important source of vegetative and plant life, celebrated in poetry and prayer.

Now Prof. Pinhas Alpert of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences has developed an explanation for the perplexing paradox with his colleagues. According to scientific literature, he says, dew that accumulates through the night has a negative effect on vegetation and fruits because it creates a “spongy” effect. But in a recent issue of the Water Resources Journal, Prof. Alpert demonstrates that dew is an important water source for plant life in climates such as those in the Eastern Mediterranean, where the Judeo-Christian tradition originated, and parts of the U.S. Great Basin Desert.

New software may help physicians repair your RNA’s

TEL AVIV (Press Release) – About ten years ago, the discovery of microRNAs ― tiny cellular molecules that regulate our genetic code ― unlocked a world of scientific possibilities, including a deeper understanding of human disease.

One new analytical technology is “deep sequencing,” which gives scientists the ability to discover invaluable information about human diseases at a genetic level. Now, Tel Aviv University researchers have developed the cutting-edge technology to better analyze these results.

The software, called miRNAkey, was developed by Roy Ronen as part of a team of researchers headed by Dr. Noam Shomron of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine. Dr. Shomron says that miRNAkey searches for microRNA patterns in both healthy and diseased tissues, improving scientists’ understanding of the data collected from deep sequencing technology.

The software package was recently described in the journal Bioinformatics. 

Dissecting President Obama’s U.N. speech

By Shoshana Bryen

Shoshana Bryen

WASHINGTON, D.C.  — His was an odd speech for a President. He stood before the world and trashed the United States. “The blocks and neighborhoods of this great city tell the story of a difficult decade,” he said of New York, beginning with the attack on the World Trade Center and through the economic collapse that “devastated American families on Main Street.” And he worried that, “Underneath these challenges to our security and prosperity lie deeper fears: that ancient hatreds and religious divides are once again ascendant; that a world which has grown more interconnected has somehow slipped beyond our control.”

America has had a bad decade. We’re devastated. We may turn to ancient hatreds. The world is beyond our control. Is that what Barack Obama thinks of us?

We expected the president of Iran to start his speech with, “President Obama admits his country is on the skids.” He did. “The system of capitalism and the existing world order has proved to be unable to provide appropriate solution to the problems of societies, thus coming to an end.” He noted the horrors of Western colonialism and two World Wars. His take on the September 11th bombings it that there are three theories – all of which implicate the government of the United States.

Clinton lauds Arab peace initiative on Saudia Arabia’s National Day

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)–On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I congratulate the Custodian of the two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud, and the people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on your national day this September 23.

King Abdullah’s leadership on key challenges, from developing the Kingdom’s institutions and economy to establishing an enduring dialogue promoting moderation and tolerance, has put Saudi Arabia and the region on a path towards a stronger, more prosperous, and more secure future. We also honor King Abdullah’s steadfast support for the Arab Peace Initiative. This groundbreaking initiative provided a far-sighted vision for comprehensive regional peace when the King first proposed it. As we continue working to support direct talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians, the principles enshrined in the Arab Peace Initiative are more important than ever.

Our cooperation ranges from science and technology to health and safety – including raising awareness of breast cancer and helping Hajj pilgrims stay healthy – to trade and investment and our shared goal of expanding opportunities for women and youth. We are also working to increase opportunities for student exchanges and to strengthen our educational partnerships, something I discussed with King Abdullah in depth on my visit to Saudi Arabia earlier this year and with the women of Dar Al-Hekma College in Jeddah.

As we join in celebrating this special day, we reaffirm the commitment of the United States to broaden and deepen our partnership with Saudi Arabia in the years to come. I wish all Saudis a safe and joyous National Day.

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Preceding provided by U.S. State Department

Russia cancels surface-to-air missile delivery to Iran

MOSCOW (WJC) — Russia has canceled plans to supply Iran with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles due to UN sanctions imposed against Tehran, a senior Russian military official has said. “A decision has been taken not to supply the S-300 to Iran, they undoubtedly fall under sanctions,” the ITAR-TASS news agency quoted Chief of General Staff Nikolai Makarov as saying. “There has been an instruction from the country’s leadership to stop the deliveries, and we are obeying it,” Makarov added, according to the RIA-‘Novosti’ news agency.

Russia had previously issued mixed messages regarding the future of the deal sgreed in 2005, first saying that the new round of sanctions on Iran passed at the United Nations in June would not impede the deal, and later saying that it would. Israel had been concerned at the possibility that Russia may follow through with the delivery of the S-300 surface-to-air defense system to Iran.

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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress

Merkel honored by Leo Baeck Institute

NEW YORK (WJC)–German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been honored for her work in German-Jewish reconciliation with an award from a US group founded by a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust. The Leo Baeck Institute presented its first medal ever to a serving German head of government for Merkel’s work in cultivating a good relationship between Germans and Israel, and Germans and world Jewry.

Former US Treasury Secretary W. Michael Blumenthal, who is head of the Jewish Museum in Berlin, saluted Merkel for her support of Jewish cultural life and the integration of minorities in Germany. Merkel said the medal was an inspiration for continuing the work of integration and cooperation with the Jewish community. “That work, unfortunately, entails going against the anti-Semitism that crops up on a regular basis,” she said.

Merkel said Germany was prepared to use all of its leverage to help along the peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians. She also urged Iran to clear up any doubts about its peaceful intent with its nuclear program and to stop threatening Israel with annihilation. “Iran must know that the existence of the State of Israel will never be negotiable for Germany,” she said.

The institute was founded by Rabbi Leo Beck in 1947 to study the history of German-speaking Jewry, which it notes on its website is “inextricably linked to Europe’s cultural, intellectual and political history over the past 500 years.” Beck survived the Holocaust despite severe deprivations. Many of his family members were murdered. He died in 1956.

The Leo Baeck Institute has a library and archives in Manhattan which offer the most comprehensive documentation for the study of German-Jewish history.

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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress

Casuto wrapping up 37-year career with the ADL

 

Morris Casuto

By Donald H. Harrison

Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO—Anti-Defamation League Regional Director Morris Casuto is retiring next month.  And, no, that’s not one of the irrepressible Casuto’s jokes.  The ADL is even having a “gold watch” dinner for him Oct. 17 at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines.  

At age 68, he says he’s ready to try something different – something that requires him to be less an administrator, and more a “field man.”

Such people as former Sheriff Bill Kolender; Monsignor Dennis Mikulanis; La Raza Lawyer 
Lorena Slomanson;  former TV Reporter Lee Ann Kim, who now heads the Asian Film Foundation; and former San Diego Jewish Times columnist Dan Schaffer think of Casuto’s self-deprecating humor whenever his name is mentioned.

At 5’6 “on a good day,” Casuto remembers when he was the subject of a fundraising “roast,” and Kolender was the speaker.  Pretending to be perturbed with Casuto, Kolender declared, “You know I’ve had it with this guy – up to here!”   The tall sheriff indicated an area somewhere above his belt buckle.

Similarly, Schaffer, who also is of short stature, loves to quote Casuto on why he rarely gets upset with people:  “I don’t have long toes.”

Slomanson, who went on an ADL-sponsored Latino leaders’ trip to Israel, recalls, having grown up Roman Catholic, how strange it was to “walk in the footsteps of Jesus with Morris besides me.”  Especially before she “immunized myself” to Morris’s humor.

Says Mikulanis, vicar of interfaith and ecumenical relations for the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego: “I know this appears hard to believe but Morris is a giant among men — and not just in Lilliput.  Everywhere Morris goes people know him — and they run to their houses and lock the doors!  No, actually, San Diego is a much better community because of the integrity and sheer decency of Morris Casuto.  With his wife by his side and his sons to urge him on (getting out of bed in the morning can be tough at his age!) Morris has kept the conscience of San Diego from being totally numbed by an increasing social self-indulgence. 

16 ways Jerusalemites know Sukkot is coming

By Judy Lash Balint

Judy Lash Balint

JERUSALEM — Sixteen ways Jerusalemites know Sukkot is coming:

1. The clang of metal poles and the sounds of hammering are practically constant as Jerusalem’s apartment dwellers hurry to erect their sukkot and squeeze them into small balconies, odd-shaped gardens and otherwise derelict rooftops.

2. The tourists have landed! Overwhelmingly religious, English and French speaking, they jam the city’s take-out places and restaurants, and may be seen in packs wandering up and down Emek Refaim Street and through the glitzy Mamilla Mall talking to their friends at top volume on their cell phones.

3. Almost every non-profit group worth tits salt has scheduled a fund-raising and/or familiarization event for the intermediate days of Sukkot, aimed at capturing the attention of the wealthy temporary Jerusalem residents.

San Diegan Ariana Neustein, 3 others, named inaugural Global Service Fellows

 WASHINGTON, DC  (Press Release)– Four inaugural fellows, including one from San Deigo,  have been selected to serve in a new overseas service initiative for BBYO alumni, the JDC-BBYO Global Service Fellowship, it was announced by The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and BBYO, Inc., the world’s leading pluralistic Jewish teen movement.

This fall Ben Becker, Laura Himmelstein, Ariana Neustein and Paulina Zaharieva will join the JDC’s Jewish Service Corps for one year to help communities with their most pressing welfare, Jewish renewal and humanitarian needs while developing teen programming and connections to Jewish life through BBYO’s innovative leadership programming and international network.  The JDC-BBYO Global Service Fellowship is receiving initial support from the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation.

Becker, Himmelstein, Neustein and Zaharieva will serve respectively as BBYO experts in the Jewish communities of Turkey; Israel, Argentina, and Serbia.  They will work to assess the needs of the Jewish teen community in their respective countries, build relationships, and expose teens to BBYO and global Jewish teen programming.

Apollo signet ring found by Israeli archaeologists

HAIFA (Press Release)–A rare bronze signet ring with the impression of the face of the Greek sun god, Apollo, has been discovered at Tel Dor, in northern Israel, by University of Haifa diggers.

“A piece of high-quality art such as this, doubtlessly created by a top-of-the-line artist, indicates that local elites developing a taste for fine art and the ability to afford it were also living in provincial towns, and not only in the capital cities of the Hellenistic kingdoms,” explains Dr. Ayelet Gilboa, Head of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Haifa, who headed the excavations at Dor along with Dr. Ilan Sharon of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

When the ring was recovered from a waste pit near Hellenistic structures, it was covered with layers of earth and corrosion, and the archaeologists had no indication whatsoever that it would reveal the shape of a legendary figure. Only after the ring was cleaned up at the Restoration and Conservation laboratory at the Hebrew University’s Institute of Archaeology, was the profile of a beardless young male with long hair, clean-shaven and adorned with a laurel wreath, revealed.