Books, Poetry & Short Stories

‘My Mother’s Sabbath Days:’ An Eye-Opening Story by Yiddish Writer Chaim Grade

By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — My Mother’s Sabbath Days is a beautiful, fascinating, and eye-opening story by the Yiddish writer Chaim Grade (1910-1982). His name is pronounced gra, as in open your mouth and say ah, and de at the end pronounced as in eh, the word said in surprise. Grade […]

‘My Mother’s Sabbath Days:’ An Eye-Opening Story by Yiddish Writer Chaim Grade Read More »

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

Jewish Poets-Jewish Voices Committee Member Wins Prestigious Prize

By Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — We are thrilled to announce that Michael Mark, a member of our Jewish Poets-Jewish Voices Committee, just won the prestigious Rattle Chapbook Prize for his chapbook, Visiting Her in Queens Is More Enlightening than a Month in a Monastery in Tibet. The poems are all inspired by his mother,

Jewish Poets-Jewish Voices Committee Member Wins Prestigious Prize Read More »

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

Is Judaism the Truth?

By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Jeffry Bloom, a graduate of the University of Chicago who studied in several Orthodox yeshivas (rabbinical schools) in Israel after college, was bothered by what the scholar Leo Strauss wrote in his book Spinoza’s Critique of Religion. Strauss emigrated from Germany to the United States in

Is Judaism the Truth? Read More »

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

How Those Children’s Toys and Games Come Into Being

While most of the book is a hoot – imagine creative adults on the floor happily expressing their inner children as they experimented with toy prototypes – there are some very serious, reflective chapters as well.  In 1976, a mentally unbalanced employee killed two executives at MGA and wounded three other workers before killing himself.  The man had a “hit list” and on it was Breslow, who, to take a phone call, had just stepped out of the meeting room where his two colleagues were slain.  Breslow discusses the impact of that horrific event on his life. [Donald H. Harrison]

How Those Children’s Toys and Games Come Into Being Read More »

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

What Should We Read and Why?

The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BCE) wrote that humans are better than plants and animals because humans can think. He stressed that a person who does not think is no better than a plant or animal. The Jewish philosopher Maimonides (1138-1204) agreed but took one step further. He added that when the Bible states that God placed the image of God in humans, this image is the ability to think. The main benefit of reading is acquiring information about the world, how it functions, how humans behave, and how we can use this information to improve ourselves and society. [Rabbi Israel Drazin]

What Should We Read and Why? Read More »

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

This Book is Better Than Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer

By Rabbi Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Although virtually all readers of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer did not live or think as Tom, they enjoyed and still enjoy his adventures, Mark Twain’s sterling writing, his humor, and insights. The same applies to Levi Welton’s magnificent memoir, Be Like the Moon. Welton’s book does this

This Book is Better Than Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer Read More »

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

80 Years On, Remembering ‘French Suite’ Author and Holocaust Victim Irène Némirovsky

By Alex Gordon HAIFA, Israel — Johann Sebastian Bach composed six French Suites that began to be performed decades after the death of their author. In 2004, the non-musical French Suite, a novel about World War II, was published by the publishing house Denoel, translated into 38 languages. The book won France’s second most prestigious

80 Years On, Remembering ‘French Suite’ Author and Holocaust Victim Irène Némirovsky Read More »

Alex Gordon, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Holocaust, International, Opinion

Where I-5 Jewish Stories Are Found

The three-book series offers 90 stories in all – a mosaic of Jewish life, personalities, and influences along the Interstate 5 corridor from the Mexican border to the Orange County line. It has been a pleasure authoring this trilogy, which has been augmented by the photography of Dr. Ben Dishman and Fred Kropveld, two fellow congregants of Tifereth Israel Synagogue. [Donald H. Harrison]

Where I-5 Jewish Stories Are Found Read More »

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

A Scroll of Ancient Music that Leads to a Romance

This book is a fictionalized account of Jacqueline Semha Gmach’s life in Tunisia and Canada before settling in San Diego where her store of cultural knowledge for many years defined programming at the Lawrence Family JCC.  It is also a love story, travelogue, and collection of photos that are dear to Gmach. [Donald H. Harrison]

A Scroll of Ancient Music that Leads to a Romance Read More »

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

Unpacking the Transmission of Holocaust Trauma

“The Holocaust: Does Judaism Believe in Gilgul? Transmigration of Souls.” By Rabbi Dr. Bernhard Rosenberg; Independently published; ISBN-13: ‎ 979-8448939662; 436 pages; $24.99. By Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — The author of The Holocaust: Does Judaism Believe in Gilgul? Transmigration of Souls begins with a wonderful quote from the famed psychologist

Unpacking the Transmission of Holocaust Trauma Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Holocaust, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi