Byliners

CD Compiles Music from Jewish and Other Ghettos

Frank London, jazz trumpeter, band leader, co-founder of the Klezmatics, founder of the Klezmer Brass Allstars and co-founder of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, is one of the most important figures in the Klezmer Renaissance. A graduate of the New England Conservatory, majoring in Afro-American Music, he is also well schooled in World Music. Currently, he serves on the music faculty of the State University of New York (SUNY) at Purchase. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Some Jewish Race Car Stories You May Not Have Known

If it had not been for a nice Yiddishe fellow, Siegfried Marcus, there would not have been the internal combustion engine. Greta Thunberg would be thrilled today.  No cars, no CO2 or sulfur emissions to cause global warming and give the antisemites something else to hate the Jews over.  [Jerry Klinger]

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International, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Science, Medicine, & Education, Sports & Competitions, USA

Treating everyone with compassion

When we speak words of Torah, we enhance our life, and the lives of others. To do so is a choice we make. We can surely choose not to and when we select that path, we largely create acrimony in our life and in the lives of others. While the sanctity of the Kohanim is a major theme in this week’s Torah reading, we also see another key theme in the parasha, the holiness of Shabbat, of time, and of the festivals we are blessed to enjoy. It is this latter theme that caught my attention. To be holy is freeing, expansive, liberating, to help us connect with Hashem, and properly with one another. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

Debut Novel Takes Us to a Dystopian Planet

The action in this debut novel by San Diego County resident Cheryl Brin occurs sometime in the distant future on a planet called Tyra, which has descended into mutual suspicion and warfare between the countries of Altira and Donira.  Altira has a feudal system of government, dominated by landowners, while Donira has a socialist-style ideology, which some revolutionaries believe is not pure enough.  Vakor, a country far more technologically advanced than either of the two rivals, once dominated the planet and its rulers would like to do so again. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison

Prison Inmates Tell Their Stories Through Theater

Thanks to Covid-19 many of us experienced “lockdown” in our homes, yet we can’t begin to imagine what life is like for those who are truly locked down and sequestered from polite society. That is, until the Playwrights Project teamed up with San Diego State University, nine years ago, to bring us Beyond Prison Walls. This innovative, honest and empathetic showcase brought us into the hearts and minds of those who’ve served time at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility and Centinela State Prison. [Eva Trieger]

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Eva Trieger, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Sentencing Delayed for former Chabad Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein

Chabad of Poway’s former head rabbi faces a maximum five-year prison sentence for tax-evasion and other financial crimes he pled guilty to last July. But sentencing of Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein won’t take place Monday — a day short of two years after he lost his right index finger in the deadly shooting attack on his congregation. [Ken Stone, Times of San Diego]

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Jewish Religion, Ken Stone, San Diego County