The Arts

Jews writing a Christmas story: Is that kosher?

After I submitted my review of Ebenezer Scrooge’s Big San Diego Christmas Show, now playing at the Old Globe, we noticed that the creators’ names sounded Jewish. I’ve met a few Jews who were openly hostile to the goyishe feist, calling it “Krastmik” to avoid saying that name. But American Jews making their mark, even iconic contributions, to Christmas canon is nothing new. Some favorite Christmas carols including Rudolph, Chestnuts Roasting, Let it Snow!, Santa Baby, Silver Bells and It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year were all composed by Jews. 
Still, Christmas is not really our holiday. So we wanted to talk to Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen about creating this show and what influence their Jewish upbringing had on it. [Eric George Tauber]

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Eric George Tauber, Lifestyles, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Resolution on Israel wins S.D. reps. support

Three Democratic members of Congress representing portions of San Diego County – Susan Davis, Scott Peters, and Mike Levin – were among 192 cosponsors of a House Resolution approved by a vote of 226-188 on Friday, Dec. 6, that reiterated support for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. A fourth San Diego Democrat, Juan Vargas, joined his colleagues in the majority. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Middle East, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food, USA

Three local poets to recite Dec. 17 at LFJCC

Adam Greenfield is a professional podcast producer and published poet. His 2017 book, Regarding the Monkey, received critical acclaim. Anna Abraham Gasaway, a graduate of Holyoke College, is currently studying poetry in the Master of Fine Arts Program at San Diego State University. Her poetry has been published in the San Diego Reader, Last Exit, Toyon, Mesa Visions and Cityworks. Lucy Lehman, a graduate of Wellesley College, has had her poetry published in the San Diego Poetry Annual. [Eileen Wingard]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Eileen Wingard, San Diego County

Winter songs and dance at the Welk

With everything else going on in the world, there’s a nice little respite below the hills in Escondido at the Welk Resort Theatre where co-creator Larry Rabin with co- director Noelle Marion and choreographer and co-creator Cheryl Baxter Ratliff are presenting “Welkome Home For The Holidays” in a two hour sing and dance fest through Dec. 29. Billed as a love letter to “The Rat Pack” TV Holiday Specials of the past, it’s a holiday/variety/ fun filled songfest with a thinly veiled story line. [Carol Davis]

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Carol Davis, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Rabbi’s granddaughter seeks 3rd school board term

Elana Levens-Craig, granddaughter of the late Rabbi Monroe Levens of Tifereth Israel Synagogue, is seeking election to a third term on the Santee School District Board.  In 2016, she ran unopposed, and, so far, it looks as if she will again have no opposition.  The Santee School District has nine K-8 schools, serving approximately 7,000 students.[Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education

Chanukah: A time of dreams, visions

For eight nights, starting with the twenty-fifth of the month of Kislev, Jews celebrate the 165 BCE victory of the Maccabees, a brave troop of priest-warriors that vanquished the mighty Syrian-Greeks. Every winter, we commemorate this military miracle by lighting the Chanukah candles, increasing the glow of spirituality in the world and saluting those who keep the dream of freedom alive. [Sam Glaser]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Sam Glaser

Community coalition to aid Holocaust Survivors

True to its roots, when it was founded in 1936 to help European Jews who were being persecuted by the Nazi regime in Germany, the Jewish Federation of San Diego County on Tuesday, Dec. 3, launched a community-wide coalition to come to the aid and honor an estimated 500 Holocaust survivors who live in the county today. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Lifestyles, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food, USA

An iconic tale comes to San Diego

We’ve all seen variations of Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol many times in stage plays, films and musicals. His iconic character, Ebenezer Scrooge with his catchphrase, “Bah Humbug” is so well known that I doubt many Israelis name their children “Ebenezer” except for some ultra-orthodox sects who avoid all things Krastmik along with the rest of the goyishe velt. So what can you do to put a new twist on this classic tale? Set it in sunny San Diego, California. [Eric George Tauber]

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

Attorney, singer Roberta Winston runs for judge

You might have heard attorney Roberta Taylor Winston perform as a cantorial soloist at Congregation Beth El, where she also has served on the board.  Or perhaps you heard her belting out the songs for Congregation Beth Am’s Rockin’ Shabbat band. Even before that, you might have heard her sing as part of the High Holiday quartet that accompanied Cantor Alisa Pomerantz-Boro at Tifereth Israel Synagogue. Now, she’s campaigning for another spot in which she would have an audience, but instead of performing, for the most part, she would be actively listening.  Roberta Winston, 58, is in a race to become a Superior Court Judge in Office No. 18, from which Judge Jacqueline Stern is retiring [Donald H. Harrison]

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

Activist pushes Hollywood to adopt cli-fi genre

Undeterred and full of confidence, I’ve launched the first-ever ”cli-fi movies initiative” to try to get the “cli-fi” term into the ears, eyes and minds of major Hollywood players in the 2020s. My long-term goal: to make cli-fi a genre term that everyone in Hollywood knows by the year 2030. [Dan Bloom]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Sephardic family spread over nine countries

One is reminded of the saying “to save  life is to save a world” when viewing the family tree of Sa’adi Besalel Ashkenazi a-Levi (1820-1903), who was a publisher during the 19th century in the Ottoman empire city of Salonica, known today as the Greek city of Thessaloniki.  He has over 100 descendants spread across nine countries, and that doesn’t count spouses of the children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so forth. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History

Holocaust education planned throughout county

There will be an emphasis on Holocaust education in December and January.  The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum of Washington D.C. puts on a presentation Dec. 5 at Congregation Beth El about the experience of deaf people under the Nazis.  The main Chula Vista Library prepares for an exhibition that begins Jan. 12 on Survivors who immigrated to the South Bay. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

IDF reservists to undergo therapy in San Diego

Three congregations and the Jewish Federation of San Diego County are preparing for the visit of an Israel Defense Force reserve unit whose members have been through the stress of battle and now need rest and relaxation to help them cope with symptoms of PTSD. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Science, Medicine, & Education

Yee’s back with ‘Cambodian Rock Band’

Playwright Lauren Yee has returned home to roost at UC San Diego’s Potiker theater. No stranger to San Diego stages, Yee has been producing plays since before 2005 at the Old Globe, South Coast Rep, and farther afield as well. Audiences in Denver, Seattle and Miami have enjoyed Yee’s shows, many of which have garnered her coveted awards including the Doris Duke Artists Award, the Horton Foote Prize and the Steinberg/ATCA Award. Other projects have been seen on television and film. [Eva Trieger]

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Eva Trieger, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast