The Arts

Between Hunkering Down and Resurgence

The euphoria lasted exactly two weeks. As June progressed the general rejoicing and premature self-congratulation on the part of the government came to an abrupt stop. The dreaded second wave had arrived. The curve which had been flattened reared its ugly head again, and alarm bells started ringing as the number of infections rose drastically. The idea of returning to the theatre and the concert hall vanished like the proverbial mirage. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Lifestyles, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

White moves first; is chess racist?

Given the assault on “whiteness” that we see today, some people of the ultra-left claim that chess is a racist game since it pits the “whites” vs. the “blacks.” To certain individuals, this game accentuates the problems some see in race relations. To make matters further complicated, the white pieces go before the black pieces. This is perceived by those who consider themselves “woke” (people who are super-sensitive to racism) as a “racially biased.” [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Lifestyles, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Paul Robeson sang in Yiddish

I still remember the rich bass baritone voice of  Paul Robeson singing  “Old Man River” in the 1936 movie Show Boat. That was his song and I thought no one else could match his performance. By chance someone just sent me a link to a recording by Robeson in Yiddish. This is a new one, for me. I further learned he had   recorded several Yiddish songs and often included them in his concerts. [Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel]

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Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel, z"l, International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

What is the Book of Esther really about?

Maggid Books has just published an excellent comprehensive 493-page study of the biblical Book of Esther called Esther: Power, Fate, and Fragility in Exile by Erica Brown, Ph.D, an award-winning author of many books, lecturer, and Jewish teacher. Brown tells readers exactly what the Bible text is saying, not what people read into it. She does so in clear, easy to read language. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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

July Fourth, American history, and cultural myths

The Fourth of July is my friend Ben Dishman’s birthday, just as it was the birthday of my late father, Martin B. Harrison.  When both of them were pre-schoolers, their parents fibbed to them that the fireworks and celebrations all were in honor of their birthdays.  Of course, they both believed the story, as it had come from what for them was the source of all knowledge — their parents.  It wasn’t until they were old enough to go to school that they were disabused of the notion by their classmates. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Ben Dishman, Donald H. Harrison, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

‘Ode to Passion’ Strikes a Chord

Ode to Passion was supposed to premiere at the Queens World Film Festival back in March, but the plague put the kaibosh on that. So it has gone to Amazon Prime Video. It is the first feature-length film by Writer/Director Jack Danini with 19 original songs written in 80s rock-ballad style with shades of country. From the opening strains of a wailing base guitar and a forlorn lover clutching a thorny red rose, we know that this story does not end happily. [Eric George Tauber]

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Eric George Tauber, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Six valorous Jewish women of San Diego

When it comes to the Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Arts Festival, not even COVID19 can stand up to the chutzpah, commitment and ingenuity of Associate Producer Ali Viterbi and co-writers Leah Salovey, Sarah Price Keating and Becca Myers, Associate Producer of JFest, as they bring us the 11th annual “Women of Valor.”  This virtual show is a tribute to our local women, some unsung and others, banner-waving, who have created a more humane, compassionate, and impactful Jewish San Diego.  [Eva Trieger]

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Eva Trieger, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Americana music for the 4th of July

Cecil Burleigh, Music for Violin and Piano features miniature pieces by the little-known American composer, Cecil Burleigh (1885-1980), performed by my sister, violinist Zina Schiff and pianist, Mary Barranger. Named Critic’s Choice Best of 2002 by the American Record Guide, the CD took its rightful place beside the music of other great American composers, such as Edward MacDowell, Paul Creston, Charles Ives, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein, in Naxos’ epochal “American Classics” series—the most ambitious recording project of music by American Composers. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Cyber-attackers can’t silence the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

Recently our music reviewer Eileen Wingard was able to report on the successful gala concert of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring the actress Helen Mirren along with a host of well-known musicians performing from private venues.  However, not everyone was able to witness the concert live because anti-Israel hackers took it upon themselves to disrupt the program which some 13,000 people from around the world had signed up to watch. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Eileen Wingard, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

The coronavirus pandemic in couplets

Here are some coronavirus couplets:
Nothing makes me more livid                                                                                             
Than post-opening spikes of Covid.

It’s not an oppressive task                                                                                                                                
To have to wear a mask.
(Laurie Baron, Ph.D0

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Tips for parenting teens during a pandemic

The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute has put together a valuable resource for Jewish organizations and schools to distribute to parents of teens called Parenting in a Pandemic: A Guide for the Perplexed. The contributors include medical doctors, licensed social workers and scholars and covers a wide variety of topics. [Marcia Berneger]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Lifestyles, Marcia Berneger

French Jewish author details a son’s deep regret

Albert Cohen wrote (or at least published) this book when he was about sixty years old. I don’t know when his mother died, but – as its title implies – the book is about his late mother and her devotion to him, embellished by his evidently deep-rooted sense of guilt at not having been as kind to her as he felt should have been in her lifetime. (Dorothea Shefer-Vanson)

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Lifestyles