By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Miriam Libicki, a Comic-Con veteran of more than a dozen years, says even though the annual convention “is so huge and corporate,” she keeps coming back because “there are many smaller cons inside comic con.” In a section of the main exhibit hall that is reserved for […]
Small Press: A little convention within Comic- Con Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, San Diego CountyDoing His Will (Osah Kirtzono) by Esti Weinstein, published in Hebrew by Kinneret, Zmora-Bitan, Dvir, 2016. By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson JERUSALEM –The poor woman who wrote this book (and eventually committed suicide) was born into a specific sect, tantamount to a cult, of ultra-Orthodox Judaism known as the Gur Hassidim As a child and teenager the author
Suicide’s memoir indicts the Gur sect of Hassidim Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish Religion, Middle EastBy Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — I started writing this in 2010 on the occasion of my 67th birthday about the unpredictable nature of what we give away and then need in the future. Retiring from Nebraska to California in 2016 only enlarged the scale of this conundrum. Now almost 75 I think this
Book, wine collections stir, comfort the soul Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak, Travel and Food, USABy Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Perhaps I am becoming my own grandfather, a gentle architect born in the 19th century who prided himself on being a proper and decorous man. Recently, I wrote a column decrying the bitter partisanship that divides Washington, D.C., and which sadly is exemplified by the rancorous way that
Editor’s personal blog: Declining language, politics Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, USA
By Oliver B. Pollak POINT REYES STATION, California — I had heard on NPR that Steve Costa and Kate Levinson wanted to sell a bookstore they had owned since 2002 in this delightful Northern California coastal town, and get on with new life opportunities. In 2016 they interviewed prospective buyers. Karen and I looked at
How to identify Jewish writers Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak
Jewish Libya: Memory & Identity in Text & Image, edited by Jacque Roumani, David Meghnagi & Judith Roumani; © 2018, Syracuse University Press, ISBN 9780815-635628; 280 pages plus bibliography, appendices, and index. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Jewish Libya is an anthology about a place that no longer exists. Since Israel’s successful 1967
‘Jewish Libya:’ background for the next James Michener Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Middle East
By Oliver Pollak SAN FRANCISCO — The Contemporary Jewish Museum just celebrated its 10th anniversary. The celebration coincided with an exhibit on cartoonist and inventor Rube Goldberg, curated by Goldberg’s granddaughter, Jennifer George. Initially that exhibit had opened in Seattle, then came to San Francisco from Canadian, Texas, and goes next to Portland, Maine. It
Rube Goldberg still inspires fanciful art Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Travel and Food
By Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — We come to the books we read from many directions. It could be newspaper and magazine reviews, suggestions from trusted friends, NPR reviews, looking at bookstore recent arrivals, ‘the book club is now reading,’ gifts from friends and family, looking over shoulders on the airplane, going to book
How we choose the books we read Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak
Celebrate, Commemorate: The History and Heritage of San Diego’s Jewish Community, editor Joellyn Zollman, San Diego History Center, ISBN 8780918-740090, 91 pages including acknowledgments and room for personal remembrances. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – The recent exhibition at the San Diego History Center about our local Jewish community contained more information than most
S.D. Jewish history book helpful exhibition souvenir Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego County
By Steve Kramer KFAR SAVA, Israel —Rabbi Ken Spiro’s new book, Destiny, successfully guides the reader through the central themes of Judaism: the impact of Jewish values on civilization, Jewish determination, the disproportionate impact of the Jewish people, anti-Semitism and its message, the Jewish vision of history and conception of time, and [even] mankind’s ultimate
Rabbi- historian examines the destiny of the Jews Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Steve KramerTasting the Past, The Science of Flavor & the Search for the Original Wine Grapes by Kevin Begos. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, ISBN 9781616-205775, 277 pages, $26.95 By Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant in Berkeley was the 2nd stop on a three-week, nine-event book tour traversing Florida, California and New York.
Searching history for original wines Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak, Travel and Food
Persecuted. Engaged. Married. Marriages of convenience in exile by Sabine Bergler and Irene Messinger, Jewish Museum Vienna, 2018, 147 pages. By Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California.– We marry for love, romance, money, and to procreate and extend family lineages. Marriages of convenience (MOC) are embedded in politics, survival, citizenship, and migration. Marriage and Nazi domination evokes
Escape by marriage: how some fled the Nazis Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Oliver Pollak
By Mimi Pollack SAN DIEGO — My maternal grandparents were born in the 1800’s in the land that today is known as Israel. They passed away before I was born, and I regret I never got the chance to talk with them and hear their stories. Thus, it is with great interest that I perused
Catalog illustrates 70 years of Israel craft and design Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Middle East, Mimi Pollack, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County
The Third Door by Alex Banayan; © 2018 Crown Publishing Group of Penguin Random House LLC; ISBN 9780894-136662; 286 pages plus acknowledgments; $26. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – This is the story of a college student’s frenetic search for off-campus enlightenment in which he schemes and obsesses over interviewing the world’s most successful
A frenetic campaign to meet business gurus Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, USA