Books, Poetry & Short Stories

A haggada for those who want more

Redemption, Then and Now: Pesaḥ Haggada with Essays and Commentary by Rabbi Benjamin Blech;  Menorah Books, Jerusalem, © 2017, ISBN 978-1-940516-73-8, p. 310, $24.95 By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California –  Considering the long arc of Jewish history, the Haggada, a book containing the Passover Seder, the traditional ordered meal recreating God’s redemptive acts through the

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion

In Britain, protesters shut up Falk

After tumultuous event at one college, former UN special rapporteur who accuses Israel of ‘apartheid’ and ‘ethnic cleansing’ sees premature curtailment of London book tour By Jenni Frazer LONDON — A British campus speaking tour came to an abrupt end on Tuesday for Professor Richard Falk, when Middlesex University canceled his appearance scheduled for Wednesday.

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Middle East

Creator of Britain’s Inspector Morse dies aged 86

London (dpa) – Writer Colin Dexter, creator of the Inspector Morse character who inspired a popular British television series, has died aged 86, his publisher said on Tuesday. “It is with immense sadness that Macmillan announces the death of Colin Dexter who died peacefully in Oxford this morning,” publisher Pan Macmillan said. Dexter was a

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

Robert Silvers, founding editor of The New York Review of Books, dies at 87

Robert 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,

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, USA

Famed San Francisco radio host commands laughter with new Jewish humor book

Michael 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

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

Amy Krouse Rosenthal, author of ‘You May Want to Marry My Husband,’ dies at 51

CHICAGO — 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,

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Obituaries & memorials, USA

Five megillot are examined in ‘Textual Tapestries’

Textual 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;

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish Religion

‘The Lies They Tell’ excoriates U.S. society

 By 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

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Steve Kramer, USA

Works of Jewish poets of Spain’s Golden Age to be recited and sung

By 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

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eileen Wingard, San Diego Calendar

Fry saga leaves reviewer with mixed feelings

Moab 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,

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson