Books, Poetry & Short Stories

‘Shadow Strike’: Reason for pause for anti- Iran hawks

(c) By Edwin Black WASHINGTON, D.C. —Jerusalem Post editor Yaakov Katz probably had no way of knowing that this would be a perfect time to release his briskly-selling Shadow Strike—Inside Israel’s Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power (St. Martin’s Press). Or did he? The world’s attention is once again and inevitably riveted to the […]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Edwin Black, International, Middle East, USA

How the Bible has been used in U.S. history

Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land, The Hebrew Bible in the United States: A Sourcebook by M. Y. Soloveichik, M. Holbreich, J. Silver, and S. W. Halpern, editors, The Toby Press, New Milford CT, © 2019, ISBN 978-1-59264-465-0, p. 344, $29.95. By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California – Historians generally acknowledge the importance of the Protestant pulpit

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish Religion

Comic- Con may change, but fans still seek advice

By Shor M. Masori SAN DIEGO — Comic-Con has exploded into a place where pop culture fandoms blend, creating an almost amusement-park atmosphere encompassing everything from the biggest Internet Providers to the smallest fledgling writers and artists. But one thing has remained consistent throughout the convention’s 50 meetings over the last 49 years: the inspiration

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Shor M. Masori

Comic-Con has its own kind of sequels

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Comic books often have their sequels.  So too do appearances at Comic-Con. At the current Comic-Con, a panel on art in the Holocaust was largely a repeat of last year’s panel – with some new information.  Meanwhile, an independent exhibitor, Miriam Libicki, about whom two stories have appeared

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Comic book series promotes Pakistani peace

  By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Walking through the exhibit hall at Comic-Con, I heard someone ask, “Would you like some free comic books for peace?” and when I turned, there was a smiling young woman wearing a hijab.  Of course, I was interested right away. Could they mean peace between Arabs and

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

Book Review: ‘Jews in Medicine’

Jews in Medicine, Contributions to Health and Healing through the Age by Ronald L. Eisenberg Jerusalem and New York: Urim Publications, 2019, 464 pages, $34.95 By Oliver B. Pollak JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming — This 464-page encyclopedic reference book starts with the Talmud and comes into the present including still living practitioners. The author identifies Jewish

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Oliver Pollak, Science, Medicine, & Education

Childhood sexual abuse sent two ‘sisters’ to mental hell

Sheol Country Blues by Adrienne O’Hare, Asna Publishing © 2019, ISBN 9780578-507248; 165 pages, $18. By Donald H. Harrison   SAN DIEGO – I met the Jewish lady whose name sounds very Irish (thanks to her marriage to the affable Larry O’Hare) in February 2018 at shipboard Shabbat services aboard the MS Maasdam, which then

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

30- year- old Holocaust research still relevant today

The Journey Back From Hell: Conversations with Concentration Camp Survivors by Anton Gill, Grafton Books, 1988. By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Although published thirty years ago, this book is at least as relevant today as it was when it first appeared. As the survivors of concentration camps grow old and die it is

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Jewish History

The 527 -year- old pact between Jews and Basques

.…and won’t you please release us from our commitment of 1492 to preserve the Jewish cemetery.  The city wishes to build on those grounds, which today is encircled by our growth…’ Restpectfully,  The Vitoria City Council (January 1952) (paraphrased) At Vitoria by Marcia Sue Riman Selz, Ph.D. Archway Publishing, 2016 Reviewed by Irvin H. Jacobs,

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish History

Book prompts Jewish rationalism vs. mysticism debate

By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Maimonides: Between Philosophy and Halakhah: Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s Lectures on the Guide of the Perplexed is interesting because it shows the basic ideas of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s thinking. But readers should not suppose that they will gain an insight into the teachings of Maimonides or even some

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

Book Review: ‘Newcomers in an Ancient Land’

Newcomers in an Ancient Land: Adventures, Love and Seeking Myself in 1960’s Israel by Paula Wagner; She Writes Press, © 2019;ISBN 9781631-525292; 220 pages; $16.95. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – For the most part, this is a pleasant if tentative memoir, which will be informative for people contemplating a first trip from the

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Middle East

Book Review: ‘Confessions of a Yiddish Writer’

Confessions of a Yiddish Writer and Other Essays by Chava Rosenfarb, McGill-Queens University Press © 2019, 282 pages including appendix and index.   By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Chava Rosenfarb was recognized as a novelist and essayist of substance by those of the post-Holocaust, shrinking, Yiddish-speaking world, but it remained for her daughter,

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

Abelard & Heloise: A medieval love story

By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — The story of Peter Abelard (1079-1142) and Heloise (1095-1163) is considered a great medieval love story. We have still today Abelard’s autobiography and letters between the parties, so we know much but not all of the love story. James Burge’s Heloise and Abelard is an interesting

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