Bertrand Court by Michelle Brafman, © 2016 Prospect Park Books;; ISBN 978193-8849800; 255 pages. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO –Bertrand Court might be found in any suburban city of the United States; its characters are as familiar as your next door neighbors. Through Brafman’s fictional work, however, you may gain keener insight into your
Insight into some secrets of suburban life Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison
Every Day Lasts A Year: A Jewish Family’s Correspondence From Poland edited by Christopher R. Browning, Richard S. Hollander and Nechama Tec; Cambridge University Press; © 2014; ISBN 9781107-668768; 290 pages including index. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Richard Hollander, one of the editors of this work, is the son of Joseph Hollander,
Letters take readers inside the Holocaust Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish HistoryBy Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, TAIWAN –Aaron Thier is a 30-something writer born and bred in western Massachusetts, and his latest novel Mr. Eternity has just been published by Bloomsbury in New York. The time-travelling novel is both a comic novel and very serious novel at the same time, and it has been characterized already by readers as literary
In time of future disaster, there still will be humor Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short StoriesTreyf: My Quest for Identity in a Forbidden World by Elissa Altman; New American Library; 2016; ISBN 9780425-277812; 283 pages; $26. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – What is not kosher is treyf, literally meaning “torn” but generally meaning “forbidden” and one might anticipate that in Elissa Altman’s memoir, subtitled “My Quest for Identity
In this memoir, pork is a gateway to assimilation Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison
Leave Me by Gayle Forman; Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill; © 2016; ISBN 9781616-206178; 343 pages; $26.95. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO –Maribeth Klein seemingly does it all. She has a prestigious job at a magazine. She has two preschool twins, and a husband who loves her. But when she has a heart attack,
Novel explores abandonment issues Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison
Chasing Portraits by Elizabeth Rynecki; New American Library, © 2016; ISBN 978110-1987667; 387 pages; $27. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Coming this September is an art history book that fans of detective stories also may enjoy. Elizabeth Rynecki’s great-grandfather, Moshe Rynecki, was a well-known artist, although not on the order of a Chagall
Art detective tracks down works of great grandfather Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts
By Marsha Sutton Originally published in the Del Mar Times SAN DIEGO — Behind the craziness of Comic-Con is a hidden world of education panels that offers tips and insights into trends in teaching tools, strategies for improved classroom learning, and support for victims of bullying. The panel titled “Capturing the Imagination of Middle-Grade Readers”
Comic-Con: Yes, wild and crazy, but educational too Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & EducationLast week, an international, multilingual cast performed Shakespeare’s controversial play, “The Merchant of Venice,” in the secluded main plaza of the city’s historic Jewish Ghetto. It was the first time the play was performed in the iconic location. Enclosed by tall tenements and the arched windows of 16 th-century synagogues, audiences — US Supreme Court
Venice welcomes back Shylock in marking its Jewish history Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish HistoryThe first female president of the United States faces her first major international conflict: Seeking to consolidate the Slavic nations of Eastern Europe, Russia has seized the three Baltic states—Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia—all members of NATO. That requires a response beyond just a caustic tweet or sharply worded press release. For the first time since the
A Looming War With Russia? Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, USAConverted Masters: World Famous Masterpieces with a Jewish Twist Artwork by Esty Frankel-Fersel and edited by Barbara Bensoussan. Menorah Books Ltd., West Hills, CA, ©2016, ISBN 978-1-940516-45-5, p. 150, plus artists credits, $44.95 By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California – What would happen if we took some of the world’s greatest Christian artists, gave them
If some of the great art masters painted Jewish scenes Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Trivia, Humor & SatireMinister of Education Naftali Bennet announced on Sunday this year’s winners of the Education Minister’s Prize for Jewish Culture in the field of literature: Haim Sabato and Sarah Friedland. The committee responsible for electing the winners wrote of Sabato: “His work […] reveals the world of the Sephardic traditions of Torah – in which sharpness
Winners of Jewish Culture Prize for literature announced Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Middle EastThe sacred work of Islam and the signature museum of Washington, DC will combine for an unprecedented exhibit this fall. “The Art of the Quran,” the first major exhibition of Qurans in the US, will open at the Smithsonian Institution on October 15, less than a month before the presidential election that will close a
Amid fraught election rhetoric, Smithsonian to open first major Quran exhibition Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Middle East, Travel and Food, USA
The Game Isn’t Everything: The reality beyond the arena by Bruce Lowitt; Barstad Communications; © 2015; ISBN 978153-4981126; 285 pages, $14.95. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Bruce Lowitt is an all-around sportswriter who covered the big NFL games for the Associated Press, and, later in his career, regaled readers with stories about sports
Human- interest writer plumbs real lives of athletes Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Bruce F. Lowitt, Donald H. Harrison, Sports & CompetitionsForty years on and plenty of challenges remain Rabbi Sally Priesand, front and center, is honored with an aliya at the 2012 Central Conference of American Rabbis convention in Boston as she celebrates 40 years since her ordination as a rabbi, surrounded by other women rabbis. Photos courtesy Central Conference of American Rabbis Rabbis Mary
Women in the rabbinate Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, USA