The Arts

‘The Book Thief’ exonerates some Germans during Holocaust

After accepting the basic premise that the book is written from the viewpoint of Death, who turns out to be an individual with ideas, emotions and principles, we are told about a train journey somewhere in Germany on a cold winter’s day. (Dorothea Shefer-Vanson)

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Holocaust, International, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Travel and Food

Today’s Jewish birthday: June Foray

June Foray (September 18, 1917 – July 26, 2017) was an American voice actress and radio personality, best known as the voice of animated characters such as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Nell Fenwick, Lucifer from Disney’s Cinderella, Cindy Lou Who, Jokey Smurf, Granny from the Warner Bros. cartoons directed by Friz Freleng, Grammi Gummi from Disney’s Adventures of the Gummi Bears series, and Magica De Spell, among many others. [Wikipedia]

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Today's Jewish Birthday, Wikipedia

The fight against terrorism and antisemitism: September 17, 2026

The Jewish Federation of San Diego this week premiered its Sparks Interactive mobile Holocaust museum to the students, faculty and staff of Canyon Hills High School in the Tierrasanta neighborhood of San Diego. (SDJW staff)

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Antisemitism, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Obituaries & memorials, Press Release, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Mahmoud Khalil sues Columbia University for ‘deliberate indifference’

The anti-Israel mob concocted a novel legal strategy on Monday when former Columbia University students sued their alma mater: the defendant mobilized a pattern of “deliberate indifference.” (Bruce S. Ticker)

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Antisemitism, Bruce Ticker, Israel, Jewish History, Middle East, News Media, Opinion, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

A violin’s history — as told by the violin

The violin’s narrative traverses Germany, France, Russia, Poland and the Ukraine. It traces the tragedies of Jewish communities during World War I, the pogroms, the Holocaust and post WWII antisemitism. [Eileen Wingard]

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Antisemitism, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eileen Wingard, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Staff and Bylined Contributors

The Matzo Chronicles: ‘The Songs of Summer’

My husband started singing the “Everything’s going to be alright” song right after the first mammogram showed an anomaly. He repeated it after the second diagnostic mammogram confirmed “there’s something there,” and in the days and sleepless nights while we waited for that biopsy report. [Karen Galatz]

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Karen Galatz, Lifestyles, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Batman comics illustrator brilliantly tackles Genesis 1-11

Instead of thinking of Genesis merely as a sequence of names and episodes, readers can visualize Creation, Eden, Cain and Abel, Noah, the Flood, and the Tower of Babel as parts of a continuous human drama. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Cygnet’s ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ is the Olympics of awkwardness… but in a good way. 

Who doesn’t remember those awkward high school years? Thinking that you’re the only lonely kid in the school while everyone else is feeling just as awkward and lonely. Dear Evan Hansen currently playing at Cygnet takes those feelings and multiplies them by 1000. [Sandi Masori]

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San Diego County, Sandi Masori, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Jewish biography: Joseph Roth, novelist

The novel The Radetzky March, written in 1932, is a text of astonishing beauty and inner coherence, permeated by a sense of sadness, disintegration, and loss. The novel’s title refers to Johann Strauss’s famous march The Radetzky March, composed in 1848. [Alex Gordon, Ph.D.]

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Alex Gordon, Antisemitism, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors