By Amy Neustein, PhD FORT LEE, New Jersey — My late mother, Shirley Friedberg Neustein, was a childhood friend of Herman Wouk, who attended the boys division of a Zionist camp (Keeyuma/Carmelia) in the 1920s and 30s, which was picturesquely situated on Lake Champlain in Milton Vermont. They kept up until my mother died in […]
In Memory of Herman Wouk, z”l Read More »
Amy Neustein, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, USABy Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Greek and Jewish myths, reports and tales appear at first blush to be remarkably similar, but there are stark differences in how each culture views God, the world, the presence of evil, the worth of people, their duty, and their future. Psychologists have recognized that one
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish ReligionBy Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Leona, a name meaning Lioness, is also equivalent to the Hebrew name “Ariela,” by which the protagonist in this 94-minute, Spanish-language, English-subtitled film is known. She is 25 years old living in what might be considered the cocoon of the insular Jewish community of Mexico City. The movie
‘Leona:’ Inter- faith dating in Mexico Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
By Eric George Tauber SAN DIEGO — The Gods of Comedy is playing at the Old Globe Theatre through June 16, 2019. Theatre traces its origins to the classical period of Greece, 510-323 BCE. There were a great many more plays written than are extant today. Copying by hand is a laborious process and
Play Review: ‘Gods of Comedy’ Read More »
Eric George Tauber, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & BroadcastBy Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Mexican Jewish film director Sergio Umansky Brenner offers a gritty cry for Mexican justice and compassion in Eight out of Ten, which will be shown June 1 and 2nd at the Hola Mexico Film Festival at the Regal Cinemas Los Angeles, at 1000 W. Olympic Blvd. The film
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Donald H. Harrison, International, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Meeting Gorbachev, a documentary on the life of the Soviet Union’s final leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, will be shown at Landmark’s Ken Cinema at 4061 Adams Avenue beginning on May 24th. The 90-minute tribute by Werner Herzog and Andre Singer is both informative and a bit disappointing. Informative because
‘Meeting Gorbachev’ paints sympathetic portrait Read More »
International, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USABy Eileen Wingard LA JOLLA, California — The Exhibit on Aging served as a fitting backdrop to the Jewish Poets—Jewish Voices program, held in the Gotthelf Gallery of the Lawrence Family JCC Thursday, May 2. The forty plus people who gathered were well-rewarded with inspiring poems by three senior citizens. Janice Alper and Dr. Irvin
JCC poetry program features compassion and whimsy Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eileen Wingard, Irv Jacobs, MD, San Diego CountyBOSTON, Massachusetts (Press Release)— Coinciding with May’s observances of Jewish American Heritage Month and Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day), the Ruderman Family Foundation has made available to the public never-before-seen archival footage that shares the stories of the American Jews who helped established and strengthen the nascent State of Israel. “Eyewitness 1948: The American Contribution”
Eyewitness accounts of Israel’s 1948 war released Read More »
Middle East, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USABy Eric George Tauber SAN DIEGO — Who hasn’t looked in the mirror and wondered where they fit in? But for those of mixed heritage, the struggle is more pronounced. You tend to favor one parent more than the other and you really stand out in extended family photos. Can you prove that you are
Theater review: ‘What Are You?’ Read More »
Eric George Tauber, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & BroadcastBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson JERUSALEM — I was one of the brave souls who attended a performance of the opera, The Passenger’ by Mieczyslaw Weinberg. I did so mainly because a friend of ours was the revival director of the production by the Israel Opera, and not because I’m a “glutton for punishment,” as I have
An opera about Auschwitz!? Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Jewish History, Theatre, Film & BroadcastBy Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Rabbi Dr. Marc D. Angel’s A New World: An American Sephardic Memoir reads like an engrossing novel. It describes the transition of the Angel family from an immigrant Sephardic community into an Americanized group over several generations. In the process, it “reminisces” about the immigrant generation,
Review: ‘A New World: An American Sephardic Memoir’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Jewish ReligionBy Pamela Pollack Fremd SPOKANE, Washington — OK, I’ll admit it, I enjoy children’s movies. They are frequently gentle, sentimental, and have happy endings. I went to see Tim Burton’s new version of Dumbo and liked it very much. Although I saw the old Dumbo movie when I was very young, I could barely remember
The new ‘Dumbo’ vs. the old ‘Dumbo’ Read More »
Theatre, Film & Broadcast
By Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel ENCINITAS, California — At the last minute on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 1, I received an invitation from Genine, my vivacious friend, to attend a program at the Hive. I had a long day of activities, and was ready to relax after dinner, but since the Leichtag campus is
Students worry about apathy about Poway shootings Read More »
Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel, z"l, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education
The Guest Book by Sarah Blake, Flatiron Books © 2019, ISBN 9781250-110251, 480 pages, $27.99 By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — When Ogden Moss Milton purchased Crockett’s Island, Maine, in 1935, possibly unbeknownst to him, but fairly obvious to outside observers, he established a monument to white privilege. Not just any white, mind you,
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison