The Arts

Program Fuses New and Old Music, Creativity, Meaningful Connection to Chanukah

By Eileen Wingard LA JOLLA, California — The Litvak Dancers’ LIGHT and Yale Strom’s Broken Consort program served as a memorable opening for the eight nights of Chanukah. Performed on the first night of the holiday for an appreciative audience in the Lawrence Family JCC’s Garfield Auditorium, the two-part program was presented by the Center […]

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County

Dor L’ Dor: ‘Annie’ Continues To Delight 

The sun comes out at the Civic Theatre for the next few days.  The beloved musical Annie is back!  It’s been in San Diego several times, made into a few movies, and is a favorite of children’s theatre groups.  In spite of all this, somehow my son had never seen it, so I was really excited to go with him and show him something that was dear to my childhood. Afterall, what Gen X drama kid didn’t attempt an off-key version of “Tomorrow” at an audition or two?  My inability to hit those notes may have been the reason I was never cast in the show, but 12-year old actress Ellie Pulsifer, in her debut role, knocked it out of the park.  Looking around the theatre, it seemed that there were many parents like myself who were there with their children, excited to introduce the next generation to such happy songs as “Your Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile”, “Hard Knock Life”, and of course, “Tomorrow”.  The smiles on the faces of the kids showed that they were just as excited as their parents.  [Sandi Masori]

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San Diego County, Sandi Masori, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Readable Book Takes the ‘Dismal’ out of the ‘Dismal Science’

This book, written by a well-known TV personality specializing in economic subjects, aims to present the issues and obstacles the average Israeli encounters in dealing with economic matters and bureaucracy, writing about complex subjects in a way that is accessible to all. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Science, Medicine, & Education

A Brazilian-born San Diegan’s Chanukah Song

By Eileen Wingard LA JOLLA, California — Brazilian-born singer Carla Berg’s original Chanukah song, “Nes” (Miracle), with lyrics in Ladino, is available as a video clip on YouTube and on other digital platforms. It was produced by Allan Phillips at APMStudio in San Diego and was released last year. It is a welcome addition to

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County

Everyone Knows ‘Ma’oz Tzur,’ Except They Don’t

By Sarah Ogince (JNS) The lights are kindled, the shamash is returned to its place and the family breaks into song: It is a rousing, march-like melody that is the aural equivalent of the menorah’s light—energy, joy and hope in the depth of winter, a promise of rebirth. It’s a familiar, comforting scene, repeated in

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Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Postwar Encounters with the Holocaust

My friend Susan Ferraro, who lives in a rural part of Northern California. tells me that since about the age of 7, she had fantasized about becoming a Jew. It started, she said, when she read Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl. As children often do, she imagined herself invulnerable; death being something that unfortunately happened to other people. If she had been born Jewish, and living at that time, she could have prevented those Nazis from hurting Anne and her family and those hidden with them in the secret annex. [Donald H. Harrison]

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California, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Foundational Texts of Chabad Movement Launched in Digital Form

(JNS) Sefaria, a provider of digital Jewish texts at no cost, on Tuesday launched its offering of the four foundational texts of the Chabad-Lubavitch Chassidic movement. The newly available texts include a fully bilingual edition of the Tanya, the cornerstone philosophical text of the Chabad movement; a Hebrew version of Torah Ohr, a 19th-century compilation

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, USA

Book Offers a Philosopher’s Case for Orthodox Judaism

By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Maggid Books, together with Yeshiva University Press, published “A Guide for the Jewish Undecided: A Philosopher Makes a Case for Orthodox Judaism” by Dr. Samuel Lebens, a rabbi and Orthodox Jew who is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Haifa in Israel. His

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion

The Virtual New Book Tour—Zoom, Stream, YouTube, Audio, Print, and Film

Joshua Lambert, The Literary Mafia: Jews, Publishing, and Postwar American Literature (Yale University Press, 2022) By Oliver B. Pollak, Ph.D. RICHMOND, California — On Sunday, December 11, 2022 at 2 p.m. about 40 people zoomed into Josh Lambert’s presentation on his new book The Literary Mafia: Jews, Publishing, and Postwar American Literature (Yale Univ Press,

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak

‘Light’ and ‘Hot Pstromi’ Served on 1st Night of Hanukkah at Lawrence Family JCC

By Eileen Wingard LA JOLLA, California — The first night of Hanukkah, December 18, at 7 p.m., the Festival of Lights will be celebrated at the Garfield Theatre, Lawrence Family JCC by a performance of “Light,” by the LITVAKdancers, to original music composed by Yale Strom. He and his band, Hot Pstromi, will be accompanying

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County

A Musical Experience Like No Other in Jerusalem

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Secular poetry written in a mixture of Latin, medieval German and French by groups of monks and scholars in the 13th century were set to music in the 20th century by the German composer, Carl Orff. The orchestration calls for an especially large orchestra (with extensive timpani and

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Israel, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts