The Arts

The Soap Myth: A Provocative Exploration of Holocaust Scholarship

By Eva Trieger SOLANA BEACH, California — Who is the more credible source, one who has witnessed something, or one who has researched it thoroughly? This is the crux of an upcoming and provocative reading of The Soap Myth, a benefit for North Coast Repertory Theater in Solana Beach. The play, written by Baltimore native, […]

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Eva Trieger, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

North Coast Rep Hosts ‘Tuesday Night Comics’ on February 1

SOLANA BEACH, California (Press Release) — The North Coast Repertory Theatre’s “Tuesday Night Comics” — arguably the funniest night of comedy in San Diego — takes place on February 1, 2022, at 7:30 p.m.  Mark Christopher Lawrence taps into his extensive list of talented comedian friends and shares the North Coast Rep stage with them.

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Philip Guston and Musa McKim at the Currier Museum

By Sam Ben-Meir NEW YORK — Currently on view at the Currier Museum, Philip Guston’s mural “Pulpwood Logging” (1941) is right beside its original partner, Musa McKim’s “Wildlife in the White Mountains” (1941). Both 14-foot murals were commissioned by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) — a federal program created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt to combat

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Sam Ben-Meir

How Did Early Christians Begin to Believe Jesus was God?

By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — How Jesus Became God by Dr. Bart D. Ehrman is an excellent, comprehensive, easy to read history about the beginning of Christianity by a man who was once a very conservative Christian, who is now an agnostic, but who offers readers a non-dogmatic, respectful, historical examination

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

Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Turns 85, Fetes Intertwined History With the State

By Eileen Wingard   LA JOLLA, California — The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) created a marvelous 85th anniversary celebration gala via Zoom on the last Sunday of 2021; the recording of the event remains on YoutTube. A spectacular opening, with various members of the orchestra playing at famous locations in Tel Aviv, introduced the program.

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Eileen Wingard, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Rethinking Cain’s Famed Remark, ‘Am I My Brother’s Keeper?’

The Trial of Cain: A Jewish Courtroom Drama by Rabbi Dr. Dan Ornstein; Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society; © 2021; ISBN: 0827614675; 232 pages; $20.93. By Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Rabbi Dan Ornstein’s excellent book, The Trial of Cain: A Jewish Courtroom Drama, reminded me of something I once did with

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi

‘East West Street:’ Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity

Over the course of six years the author toiled to trace the movements, ideas and political currents underlying two seminal terms in modern international law: ‘genocide’ and ‘crimes against humanity.’ In this undertaking he has interwoven the history and fate of his own family in Galicia (Poland and Ukraine), as well as that of a number of incidental characters, who were involved directly or indirectly in the rescue of some of his family members and the failure to save others. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Jewish History

Scripps Ranch Theatre’s ‘Heisenberg’ Shows the Risk-Taking Real Life Requires

By Eva Trieger SCRIPPS RANCH, California — We’ve all heard tales ranging from altruistic to beastly behavior since the start of the pandemic, but how to explain a young woman planting a kiss on a stranger’s neck in a London train station? Simon Stephens’ 2015 play, Heisenberg, is making its San Diego premiere at Scripps

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

YA Fiction: A Magical Journey to Save the Environment

This Young Adult novel is a mystical adventure in which four pre-teenage American girls representing the four cardinal directions are brought together to save the world from environmental disaster. The leader, Maia, representing the North, is a Lakota from South Dakota; the others are a Black-Jewish girl from New York (Sara, East); a Chicana from New Mexico, (Ava, South) and a Chinese girl who had been adopted by a Caucasian family in California (Yue, West). [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, The World We Share

Brava Cello Performance by a 15-year-old Prodigy

July Galper, America-Israel Cultural Foundation member, introduced the 15-year-old Israeli cellist, Nahar Eliaz for her second appearance in San Diego.  In spite of the rain and the upsurge of the Covid-19 Omicron variant, some 100 plus people ventured out to hear this brilliant talent. Lawrence Family JCC CEO, Betzy Lynch, fully masked, warmly welcomed the attendees. [Eileen Wingard]

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

Book Review: All You Need is Revolutionary Love

There are voices, in the here-and-now, that are heard, but not listened to, and seemingly ignored and unheeded. One of those voices flows from Rabbi Dr. Michael Lerner, some menschkatz and psychotherapist philosopher with licensing letters succeeding his surname. He is an old and wise hippy who was inspired by the dreams of the 1960s and -70s, fought the good fight, survived that fight, learned from the mistakes of that era, and who, to this day, continues to learn from and educate others. [John E. Finley]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, The World We Share, USA