The World We Share

By Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan –When Jeffrey Newman first arrived as the rabbi at Finchley Reform Synagogue in Britain in 1973, he, by his own self-description, was an idealist. And while he knew that he might not be able to change the world, he decided he would at least like to make a difference

Editor’s note: Dan Bloom often uses humor to try to make a point about serious issues such as climate change and global warming. Here he mines a few treasured Yiddish words and phrases to write an oped about the problems humankind faces.  By Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan  — Look, we have only one “drerd”

By Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — It’s winter in some parts of the world, and summer in other regions, and even in America the temperatures vary widely from Alaska to Florida. It might be pouring raining in one state and snowing heavily in another state. But one thing strikes me as we enter a

By Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — Aaron Sorkin, the Hollywood ace scriptwriter for movies and television — “The West Wing,” “The Social Network” and the current HBO hit series “The Newsroom” — grew up in a Jewish family in Scarsdale, New York  and graduated from Syracuse University n 1983, Then, like many young actors and writers, he took

By Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — Is there a Jewish view of the new movie Interstellar and the themes that director Christopher Nolan tapped into? I’m not a movie critic, and I’m not a rabbi, but here’s my take on the film from afar. “Interstellar” is fine work of movie-making and Mr. Nolan is at

By Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — Hollywood director Darren Aronofsky has been awarded a best original screenplay award for his movie Noah by an online,  climate-themed movie awards program I am curating called the Cli Fi Movie Awards, dubbed “The Cliffies.” Aronofsky’s writing partner Ari Handel co-wrote the screenplay and received the award as well. He

By Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan –Take a team of writers in Brooklyn and give them a small yet important assignment: Write an illustrated children’s book about global warming and climate change and what kids can do to help. That’s exactly what an “all-in-the-family” writing team did, using the storytelling traditions they grew up with,