This book serves a double purpose: it is a tribute to the author’s Austrian Jewish grandmother and an introduction for children ages 4 to 8 to the exciting world of chess. [Donald H. Harrison]
‘Elsa’s Chessboard’ Brings the Royal Board Game to Children’s Attention Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Lifestyles, Sports & Competitions, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA
David Wisnia from Poland was a prisoner at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp complex; Likewise, Helen Zipora “Zippy” Spitzer from Slovakia was also a prisoner. But neither of them was an ordinary prisoner; by virtue of wits and luck, each of them had been elevated to favored positions in the concentration camps’ heirarchy. [Donald H. Harrison]
‘Lovers in Auschwitz’ Provides Hook to Teach Readers about the Holocaust Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors
“One day at a time. One day after another” was the motto of Holocaust escapees Eugene Handschuh and his father Oscar. Accordingly, father and son submitted to the brutal schedule the Nazis forced on them until they perceived an opportunity to escape — not once, but twice. [Donald H. Harrison]
Young Readers Get a Taste of the Holocaust in ‘One Day’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors
This book, written in simple language for children between the ages of 5 and 9, tells of Ágnes being banned from the national gymnasium because she was Jewish. In response, she secretly practiced early in the morning at an unlit, unheated high school gym with her friend Istvan Sarkany. [Donald H. Harrison]
Gymnast Survived Nazis; Went on to Become Gold Medalist in Olympics Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Israel, Jewish History, Sports & Competitions, Staff and Bylined Contributors
What particularly fascinates me is how the book reveals the Mishnah’s sophisticated understanding of physical and psychological phenomena that we’ve only recently begun to explain through modern scientific frameworks. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]
Mishnah Anticipated Scientific Understanding of Whispering, Digestion, Combustion Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors
It augments the narrative with supplemental pages explaining such terms and concepts as World War II, antisemitism, ghettos, partisans, the Holocaust, collaborators, the righteous among the nations, the camps, and resistance. [Donald H. Harrison]
Biography Explains the Holocaust to Children Ages 8 to 12 Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors
The house at 263 Prinsengracht (Prince’s Canal) in Amsterdam was built in 1635, more than three centuries before its most famous resident—Anne Frank–lived and hid there from the Nazi occupiers. [Donald H. Harrison]
Book Traces History of the Anne Frank House from Its Construction in 1635 Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors
Dr. Shapiro reveals Rabbi Kook’s surprising, sometimes radical, and breathtaking ideas, prompting us to rethink what we have accepted as sensible. It is the best book I have read in years. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
Rav Kook’s Unique Vision Told by Author Marc B. Shapiro Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors
With three outstanding featured poets and a large number of poets reading for open mic, last Tuesday evening’s Jewish Poets –Jewish Voices program was a memorable event. [Eileen Wingard]
Trans Experience, ‘Mr. Right,’ and A House on Jabotinsky Street Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eileen Wingard, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Travel and Food
Our regular readers will not be surprised that in this book he poses answerless questions intended to make us think. He speculates about the sacred and the mundane, inquiring in chapter 30 “What do we know about God?” and in chapter 26 about “Ethical behaviors concerning shoes.” [Donald H. Harrison]
Rabbi Drazin’s Speculations Generate an Eclectic Book Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Trivia, Humor & Satire
By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin PIKESVILLE, Maryland — I have been reading and reviewing the inspiring, fascinating books by the brilliant writer Rabbi Dr. Charles H. Freundlich for over ten years and have enjoyed them all. Sol’s Journey, his eleventh fiction book since he started writing them at age eighty, is no exception. It is
‘Sol’s Journey’ Contains Good Advice for American Jews Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA
This novel is a collection of sequential short stories about the Toplansky family, whose patriarch Shlomo immigrated in 1920 from Bialystok, Poland, to Louisville, Kentucky. He changed his first name to Sol and eked a living from his tailoring shop supplemented by singing and gambling. He served as the chazzan at the Orthodox synagogue. [Donald H. Harrison]
Novel Explores an Immigrant Jewish Family’s Life in Louisville Before World War II Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Fiction, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA
Poet Allisa Cherry is entranced by Hebrew Scriptures, turning to them to express her anguish over the tragic lives of the members of a Mormon family. A grandmother had a double mastectomy; a father died of radiation poisoning caused by nuclear testing in the desert; a brother died in a car accident before he was 20; and a wife, caught in a loveless marriage, divorces her ne’er-do-well husband. [Donald H. Harrison]
Biblical Imagery Brightens Poet’s Bleak Account of Life in the Arizona Desert Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA
Struggling against American xenophobia, racism, and antisemitism in the 1930s, Labor Secretary Frances Perkins—the first woman to serve in a President’s Cabinet – sought in several ways to spare German Jewish refugees from annihilation by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany. [Donald H. Harrison]
Frances Perkins, Nation’s First ‘Madam Secretary’ Tried to Help European Jewish Refugees Read More »
Antisemitism, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA