The Arts

‘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

‘The Voice of Silence:’ Captivating and Timely Reading on the Jewish Underground in the USSR

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

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Toby Klein Greenwald

Israel’s First Ethiopian Rabbi Speaks to Us

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.”

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

Clear Communication: A Review of ‘Sapience’ at Moxie Theatre

By Danielle Levsky SAN DIEGO — By creating an inclusive environment for audiences and the creative team, Moxie Theatre brought Diana Burbano’s Sapience to life as a story that shared the many complexities and different experiences of how neurodivergent and neurotypical individuals communicate with themselves and with each other. In Sapience, Elsa (Mariel León) is

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San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Children’s Literature: ‘Matzah Means So Many Things’

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]

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

Freedman, Cooney, Morisett Pioneereed Children’s Educational Television

In an interview with the Archive of American Television, Cooney recalled that Freedman talked at that dinner party about the great educational potential of television.  “He was a stunning man, mesmerizing,” she said. “He could have been a revival minister, an Elmer Gantry. He was just stunning. He talked about how the potential had not been tapped for education in television. Well, something clicked in Lloyd’s mind because Carnegie was financing research in the educational development of children—how they learn.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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Business & Finance, California, Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food, USA

Book Provides Comprehensive Analysis of Sephardic-Ashkenazi Differences

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

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

Novelists Paint Complex Portrait of Hitler

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]

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

‘Ghostbusters’ Director Ivan Reitman Dies at 75

Published by AFP Los Angeles (AFP) – Ivan Reitman, the influential Jewish director and producer of wildly popular comedies “Ghostbusters,” “National Lampoon’s Animal House” and “Twins,” has died aged 75. On Monday Reitman’s son Jason — himself a director of films such as “Juno” and “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” — tweeted: “I’ve lost my hero.” Arnold Schwarzenegger,

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Jewish Celebrities, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Whoopi Goldberg Returns to ‘The View’ After 2-Week Suspension Over Holocaust Comments

Published by BANG Showbiz English Whoopi Goldberg has returned to ‘The View’ after a two week suspension. The 66-year-old actress had been suspended from her presenting role after claiming during a debate that the Holocaust was “not about race” and noted in her opening speech on her return to the talk show that it was

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Holocaust, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA