Donald H. Harrison is the publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World.
Harrison began his journalism career in 1962 on the UCLA Daily Bruin. Following graduation he joined the staff of the Associated Press, and later became politics writer for The San Diego Union. Afterwards he pursued a career in tourism, helping to establish San Diego’s Cruise Ship Program as well as Old Town Trolley Tours of San Diego. He also wrote for such Jewish publications as the San Diego Jewish Press Heritage and San Diego Jewish Times before starting San Diego Jewish World in 2007.
Don’s latest work is the three-volume Schlepping and Schmoozing Along the Interstate 5.
He is the author of six previous books. Those with links may be obtained on Amazon.
When his father gives 6-year-old Moses some pocket change, the boy, without knowing he is doing so, starts up the eight rungs of the charitable-giving ladder as defined by Maimonides. [Donald H. Harrison]
Boy Learns about 8 Rungs of Charity’s Ladder in ‘More Than Enough’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Staff and Bylined Contributors
Jared Kushner, son-in-law of President Donald Trump and one of the architects of the Abraham Accords, may not have ever existed were it not for the daring escape by his grandmother Raya in September 1943 from a forced labor camp run by the Nazis in Novogrudok in today’s Belarus. [Donald H. Harrison]
Kushner Family’s Holocaust Saga Included in ‘Tunnel of Hope’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA
The first night Seder of Passover comes this year on Saturday, April 12. To introduce children who have never tasted unleavened bread before, Charlotte Offsay has authored a book of rhymes about matzah. [Donald H. Harrison]
Matzah is Subject of Rhyming Book for Children Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Travel and Food
This graphic novel intended for Middle Schoolers tells the story of a boy who can’t do anything right, even though his intentions are good. At fault may have been the evil eye that a woman, bitter about the abduction of her own son, put on Mendel’s mother while she was pregnant. [Donald H. Harrison]
The Villa Sorge was a private residence into which 75 women were crowded, speaking a variety of languages, and not all of them Jews. A topic of speculation was who was a spy among their fellow internees, who might be providing sexual favors to their captors in return for preferences, how bad the food was, and how a Jewish internee like herself could reach an understanding with another internee who was a self-described Nazi. [Donald H. Harrison]
‘Internee Number 6’ Relates Story of Her Confinement in Fascist Italy for Being a Jew Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, California, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA
This book serves a double purpose: it is a tribute to the author’s Austrian Jewish grandmother and an introduction for children ages 4 to 8 to the exciting world of chess. [Donald H. Harrison]
‘Elsa’s Chessboard’ Brings the Royal Board Game to Children’s Attention Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Lifestyles, Sports & Competitions, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA
David Wisnia from Poland was a prisoner at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp complex; Likewise, Helen Zipora “Zippy” Spitzer from Slovakia was also a prisoner. But neither of them was an ordinary prisoner; by virtue of wits and luck, each of them had been elevated to favored positions in the concentration camps’ heirarchy. [Donald H. Harrison]
‘Lovers in Auschwitz’ Provides Hook to Teach Readers about the Holocaust Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors
“One day at a time. One day after another” was the motto of Holocaust escapees Eugene Handschuh and his father Oscar. Accordingly, father and son submitted to the brutal schedule the Nazis forced on them until they perceived an opportunity to escape — not once, but twice. [Donald H. Harrison]
Young Readers Get a Taste of the Holocaust in ‘One Day’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors
This book, written in simple language for children between the ages of 5 and 9, tells of Ágnes being banned from the national gymnasium because she was Jewish. In response, she secretly practiced early in the morning at an unlit, unheated high school gym with her friend Istvan Sarkany. [Donald H. Harrison]
Gymnast Survived Nazis; Went on to Become Gold Medalist in Olympics Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Israel, Jewish History, Sports & Competitions, Staff and Bylined Contributors
It augments the narrative with supplemental pages explaining such terms and concepts as World War II, antisemitism, ghettos, partisans, the Holocaust, collaborators, the righteous among the nations, the camps, and resistance. [Donald H. Harrison]
Biography Explains the Holocaust to Children Ages 8 to 12 Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors
The house at 263 Prinsengracht (Prince’s Canal) in Amsterdam was built in 1635, more than three centuries before its most famous resident—Anne Frank–lived and hid there from the Nazi occupiers. [Donald H. Harrison]
Book Traces History of the Anne Frank House from Its Construction in 1635 Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors
Our regular readers will not be surprised that in this book he poses answerless questions intended to make us think. He speculates about the sacred and the mundane, inquiring in chapter 30 “What do we know about God?” and in chapter 26 about “Ethical behaviors concerning shoes.” [Donald H. Harrison]
Rabbi Drazin’s Speculations Generate an Eclectic Book Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Trivia, Humor & Satire
This novel is a collection of sequential short stories about the Toplansky family, whose patriarch Shlomo immigrated in 1920 from Bialystok, Poland, to Louisville, Kentucky. He changed his first name to Sol and eked a living from his tailoring shop supplemented by singing and gambling. He served as the chazzan at the Orthodox synagogue. [Donald H. Harrison]
Novel Explores an Immigrant Jewish Family’s Life in Louisville Before World War II Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Fiction, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA
Poet Allisa Cherry is entranced by Hebrew Scriptures, turning to them to express her anguish over the tragic lives of the members of a Mormon family. A grandmother had a double mastectomy; a father died of radiation poisoning caused by nuclear testing in the desert; a brother died in a car accident before he was 20; and a wife, caught in a loveless marriage, divorces her ne’er-do-well husband. [Donald H. Harrison]
Biblical Imagery Brightens Poet’s Bleak Account of Life in the Arizona Desert Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA