The Arts

OpEd: The ‘Music’ of Socialism

Why didn’t I become a socialist? Soviet socialism destroyed my family and I could not love it. But it turned out that I disliked socialism for the same reason I did not become a musician: my aunt’s piano also left Kiev.  Instead of using my absolute musical ear for music, I had to use it to listen to the atonal music of wailing, to the unmelodic moans and gloomy chords of the lamentations of the Soviet Jews. [Alex Gordon]

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Alex Gordon, Antisemitism, International, Israel, Jewish History, Lifestyles, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Opinion, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Highly Readable Holocaust Memoir Carefully Delineates Sources

In 1942, when Alfred was 8 and Herbert was 5, their parents arranged for the boys to be sent to a summer camp operated by a Jewish rescue organization.  Much to the boys’ distress, their safety-minded parents had them stay much longer than the summer.  While they were gone, their father, who had been helping the French Resistance, was arrested by the Vichy government. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Ohio Attorney General Sues to Stop Potential Sale of Rare Jewish Books, manuscripts

Published by The Center Square (The Center Square) – Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost wants to stop the sale of ancient Jewish texts and books at the nation’s first permanent Jewish institution of higher learning in Cincinnati. Yost filed for a temporary restraining order to prevent Hebrew Union College from selling copies of the Talmud

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Nordot, Science, Medicine, & Education

Romance Novel Addresses Corruption in the Organ Transplant Business

This novel is a story of love, loss, and redemption with authoritative descriptions of transplant surgeries. First-time novelist Weill formerly directed the heart-lung transplant program at Stanford University. [Donald H. Harrison]

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

Before There Was D-Day, There Was S.O.E.

In her meticulously researched and documented (80 pages of notes and references), D-Day Girls, journalist and bestselling author Sarah Rose follows a handful of these heroines through thick and thin; trough success and failure; through romances, double agents and double-crossings; through capture, imprisonment, interrogation, torture, unspeakable atrocities, sickness and even death for some. [Dorian de Wind]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorian de Wind, International, The Moderate Voice

Mandy Patinkin Concert: Controversial for Some; Entertaining for Others

The show was part concert, part stand-up, part story-telling. It was just Patinkin and an accompanist on piano. After spending a bit of time heckling the late comers in the audience, he spent some time singing some songs from Broadway musicals, old Jazz hits, and even a surprising rendition of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.”  [Sandi Masori]

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Sandi Masori, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

‘Kidnapped’ Resurrects 166-Year-Old Controversy Between Jews and the Catholic Church

The name of “Edgardo Mortara” once rocketed around the Jewish and Catholic worlds – the Jews protesting that he was kidnapped by the Catholics, and the Catholics saying that once the boy was secretly baptized by the Mortara family’s maid, it had no choice but to assume parental control. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

German-Czech Future Fund supports Kafka anniversary projects

Published by DPA International To mark the 100th anniversary of Franz Kafka’s death, the German-Czech Future Fund is supporting cross-border projects that deal with the life and work of the German-Jewish writer. Interested parties from Germany and the Czech Republic can apply for funding until the end of this month, a spokeswoman said in Prague

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish Fiction, Jewish History, Nordot

Jewish Biography: Erich Kurt Mühsam, Murdered Bohemian Poet

In 1908, Mühsam moved to Munich. Augustin Sawhi, a Spanish anarchist, recalls: “Within a few years, he became well known in the artistic world of Munich for his carefree, witty lifestyle. […] Mühsam was considered the leader of Munich’s bohemians.” [Alex Gordon]

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

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Allen Ginsberg

Courtesy of Wikipedia Allen Ginsberg (June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs, and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Generation. He vigorously opposed militarism, economic materialism, and sexual repression, and he embodied various aspects of this counterculture with his views on

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

Rocking, Rolling and ‘Mothaland Bouncing’ at the JCC

Black manages to integrate Jewish theology, history and culture into his lyrics. The cadence and flow of his music is similar to Jay-Z and Ice-T. He even weaves in some humor. There is a definite gospel vibe. It was spiritually transforming, transporting us out of the tension we in the Jewish community have been living under for eight months. [Barrett Holman Leak]

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Barrett Holman Leak, Israel, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Treachery, Sex, Sportsmanship Dominate Novel about 1936 Olympic Games

Hitler sought a propaganda victory for his Nazified country with the Olympic Games supposed to be the setting for a demonstration of “Aryan” superiority. Brundage, blinded by his own lust for prominence, became Hitler’s stooge, so desperate was he to rise to the presidency of the International Olympic Committee.  [Donald H. Harrison]

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Antisemitism, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish Fiction, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Peter Yarrow

Courtesy of Wikipedia Peter Yarrow (May 31, 1938) is an American singer and songwriter who found fame as a member of the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary. Yarrow co-wrote (with Leonard Lipton) one of the group’s best-known hits, “Puff, the Magic Dragon”. He is also a political activist and has supported causes that range from opposition

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Jewish Celebrities, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA, Wikipedia