The Arts

Camp Leader at Auschwitz Details How She Helped Other Jewish Prisoners

If you hear of a Jew appointed to a position of authority at one of the Nazi concentration camps, what word comes immediately to mind? Is it “collaborator?” In “The Nazis Knew My Name,” the late Magda Hellinger tells of her experience being appointed first as a block leader and later as a camp leader by the Nazis during her three year incarceration in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp complex.  She relates that it was never her choice to be a block or camp leader, and that had she refused, she most likely would have been severely disciplined or sent to the gas chambers.  As a leader, she was expected to keep order in the block, and later in a full camp, or else.  [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History

Attorney Provides Insight into U.S.’s Broken Immigration System

Author Susan J. Cohen is a compassionate attorney who handles many immigration cases on a pro bono basis for the Boston branch of the national Mintz Levin law firm.  This book, written with the help of journalist Steven T. Taylor, tells of eleven cases in which she helped immigrants obtain asylum or permanent residency in the United States. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, USA

Zoom Program on Violinist Jascha Heifetz is Enlightening, Artistic, Entertaining

By Eileen Wingard LA JOLLA, California — Cesare Civetta, a native New Yorker, conductor of the Beethoven Festival Orchestra, has launched a series of programs on Zoom which are highly enlightening, artistic, and entertaining. The past two Sundays, Civetta presented a wonderful program on violinist Jascha Heifetz, whose name was often invoked as the standard

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

World War II Novel Glosses over a Tough Moral Decision

A Girl During the War by Anita Abriel; New York: Atria Books © 2022; ISBN 9781982-181185; 317 pages; $17. SAN DIEGO – Many people have asked themselves if they had lived under the Hitler regime, and if they weren’t Jewish, would they have had the courage to protect a Jew, knowing if they were caught

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

North Coast Rep’s ‘The Homecoming’ Puts the Fun in Dysfunctional

By Eva Trieger SOLANA BEACH, California — If you ever wanted to know who put the “fun” in dysfunctional, all hands point towards the North Coast Rep’s latest cast of The Homecoming.  This offbeat, quirky, Pinter play is a hilarious romp from start to finish. Kudos to David Ellenstein for directing this British comedy, and

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Eva Trieger, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Cantor’s Archive Led to Book on Philippine Rescue of European Jews

Enthralled by the stories Cysner told, Harris immediately asked the UC Santa Barbara History Department if she could change her dissertation subject so that it could be based upon Cysner’s experiences, both in Poland, where he was a prisoner of the Nazis, and in the Philippines, where he later became a prisoner of the Japanese. The department agreed, even though this meant changing Harris’ academic advisor and the schedule of courses to which she would commute from her home in San Diego. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, California, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food

A Scholarly Rabbi Comments on the Book of Esther and More

By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Urim Publications in Jerusalem and New York has just published Faith Fulfilled: Megillat Esther and The Maariv Evening Service for Purim with Commentary from the Writings of Rabbi Eliezer Berkovits. It is compiled and edited by Rabbi Dr. Reuven Mohl. The book is excellent. Rabbi Berkovits’

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

‘Jewish Bestiary’ Unpacks the Actual and Mystical Roles Animals Play in Our Lives

“A Jewish Bestiary: Fabulous Creatures from Hebraic Legend & Lore,” by Mark Podwal; The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, PA, ©2021; ISBN 9780271091730; 70 pages, plus bibliography; $14.86. By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California – Close contact between animals and humans, according to the Hebrew Bible, happened soon after creation: God brought them before

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

Children’s Literature: Pesach in 1950’s Iran

A Persian Passover by Etan Basseri (Illustrated by Rashin Kheiriyeh); Moosic, Pennsylvania: Kalaniot Books, © 2022; ISBN 9781735-087566; 32 pages including glossary; $19.99. SAN DIEGO – The red-cheeked children on the cover of this charming little story are Ezra, who likes to run, and his little sister, Roza, who adores her big brother.  Unfortunately, Ezra

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion

‘Forged’ Offers Real Insight on Bible’s Authors

By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Bart C. Ehrman is a highly respected historian who was once a protestant clergyman who became an agnostic when he saw what biblical scholars consider the numerous errors, inconsistencies, forgeries, and deceits in the New Testament. He offers readers in Forged a view of the conclusion

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

‘Desert Rock Garden:’ A Landmark Piece of History With the Full Array of Emotions

By Eva Trieger CARLSBAD, California — I believe I was in my final years of high school or perhaps even early years of college when I first learned of the Japanese internment camps. What horrified me most of all was one thought, “How could Americans, who had just witnessed the inhumanity of the Nazi Holocaust, treat

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Eva Trieger, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast