The Arts

Listening to uncomfortable theatre conversations

In the wake of the Black Lives Matter demonstrations against systemic racism and police brutality, San Diego Repertory Theatre decided to ask itself a hard question. How can we do better? Theatre folk are generally progressive, but we all have cultural blind spots. And there’s always room for improvement. [Eric George Tauber]

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

Who’s reconsidering Virginia Woolf?

I read Orlando by Virginia Woolf originally many years ago, when I first ‘discovered’ Virginia Woolf and the fascinating world of the Bloomsbury Group – the coterie of artists, writers and intellectuals who coalesced around her and her husband, Leonard Woolf (who was Jewish). I eagerly swallowed every word she had ever written, as well as her diaries, collected letters and  the many works about her and the other members of the group. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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

When England was going it alone, there was Churchill

The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson covers the challenges Winston Churchill faced during the first two years of the war, from May 1940 to the end of 1941. Churchill grappled with the Nazi blitzkrieg toppling France and other Allies and the rescue of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk and other locations. Then came the Battle of Britain as Spitfires and Hurricanes, radar and Bletchley Park intelligence interfered with Hermann Göring’s Luftwaffe. The Nazis blitzed London and other English cities for eight months and five days. Blessedly Hitler’s anticipated land invasion never occurred. [Oliver B. Pollak, Ph.D]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Oliver Pollak

Thomas Sowell, Bolsheviks, and BLM rhetoric

Thomas Sowell is one of the greatest intellectuals in the world today. Back in 1999, he wrote a remarkable book, The Quest for Cosmic Justice. He relates in his book about the time in 1919 when The Bolsheviks created the secret police known as the Cheka.  The similarities between the rhetoric of the Black Lives Matter movement and the Cheka are astounding. Sowell cited records from that era, which ought to sound familiar to us—a century later: (Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel)

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

Redeeming a Holocaust Survivor’s reputation

Retired California theater producer and drama professor George Kovach is the stepson the late Cecelia ”Cilka” Klein who was the subject of a recent Holocaust sex and romance novel by an Australian novelist named Heather Morris, who wrote an earlier sex and romance novel set during the Holocaust titled The Tattooist of Auschwitz. In Morris’ sequel to her bestselling first novel, titled Cilka’s Journey, she focused on Cecelia Klein, and Kovach found the portrayal of his Jewish stepmother highly objectionable.  [Dan Bloom]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History

Two Women of Valor building trust and community

The plague of 2020 still hangs heavily in the air, shuttering our theatres and concert halls. But thanks to the miracle of YouTube, the 27th Annual Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Arts Festival goes on. Highlighting the lives and contributions of hard-working women, two of this year’s Women of Valor are Heidi Gantwerk, Board Chair of San Diego Jewish Academy, and Sharleen Wollach of the Jewish Community Foundation. [Eric George Tauber]

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

The Hush sounds of Zina Schiff’s violin

My sister, concert violinist Zina Schiff, has championed many contemporary Jewish composers, including Australian-based David Hush (1956-). She has performed his works on two CDs: King David’s Lyre and the all-Hush recording, Nesia, released by LMA Recordings. On this disc, Zina performs six pieces for solo violin: Lachash (Incantation), Kinah (Elegy), Nesia (Journey), Sinfonia, Lullaby and Melody. She also plays Contrapuntus, a duo for violin and viola, with violist, Victoria Voronyansky. The recording concludes with Hush’s Prelude and Fugue and Sonata for cello, featuring Mirjam Ingofsson, cello and Ursula Ingofsson-Fassbind, piano. [Eileen Wingard]

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

Author probes the philosophy of the Torah

Judaism Reclaimed: Philosophy and Theology in the Torah is an interesting book written by R. Shmuel Phillips who attempts to create a philosophical midrash of the text using primarily two important Judaic thinkers: Maimonides and Samson Raphael Hirsch, the founder of Modern Orthodoxy. [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]

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

‘Unorthodox’ draws critical response from Chabad women

The Netflix miniseries Unorthodox, about a woman who leaves her husband, casts off the ways of the Satmar Hasidim, and seeks to rebuild her life in the secular world, drew Zoomcast rebuttals on Monday night from a first cousin of the author upon whose 2012 memoir the series was based, as well as from educators and rebbetzins of the Lubavitcher Hasidim, better known as Chabadniks, here in San Diego County. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Two spies who had faith and ten who didn’t

Moses chooses twelve men to slip into the city as spies. They’ll gather intel to see if the city is safe to conquer. Two spies, Joshua and Caleb, return with good news. “If God is on our side, we can take over the town.” Ten spies return, quivering and complaining. “There are giants in the town. We will lose everything if we try to enter.” Moses and the people have a problem. One group is not telling the truth. Who should they believe? [Marcia Berneger]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Marcia Berneger, Travel and Food