Books, Poetry & Short Stories

Dubrow’s Cafeteria Comes Back to Life in ‘Kibbitz & Nosh’

History, culture and gastronomy collide in this collection of photographs that depicts the American Jewish palate, fashion and routines of Brooklynites from 1970 to 1985. As an art major of Brooklyn College Halperin sought out subjects for her medium. She landed on Dubrow’s cafeteria as a spot to hone her skill. Though it was in her own Flatbush neighborhood, she’d never been inside. [Eva Trieger]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eva Trieger, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Travel and Food, USA

Therapist who also Needed to be Healed Relates Her Experience with Mental Illness

Before she was prescribed lithium, author Marcia Naomi Berger experienced manic episodes in which her mind would race all night, preventing sleep, and continue racing the next day with her speech trying to keep up. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, California, Donald H. Harrison, Lifestyles, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Mimi’s Ark: Showing Love for Ramona’s Wildlife

He leads photographic expeditions to in Africa and Central and South America, including Botswana, Costa Rica, and Chile. With his keen insight to animal behavior and his jovial personality, the expeditions are very popular, and sell out quickly. [Mimi Pollack]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Mimi Pollack, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, The World We Share

An Open Letter to Authors’ Guild on Antisemitism

Scheduled Jewish authors’ events have been canceled and many venues would not invite them to present. Agents are turning down manuscripts by Jewish writers or are firing Jewish clients whose work they had agreed to represent. These gate-keepers of the publishing world know that acquisition editors will not buy them. [Talia Carner]

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Antisemitism, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Israel, Opinion, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

A Serious Essay about European Jewish Humor

Self-criticism is inherent in a tolerant society that respects the human being as such and reflects on its mistakes and imperfections. Self-criticism is alien to an authoritarian society. Nations that are satisfied with themselves and look to other nations for faults and blame for their failures are stagnant. Jews are dissatisfied, hence they develop. [Alex Gordon]

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Alex Gordon, Antisemitism, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Israel, Jewish History, Lifestyles, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Erich Segal

Courtesy of Wikipedia Erich Segal (June 16, 1937 – January 17, 2010) was an American author, screenwriter, educator, and classicist who wrote the bestselling novel Love Story (1970) and its hit film adaptation. Born and raised in a Jewish household in Brooklyn, New York, Segal was the first of three brothers. His father was a rabbi and his mother was a homemaker.

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Today's Jewish Birthday, Wikipedia

‘Careful Beauties Ahead!’: Laughing at the Pious

Tenenbom also mocks practices that rational thinkers would consider strange. For example, pious men feel that it is wrong to look at a woman lest they be driven to lust, but women can look at men because they are not so distracted. Also, married women cover their hair so that men do not become attracted to them. However, many buy wigs that make them more beautiful than they ever were before they wore them. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Lesbian Breaks Free from Gur Hasidim

So, of course she tried to suppress the fact that she was physically stimulated by the touch of women and conversely deadened by the touch of men.  She took no joy in marital sex; it was a duty imposed upon her by the expectation of the Gur community.  The only benefit of having sex with her first husband was her two children, for whom her love knew no bounds. [Donald H. Harrison]

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

A Jewish Immigrant Mother’s Tale

The trauma remained with her, influencing the rest of her life.  Working as a translator of Polish, Yiddish, and Russian at the Bund offices, she was exposed to frequent reports of antisemitic incidents in Poland, heightening her sense of danger.  She took comfort in the strength of her boss at the Bund, Leopold.  [Donald H. Harrison]

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

Jewish Biography: Boris Pasternak Avoided, Denied, His Jewishness

Pasternak’s feelings about Jews and Jewry in the first 22 years of his life are ̶ negative: humiliation, oppression, pogroms. A different vision of the Jewish problem was revealed to him in Marburg. Pasternak encountered Jewish thinking for the first time in his life: Cohen’s teachings were based on the ethics of Judaism. Plagued by Jewish complexes in Russia, he was apparently shocked by the position of the Jewish thinker and rejected Cohen’s offer to continue his philosophical studies. [Alex Gordon]

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Alex Gordon, Antisemitism, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors

‘101 Treasures’ from Israel Library is also a Treasure for Home Collections

The joke is that my wife has been an unflagging downsizer, in resisting my acquiring new books, but gifts may be different. I thanked my friend, “Never seen Karen so pleased to get a book in an age where she is trying to get them out of the house.” [Oliver B. Pollak]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Oliver Pollak, Staff and Bylined Contributors