The pandemic has changed many people’s daily routines. More folks have been spending time at home and because of this, pet adoptions have increased. What better time to adopt a pet than while spending so much time at home! However, there have also been a lot of first time pet owners who need some guidance. [Mimi Pollack]
Book Provides Useful Pet Advice Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Mimi Pollack, San Diego County, The World We Share
Maggid Books has published a new five-volume series by the recently deceased scholar Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz that inform readers in easy to read English of the fundamentals of Judaism. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
Steinsaltz’s Posthumous Introduction to Judaism Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion
The World Jewish Congress hosted a discussion via zoom with three children of survivors: Professor and poet, Menachem Rosensaft; Rabbi Arthur Schneier and New York Times Best-Selling author Yossi Klein-Halevi. [Eric George Tauber]
Commemorating Yom Hashoah in Verse Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eric George Tauber, Jewish History
Since at least 2014, Mural (1943) has been on perpetual tour. So much has already been said about this large painting – books are devoted solely to the analysis of Jackson Pollock’s first great masterpiece. What else can possibly be said? In fact, there will always be new things to say. As with any work of genius, it exceeds every interpretation. Mural is generally regarded as a transitional work – between the mythological, Jungian abstractions and the later drip paintings which would secure Pollock’s world fame.
‘Mural’ Came From Deep in Pollock’s Unconscious Read More »
Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Sam Ben-Meir
In her 89 years, Dr Nawal El Saadawi was relentless in her fight against the persecution of women. She passed away on March 21, but her legacy as an advocate and writer lives on. Her multifaceted approach to feminism, pulling from her experience as a writer, physician and psychiatrist ensured her advocacy reverberated transnationally, overwhelming
The title of this book is an understatement if ever there were one. “Three Ordinary Girls” really should be retitled as “Three Extraordinary Girls.” [Donald H. Harrison]
Book Review: ‘Three [Extra] Ordinary Girls’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History
This is a moment to revisit and reflect on the work of Russian-born artist, Symeon Shimin. During his life, Shimin illustrated over 50 children’s books, including two that he authored himself; his masterpiece, however – influenced in part by ‘Los Tres Grandes’ – was the mural painting, “Contemporary Justice and the Child” (1936), located on the third floor of the Department of Justice, where it still stands today. [Sam Ben-Meir]
Symeon Shimin’s Humanistic Art Read More »
Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Sam Ben-Meir, USA
The U.S. Library of Congress admits only 25 recordings to its Recording Registry, which are works that added have to have a historical and cultural significance to be preserved for posterity. This year’s list includes Janet Jackson, Winston Churchill and Kermit the Frog. Churchill’s 1941 Christmas Eve speech will be added to the Library after it was
Winston Churchill, Kermit & Janet Jackson’s Recordings Added To The Library Of Congress Read More »
Theatre, Film & Broadcast
Arden Cho says she experienced a racist attack in which a man threatened to kill her. The “Teen Wolf” star was walking her dog Wednesday night when the man screamed “I’m going to motherf—g kill you c— and your f—g dog,” she said in an emotional Instagram post. Cho, 35, said the man shouted other
‘Teen Wolf’ star Arden Cho says man threatened to kill her, screamed racial slurs Read More »
Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA
The new film “Shiva Baby” combines the traditional, weeklong Jewish mourning period with a meshugenah love rectangle and overbearing family members. Hilarious and anxiety-inducing, the movie, written and directed by Emma Seligman is now out in select theaters and on demand, during Passover. “It’s like a sort of Jewish wake that lasts a week and
‘Shiva Baby’ tackles Jewish mourning, comedy and female empowerment Read More »
Theatre, Film & Broadcast
National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF) kicks off its Yiddish Women Playwrights Festival with a virtual reading of Chava Rosenfarb’s play The Bird of the Ghetto (Der Foygl fun Geto), the first time the play will be presented in the language in which it was written, Yiddish. Audiences can stream the event at 11 a.m. (Pacific Time), Sunday, April 18 through 11 a.m. Thursday April 22 at 2:00 PM ET. [National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF) press release]
Yiddish writer’s play finally to be performed in Yiddish Read More »
Jewish History, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
This graphic novel is a relatively gentle introduction for children to the Holocaust, wherein two Polish Jewish children escape from their ghetto to the woods, where they are found by a Gentile farmer who has been working with the resistance. In fact, the farmer has been hiding from a German search party three Partisans who blew up a train that was headed with weapons and supplies to the Russian front. Among the brave Partisans is none other than the children’s aunt, who had left home before the Jews of their town had been moved and restricted to a ghetto. [Donald H. Harrison]
Adventure story is gentle introduction to the Holocaust Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History
A recent article (by Elaine Samuels, on Facebook and in the Israel Telegraph online) recounted the trials and tribulations she experienced in her efforts to learn and speak Hebrew. This triggered long-dormant memories of my attempt to learn Hebrew. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]
An Immigrant’s Struggle to Learn Hebrew Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
Radical Loving: One God, One World, One People, written by Rabbi Wayne Dosick, begins with the statement, “What an incredible time it is to be alive!” Immediately the reader is asked to question the author’s opinion “Is it really?” We turn the page and so begins an anecdote of a village of rice growers and how wonderful their lives are. Then in an instant, a terrible storm causes a flood that completely destroys their village and their food supply of rice fields. Thanks to one of the village elders, the people were warned ahead of time and were able to escape to higher elevation and were saved. The anecdote ends of course with a message: “The village and the fields can rise up again. And the villagers can forever tell the tale.” Rabbi Dosick is calling on the world to band together and to not forget that we are “One World, One People” and stronger together. We the readers are the villagers and as my Aunt Nancy has told me, my generation and the next,will be retelling our tale of the 2020 pandemic to our grandchildren for years to come. [Heather Z. Rothstain]
Rabbi Dosick provides advice on ‘Radical Loving’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Travel and Food, USA