The Arts

‘The Niceties’ in Black and White

When we first meet our two protagonists Janine, (Mouchette val Helsdingen) and Zoe (Deja Fields) in Janine’s office at an ‘elite university’ in the Northeast, Zoe is waiting for American History professor Janine to read over and correct her grammar and historical content of the first draft of her history thesis. Zoe is fine with the grammatical corrections but not so much with the corrections about her historical findings. (“I’m afraid you’re in for a substantial rewrite”) Her paper, “A Successful American revolution was only possible because of slavery.” Janine off handedly remarks it’s “one of the more imaginative ideas I’ve seen.” [Play Review by Carol Davis]

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Carol Davis, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

RBG’s death prompts Jewish pride, sorrow

Back to work following the two-day observance of Rosh Hashanah, Jewish organizations are paying tribute to the life and legacy of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died at age 87 just before the High Holy Day. Among the tributes were the following: [Donald H. Harrison, “Our Shtetl San Diego County”]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, Obituaries & memorials, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

A prolific writer shares stories, fables, glimpses

The prolific author Lynne Sharon Schwartz has put together a collection of 25 of her short stories that have appeared in a variety of publications, calling the resulting book Truthtelling. To go on sale on October 6, the slim volume makes for engaging reading in short, concentrated bursts. The first story in the book, also called “Truthtelling,” tells of a long-married couple exchanging confessions about misdeeds during their marriage. [Book review by Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison

Spend a private weekend with Pablo Picasso

The San Diego REPertory Theatre is reprising via Internet A Weekend With Pablo Picasso, written and performed by playwright-in-residence Herbert Siguenza. Scenic Designer Sam Moore recreates Picasso’s home in Cannes, France, 1957. We come upon Picasso while he is bathing and philosophizing in a clawfoot bathtub. It is awkwardly intimate, yet the artist himself seems perfectly at ease. He can be warm and thoughtful, but also impatient and prickly with outbursts from a hot temper. [Eric George Tauber]

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Eric George Tauber, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

A book filled with knowledge

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks is a world-wide respected religious leader, the former chief rabbi of the English Commonwealth, the author of more than thirty books, and the winner of numerous prizes. His new book Judaism’s Life-Changing Ideas,” with a Foreword ‘”The Secret of Our Staying Power” by Bari Weiss, the award-winning author and op-ed editor and writer of the New York Times, introduces readers to a life-changing Jewish idea from each of the more than fifty weekly biblical portions. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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

Novel captures horror, confusion of Holocaust, recovery

I have read and reviewed numerous Holocaust memoirs, but none hit me with the impact of this novel — perhaps because the author infused The Brothers of Auschwitz  with such onomatopoeia as the sounds of machine gun fire, the clubbing of human beings, the whistle of death.  This made the experience different from  reading the more flatly narrated memories of Holocaust survivors; it stimulated me to not only read about the horrors of the camp, but to empathically experience them. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison

Rainbow – What Will We Take out of Our Arks?

I also took into the sealed room a siddur that had been my mother’s, and one of my father’s, 1941 U.S. Army issue, so I could tell them I prayed from their prayer books. I ended the column, “We took into our sealed rooms fears, and uncertainty, and prayers. We must now ask ourselves what we brought out.” [Toby Klein Greenwald]

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Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Toby Klein Greenwald, USA

San Diego Dems cancel anti-Semitism debate

The chairman of the San Diego County Democratic Party, Will Rodriguez-Kennedy, doesn’t want the debate over anti-Semitism in the party’s ranks to be held until after the Nov. 3 election, if ever. On Sept. 10, Rodriguez-Kennedy sent a message to the county party’s central committee explaining his reason for wanting a delay. [Donald H. Harrison, Our Shtetl San Diego County]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

The volume of Jewish music in America

As I read this comprehensive, engaging book about Jewish Music in America, I kept thinking about the extensive music collection we have in our Astor Judaica Library of the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center and what a wonderful course we could develop, using this volume as the textbook and our library’s lp records, CDs and DVDs for illustrations. We have most of the music Fruhauf writes about in her book. [Eileen Wingard]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, USA

Prospective and veteran clergy members contrast in style

Mark Dolson (Timothy Benson) is a seminarian ready to change the world, or at least the Catholic Church. He’d like to see women admitted to the priesthood. And he believes the church’s attitude opposed to homosexuality is outdated and archaic. Most of all, he believes that it is the job of the clergy to shake their parishioners from their materialism and complacency in order for them to truly follow the teachings of Jesus. [Play review by Donald H. Harrison]

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Bernhard H. Rosenberg-Rabbi, Donald H. Harrison, Lifestyles, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Book review: ‘Hatemonger’ skewers Stephen Miller

Guerrero adroitly compiles in a fast-moving, soundly researched 275 pages a text that connects the dots between Miller’s own history, personal stories of Trump and Miller’s victims, backstage intrigue and shocking events thanks in part to Miller’s engineering. Miller, who predictably would not cooperate with Guerrero, is part of a hard-right network that has long sought the kinds of ultra-conservative policies the current White House is attempting to implement. [Bruce S. Ticker]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Bruce Ticker, International, Middle East, USA