The river on which generations of Emily’s family had traveled traversed many dangerous rapids and waterfalls. Already attuned to the injustice of racial discrimination in America, Emily found other kinds of virulent race hatred as she traveled back to witness her ancestors’ journeys. [Book review by Donald H. Harrison]
Time-traveling through Jewish history Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison
The three local Jewish poets, Jan Gist, Lorraine Fisher and Yoel Guadarrama, attracted a large attendance to the January 21 Jewish Poets—Jewish Voices evening at the Astor Judaica Library at the Lawrence Fmaily JCC. Among the audience were many poets who shared their works during the open mic segment, creating one of the most interesting and diverse programs in the series. [Eileen Wingard]
Poems of Gist, Fisher, and Guadarrama Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eileen Wingard, San Diego County
The United States will send 152 of the 500 delegates who will meet in Jerusalem at the World Zionist Congress, which allocates approximately $1 billion a year in funds for Zionist activities in Israel, the United States, and around the world. Voting continues through March 11 via this website.
The leaders of Israel Shelanu on Tuesday, Feb. 4, put out a press release saying the Israel-American Council (IAC) betrayed Israeli-Americans when it decided to support the slate of Kol Israel rather than Israel Shelanu. [Donald H. Harrison]
Israeli-Americans tussle over WZC slates Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
Marlon classifies more than eight hundred Jewish luminaries into one or more of fifteen categories, each its own chapter, including the High Priests of the Jews, Exilarchs of the Jews, and Generals of the Jews. He separates Jewish kings into five separate chapters: Kings of the United Monarchy, Kings of Israel, Kings of Judea, Hasmonean and Herodian Kings, and Jewish Kings of Himyar, Khazaria, and Ethiopia. A distinct chapter holds Queens of the Jews, starting with Mikhal (c. 900 BCE), youngest daughter of King Saul and ending with Gudit (c. 960 CE), who fought against Aksum, the capital of Christian Ethiopia. [Fred Reiss, Ed.D]
Book chronicles 4,000 years of Jewish leaders Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish History
Rabbi Drazin’s newest book sets out to prove that the Judaism that everyone observes today is a relatively later historical development. Judaism continues to undergo endlessly new permutations. This observation applies no less to Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, Renewal, even some of the vestigial practices of so-called “secular Jews,” which to a certain degree follow variations of rabbinical Judaism. Yet, as the author noted, “The term Orthodox did not exist before the 19th century” (p. 175). [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]
From Torah to rabbinic Judaism Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi
I think we all should congratulate Mayor Catherine Blakespear and three other members of the Encinitas City Council who voted their hearts, and not their fears, in the recent battle over providing safe overnight parking spaces to 25 homeless families who are forced to sleep in their cars. [Donald H. Harrison]
Congratulations Encinitas City Council, JFS & Leichtag Foundation Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, USA
Identical books with different titles and different covers introduce bookish mystery and confusion. Such is the case of No Place to Lay One’s Head and A Bookshop in Berlin by Françoise Frenkel which first appeared in 1945 as Rien où poser sa tête. The revival of an overlooked book has a special attraction. Publishers appeal to sensibilities of prospective readers through alluring titles and cover art. [Oliver B. Pollak, PhD]
1945 Holocaust memoir rediscovered Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Oliver Pollak
“To answer your email, yes, my new novel does deal directly with the Jewish experience pre- and post-Russian Revolution, in Chicago during the Great Depression, and through the lens of an Israeli-American raised in Chicago decades later,” Zapata told me. “My mother’s family is Ashkenazi, originally from Lithuania, and my father’s family is from Ecuador.” [Dan Bloom]
‘Lost Book of Adana Moreau’ a Jewish story Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories
As we approach the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, many books, documentaries and articles are appearing about “history’s darkest chapter.” The book Last Stop Auschwitz: My Story of Survival From Within the Camp, set for release momentarily, will certainly become one of the more defining accounts of the horrors and inhumanities perpetrated by the Nazis during the Holocaust. [Dorian De Wind]
Auschwitz memoir revived for 75th anniversary Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorian de Wind, International, Jewish History“The story goes like this,” Schwartz told me in a recent update to his earlier emails. “The main character, Neil Stephenson, is a TV meteorologist and a rising star in the Baltimore area. During a snowstorm that isn’t producing as much snow as predicted, Neil discovers his gift: that he can actually make the snow increase or decrease, and make it rain or stop raining.” That’s some superpower, as readers of the recently-published novel will find out. [Dan Bloom]
Fictional weather-maker faces religious controversy Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, The World We Share
San Diegans of various faiths will gather at 8:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 20, at the Marston House in Balboa Park, at 3525 Seventh Avenue (corner of Upas) to honor the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on what would have been five days past his 91st birthday. [Donald H. Harrison]
Jews, Christians, Muslims to join in MLK salute Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, USA
Mendek Rubin was born in 1924 in Jaworzno, Poland, a town with over 2,000 Jews, about 15 miles from Auschwitz. He died in Carmel in 2012. When his daughter Myra was putting his papers in order she came across a manuscript In Quest of the Eternal Sunshine. It was a surprise and not a surprise. It was a surprise to find it, but she had already helped her father edit it decades earlier. She worked on the manuscript for a few days but the task was incompatible with raising her two children. And, “in the intervening years” she had “completely forgotten it existed.” [Oliver B. Pollak]
Posthumous Holocaust memoir a family affair Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Oliver Pollak
Last July, I wrote an article, “Wanted: listeners, not interrupters” for this publication. I received several revealing responses from friends and others, each with the same opening sentence,” I am guilty of being a poor listener.” Frankly, their confessions were not surprising, as poor listening is endemic. Even after I met with the same friends later there was little change in their behavior. No one is listening! [Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel]
No one is listening! Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel, z"l, Lifestyles
For the first time, I read the courageous secret diary of a man and wife who did what they could to record what they saw, they heard, and they felt living in Nazi Germany. They had been denounced. They had barely escaped the concentration camps, the Gestapo, and probable death for being in opposition to Hitler. They knew what they had to do, what they could still do, even if they could not shape the present. They hoped their diary might shape the future when another Hitler could arise somewhere in the world in another vaunted high cultured and “free” society. The diary, a series of volumes that remained hidden long after the war had ended, eventually ran to almost 1,000 pages. [Jerry Klinger]
German’s diary tells of opposition to Hitler Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History