Books, Poetry & Short Stories

Children’s Literature: Havdalah Made Fun by Great-Grandma

Silas and his Great-Grandmother Faye keep in touch via Internet, always bidding each other goodbye with a silly rhyme. “See you soon, Macaroon,” is one. “See you soon, Tablespoon” is another. One day Faye tells her great-grandson that her favorite part of Shabbat is the Havdalah ceremony, particularly when she sniffs the spice box. She shows Silas the spice box that his great-grandfather made for her. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Fiction, Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Four Local Poets/ Musicians to Be Featured at JCC on March 4

The featured presenters will be Poet Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel of Temple Beth Shalom in Chula Vista, Song writers Aaron and Milo Wolpoff of Congregation Ohr Shalom, and Poet Rebecca Leeman, student at Torah Hich School. [Eileen Wingard]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eileen Wingard, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Nine Who Survived the Holocaust as Children Narrate Their Stories

This is a cross-section of Holocaust stories selected for young readers in cooperation with the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center.  The recollections of juvenile Holocaust survivors who resettled in the United States after World War II are compelling reading.  Youngsters can easily empathize with the nine narrators. [Donald H. Harrison]

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

American-Born German Countess Defied Nazis, Helped Jews, U.S. POWs

Although she was not immune to the antisemitism that was characteristic of socialites at the time, she evolved.  Evidence of her change of heart was recorded by Norman Ebbut, a Berlin correspondent for The Times of London, who quoted a portion of a 1937 conversation with a Nazi party official during a dinner in honor of Tom Watson, chairman of IBM. [Donald H. Harrison]

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

30 Trailblazing Israeli Women Profiled in ‘Beyond Division’

This book has 30 biographical sketches, which are divided into six sections: 4 Healers; 11 Leaders and Ambassadors; 4 academics; 2 artists; 5 innovators; and 4 philanthropists and entrepreneurs. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Israel, Middle East, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Children’s Literature: A ‘Mitzvah Fairy’ Performs Six Good Deeds in a Single Day

A little boy has styled himself “the Mitzvah Fairy,” and does six good deeds in a long, rewarding day. He brings chicken soup to his grandmother, who has the sniffles. He waters the plants for his neighbor, Mr. Gordon, whose leg is in a cast. He also fills up Mr. Gordon’s bird feeder. [Donald H. Harrison]

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

Mann O Mann, Could Thomas Write on Biblical Subjects!

Thomas Mann … set himself the monumental task of tackling the stories of the ancestors of the Jewish people and setting them in their wider context, thereby resurrecting them in a way that draws on archeology, history, geography, comparative religions, philosophy, and psychology to portray the events described in a skeletal manner in the Bible. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Kushner Family’s Holocaust Saga Included in ‘Tunnel of Hope’

Jared Kushner, son-in-law of President Donald Trump and one of the architects of the Abraham Accords, may not have ever existed were it not for the daring escape by his grandmother Raya in September 1943 from a forced labor camp run by the Nazis in Novogrudok in today’s Belarus. [Donald H. Harrison]

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