The Arts

Comics’ Gorfinkel to visit Tifereth Israel Synagogue

SAN DIEGO  (Press Release)– Jordan Gorfinkel, a former DC Comics editor who managed the Batman franchise for nearly a decade, will be at Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Diego on Wednesday, April 10, for a free-to-the-public discussion of his work, which includes a newly published The Passover Haggadah Graphic Novel that brings the Exodus experience into […]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, San Diego County

Book Review: ‘Giraffes on Horseback Salad’

Giraffes on Horseback Salad by Josh Frank and Tim Heideker, illustrations by Manuela Pertega; © 2019 Quirk Books, ISBN 9781594-749230, 222 pages including biographical and explanatory notes and appendices. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO –Try to picture the words in this book’s title: “Giraffes on Horseback Salad.”  Can you picture it?  A giraffe astride

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Malashock, Kontras in ‘High Strung’ alliance

By Eva Trieger SAN DIEGO — Music has a way of altering one’s mood and attitude. Dance possesses the capacity to shift one’s perspective while releasing inhibition.  The marriage of the two art forms creates nothing less than magical storytelling. Malashock Dance and the Kontras Quartet intertwine their gifts to bring San Diegans High Strung,

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Eva Trieger, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Operatic soloist thrills at TICO concert

By Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — TICO’s April 2 concert in Patrick Henry High School’s beautiful on-campus concert hall, PHAME, opened with a spirited rendition of Aaron Copland’s Outdoor Overture. The violins were admirably incisive in their opening attack and the other sections, under Conductor David Amos’ precise beats and careful cues, made their complex

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

Book Review: ‘Gentle Judaic Wisdom’

By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel’s book Gentle Judaic Wisdom is a brilliant work, very wise, easy to read, and deceptively simple. The book is filled with quotes that have significant information. It is a rich cornucopia of wisdom quoted from sources such as the Torah, Mishna, Tosephta,

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi

Book Review: ‘The Restless Hungarian’

The Restless Hungarian: Modernism, Madness, and the American Dream by Tom Weidlinger; Spark Press, ISBN 9781943-006960; 278 pages plus photo credits, index, and acknowledgments; $16.95. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – It did not take me very long to decide that I did not like structural engineer Paul Weidlinger, who is the subject of

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

Book Review: ‘Mensch-Marks’

Mensch-Marks: Life Lessons of a Human Rabbi by Joshua Hammerman; © 2018 Helth Communications, Inc.; ISBN 9780757-321771; 250 pages plus appendix,  $14.95 By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Rabbi Joshua Hammerman is the spiritual leader of Temple Beth El in Stamford, Connecticut, as well as a journalist whose column appeared regularly in the Jewish

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Sports & Competitions, Travel and Food, USA

Book Review: ‘The Jewish Journey Haggadah’

The Jewish Journey Haggadah: Connecting the Generations by Rabbanit Adena Berkowitz, Gefen Publishing House, Jerusalem, © 2019, ISBN 978-965-229-912-3, p. 211 plus appendices and bibliography, $29.95. By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California – Over one thousand Haggadot (plural of Haggadah) are listed in Amazon books, covering a wide variety of genres, from traditional to women-centric. Is

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish Religion

UC Berkeley boasts Rube Goldberg’s cartoon collection

Story by Donald H. Harrison; Photos by Shor M. Masori BERKELEY, California – This coming May will once again be Jewish American Heritage Month.  The theme for this annual celebration will be “American Jewish illustrators” —and perhaps none is better known than Rube Goldberg, who donated a collection of more than 5,000 of his cartoons

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Science, Medicine, & Education

Berkeley professor translates the Bible anew

Story by Donald H. Harrison; photos by Shor M. Masori BERKELEY, California – For some two dozen years, Dr. Robert Alter, now a professor emeritus of comparative literature at UC Berkeley, retranslated various portions of the Hebrew Bible.  He was distressed that most previous translations “were not only deficient, but I would say that they

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Science, Medicine, & Education, Shor M. Masori