Books, Poetry & Short Stories

Rosenfarb’s Short Stories Depict the Inner Worlds of Holocaust Survivors

This year, 2023, was declared in Lodz, Poland, to be the year of Chava Rosenfarb, one of its most famous Yiddish writers. In Lethbridge, Canada, meanwhile Goldie Morgentaler, daughter and translator of Rosenfarb from Yiddish to English, completed for publication 10 of her late mother’s stories. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish Fiction, Lifestyles

Comparing Biblical Stories With Other Tales Enhances Their Meaning

By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — One of the ways rabbis and secular scholars acquire a deeper understanding of the Bible is by comparing the events in the story with events in other biblical tales. They also compare two Bible sections that use the same word. David Curwin does both in his

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion

Book Offers Compelling Integration of Torah and Contemporary Medicine

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO — Ahh, a book on “The Torah Path to Health, Fitness and a Holy Life.” Music to my ears. It was the Rambam who wrote, “Maintaining a healthy body is among the ways of serving Hashem, since it is impossible for one who is not healthy to understand

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

Chicago Roots Shape San Diego Author’s Creative Challah and Babka

By Eva Trieger SAN DIEGO — The saying goes that if you ask two Jews for their opinion on most topics, you will get three answers. While that may be so, one overriding unifier is our love of homemade challah and decadent babkas. These Jewish baked goods have helped inform the American-Jewish identity of baker

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eva Trieger, San Diego County, Travel and Food

Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center Showcases Budding and Established Poets

Four times a year on a weekday night, Jewish poets and poetry lovers convene in the Samuel & Rebecca Astor Library on the Jacobs Family Campus of the Lawrence Family JCC to recite or hear Jewish poems and songs. {Donald H. Harrison]

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

Preston Turegano Skewers and Praises San Diego Reporters, Leaders

An employee of the San Diego Union-Tribune and its predecessor Evening Tribune for 36 years until his retirement in 2006, author Preston Turegano had been an editorial assistant, general assignment reporter, and arts critic.  He once was told by an editorial supervisor that people in the arts community were afraid of him.  A colleague reassured him, “People don’t hate you because you’re gay; people hate you because you are you.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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

Poets of the Past Features Meaningful Introduction of Primo Levi by Dr. Andrew Viterbi

By Eileen Wingard LA JOLLA, California — The memorable Poets of the Past program, featuring Italian-born Holocaust poet, Primo Levi (1919-1987) and Belarus-born Yiddish poet, Bertha Kling (1886-1978), was held last month in the Astor Judaica Library at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center. It was particularly meaningful having Dr. Andrew Viterbi introduce the life

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eileen Wingard, San Diego County

A Primer for Kids About Their ADHD

This is a third-person memoir written for children so they can understand the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) that some of them and author Shankman share.  It starts off with a boy named Peter getting in trouble for the umpteenth time in his classroom for telling a joke instead of reciting an answer to a question. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Science, Medicine, & Education

Year-Long Holocaust Exhibition Features Survivors Who Settled in S.D. County

There is much to read in addition to the shelved books at the Rancho San Diego County Library.  From now until next May 21, which will be the one-year anniversary of a Holocaust exhibition curated by Sandra Scheller, visitors can read on standing panels a brief timeline of the Holocaust and the experiences of some victims who suffered through it and later settled in San Diego County. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Fred Kropveld, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, San Diego County

American Investigative Reporter Probes Cases of Jews Murdered by Poles

Five members of the Rożeńek family were pulled from their hiding places in 1944 by armed members of a militia, forced to jump from a second-story window, and riddled with bullets on their way down.  One member of the family, who was hiding in an outbuilding, observed the massacre and escaped into obscurity. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish History

An Introduction to Jewish Biblical Commentators

By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Dr. Avigail Rock’s book (1971-2019) “Great Biblical Commentators,” is a very informative, eye-opening, thought-provoking introduction to 24 of the many rabbis and scholars who commented on the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible. All of the many who did so could not be listed in the 426 easy-to-read

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion