Books, Poetry & Short Stories

Helping Portuguese, Brazilians, others find Jewish roots

By Ryan M. Greiss NEW YORK — The Jerusalem-based nonprofit Shavei Israel has launched a Portuguese-language e-book called “Do You Have Jewish Roots?” offering a practical guide to uncovering one’s Jewish ancestry. The unprecedented 109-page guide is aimed at assisting the millions of people in Brazil, Portugal and elsewhere who may have a long-lost Jewish lineage. […]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion

Torah teaches about leadership

Lessons in Leadership: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Maggid Books, Jerusalem;  ISBN 978-1-59264-432-2 ©2015, $18.00, p. 311 By Fred Reiss, Ed.D.   WINCHESTER, California — Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart in a 1964 ruling on a pornographic film, said, “I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish Religion

Filling in the blanks in the Book of Ruth

Ruth: Woman of Valor by Jim Baumgardner; Baumgardner Press, Wichita, Kansas (c) 2015; ISBN 978-0-98841-075-6; 371 pages. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Two years ago on these pages, we reviewed Jim Baumgardner’s fictional biography of Queen Esther. Now comes another novel based on the Bible: Ruth: Woman of Valor. Most of the time

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison

Novel provides insight into the brain- injured

Piece of Mind by Michelle Adelman; W.W. Norton & Company; ISBN 978-0-393-24570-7; 304 pages, $25.95. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – I was enchanted by this novel by Michelle Adelman, who is a teacher here in San Diego.  It tells the story of a brain-damaged woman from that woman’s interesting, often humorous, and at

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison

Leon Williams biography a lesson in civil government

Together We Can Do More: The Leon Williams Story by Lynne Carrier; 2015; Lynne Carrier and Montezuma Publishing; ISBN 978-0-7442-3808-2; 223 pages including notes and index. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – This biography of Leon Williams, who was the first African-American to serve on the San Diego City Council and scored another such

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County

Why Rashi wrote sometimes and refrained at others

Rashi: The Magic and the Mystery by Avigdor Bonchek, Gefen Publishing House, New York;  ISBN 978-965-229-779-2 ©2015, $18.00, p. 132, plus Appendix, References and Index of Interpreted Verses By Fred Reiss, Ed.D WINCHESTER, California — Torah Commentator Rashi, the acronym for Shlomo Yitzchaki, stands at the head of a long line of revered Jewish sages. For instance,

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish Religion

Many reasons for happy children to say ‘Dayenu’

More Than Enough: A Passover Story by April Halprin Wayland, illustrated by Katie Kath; Dial Books for Young Readers © 2016; ISBN 978-0-8037-4126-3; $16.99. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — We received at San Diego Jewish World a book to be read to children that either came to our mailbox quite late or extremely

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion

He does the talking; she dominates the discussion

By Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — Peter Gould has lived in Vermont for over 45 years and his new novel Marly is about Vermonters, climate issues and wind turbines, among other things. Growing up Jewish, Gould — who calls himself a “non-observant Goddess-worshipping American Jew — said it was his parents who were “intellectual,

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories