Books, Poetry & Short Stories Archives - Page 120 of 124

Young adult cli-fi book hopes to shape values

December 13, 2015

By Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — With the Paris climate talks concluded, and with most climate commentators agreeing that the COP21 ”agreement” still needs some fine-tuning and follow-up, things are looking good for the future of humanity. For Sarah Newman, a 50-something Jewish writer in Cincinnati, this is is also a time to start […]

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Photo book of synagogues deeply touching

December 11, 2015

By Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO — Neil Folberg’s And I Shall Dwell Among Them: Historic Synagogues of the World, Aperture Book Publisher; 1st edition, September, 1995, is a very special treasure. Each of the almost two hundred large color photographs is an individual work of art about Judaism’s places of worship. Folberg brings expertise and

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Jewish Religion

Settlement Cook Book helped immigrants

December 6, 2015

By Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO — For many of us (of a certain age) the Settlement Cook Book was the first cook book we bought or received as a wedding gift. I bought my copy, 4th edition, published in 1910, with over 600 pages, within weeks of getting married and used it until it fell

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories

How to interpret, understand the mitzvot

December 2, 2015

The Weekly Mitzva by Binyamin Tabory, Maggid Books, Jerusalem; ISBN 978-1-59264-435-24 ©2015, $24.95, p. 228 By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California–A mitzva is a religious commandment. Traditional Judaism expects that each person will, to the best of his or her ability, fulfill in letter and spirit the 613 commandments identified in the Torah, the Five Books of

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

Helping Portuguese, Brazilians, others find Jewish roots

December 2, 2015

By Ryan M. Greiss NEW YORK — The Jerusalem-based nonprofit Shavei Israel has launched a Portuguese-language e-book called “Do You Have Jewish Roots?” offering a practical guide to uncovering one’s Jewish ancestry. The unprecedented 109-page guide is aimed at assisting the millions of people in Brazil, Portugal and elsewhere who may have a long-lost Jewish lineage.

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion

Torah teaches about leadership

November 30, 2015

Lessons in Leadership: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Maggid Books, Jerusalem; ISBN 978-1-59264-432-2 ©2015, $18.00, p. 311 By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California — Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart in a 1964 ruling on a pornographic film, said, “I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of

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

The Ipai and the Jews

November 29, 2015

Blood of the Band: An Ipai Family Story by David L. Toler, Jr.; Sunbelt Publications, © 2015; ISBN 978-1-941384-12-1; 285 pages, including index; $19.95. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO –This is a story of the San Pasqual band of Ipai Indians. The Ipai are the western branch of the Kumeyaay Nation, as opposed to

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

Filling in the blanks in the Book of Ruth

November 28, 2015

Ruth: Woman of Valor by Jim Baumgardner; Baumgardner Press, Wichita, Kansas (c) 2015; ISBN 978-0-98841-075-6; 371 pages. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Two years ago on these pages, we reviewed Jim Baumgardner’s fictional biography of Queen Esther. Now comes another novel based on the Bible: Ruth: Woman of Valor. Most of the time

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison

Historian traces religious diversity in the U.S.

November 27, 2015

One Nation Under Gods: A New American History, by Peter Manseau. Little, Brown and Company. 2015, 469pp By David Strom SAN DIEGO — At the founding of our nation over 20 percent of African slaves were Moslem. Their number dwarfed the number of Catholics or Jews living in the colonies. The third president of the

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, USA

Novel provides insight into the brain- injured

November 23, 2015

Piece of Mind by Michelle Adelman; W.W. Norton & Company; ISBN 978-0-393-24570-7; 304 pages, $25.95. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – I was enchanted by this novel by Michelle Adelman, who is a teacher here in San Diego. It tells the story of a brain-damaged woman from that woman’s interesting, often humorous, and at

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison

From the Jewish library: ‘The Castles and the Crown’

November 22, 2015

The Castles and the Crown, Spain 1451-1555, by Townsend Miller, Published by Coward-McCann, Inc., 1953 By Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO — I first read this book several decades ago and since have read it twice more finishing my third reading of it in this last week. It was as fresh and as exciting a tale

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International

Leon Williams biography a lesson in civil government

November 21, 2015

Together We Can Do More: The Leon Williams Story by Lynne Carrier; 2015; Lynne Carrier and Montezuma Publishing; ISBN 978-0-7442-3808-2; 223 pages including notes and index. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – This biography of Leon Williams, who was the first African-American to serve on the San Diego City Council and scored another such

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County

Drug dealer becomes a spiritual leader

November 20, 2015

Tempting The Devil in the Name of God: The Heavy Hand of Fate by Howard Beckman; Inspire on Purpose Publishing; 2012-2015; ISBN 978-1-941783-24-8; 373 pages, $19.99 By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – One of my favorite apocryphal stories concerns the Jewish woman who traveled to India to see the guru. She was told that

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

Mixed-race descendant of Nazi murderer tells of life

November 18, 2015

My Grandfather Would have Shot Me, by Jennifer Teege and Nikola Sellmair. The Experiment, Pub. 2015, 221pp By David Strom SAN DIEGO — At the age of 38 Jennifer Teege was at the Hamburg central library. There she glanced at a book with a red cover and was drawn to it. From photographs in the book,

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History