Books, Poetry & Short Stories

Postcards and the Kindertransport

This story is built around 50 delicate letters, most written on the back of German period piece postcards: including garden scenes of fairy tales gnomes, elfs, leprechauns, and teddy bears designed for children. The letters, starting in February 1939 were by Max Lichtwitz, a Berlin lawyer, to his six-year-old son Heinz or Heini Lichtwitz, the future Henry Foner. They evoke love, longing, and irreparable loss. Max, a widower, sent his six-year son Heinz to England to live in Swansea, Wales with Morris and Winifred Foner. Max, his new wife and stepdaughter never got out of Germany, and were murdered in Auschwitz. [Oliver Pollak]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Oliver Pollak

Books that have greatly influenced me

When a recent zoom meeting of the only group in which I still participate set as a subject for discussion ‘A Book That Has Influenced Me,’ I had no hesitation in choosing J.G. Frazer’s study of comparative religions, anthropology, history and sociology entitled The Golden Bough; a Study in Magic and Religion.’The paperback copy I bought in 1962, when I was a university student, numbered almost 1,000 pages and was touted as the ’abridged edition in one volume.’ [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

Novel/ memoir draws inter-generational comparisons

Return from Siberia by John Shallman, Skyhorse Publishing © 2020; ISBNB 9781510-763371; 220 pages including acknowledgments. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Author John Shallman is a Los Angeles-based political consultant and commentator, and one of the protagonists in this novel is John Simon, a political consultant.  There is no coincidence here; the book

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison

Pandemics through history and the religious response

In his newest book, God and the Pandemic, Rabbi Samuel starts with a historical look at plagues in antiquity, comparing and contrasting leadership skills combating them, praising Marcus Aurelius, a stoic, for guiding his nation through the Antonine Plague in the second century, and condemning Roman emperors in the following century for failing to protect the citizenry during the Plague of Cyprian. [Fred Reiss, Ed.D]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, International, Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Middle East, USA

When hippies invented their own Judaism

Take yourself back to the 1960s and 1970s when Jewish hippies envisioned creating their own brand of Judaism. Kosher food mixed with marijuana. Come as you are davening with cushions in a circle, instead of chairs facing a bima. Potluck dinners, in both meanings of the word. Some traditional prayers in, others out. Fully egalitarian services long before more established movements recognized women as spiritual leaders. Men and a woman even going to an outdoor mikvah together (Okay, it was skinny-dipping mixed with traditional mikvah prayers.) [Book review by Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Judaism

Ellis Island and the name ‘Kaputnik’

Supposedly, the name Kaputnik was assigned to the family at Ellis Island, when Mrs. Kapustin (her real name) worried aloud that if the baby dragon they had smuggled into the U.S. were discovered they would be Kaput (finished).  “Is that your name, Kaput?” a translator asked.  “Nicht (No),” responded Mrs. Kapustin.  And so the immigration inspector wrote down what he thought he heard — “Kaputnik.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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

What Rav Soloveitchik taught about suffering

In all faiths, cultures, and communities, the question of evil plays a prominent role in that specific group’s philosophies. What is evil, and how does one comprehend it in our lives? In Judaism, the question of evil and suffering is expressed in the following statement “Tzadik ve ra lo- A righteous person, and bad to him, rasha vetov lo- a wicked person, and good to him.”  The question is why do righteous people suffer and experience hardship, while others who are “wicked “do not experience pain and suffering? [Rabbi Dr. Bernhard H. Rosenberg]

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Bernhard H. Rosenberg-Rabbi, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Jewish Religion

Kant on why we must not discriminate

The Supreme Court decided on June 15 that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects gay and transgender workers from workplace discrimination. Discrimination ‘because of sex’ is unlawful. But what is it that makes discrimination morally wrong? It is useful to examine this from a Kantian standpoint because Immanuel Kant lays the foundation for recognizing the inherent dignity of every individual – and discrimination is indeed an affront to human dignity. [Sam Ben-Meir]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Sam Ben-Meir, Science, Medicine, & Education