The Arts

The emotion of Bloch’s ‘Schelomo’

Cellist Alisa Wallerstein’s dramatic, passionate playing was well-suited to the demands of Ernest Bloch’s grandiloquent Hebraic Rhapsody for cello and orchestra, Schelomo. In his musical attempt to present a portrait of the Biblical monarch, Bloch strives to reflect “the Jewish soul, the complex, glowing, agitated soul, that I feel vibrating throughout the Bible.” [story by Eileen Wingard]

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

Historian tells of FDR’s anti-Semitism

Vice President Henry Wallace, an eye-witness to the event, recorded in his diary that when President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Churchill met in mid-1943, Churchill raised the “Jewish question” to which Roosevelt replied the Jews should be spread as thinly as possible all over the world, noting that he tried this method where he lived—Meriwether County, Georgia and Hyde Park, New York and his neighbors appreciated it. This anecdote encapsulates the mindset of Franklin Roosevelt. [Fred Reiss, EdD]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, International, Jewish History, USA

Federation chips in $100,000 for JCC Maccabi Games

Board members of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County have voted unanimously to contribute $100,000 to help the Lawrence Family JCC to host the August 2-7, 2020 JCC Maccabi Games which are expected to bring to San Diego 2,000 athletes from all over the world. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Judaism, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Sports & Competitions

Another mob thriller from Scorsese

It’s time for Martin Scorsese to reprise one of his greatest films, Goodfellas. This new version is called The Irishman and, like Goodfellas, it stars Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci and includes
some of the same actors in both films: Samuel L .Jackson, Paul Sorvino, Chuck Low, Jim Norton,
Mike Starr. The Irishman is fleshed out with Al Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa, Ray Romano as Bill Bufalino, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin, Harvey Keitel, Steven Van Zandt, and a cast of nearly 40 other players. [Cynthia Citron]

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Cynthia Citron, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

A freshened grinch at the Old Globe

Just as September’s high holidays are  marked by boxes of matzo ball soup on Von’s endcaps, so the annual Christmas season is heralded by  the Old Globe’s production of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The show opened last night to a full house and an enthusiastic fan base welcomed all the Whos from Whoville, Max the loyal dog, and the once-curmudgeonly Grinch who did teshuva. [Eva Trieger]

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

Chabad of Poway’s Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein retires

Never able to shake off the painful memory of having his fingers shot off by an intruder at Chabad of Poway nor of seeing congregant Lori Gilbert-Kaye murdered and two other congregants wounded, Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein has decided to retire. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Psuedo-scholars revive the blood libel

The latest example of this pseudo-scholarship—born out of contortions of history and fact to conform, instead, to spurious narratives—has embroiled Boston University in a debate about the academic qualifications of a prospective faculty hire, Sarah Ihmoud, a postdoctoral associate in Anthropology and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. As is the current trend in the humanities and social sciences in academia, Ihmoud, in her writing about feminism and sexuality, focuses obsessively on the predations of the Jew of nations, Israel, in a torrent of so-called research. [Richard L. Cravatts, PhD]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Middle East, Richard L. Cravatts, Science, Medicine, & Education

A thoughtful plot from Korea

Parasite is a social satire written and directed by a man named Bong Joon-ho, and stars a brilliant cast of actors whose names you probably don’t recognize. They portray a wealthy family, the Parks, who live in a spectacular home created by a prominent Korean architect, and an indigent family, the Kims, who live a ragtag existence in the poorer part of town. Their connection begins when a friend who is about to leave for college persuades Kim Ki-woo, the son of the Kim family, to take over his job as an English teacher for Park Da-hye, the daughter of the Park family. [Cynthia Citron]

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Cynthia Citron, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

‘Superstar’ rocks on Broadway

The scenic design by Tom Scutt is a construction site with bare girders  –possibly for downtown condos that few of us can actually afford. And just as many churches have foregone traditional pipe organs and choirs, the traditional orchestra hidden in the pit has been traded in for a rock band incorporated into the set. [Eric George Tauber]

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

Humorous book relates teachers’ anecdotes

Many of our readers may remember Art Linkletter’s television show Kids Say the Darndest Things.  In classrooms throughout the nation, their parents say even darnder things. Just ask Cheryl Kolker and Jan Landau, longtime teachers at the San Diego Jewish Academy who have collected anecdotes from 30 of their colleagues in American public and private schools and put them all into a humorous book Teachers Have You Ever..!!@#*!! [Donald H. Harrison]

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

San Diego gears up for 2020 JCC Maccabi Experience

The Lawrence Family JCC has been sending flyers to people throughout the county looking for athletes, artists, volunteers and donors for the 2020 JCC Maccabi Experience, in which over 400 San Diego County teen athletes and artists will become part of a competition among 2,200 teens from throughout the world from Sunday August 2 through Friday, August 7. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Bruce F. Lowitt, Donald H. Harrison, International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Sports & Competitions, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Poland, other countries, had mixed Holocaust records

From the respondents to my original article, I am also glad to hear that Witold Pilecki is the most revered in Poland and has been for some time. But one respondent claimed, “There is no anti-Semitism in Poland!” I hoped that this might indeed be the case. But this comment piqued my curiosity, so I decided to check out this out for myself. [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Middle East, USA

Survivors’ descendants, youth, to carry on Holocaust education

There is a continuing focus on Holocaust education in the county, with the Lawrence Family JCC and the J Company Youth Theatre announcing a planned “Remembrance Reading” at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the JCC, and second-generation Holocaust educators Sandy Scheller and Sonia Fox-Ohlbaum pledging to take to schools the concentration camp uniforms their family members had been forced to wear. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Business & Finance, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Blue Man Group makes noise with ‘Speechless’

Masters of percussion, Blue Man Group employs an array of instruments of wood, metal and glass, plus found objects like large plastic tubes, extended and contracted to vary the pitch, and rubber chickens. All of this is done wordlessly as they work in blue latex masks with robotic moves and gestures, creating an effect that is both eerie and comical.   [Eric George Tauber]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eric George Tauber, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts