Books, Poetry & Short Stories

Song Meaning Of NYE Tune ‘Auld Lang Syne’

Aside from lots of booze and cute appetizers, there’s something very familiar about New Year’s Eve: “Auld Lang Syne.” While the famous song is almost always played at the stroke of midnight, not everyone knows what it means– and they certainly don’t know the words to it. In “Harry Meets Sally,” Billy Crystal’s character Harry […]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food

“Watership Down” author Richard Adams dies

Not many authors can claim to have reinvented an entire genre but Richard Adams, who has died aged 96, did just that with “Watership Down”, which became one of the biggest-selling childrens’ books of all time. He took the ancient theme of talking animals, but instead of cutesy, this was cruel and savage, like nature

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Obituaries & memorials

What third generation Holocaust survivors might learn

The Conversations We Never Had by Jeffrey H. Konis; Outskirts Press; © 2016; ISBN 9781478-767299; 197 pages; $13.95. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – On the back cover of this book is the listing “Fiction: Historical” and that, perhaps, constitutes the author’s greatest regret. If he could have gone back in time, the listing

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History

Genetic mutations, Shoah affect coming generations

Aftermath by Allison Nazarian, Allie Girl Publishing, 2016, ISBN 978-0-9828922-2-0, pgs. $9.99 Kindle, $14.99 paperback. By Eva Trieger SOLANA BEACH, California — In general most of us shy away from ultimatums or at least prefer not to be tested by a “now or never” choice. This was how Allison Nazarian explained her decision to write

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eva Trieger, Jewish History

‘The Falconi Effect’ envisions the Third Temple transforming the world

By Susie Rosenbluth TheJewishVoiceAndOpinion.com ENGLEWOOD, New Jersey — The symbol of Jerusalem’s Third Temple and its implications for Messianic Times, including world peace, universal brotherhood, and the end goal of the Jewish mission, looms large in Jewish, Christian, and even some Muslim traditions. According to the Bible, both the First and Second Temples stood on

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Middle East

Turkish Jewish author murdered in Istanbul

Beki İkala Erikli shot dead outside her apartment building; motive of killing unclear By Times of Israel staff Beki İkala Erikli (LinkedIn) A Turkish Jewish writer was murdered at her Istanbul home Thursday by an unknown shooter, local media reported. Beki İkala Erikli was shot at the entrance to her building in the Kabataş neighborhood

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Middle East

In praise of Mona Golabek, author and performer

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Several years ago I read The Pianist of Willesden Lane written by Mona Golabek about the experiences of her mother, Lisa Jura, first in Vienna and then in London. She had been sent there at the age of fourteen in the framework of the Kindertransport, the undertaking that

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish History, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

A travel case filled with love for Israel

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – As the widow of billionaire Carnival Cruise Lines founder Ted Arison, Lin Arison has had the chance to travel wherever she wants to around the world.  The Carnival Corporation owns not only Carnival Cruise Lines, but such other cruise lines as Princess Cruises, Cunard Lines, Holland-America, Seabourn Cruises,

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, Travel and Food

With spy Sarah Aaronsohn’s suicide, Israeli history was rewritten, claims author

In 1915, the Aaronsohn siblings founded an espionage group in their village of Zichron Yaakov to help the Brits defeat the Turks. Outside of Israel, why was their tale whitewashed from history? By JP O’ Malley On December 11, 1917, the British imperial governor, General Sir Edmund Allenby, entered Jerusalem, placing the city under military

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Middle East

Gabriel Garcia Marquez had Fidel Castro read his books to catch errors before publication

There are a lot of great opening lines in literature. But this one by the late Gabriel Garcia-Marquez is among the best: “Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.” That’s the way he starts the book

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International

How Jimmy Stewart’s war service affected ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’

As we stare headlong into the approaching holiday season, the 1946 James Stewart classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” is set to make its annual television appearance Saturday on NBC. It was the first movie Stewart made when he returned home after serving as a pilot in World War II, an experience that left him adrift

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA