The Arts

30- year- old Holocaust research still relevant today

The Journey Back From Hell: Conversations with Concentration Camp Survivors by Anton Gill, Grafton Books, 1988. By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Although published thirty years ago, this book is at least as relevant today as it was when it first appeared. As the survivors of concentration camps grow old and die it is

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

The 527 -year- old pact between Jews and Basques

.…and won’t you please release us from our commitment of 1492 to preserve the Jewish cemetery.  The city wishes to build on those grounds, which today is encircled by our growth…’ Restpectfully,  The Vitoria City Council (January 1952) (paraphrased) At Vitoria by Marcia Sue Riman Selz, Ph.D. Archway Publishing, 2016 Reviewed by Irvin H. Jacobs,

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish History

Book prompts Jewish rationalism vs. mysticism debate

By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Maimonides: Between Philosophy and Halakhah: Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s Lectures on the Guide of the Perplexed is interesting because it shows the basic ideas of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s thinking. But readers should not suppose that they will gain an insight into the teachings of Maimonides or even some

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

Book Review: ‘Newcomers in an Ancient Land’

Newcomers in an Ancient Land: Adventures, Love and Seeking Myself in 1960’s Israel by Paula Wagner; She Writes Press, © 2019;ISBN 9781631-525292; 220 pages; $16.95. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – For the most part, this is a pleasant if tentative memoir, which will be informative for people contemplating a first trip from the

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Middle East

Sherlock Holmes fan himself subject of a deep mystery

By Cynthia Citron LOS ANGELES — The play Mysterious Circumstances consists of seven actors playing some 26 different characters, as well as “others” too insignificant to identify specifically.  And so the stage was a chaos of people coming and going, often dressed in costumes very different from the ones in which they had previously appeared, and delivering their crucial commentary in a variety of nearly impenetrable British

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Cynthia Citron, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Book Review: ‘Confessions of a Yiddish Writer’

Confessions of a Yiddish Writer and Other Essays by Chava Rosenfarb, McGill-Queens University Press © 2019, 282 pages including appendix and index.   By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Chava Rosenfarb was recognized as a novelist and essayist of substance by those of the post-Holocaust, shrinking, Yiddish-speaking world, but it remained for her daughter,

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

Classical trio to perform at College Avenue Center

SAN DIEGO (SDJW) — Pianist Monique Kunewalder, Oboist Lerina Chmura and Violinist Eileen Wingard will present a free program at  Jewish Family Service’s  College Avenue Center, which meets at Temple Emanu-El, 6299 Capril Drive, at 12:45 p.m. Friday,  July 5. The trio will perform works for various combinations of their instruments by Bach, Schubert, Ibert,

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County

Abelard & Heloise: A medieval love story

By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — The story of Peter Abelard (1079-1142) and Heloise (1095-1163) is considered a great medieval love story. We have still today Abelard’s autobiography and letters between the parties, so we know much but not all of the love story. James Burge’s Heloise and Abelard is an interesting

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr.

Good values, but not history, in novel about Lincoln

Young Lincoln of New Salem by Sam Rawlins; © 2019; Yorkshire Publishing; ISBN 9781848-231946; 333 pages including author’s notes, acknowledgments and bibliography. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Lincoln biographers tell us that as a boy the 16th President of the United States read Parson Mason Weems’ Life of George Washington.  In my reading

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison

Radzynski excels in La Jolla violin recital

By Eileen Wingard LA JOLLA, California — David Radzynski, concertmaster of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, gave an engaging recital Tuesday evening, June 17, in the sanctuary of Congregation Beth El, under the auspices of Mainly Mozart and the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Collaborating at the piano was the Los Angeles-based pianist, Mark

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts