Mother India by Tova Reich; ©2018; Syracuse University Press, ISBN 9780815-611066; 253 pages. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – If you walk through ankle-deep sewage overflow while batting away flies and choking on ashes of incinerated human remains, you’ll experience the India of author Tova Reich’s description. You probably would prefer to visit Dante’s […]
Is it India or is it Gehenna? Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. HarrisonBy Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — In a personal blog post I published in September I asked my readers if the current bestseller The Tattooist of Auschwitz, a Holocaust sex and romance “novel” concocted by a well-intentioned but somewhat nervy non-Jewish screenwriter in Australia, was ever going to be called in question by literary critics
Veracity questioned of “The Tattooist of Auschwitz’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish HistoryThe New American Judaism: How Jews Practice Their Religion Today by Jack Wertheimer, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, © 2018, ISBN 978-0-691-18129-5, p. 272 plus bibliography and index, $29.95. By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California – American Jewry is balkanized, divided into denominations ranging from the Haredi, who scrupulously and meticulously strive to obey both the
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion
Holocaust Survivor to Harvard Dean: Memoirs of a Refugee’s Progress by Michael Shinagel © 2016, Xlibris, ISBN 9781524-509606; 150 pages plus Index; Available on Amazon. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Having served for nearly four decades as dean of the Harvard Extension School – the longest known deanship in Harvard’s history – author
This life in academia makes for pleasant reading Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Science, Medicine, & Education
All Quiet on the Midwestern Plains by Dorothea Shefer-Vanson © 2018, ISBN9781723-871801, 399 pages plus acknowledgements, available on Amazon. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – My colleague, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, has written a novel based in part upon the time that she and her husband Yigal had come to the American Midwest together while he
Vicious politics, betrayal, divide fictional college faculty Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson
By Eric George Tauber SAN DIEGO — By now, you’ve probably heard about the passing of Stan Lee, former editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics, at the age of 95. Born Stanley Martin Lieber to poor, working-class Jewish immigrants from Romania, he adopted a pseudonym because he wanted to save his real name for “more serious literary pursuits”
An homage to Stan Lee Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eric George Tauber, San Diego CountyBy Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — Combining the keyword “Hitler” and “Highest Price” on AbeBooks founded in 1995 and owned by Amazon since 2008 produces an amazing Judaica juxtaposition priced between $180,000 and $527,815. For less than $1.5 million you could own three unique 20th century works on Palestine, Mein Kampf and Einstein, and
Online dealers sell historic Judaic, Nazi artifacts Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Oliver Pollak, Science, Medicine, & Education
A Tragic Fate: Law and Ethics in the Battle Over Nazi-Looted Art (2017) by Nicholas M. O’Donnell By Herbert I. Lazerow SAN DIEGO — This is a terrific book that everyone should read. Nicholas O’Donnell’s book begins by describing as the paradigm case Camille Pissarro’s Rue St. Honore, apres-midi, effet de pluie, sold by the German
Book details the battles over Nazi-looted art Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Often you will meet women who either are in their second careers, or have become very proficient at their hobbies, at the Artisan Festival sponsored annually by the Women of Temple Emanu-El. On Sunday, I found that to be the case when I interviewed artist Enid Texler and
Crafts, art, books featured at Temple Emanu-El fair Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Travel and Food
BêteBrune (Brown Beast): The Saga of Judith Sanders by Kim Hester, Kim Hester LLC, © 2018, ISBN 9781543-939330; 241 pages. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – This was a truly difficult book to read. Not stylistically; the author has a clear and concise style. The book’s content was severely off-putting, so filled is this
‘BeteBrune’ novel filled with hateful stereotypes Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. HarrisonJason Stanley, How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them (New York; Random House, 2018) By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — We read on the jacket that Stanley is a named Professor of Philosophy at Yale, who has received a number of awards for his writing, is a frequent contributor to The New York Times, The
‘How Fascism Works’ leaves much to be desired Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Ira Sharkansky
Bucharest Diary: Romania’s Journey from Darkness to Light by Alfred H. Moses; Brookings Institution Press © 2018; ISBN 9780815-732723; 394 pages including index and glossary of people and places. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Formerly national president of the American Jewish Committee, trial attorney Alfred H. Moses had successfully lobbied the Communist
Bucharest Diary: Tale of a Jewish American ambassador Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, USABy Sandy Scheller He went to bed the day beforeHe was normal, maybe feeling tornBut something was different as he wokeHe killed, he murdered, his actions spoke. My eyes they hurt from solid tearsI’m with my mom who has no fears She reminds me to be strong and not be weakAnd places a tender kiss on
Halakhah: The Rabbinic Idea of Law by Chaim N. Saiman, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, © 2018, ISBN 978-0-691-15211-0, p. 248 plus appendices and index, $29.95. By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California – Halakhah is derived from the Hebrew root letters meaning to walk or to go when used as a verb, and path or way as
Halakhah through the ages examined Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish Religion