The Arts

Finding a stronger desire to live

PEN America Prison and Justice Writing Programs, in conjunction with Haymarket Books, created a podcast featuring the literary and visual arts of prison inmates currently doing time. The virtual presentation included the music of Kenyatta Emmanuel, himself an ex-con, whose work has been heard from Sing Sing to Carnegie Hall. [Eric George Tauber]

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Eric George Tauber, Lifestyles, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

‘Total Baloney’ and the secrets of the German kitchen

The CD with the title (in German and Hebrew) Total Baloney was given to me some time ago by the Association of Former Residents of Central Europe, and when I finally got round to watching it I found myself taken back to the kitchen of my mother and other ‘Yekke’ relatives, back to the enchanted land of nostalgia, to the tastes and aromas of yesteryear, and to a time of innocence and memories (though not always fond). [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food

Books: Menasseh ben Israel paved Jews way back to England

Menasseh served the descendants of Portuguese and Spanish exiles, Jews like him who escaped from these lands. He made a small amount of money as a printer of books, a job he had to take because the community paid him a minimal salary as one of their rabbis. He worked hard to persuade the English king to allow Jews to live in England, but died believing he was not successful. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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

The music of the Nagyvary and Stradivari violins

Editor’s note: Eileen Wingard continues her series on the discography of her sister, concert violinist Zina Schiff, with embedded examples. By Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — Joseph Nagyvary, the brilliant Hungarian-born Professor of Biochemistry from Texas A & M, had just finished delivering a lecture at Louisiana State University in Shreveport. His topic was his

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Hebrew Day School celebrates its 57th anniversary

Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School on Sunday, June 7, celebrated the 57th anniversary of its founding in a Zoom gathering that highlighted the life of the late Eilene Cummins, a longtime volunteer and former board president for the Orthodox school at 3730 Afton Avenue, San Diego. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

JNF aiding Negev communities including SD Jewish Federation’s sister region

In the summer issue of the online B’Yachad, published by the Jewish National Fund, attention is given to Israel’s desire to populate its northern “frontiers” — the Galilee to the north and the Negev Desert to the south. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, USA

Where now after the George Floyd killing?

Rabbi Devorah Marcus of Temple Emanu-El offered this reflection in the aftermath of the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd: “My hope is that we will not let this moment fade into obscurity and apathy as we move on to other pieces of news, of suffering, of tweets.  My hope is that we will take this moment of brokenness and build in the cracks a garden seeded with our hope, our commitment to our neighbors and our community, and that we will reach out to everyone who is afraid right now for themselves, their children, and our world, and offer each other our comfort and our love.  [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, USA

Immigrant women tell of their successes and challenges

It’s an ongoing debate whether immigration hurts our society by taking jobs away from Americans, or helps it by importing new workers, innovators and entrepreneurs. Taking the latter position, Dr. Bilha Chesner Fish, MD — herself and immigrant from Israel — interviews twenty-one different “inspiring and successful American immigrants.” [Eric George Tauber]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eric George Tauber, USA

Jewish community urges combat against racism, bigotry

In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd and protest demonstrations across the country, rabbis and Jewish organizations are grappling with the issue of what Jews can do to combat racism and bigotry in the United States.  While there is general consensus that there is a need for action, it remains an open question just what kind of action would be appropriate.  Messages and news releases crossing my desk illustrate the contours of the debate so far. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, USA

A tale of adventure, romance, and Russian anti-Semitism

Now in paperback, A Bend in the Stars takes its name from the idea posited by Albert Einstein that light during a solar eclipse will bend around the darkened celestial object.  One of the main characters in this novel is Vanya Abramov, a mathematician who believes his calculations together with photographs not only could prove Einstein’s theory but improve upon it. However, more than a few obstacles face Vanya’s potential bid for international recognition and perhaps even a Nobel Prize. [Book review by Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison

Modern woman tells of life under the ayatollahs

Author Jacqueline Saper, part of a Jewish family, the daughter of an Iranian university professor and a British mother, an assistant airport manager, describes growing up in a wealthy and idyllic setting, a large house with opulent furnishings in the Tehran neighborhood of Yousefabad, dining in the best restaurants, attending private schools, travelling back and forth between England and Iran, and surrounded by maids and household laborers. [Fred Reiss, Ed.D]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish History, Middle East