July 2012

Holocaust imagery has no place in Shakespeare comedy

.  By Carol Davis SAN DIEGO — About ten minutes into director Adrian Noble’s rendering of Shakespeare’s pastoral comedy, As You Like It, the strangest sight of all left me awe-struck. After the opening scenes were played and we got the gist of Shakespeare’s charming garden romp, (more on that later) a set of metal

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Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Kosher cookbook emphasizes natural ingredients

The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen Glorious Meals Pure & Simple by Levana Kirschenbaum; Levana Cooks, December 2011; ISBN 978-1-46765-704-2; 398 pages, $39.95   By Shari Marks   SAN DIEGO –Levana’s cookbook takes kosher cooking to a higher, loftier level in many of her recipes by adding natural, healthier  ingredients than what one would expect. She encourages pure foods,

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Travel and Food

An Israeli calculator to reinvigorate mathematical thinking

By J.J. Surbeck   SAN DIEGO –Quick! Don’t think (and don’t cheat with your calculator or your cell phone either)! How much is 3×7? 160/4? 6×7? 300+858?* If you belong to the generation that learned multiplication tables in school, you probably had no problem doing these elementary calculations. But if you belong to the younger

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Science, Medicine, & Education

So do we have free will or don’t we?

Determinism or Free Will by Chapman Cohen; Literary Licensing LLC, Whitefish, MT; ISBN 978-1-2581-2881-4 ©2012 reprint of a book published in 1919, $25.95, p. 127 Free Will by Sam Harris; Free Press, New York ISBN 978-1-4516-8347-0 ©2012, $9.99, p. 81, including notes and index By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California–Judaism provides no help in settling

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Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish Religion

Whose example do you follow?

By Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb NEW YORK–Except for the saints among us, we all boast. Sometimes we boast about our own natural endowments, our good looks, or our athletic prowess. Often we boast about our achievements, social or professional. There is one type of boasting that seems to be unique to the traditional Jewish community.

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Jewish Religion

‘Man Who Came to Dinner’ is delicious fun

  By Carol Davis  CORONADO, California—If you are in the mood for some good old-fashioned fun, the Coronado Playhouse is mounting the riotous George Kaufman/Moss Hart comedy The Man Who Came to Dinner. It’s one of those classic oldies (1939) but goodies that, for some reason don’t get produced very often. Thanks to director Ruff

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Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Weighing the greater good

By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO — Bilaam possessed powers not only equaling but exceeding Moshe. We learn from Bilaam’s sad story that it is not about the gifts you  possess, but how you use them, or in some cases, how you don’t use them as the following true stories illustrate: Rabbi Avrohom Ginzburg ztl,

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Travel and Food

Edzant on the rise as a musical theatre talent

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–Jonathan Edzant, 18, a recent graduate of Canyon Crest Academy,  won a $1,000 award and, perhaps more importantly for his future stage career,  had the opportunity over three rounds of judging to demonstrate his capabilities as a singer to regional theatre decision-makers. Edzant will enter UC Irvine’s theatre arts program

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Donald H. Harrison