Donald H. Harrison

Tough Questions Jews Ask: A Young Adult’s Guide to Building a Jewish Life, 2nd Edition by Rabbi Edward Feinstein, Jewish Lights Publishing, 2012, 140 pages, ISBN 978-1-58023-454-2-51599,  U.S. cover price: $15.99. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–Some years ago I interviewed a spokesperson for the Home Instruction for the Parents of Pre-School Youngsters program (or

  By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–Congregation Beth Israel, celebrating its sesquicentennial year, on Thursday evening, Jan. 19, honored some five dozen past and present leaders from its congregation who have built and led the organizations that serve the Jewish community of San Diego.  It treated these leaders and other members of the Reform congregation

Raising Kids to Love Being Jewish by Doron Kornbluth, K’hal Publishing, ISBN 978-1-60204-016-8, 189 pages including notes,  retail price unlisted By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–Anyone who is active in the Jewish community will not be surprised by  the suggestions here compiled by Doron Kornbluth, a Jerusalem writer.   They follow mainline thinking that if you

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO– I should like to acknowledge a debt to three musicians whom I’ve never met, but whose fine work has made some historical research quite a bit easier.   Their names are Yael Weiss, Mark Kaplan and Clancy Newman.  Respectively, they play the piano, violin, and cello. Last year, Bridge Records

  By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Grandson Sky is an energetic four-year-old.  With only a little coaxing he will clean up whatever room he left looking like it was subjected to a hurricane.  But I’m not certain that he is ready to absorb the lesson at the downtown Children’s Museum that the world

  By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Second through fourth grade students who participate in Deeds by Kids, a nonprofit organization that encourages them to practice volunteerism and philanthropy, saw the payoff for their first project on Friday, Dec. 16. The reward came in the form of smiles from nearly 200 students of Cabrillo

From the Holocaust to a New Dawn by David Shachar, Gefen Publishing House, 2011, ISBN 978-965-229-546-0; 198 pages, No price listed. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO– David Shachar is not a world leader, nor are his Holocaust experiences particularly extraordinary, although they are, of course, tragic.  Yet Shachar has written a personal memoir that

Hot Chocolate for Seniors compiled  by Jan Fowler, Balboa Press of Hay House, 2011, ISBN 978-1-4525-3945-4,  319 pages, $21.99 By Donald H. Harrison   SAN DIEGO –This is an anthology of positivity with more than 100 short stories, most not longer than three pages–covering such topics as unexplained but happy mysteries; love the second time

Baseless Hatred: What It Is and What You Can Do about It by Rene H. Levy, PhD, Gefen Publishing House,  2011, 212 pages including bibliography, ISBN 9789652295309, price unlisted. By Donald H. Harrison   SAN DIEGO — An important concept in this book is that of arevut, which teaches that the responsibility that one Jew

  By Donald H. Harrison EL CAJON, California — During Tata Twins: The Remix, a play modernizing the ancient Greek playwright Plautus’s The Twin Menaechmus and similar farces based on mistaken identities, we first meet “Lady Tata” (Stephanie Johnson) shouting the F-word as she emerges from her Hollywood mansion. Thereafter, not one of her spoken

Echoes of Eden, Sefer Bereishit, by Rabbi Ari D. Kahn, “Echoes of Eden,” OU Press, 386 pages, ISBN 978-965-229-499-9. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — This is an eye-opening commentary on the Book of Genesis (Bereshit) which probably should be recommended for adults only. The interpretations delve into some of the underlying sexual content