By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Can you imagine shrinking to a tiny size and being able to walk through the pages of an interactive book? You stop on one page and you see photographs of Jewish pioneers, quotations from newspaper accounts about them, and perhaps a caption summarizing the high points of their […]
S.D. Jewish History an open book Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego CountyRobert Silvers, the founding editor of The New York Review of Books and a towering patron of intellectual thought who championed writers including Norman Mailer and Joan Didion, has died at the age of 87. Silver died Monday at his Manhattan home after a brief illness, the literary publication announced. Under his guiding editorial hand,
Robert Silvers, founding editor of The New York Review of Books, dies at 87 Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, USAHayim Nahman Bialik: Poet of Hebrew by Avner Holtzman; Yale University Press (Jewish Lives series); March 2017; 264 pages; ISBN: 9780300200669. By Rabbi Jack Riemer/JNS.org I have questions about some of the subjects that have been chosen for the Jewish Lives book series from Yale University Press. I wonder what Sarah Bernhardt or Benjamin
Fresh perspective on Hayim Nachman Bialik Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Middle EastMichael Krasny’s ‘Let There Be Laughter’ offers funny jokes and insightful commentary as antidote to trying times By Renee Ghert-Zand You know how a lot of people have trouble remembering jokes? Well, Michael Krasny isn’t one of them. An English professor and the longtime host of the most-listened-to locally produced public radio program in the
Famed San Francisco radio host commands laughter with new Jewish humor book Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USACHICAGO — Amy Krouse Rosenthal, a Chicago author who wrote a heart-wrenching column called “You May Want to Marry My Husband” while battling ovarian cancer, died Monday at 51. Rosenthal was a prolific creator described on her website as “a person who likes to make things.” That description includes children’s books and “grown-up books,” salads,
Amy Krouse Rosenthal, author of ‘You May Want to Marry My Husband,’ dies at 51 Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Obituaries & memorials, USATextual Tapestries: Explorations of the Five Megillot by Gabriel H Cohn (Translated from the Hebrew by David Strauss), Maggid Books, New Milford, CT, © 2016, ISBN 978-1-59264-398-1, p. 433, $29.95 By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California – The Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, is divided into three broad sections: Torah, the Five Books of Moses; Nevi’im, the prophets;
Five megillot are examined in ‘Textual Tapestries’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish ReligionBy Steve Kramer ALFE MENASHE, Israel — The Lies They Tell is the second Tuvia Tenenbom book that I’ve read, following the enlightening Catch the Jew!, which penetrates the bubble surrounding many Israelis and journalists. Tuvia (his irreverent style breeds a strange familiarity) is an expat Israeli who has lived in the United States, Germany
‘The Lies They Tell’ excoriates U.S. society Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Steve Kramer, USABy Eileen Wingard LA JOLLA, California — The next Jewish Poets—Jewish Voices program, will feature the works of three of the leading Jewish poets from the Golden Age of Spain, Solomon Ibn Gabirol (1021-1058), Judah Halevi (1085 -1141) and Abraham Ibn Ezra (1092-1167). The free evening, under the auspices of the San Diego Center for Jewish
Works of Jewish poets of Spain’s Golden Age to be recited and sung Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eileen Wingard, San Diego CalendarMoab is my Washpot by Stephen Fry; Hutchinson, 1997. By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — I have mixed feelings about the author whose avowed brilliance is tempered by strange behavior, apparently due to his being subject to bi-polar disorder, as well as his aversion to Israel and Zionism. His half-Jewish background may partly account for the latter,
Fry saga leaves reviewer with mixed feelings Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson
Have Mother, Will Travel by Claire and Mia Fontaine, William Morrow 2013, 978-0-06-168842-3, 309 pgs., paperback $14.99. By Eva Trieger SOLANA BEACH, California — Trolling through the stacks of my local branch of the San Diego County library, I was hungry for a good read over a break. I needed something to take me away from
Mother- daughter story plumbs sensitive topics Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eva TriegerHaggai, Zechariah, and Malachi: Prophecy in an Age of Uncertainty by Hayyim Angel, Maggid Books, New Milford, CT, © 2016, ISBN 978-1-59264-413-1, p. 154 plus appendix, $24.95 By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California – Jewish prophets are missionaries in the sense that God calls them to fulfill a task, such as conveying important information to the
New book examines Judaism’s last three prophets Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish ReligionBy Cynthia Citron LOS ANGELES — If my editor will indulge me, I should like to tell you about a book today rather than a play or film. The book is called As I Remember It and it is my memoir which has just been published. As the publisher describes it, the book “chronicles the
Arts columnist Citron tells of her memoir Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Cynthia CitronBy Eric George Tauber SAN DIEGO — Just the other day, I was explaining the term “spoiler” to my ESL students. If you wrote a who-done-it called “The Butler did it,” no one would read it because it’s the mental gymnastics it takes to untangle a web of intrigue that makes it worthwhile. Now at
World of mystery at Fleet Science Center Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eric George Tauber, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & EducationBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — My week began with the stranger who walked into the local hairdresser’s where I was sitting and asked if the car parked further along the road was mine. It was. “Well, I’ve caused some damage to the windscreen,” he informed me. In the process of cutting branches off
A week of disaster and delight Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Middle East