Books, Poetry & Short Stories

‘Mufti’ Will Satisfy Neither Historians nor Graphic Arts Fans

This book is an amalgam of two genres: History and Graphic Non-Fiction. I don’t think it will satisfy devotees of either genre.  For graphic arts fans, there are too many pages filled with writing, rather than drawings.  For the serious student of history, phantasmagoric images detract from the work’s verisimilitude. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Israel, Jewish History, Middle East, Staff and Bylined Contributors

What Role in Society Should Literature Play?

When we read good literature, we should question what we read and why something is happening. We should seek to be stimulated by our reading to change and improve ourselves and everything. Is what we read proper? Should it have been done differently? [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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

Some Theorize Elijah Was Pinchas Reincarnated

Virtually every Jew—regardless of age—has heard of Elijah, whose presence inspired the “Cup of Elijah” ritual seen at every Passover celebration. Elijah’s name is also evoked in the Havdalah ceremony in a special prayer expressing our hope that Elijah will be the precursor of the Messianic Era. [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]

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

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Harold Brodkey

Courtesy of Wikipedia Harold Brodkey (October 25, 1930 – January 26, 1996), was an American short-story writer and novelist. Aaron Weintraub was the second child to his Jewish parents Max Weintraub and Celia Glazer Weintraub (1899-1932), born in Staunton, Illinois. Samuel Weintraub (1928-2017) was their oldest child. When their mother died, Samuel was four and old

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Wikipedia

Semyon Nadson, Philosemitic Russian Poet

The poet Semyon Nadson (1862 – 1887) lived for 24 years. He is known for being the first poet of Jewish descent to achieve national prominence in the Russian Empire. In 1886, Nadson was awarded the Pushkin Prize of the Academy of Sciences, the most prestigious literary award in pre-revolutionary Russia. [Alex Gordon]

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Alex Gordon, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Historical Fiction: A Look at What Might Have Turned a Troubled Boy into a Gestapo Persecutor of the Jews

This psychological probe into the life of Klaus Barbie, the Gestapo Butcher of Lyon, is highly readable piece of historical fiction starting with his boyhood as an abused illegitimate child and ending with his death in a French jail and reflections from contemporaries on his life and that of his most famous victim, Jean Moulin, leader of the French resistance. [Donald H. Harrison]

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

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Jerry Siegel

Courtesy of Wikipedia Jerry Siegel (October 17, 1914 – January 28, 1996) was an American comic book writer. He is the co-creator of Superman, in collaboration with his friend Joe Shuster, published by DC Comics. They also created Doctor Occult, who was later featured in The Books of Magic. Siegel and Shuster were inducted into the comic book industry’s Will Eisner Comic Book

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Celebrities, Today's Jewish Birthday, Wikipedia

Why Do Weeks Have Seven Days and Why is the Seventh Day Holy?

Genesis opens with God ceasing His work on the seventh day (Gen. 2:2-3), and then Shabbat never appearing again as day of rest until after the Exodus and the collection of manna (Ex. 16:23). Levenson brings to bear his own insights and knowledge on the subject, together with the thoughts and theories of other scholars endeavoring to understand the ancient meanings and observances of the Jewish Sabbath. [Fred Reiss, Ed.D]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors

‘Liv’s Secrets’ in Apartheid South Africa Were Political and Sexual

The main character in this novel is Liv Weisz, a wealthy Jewish South African opposed to the apartheid regime of South Africa, who allows her home on the outskirts of Johannesburg to be a meeting place in 1960 for indigenous Africans and sympathetic Whites. [Donald H. Harrison]

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

Jewish Biography: Sam Glaser, Musician and Author

If you were to walk into a JCC or visit a Camp Ramah in virtually any city in this country and utter the name Sam Glaser, you would likely receive a smile of recognition and maybe even be treated to a few bars from a track of one of his 26 albums. [Eva Trieger]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, California, Eva Trieger, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Sam Glaser, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA