If you like the Hallmark Channel’s romantic movies, my guess is that you will also enjoy this Jewish author’s venture into an affluent Gentile world where a widowed interior designer meets a divorced architect and finds that not only do they work well together professionally, they have some undeniable chemistry. [Donald H. Harrison]
Can an architect and interior designer find love? Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison
In a stunning display of arrogance and stupidity, I ventured out into the wild and woolly world of self-publishing on Amazon’s KDP platform. I’ve done it before, five times in fact, twice with the help of outside agencies, and three times by myself. It’s been a little more than a year since I published my last book, All Quiet on the Midwestern Plains, and apart from help from my designer and computer-whiz son Eitan with the cover of the paperback version, I managed it pretty well by myself. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]
Hitches, Glitches, Delays and Success! Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson
I’m sure a psychiatrist could provide far more incisive insights into this troubled novel than I can, but at least I can give you the flavor of it, along with a warning that if it were a movie it would be rated XXX. [Donald H. Harrison]
Raging over the Holocaust in books and bedrooms Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison
The Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego is spotlighting three local organizations that provide comfort to the homeless and the poor during the Thanksgiving holidays. [Donald H. Harrison]
Jewish Community Foundation’s ideas for Thanksgiving Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Business & Finance, Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County
A character based on Theodore Kaczynski, the real-life Unibomber, is a dark presence in this book, as he sends bombs to people and institutions that he believes have been irresponsibly pursuing technological change without fear of the consequences. This novel’s “Techno-Bomber” has even issued a manifesto, Kaczynski-like, inveighing against the direction in which scientists and industrialists are taking the world. [Donald H. Harrison]
Suspense novel speculates on dystopian future Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison
he State of Israel is an amazing place. Ever wonder about the secrets behind how Israel, a tiny country with the highest concentration of start-ups per capita worldwide, is raising generations of entrepreneurs who are disrupting markets around the globe and bringing change to the world? What factors have led to these remarkable achievements, and what secrets do Israeli tech entrepreneurs know that others can learn? [Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel]
Chutzpah and Balagan: partners in innovation Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Middle East
Two authors, whose books recently were reviewed by San Diego Jewish World, were front and center Sunday at the Artisans Fair at Temple Emanu-El. [Donald H. Harrison]
Side-by-side authors at Temple Emanu-El Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Marcia Berneger, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Travel and Food
His work is comprehensive, full of information, and eye-opening. The writings on each parasha is divided by chapters; each of which is subdivided by subjects that Rabbi Samuel addresses in clear detail. For example, in Genesis chapter 1, he examines 22 subjects, such as the meaning of Elohim, the purpose of creation, the reason for marriages, God does not decree moral behavior, the nature of biblical metaphors, exempting women from some biblical commands, and more. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
Rabbi Samuel’s many insights into Maimonides Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi
Lindsay Lerman, the author of a new novel titled I’m From Nowhere, was born in the Chicago area and attended Northern Arizona University for her undergraduate studies and later received a PhD in philosophy from a university in Canada. And yes, given the motto of this online newspaper, there’s a Jewish story here, too, as you will see as you read on. [Dan Bloom]
Author Lindsay Lerman is not from nowhere Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, The World We Share
The slights, slurs, and racist comments that Marra had to endure will make my fellow Jewish readers’ cringe. How can any Jew, knowing how our people have long felt the sting of prejudice, inflict such outrageous behavior on a person of another ethnicity? But to our shame, some of us do. [Donald H. Harrison]
A memoir of overcoming racism Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, USA
The largely rural Vivarais-Lignon plateau enjoys a climate considered to be healthy during the summer months, resulting in the existence there of several hotels, children’s homes and convalescent centres for visiting tourists. In the winter, however, it was more or less cut off from the rest of the country by deep, long-lasting snow and its mountainous terrain. These conditions enabled the villagers to provide sanctuary for people – and especially children – seeking to evade capture and deportation to concentration camps. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]
The World War II bravery of remote French villages Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International
David Tabatsky had been working as a street performer in Japan when he received news that his father, a cantor, was gravely ill. He flew home but arrived too late. The experience, perhaps the guilt, sent him into a tailspin, and he did something very stupid: he mailed a small supply of marijuana to his address in Japan, figuring the weed would help him feel better. [Donald H. Harrison]
What minds might do in prison Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International
Ah, the joys of time travel! San Diego author Marcia Berneger, a retired teacher, uses this device to imaginatively retell the story of the first Chanukah in A Dreidel in Time, a chapter book for children between the ages of 8 and 13. [Donald H. Harrison]
Time travel fiction dramatizes first Chanukah Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Marcia Berneger, San Diego County, The World We Share
With Jews around the world scheduled to read the story of Noah’s Ark next Saturday, the Abraham Ratner Torah School at Tifereth Israel Synagogue held a blessing for the animals in a brief outdoor ceremony on Sunday. Rabbi Joshua Dorsch, with arms raised, blessed about a dozen dogs and one rabbit that were brought by congregants of the Conservative shul. [Donald H. Harrison]
Animals receive a blessing at Tifereth Israel Synagogue Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share, Travel and Food, USA