The Arts

Former Warsaw Ghetto fighter wins lawsuit over published love letters

WARSAW, Poland — Former Warsaw Ghetto fighter, Simcha Rotem, known in Poland as Kazik Ratajzer, won his case against the PWN publishing house which published his letters to his former romantic partner Irena Gelblum. The letters were published in Remigiusz Grzela’s book “Irena’s choice.” PWN was ordered to apologize to Rotem and donate $5,900 to

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Middle East

Einstein, the pacifist, urged an atom bomb

Einstein’s Pacifism and World War I by Virginia Iris Holmes.  Syracuse University Press, 2017, 332pp. By David Strom SAN DIEGO — “Where have all the idiots gone? Gone to government,  every one.” (This verse is a parody on the anti-war song “Where Have All the Soldiers Gone?”). If Einstein was alive today, I am certain he

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History

Unique calendar can tell yahrzeits far into the future

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Former high school physics teacher Fred Reiss has liked series of numbers since he was a little boy.  He recalls that he was approximately six years old when he would stand on the front porch of his aunt’s house in South Philadelphia and count the number of students

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish Religion

An Evening with the Author of  ‘Woman in Gold’

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson JERUSALEM — When I heard that Anne-Marie O’Connor would be speaking at the Tower of David Museum in a dialogue with fellow-author Ora Ahimeir I jumped at the opportunity to see and hear the author of the monumental book Woman in Gold in person. As readers are doubtless aware, the book relates the saga

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

This comedy legend goes to bat against “stupidly politically correct society”

Mel Brooks is fed up with society’s “stupidly politically correct” sensibilities and warns that they will lead to the “death of comedy.” Brooks, the creator of acclaimed comedy films like “Blazing Saddles,” “History of the World, Part I” and “Young Frankenstein” and one of only 12 people to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Shimon Peres’s memoir reveals lifelong optimism for peace

In many parts of the world, Jewish custom holds that a tombstone be placed on the one-year anniversary of one’s death. For the late Israeli politician Shimon Peres, that anniversary is being marked by the release of his autobiography. In many parts of the world, Jewish custom holds that a tombstone be placed on the

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Middle East, USA

Irving Berlin: The Story of the Man Behind ‘God Bless America’

Irving Berlin created music without formal training. And by himself. In 1918, while serving in the U.S. Army, he wrote the one and only “God Bless America.” When at first he couldn’t sell the song, he did what many songwriters do when such things happen: He stuck it in a drawer. Berlin dusted the tune

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Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, USA

Jaws dropped when Stephen Colbert invited a special guest to the Emmys stage

Emmys host Stephen Colbert delivered a ton of jabs to President Trump in his opening monologue of this year’s award show. The host taunted the president many times, reminding the audience of several tweets he made about previous award shows. Colbert joked with previous Emmys host Seth Myers about the tweet Trump sent that accused

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

The 4’11” Jewish woman who entered the lion’s den to spy on Nazi Germany

Marthe Cohn being filmed by director Nicola Hens for the upcoming documentary ‘An Unusual Spy.’ (Courtesy) LOS ANGELES — The 4’11” French Jewish woman was walking through a field of snow when the ground underneath her began to crack. She was a spy for the Allies, sent to infiltrate the German front, but her military

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International, Jewish History, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

‘Greatest Name in Jewish Hotels’ captured in documentary film on British Jewry

Detail from vintage post card from The Green Park hotel in Bournemouth, England (Courtesy) Almost everyone’s heard of the Borscht Belt and its famous hotels — Grossinger’s, Kutsher’s, and the Concord — where New York Jews vacationed and laughed to noted mid-20th century entertainers Milton Berle, Mel Brooks and Danny Kaye. Less known is Bournemouth,

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International, Theatre, Film & Broadcast