The Voice of Silence, The Story of the Jewish Underground in the USSR, Ephraim Kholmyansky, Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2021 284 pages; $22.63 (Paperback) By Toby Klein Greenwald In a frosty February of 1988, I took a short drive from my home in Efrat to Kibbutz Rosh Tzurim, in Gush Etzion. There was a special […]
By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Rabbi Dr. Sharon Zewde Shalom, the author of the very thoughtful book Dialogues of Love and Fear, is without doubt what the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks wrote about him, “a shining light of not only Ethiopian Jewry but of the Jewish people as a whole.”
Israel’s First Ethiopian Rabbi Speaks to Us Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Middle East
The book starts with how our senses perceive matzah. What are its ingredients? What does it look like? What color is it? What is its texture? How does it sound when it is being boiled in matzoh ball soup? How does it smell when its being baked into an apple matzah kugel? What kind of yummy foods can you spread on it? [Donald H. Harrison]
Children’s Literature: ‘Matzah Means So Many Things’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History
By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Haim Jachter, the rabbi of a Sephardic synagogue for more than 20 years who is of Ashkenazic descent and trained in Ashkenazic yeshivot, tells readers about more than 100 differences in the religious practices between Ashkenazim and Sephardim. Ashkenazim are Jews of eastern European descent. Sephardic
Book Provides Comprehensive Analysis of Sephardic-Ashkenazi Differences Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion
Unbeknown to Hitler, Richard has become appalled by der fuehrer’s recklessness, paranoia, racism, and antisemitism. An urbane man, he secretly meets with German military leaders to plan a coup d’etat, even as Hitler scores dizzying (and terrifying) successes rearming his country in violation of the Versailles Treaty, forcing union (Anschluss) with Austria, and taking over German-speaking portions of Czechoslovakia. [Donald H. Harrison]
Novelists Paint Complex Portrait of Hitler Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International
This intense novel is about two journeys, one physical, the other psychological. Both were prompted by a pogrom and a rape. [Donald H. Harrison]
A Portrait of Immigrants’ Physical and Psychological Survival Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison
By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, A Hasidic Village in Upstate New York is a brilliant, eye-opening, thought provoking, easy to read and enjoyable book by two university scholars, Nomi M. Stolzenberg of the University of Southern California, Gould School of Law, who has written
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion
Here is a short time-travel novel suitable for Young Adults and older readers imagining two high school students who barely acknowledge each other being transported to Whitechapel, London, during the time of the Jack the Ripper murders. Abe and Mitzi, who are both Jewish Americans, find themselves transformed into the 19th Century Asher and Maya, two Jewish teenage neighbors, born to impoverished immigrant families. [Donald H. Harrison]
‘Ripped Away’ Is a Jewish Tale of Time Travel Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. HarrisonBy Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Many Christians are convinced that God dictated the New Testament, that it has no errors and no contradiction, and that it contains the true facts concerning Jesus and the beginning of Christianity. In contrast, many scholars in America and Europe for at least several hundred years
Dr. Bart Ehrman Lists Many Inconsistencies in the New Testament Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr.
“Never Forget Your Name: The Children of Auschwitz,” by Alwin Meyer; English version Polity Press (c) 2022; ISBN 13:978-1-5095-4550-6; 496 pages. By Sandra Scheller CHULA VISTA, California — In 1971, 21-year-old Alwin Meyer made his first trip to the Auschwitz concentration camp, not as a relative of a survivor but as a German observer. He
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Sandra Scheller
Author Wayne Hoffman regales us with two concurrent non-fiction stories. His search to learn the identity of the person who murdered his great-grandmother as she lay sleeping in her bed, with an infant child at her side, occurred at the same time that his mother, Susan, was having increasing problems with her memory as Alzheimer’s progressively took a worsening toll. [Donald H. Harrison]
Murder and Approaching Death Fill a Tale of Hoffman Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History
This charming book tells in rhyming couplets the story of a Passover celebration from the viewpoint of young children in a multiracial Jewish family. [Donald H. Harrison]
Children’s Literature: ‘Passover, Here I Come!’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish ReligionBy Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Bart Denton Ehrman, born on 10/5/55, a PhD American New Testament scholar and author or editor of several dozen very popular, fascinating, and informative books, began life as a fundamentalist Christian, became a minister, and preached in churches. But he gave up Christianity and became an
Why Is There Suffering in the World? Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion
“The Foundation of Judaism,” by Akiva Aaronson (originally published by Targum Press, Inc. 1997, 2000); Feldheim Publishers, 2021; ISBN: 978-1680254815; 216 pages. By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO — I just finished composing my weekly D’var Torah on parashat Terumah, focusing on gifts, and a surprise parcel arrived at my front door. A delightful
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell