People persuade Gimpl that the town’s pregnant prostitute is a virgin who is in love with him and wants to marry him. They claim that a youngster living with her is not her child but her brother. He believes them, goes to her, and proposes marriage. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
Isaac Bashevis Singer’s tale ‘Simple Gimpl’ is Dissected Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Staff and Bylined Contributors
Geiderman presents us with an opportunity to imagine what it would be like to suddenly grow younger than one’s daughter, but rather than diving deeply into that story, he had another story in mind – one which, I am sad to say, was not nearly so interesting. It plowed the familiar ground of political intrigue. [Donald H. Harrison]
Novel Imagines Political Consequences if Aging Could Be Reversed Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Staff and Bylined Contributors
Courtesy of Wikipedia Nora Ephron (May 19, 1941 – June 26, 2012) was an American journalist, writer, and filmmaker. She is best known for writing and directing romantic comedy films. She received numerous accolades including a British Academy Film Award and nominations for three Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, and three Writers Guild of America Awards. Ephron started her career writing
Today’s Jewish Birthday: Nora Ephron Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, The Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA, Wikipedia
The highly readable novel juxtaposes three stories: 1) love and survival in Vichy France; 2) Jewish efforts shortly after World War II to find European Jewish orphans who could be brought to Eretz Israel; and 3) the drama of Israel “stealing” its own ships from under the eyes of the French. [Donald H. Harrison]
Three Intriguing Stories Lead to One in ‘The Boy with the Star Tattoo’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Israel, Jewish Fiction, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors
From the 1920’s through the early 1950’s, luminaries like Harold Arlen (Hyman Arluck) Yip Harburg (Isidore Hochberg) and countless others wrote tunes that became the jazz standards that helped make Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, Teddy Wilson, et al, world famous. [Yale Strom]
‘Kosher Jammers’ Links Jewish and African-American Jazz Read More »
Antisemitism, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA
This memoir and autobiography is filled with secrets, doubts, anticipation, anxiety, temporary disappointments, regrets, the thrill of the chase and the exaltation of success. He repeatedly states the discoveries changed his life, and it also enriched the lives of the brothers and sisters he discovered. [Oliver Pollak]
Author Tells of Finding His Birth Parents and Learning Their Secrets Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Lifestyles, Oliver Pollak, Staff and Bylined Contributors
Jewish Poets of the Past program on Tuesday evening, May 7 in the Astor Judaica Library featured the works of Israeli poet Dahlia Ravikovitch (1936-2005) and Yiddish poet, Abraham Sutzkever (1913-2010). [Eileen Wingard]
Poetry of Ravikovitch, Sutzkever Focus of LFJCC Program Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eileen Wingard, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined ContributorsAlthough Kreisel does not stress it, I think it is essential to remember that Maimonides did not think the Messianic Age would begin miraculously. It will start and continue as a natural event. People, even the Messiah, will die during this period as they do now. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
Maimonides’ Idea of the Messianic Age Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors
In this Australian-based story, when the Jewish community has a cholent competition, onlookers and most other competitors are surprised when Amira, whose Jewish roots are in Iraq, stuffs a chicken with such ingredients as garlic, ginger, onion, paprika, baharat, cinnamon, and rice. She cooked the stuffed chicken inside a mixture of sauteed tomatoes and cardamon, hard-boiling eggs on the side. [Donald H. Harrison]
Book Teaches Children about Trying New Foods, Diversity Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Fiction, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Travel and Food
Shavuot arrives this year on Tuesday night, June 11. This hard-cover book is intended to introduce your toddler to the holiday of Shavuot, getting your hands dirty gardening, the joy of sharing, and the names of the seven species of ancient Israel. [Donald H. Harrison]
Agriculture, Sharing, and A Dollop of Torah for Toddlers Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Israel, Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors, The World We Share
Freeda comments, “You know how I love Samson. That’s how Jessica’s moms feel about each other. Love is love. No two families look alike.” [Donald H. Harrison]
Children’s Book Discusses Same-Sex Parents Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Lifestyles, Staff and Bylined Contributors
The charming illustrations and rhyming text in Hebrew give an account from a child’s viewpoint of what it is like to have to quickly pack up and leave your home under the protection of the IDF, and the experiences of becoming acquainted with the new surroundings, and the surprise, curiosity and even delight at the differences between their old, familiar home and the new environment of a hotel. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]
Israeli Book Helps Children Cope with Being Uprooted from Their Homes Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Israel, Staff and Bylined Contributors
It posits that before it was relocated to Earth, the Garden of Eden—with a man and a woman, the snake, and its fruits and vegetables—all existed on an unnamed planet. There, the fruits each laid claim to being the best. The apple boasted it was the “hardiest”; the pomegranate, the “biggest”; the grape, the “sweetest”; the fig, “the yummiest” and the citron (lemon) because it could make any of them taste better with just one drop. [Donald H. Harrison]
Children’s Book Offers Myth of an Earlier Garden of Eden Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Fiction, Staff and Bylined Contributors
Many, including Spinoza’s family, fled to Amsterdam, where Jews were tolerated as long as they did not “clash with (Amsterdam’s) Calvinism on such matters as the immortality of the soul, belief in the afterlife, God the creator or the divine origin of the Holy Scriptures – all dogmas that Spinoza would later repudiate.” [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
Spinoza: A Latter-Day Disciple of Maimonides? Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors