An IDF Company Commander was sentenced to a week in a military prison for inviting controversial Israeli rapper Yoav Eliasi to perform for his soldiers, it has been revealed. Eliasi – more widely known by his stage name “The Shadow” (Ha-Tzel) – has in recent years become something of a social media pundit, with his […]
IDF commander jailed for inviting rapper to army party Read More »
Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual ArtsBy Cynthia Citron HOLLYWOOD — The play has such a despicable name that you would think it would attract every neo-Nazi, Aryan Nation, Skinheaded anti-Semite in southern California. The play is called Bad Jews. But, surprisingly, playwright Joshua Harmon’s four-person diatribe is actually a perceptive reflection of the way in which many modern Jews relate
‘Bad Jews’ depicts split between religious and secular Read More »
Cynthia Citron, Jewish Religion, Theatre, Film & BroadcastTears of the Desert: Survival in Darfur by Halima Bashir with Damien Lewis, Random House, 2008 By Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO — There are a few major determinants which influence our lives upon which we have no control such as where, when and to whom we are born. Coming into the world as a member of
From the Jewish library: ‘Tears of the Desert’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Middle EastCOLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., June 29, 2016 – In the midst of this crazy election year, it’s worth considering the events of almost 100 years ago at the dawn of the Progressive Era and the 30th president of the United States, Calvin Coolidge. The time bears a sometimes uncanny resemblance to our own; his challenges are
Understanding the 30th President: Coolidge by Amity Schlaes Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, USAScarlett Johansson, star of multiple Marvel superhero movies, Luc Besson’s brilliant sci-fi thriller Lucy and Girl with a Pearl Earring, has been a leading lady for a while now. She’s filled that action heroine role left vacant by Angelina Jolie, who seems more content behind the camera these days. She sometimes makes fun, quirky movies
Scarlett Johansson is Highest Grossing Female Star Ever Read More »
Theatre, Film & BroadcastBy Eileen Wingard ENCINITAS, California — Michael Tseitlin, San Diego County’s highly respected violin pedagogue and organizer of the Virtuosi USA Concert Series, introduced one of its programs at the Encinitas Library on June 25, featuring Violinist Pasha Tseitlin, Pianist Nic Gerpe and Bassoonist Judith Farmer. Pasha Tseitlin, son of Michael and Irina Tseitlin, plays
Tseitlin, Gerpe, Farmer: an impressive musical trio Read More »
Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual ArtsNEW YORK (WJC)- World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder said this week that he is dismayed by an investigation alleging that the German state of Bavaria had sold or given Nazi-looted art to high-ranking Nazi officials, rather than returning the art to its rightful Jewish heirs. The investigation by the London-based Commission for Looted
Bavaria accused of funneling stolen art back to Nazis Read More »
International, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts
By Chana Miller PETACH TIKVAH, Israel – “Good morning” Simple words. We say them every day. Most people are hardly aware of the greeting by neighbors or fellow workers. But for a small group of women at Ezer Mizion, the words mean everything. They represent the Good Morning program, a visual art workshop for cancer
Art and words express cancer survivors’ emotions Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & EducationA US publisher of Adolf Hitler”s Nazi manifesto announced its decision to donate all proceeds to a local organization that works directly with aging Holocaust survivors, according to a Boston Globe report. The move comes after Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, a Boston-based publisher of one of the English translations of “Mein Kampf”, recently received criticism for
‘Mein Kampf’ profits to aid Holocaust survivors Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, USAThat Barbra Streisand is a woman of many “firsts” is indisputable. Streisand is one of the best-selling music artists of all time and the only recording artist to have a number-one album in each of the last six decades. With “Yentl” in 1983, she became the first woman to write, produce, direct and star in
Streisand’s difficult rise to fame catapulted by face-off with anti-Semitism Read More »
Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USAA new history of the Star Trek science fiction television and movie franchise reveals plans during the 1970s for a feature film that would have seen Star Trek’s first iconic captain, James T. Kirk, in a fist fight with Jesus Christ — yes, Jesus Christ — on the bridge of the starship Enterprise. The film
When Captain Kirk slugged it out with Jesus Christ Read More »
Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USALOS ANGELES — Jesse Williams made explicit what so much of this year’s BET Awards has been trying to imply: Things are different now, and so much of black America is fed up. The “Grey’s Anatomy” actor, teacher and producer/star of BET’s “Stay Woke” documentary delivered arguably one of the most searing speeches in the
A petition to stop Leonardo DiCaprio from playing Persian poet Rumi in an upcoming biopic is gaining traction online, as thousands of supporters urge the Islamic scholar be played by a Middle Eastern actor. The petition calls the casting choice proposed by the film’s screenwriter and producer “both ludicrous and offensive,” and says by starring
Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires. By Eric George Tauber SAN DIEGO–My guest shot me a look when I dared utter the name “Macbeth” as we took our seats at the Old Globe’s Summer Shakespeare Festival. “Oh no,” he intoned, “now somebody’s going to die.” “Don’t we all?”
Strange happenings and strange choices in ‘MacBeth’ Read More »
Eric George Tauber, Theatre, Film & Broadcast