The Arts

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Mel Blanc

Courtesy of Wikipedia Melvin Blanc (May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy radio programs, including those of Jack Benny, Abbott and Costello, Burns and Allen, The Great Gildersleeve, Judy Canova, and […]

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Jewish Celebrities, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA, Wikipedia

The Yin and Yang of Life’s Transitions

As high school students are graduating and heading off to college, The Israeli American Council (IAC) encourages students to join Mishelanu (Of our own). Mishelanu is a supportive community for college students to celebrate Jewish heritage and love for Israel. [Cailin Acosta]

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Cailin Acosta, California, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Danny Elfman

Courtesy of Wikipedia Daniel Elfman (May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer, songwriter, and musician. He came to prominence as the lead singer and primary songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since scoring his first studio film in 1985, Elfman has garnered international recognition for composing over 100 feature film scores,

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Jewish Celebrities, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA, Wikipedia

‘Love is All We Need’: An Idyllic Book for Children (and Their Adults)

Love is All We Need by Krina Patel-Sage; Northampton, Massachusetts: Crocodile Books © 2024; ISBN 9781623-716929; 26 pages; $18.95. SAN DIEGO – The two boys hugging in the middle of the adjacent cover image are a Muslim and a Jew – a timely reminder during the fierce Israel-Hamas War that friendships between people of different

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

Learning from Isaac Leib Peretz’s Masterpiece ‘If Not Higher’

I consider Peretz’s story “If Not Higher” the best of his tales. In it, the Hasidim of the town of Nemirov believe their rabbi is so holy that he ascends to heaven each year during the Penitential Prayers, which are recited in synagogues every Friday morning before the New Year holiday Rosh Hashanah. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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

LFJCC Will Present 13 Songs by the Late Cantor Sheldon Merel

Hebrew liturgical works by 20th century composers will include, “Hashkiveynu,” and “Avinu Malkenu,” by Max Janowski, “La Kol Z’man,” and “Shalom Rav,” by Ben Steinberg, “Kiddush,” by Kurt Weill, “L’Shana Haba B’Yerushalayim,” by Morton Gold and a setting of the “Kol Nidre,” by Max Helfman.  [Eileen Wingard]

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Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel, z"l, Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Richard Sherman, z”l, songwriter behind Disney hits, dead at 95

Published by AFP Los Angeles (AFP) – Richard Sherman, the writer behind songs in classic Disney movies such as “Mary Poppins” and “The Jungle Book” died Saturday at the age of 95, the film and entertainment company said. He died in Beverly Hills from age-related illness, Disney said. Sherman and his brother Robert, who died

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Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Nordot, Obituaries & memorials, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

‘Vanity Fair’ Confusing in First Act, Redeemed in Second Act

The play is cute once you figure out the various players.  The only actors that don’t play multiple parts are Macias and Austin, so it does take a bit in the beginning to follow the fast character changes (illustrated by costume changes or putting on a smock or shawl).  Dagmar Krause Fields for example, is the narrator, Miss Matilda Crawley, and Lord Steyne. [Sandi Masori]

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San Diego County, Sandi Masori, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Jewish Biography: Lion Feuchtwanger, the Cosmopolite

His books probe which type of Jew serves the nation more faithfully – the court Jew Joseph Süss Oppenheimer from  Jew Süss; Yehuda ibn Ezra, the favorite of King Alfonso VIII from The Spanish Ballad; the assimilated and estranged historian and writer, the collaborationist Joseph Flavius in The Jewish War trilogy; Jephthah, the leader and fighter for the national interest in Jephthah and His Daughter; or the revolutionary leader Thomas Wendt (Ernst Toller) in The Year One Thousand Nine Hundred and Eighteen? [Alex Gordon]

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

Novel Tells of Female Math Whiz Helping the U.S. to Win World War II

Her misplaced feelings of guilt prompted her to hide a remarkable inheritance, the gift of being able to visualize the solutions to math problems in her head, similar to the way that television’s Dr. Shaun Murphy of the just concluded The Good Doctor series was able to mentally picture complex medical conditions and interactions. [Donald H. Harrison]

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

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Beverly Sills

Courtesy of Wikipedia Beverly Sills (May 25, 1929 – July 2, 2007) was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s. Although she sang a repertoire from Handel and Mozart to Puccini, Massenet, and Verdi, she was especially renowned for her performances in coloratura soprano roles in live opera and recordings. Sills was largely associated with the operas of Donizetti, of

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Jewish Celebrities, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA, Wikipedia

Novel Traces the Life of a Jewish Baby Boomer

Typically, novels have some conflicts that need to be resolved, but although this one hints of several conflicts, they are papered over.  For example, the fact that her mother was a Christian who pretended to be a very “Reformed” English Jew in order not to upset Sherrie’s grandparents was a situation that could have been deeply explored, but it wasn’t. [Donald H. Harrison]

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

Ernest Rady Slams Anti-Israel Commencement Speaker in Winnipeg

According to The Free Press of Winnipeg, Manitoba, in a letter to Vice Chancellor Michael Benarroch and the Health Sciences Dean Dr. Peter Nickerson, Rady said of Newman’s words: “They are hate speech and they are lies.” [SDJW staff]

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Antisemitism, International, Israel, Middle East, News Media, Philanthropy & Volunteerism, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Bob Dylan

Courtesy of Wikipedia Bob Dylan (May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often considered one of the greatest songwriters in history, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his 60-year career. He rose to prominence in the 1960s, when his songs “Blowin’ in the Wind” (1963) and “The Times They Are a-Changin’” (1964)

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