Today’s Jewish Birthday: B.J. Novak

Courtesy of Wikipedia Benjamin Joseph Novak (July 31, 1979) is an American actor and comedian. He has received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Novak is known for starring as Ryan Howard in the NBC sitcom The Office (2005–2013), for which he was also a writer and executive producer. He appeared in the films Inglourious Basterds (2009), Saving Mr. Banks (2013) and The […]

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

Kosher Wines: The Talk of the Podcast

Starting in Manhattan, kosher wine lovers held monthly meetings called Rosh Chodesh Clubs (RCC). Club members would each bring a bottle of a delicious kosher wine to share with others. The wines had to be of a minimum age, and considered high quality, before they were permitted into club tastings. As the idea caught on, the clubs soon incorporated the idea of adding gourmet chefs to their evening festivities. [Eva Trieger]

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Eva Trieger, Israel, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food, USA

At Libraries: Novel Imagines the Worries of Marcel Proust’s Mother

My perseverance paid off, however, and I soon found myself immersed in what seemed to be the diary entries kept by the woman who was Marcel Proust’s mother, describing the daily life of a bourgeois family, of whom the son, Marcel, was a constant source of worry, and sometimes even anguish. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Samson vs. Hercules

Many consider Hercules the strongest ancient Greek and Samson the most muscular Jew. Both tales involve eating and drinking. Both were engaged in romantic affairs; Hercules had four wives, and Samson had liaisons with three women and married one of them. The two had miraculous births involving a deity: Hercules’ father was the god Zeus, and Samson gave birth after his mother received a message from heaven delivered by an angel. The two births focused on their mother, the woman Zeus cohabited with, and the woman with whom an angel communicated. In both instances, the husbands were ignored. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Lisa Kudrow

Courtesy of Wikipedia Lisa Kudrow (July 30, 1963) is an American actress. She rose to international fame for her role as Phoebe Buffay in the American television sitcom Friends, which aired from 1994 to 2004. The series earned her Primetime Emmy, Screen Actors Guild, Satellite, American Comedy, and TV Guide awards. Phoebe has since been named one of the greatest television characters of all time

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

Some Jewish American Athletes to Watch in the Olympics

Sara Levy, a San Diego native, had never played rugby until her first year of college at Northeastern University. Now she’s representing America on the women’s Olympic rugby team. [Cailin Acosta]

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Cailin Acosta, International, Jewish Religion, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Sports & Competitions, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

Jewish Talent Comes to the Fore at Comic-Con

Once again, it was that time of year when nerds worldwide go to sleep giddy. Each day this past weekend, we awakened bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to see what morsels of news and hype our corporate overlords had decided to drop at the most significant comics convention and marketing bonanza in the world: San Diego Comic-Con! [Shor M. Masori]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Celebrities, San Diego County, Shor M. Masori, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Remembering a Friend Dating Back to Our Teen Years and Through Motherhood

I checked the news in Israel as I always do after Shabbat  and saw a headline about children and a woman injured in a fire in Kochav Yaakov. The first thing I thought was ‘Kochav Yaakov! Adina!’ But what are the chances it was her? [Ilanit Zakowski]

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Ilanit Zakowski, Israel, Lifestyles, Obituaries & memorials, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Travel and Food, USA

J.D. Vance’s ‘Hillbilly Elegy’: An Argument for a Universal Military Draft

One of the many things we can learn from Vance’s experience and use it to help not only hillbillies but all disadvantaged cultures. We can institute a universal draft. All males and females from age 18 must either join one of the military services for at least two years or a new, somewhat similar service that helps improve the lives of US citizens. Israel has such a system. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Jewish Trivia Quiz: J.D. Vance

He ‍echoed ‍another ‍antisemitic ‍trope ‍in ‍invoking ‍the ‍name ‍of ‍Holocaust ‍survivor ‍George ‍Soros, ‍the ‍billionaire ‍supporter ‍of ‍liberal ‍causes ‍who ‍many ‍on ‍the ‍far ‍right ‍hold ‍up ‍as ‍a ‍Jewish ‍puppet ‍master ‍trying ‍to ‍destroy ‍the ‍“Christian ‍social ‍order.” ‍How ‍did ‍Vance ‍invoke ‍George ‍Soros’s ‍name ‍in ‍this ‍way? [Mark D. Zimmerman]

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Mark D. Zimmerman, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA