The Arts

Mitzvot and Kindness Mark Visit to a Recycling Center

As I took my bottles and cans to EDCO Recycle this morning, I reflected that the “haul” used to be filled with Diet Coke cans. However, years ago, I switched to SodaStream, an Israeli product that carbonates your water.  I don’t add any syrups.  I simply drink fizzy water.  The volume of my recycling has decreased, but I feel, nevertheless, that I am dong my part for the environment. [Cailin Acosta]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Cailin Acosta, Israel, Lifestyles, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Philanthropy & Volunteerism, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Travel and Food

Classic Debates in Israel’s Parliament

I found myself involved in the translation of five of the six volumes of Major Knesset Debates, 1948–1981, edited by former Clerk of the Knesset, Netanel Lorch. This project, which occupied me for several years, gave me a unique insight into the workings of the Knesset and the nature of the debates held there as well as of the various individuals (i.e., politicians) who participated in those debates. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Israel, Staff and Bylined Contributors

The Man Who Came to Dinner Overstays his Welcome

Benjamin Franklin is supposed to have said, ”Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.” Well, The Man Who Came To Dinner at PowPac Theatre bears this out! In Moss Hart’s and George Kaufman’s play, this adage comes to life. Directed by Rhiannon McAfee, the marvelous cast of the Julia Smith production delivers the tale of a self-important, “bombastic” man who manipulates his minions for his own design. [Eva Trieger]

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Eva Trieger, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Chuckling Over a New Anthology of Jewish Humor

Movie director Salvador Litvak (When Do We Eat?; Guns and Moses) has compiled 162 Jewish jokes.  Some are very old. I’m 79 years old, and I can remember my father telling me some of the stories that he heard from his father. Call them classics.  But others are fresh–or at least they are to me–and I couldn’t help but laugh out loud (“lol” to social media habitués) and then read them across the breakfast table to my wife, Nancy. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Norman Greenbaum

Courtesy of Wikipedia Norman Greenbaum (November 20, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter, known for his 1969–1970 hit song “Spirit in the Sky”. The song is one of the most famous and best-selling one hit-wonders of all time. Greenbaum was born in Malden, Massachusetts. He was raised in an Orthodox Jewish household and attended Hebrew school at Congregation Beth Israel. His initial interest

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Today's Jewish Birthday, Wikipedia

Elie Wiesel Was Fascinated by Joshua, Elijah, Saul, Jeremiah, and Jonah

Wiesel was convinced that the power of literature lies in its ability to galvanize human action. This includes the Bible. “The text is not – cannot be – neutral, nor is it an end in itself: it must serve to humanize our society.” Wiesel shows this in his discussions of Joshua, Elijah, Saul, Jeremiah, and Jonah’s lives and actions. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Larry King

Courtesy of Wikipedia Larry King (November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American author, radio host and TV host. His awards and nominations include two Peabodys, an Emmy, and 10 Cable ACE Awards. King was also awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 32nd Annual News and Documentary Emmys. During his career, King conducted over 50,000

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Jewish Celebrities, News Media, Today's Jewish Birthday, Wikipedia

Romance Novella Emphasizes Importance of True Communication

Arielle Weiss and Asher Gold are home for the Thanksgiving holiday in Chicago and run into each other at the local neighborhood bar as they reunite with others from their Hebrew School class. They immediately locked eyes on each other and stepped away from the group to talk. Each received mixed signals. [Cailin Acosta]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Cailin Acosta, Lifestyles, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Lee Strasberg

Courtesy of Wikipedia Lee Strasberg (November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982) was an American theatre director, actor and acting teacher. He co-founded, with theatre directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as “America’s first true theatrical collective”. In 1951, he became director of the nonprofit Actors Studio in New York City, considered “the

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Today's Jewish Birthday, Wikipedia

Getting to Know Edna Ferber by Following Her ‘Giant’ Odyssey

This biography of novelist Edna Ferber was written by her grandniece Julie Gilbert, who had access to Ferber’s journals, relatives, friends, and co-workers in addition to archival sources. The result is a splendid recounting of the high points in Ferber’s life, with particular emphasis on the research, production and success of “Giant,” both in its novel and movie forms. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Moving to a New Apartment While Retaining Two Cultures

Yeh Yeh surprises her with a present: a new mezuzah, explaining that Zayde had told him that would be a good present for her new home.  When they all sit down for Shabbat dinner inside the new apartment, Zayde gives Miri another gift:  two small guardian lions that she can put on the chest of drawers by her bed. [Donald H. Harrison)

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Humane Society Gift Shop Items Provide Double Benefits

When I returned recently from a camping trip at San Elijo State Beach, it was with Chanukah items from the nearby thrift shop of the Rancho Coastal Humane Society. They were gifts not only for us, but also for the critters because all proceeds go to feed and house the animals at the society. [Cailin Acosta]

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Cailin Acosta, Holocaust, International, Israel, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Nina Gordon

Courtesy of Wikipedia Nina Gordon (November 14, 1967), is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She co-founded the alternative rock band Veruca Salt and played on their first two studio albums, American Thighs (1994) and Eight Arms to Hold You (1997). During that time, Gordon wrote the band’s hit singles “Seether” and “Volcano Girls”. After leaving Veruca Salt, she released two solo

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Today's Jewish Birthday, Wikipedia