Below are the names of writers who are currently active. For others, living and deceased, please type their name into the search box above the masthead on our home page, www.sdjewishworld.com
From the Holocaust to a New Dawn by David Shachar, Gefen Publishing House, 2011, ISBN 978-965-229-546-0; 198 pages, No price listed. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO– David Shachar is not a world leader, nor are his Holocaust experiences particularly extraordinary, although they are, of course, tragic. Yet Shachar has written a personal memoir that […]
Memoir provides insight into Israel’s salad years Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California– Stephen Hawking in the beginning of his book, A Brief History of Time, relates a story he believes originated with the scientist-philosopher Bertrand Russell, who once fielded an interesting question asked by an elderly woman after finishing a lecture he gave on astronomy: “He described how the
Reflections on ‘the God Particle’ Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Historically, the holiday of Hanukkah is a relatively minor holiday when compared to holidays like Passover or Yom Kippur, or the Sabbath. Nevertheless, its significance should not be under-appreciated. Hanukkah celebrates the first triumph for religious freedom in the ancient history of late antiquity. Although the
Not by might, but by light – A modern Hanukkah message Read More »
Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi
Hot Chocolate for Seniors compiled by Jan Fowler, Balboa Press of Hay House, 2011, ISBN 978-1-4525-3945-4, 319 pages, $21.99 By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO –This is an anthology of positivity with more than 100 short stories, most not longer than three pages–covering such topics as unexplained but happy mysteries; love the second time
An anthology of positivity Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
Baseless Hatred: What It Is and What You Can Do about It by Rene H. Levy, PhD, Gefen Publishing House, 2011, 212 pages including bibliography, ISBN 9789652295309, price unlisted. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — An important concept in this book is that of arevut, which teaches that the responsibility that one Jew
Restoring Jews’ sense of responsibility toward one another Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Recently this question was posed to me: God warns us explicitly not to follow in the ways of the other nations. How does this apply to our custom to give gifts on Chanukah, which seems to have been taken from the very not-Jewish tradition of
Is gift-giving on Chanukah permitted? Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi
By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Some time ago I was given a small book, Jeder Tag in Theresienstadt ist ein Geschenk; Die Theresienstadter Tagebücher einer Hamburger Jüdin, 1943-1945 (‘Every Day in Theresienstadt is a Gift’) by Martha Glass, published in 1996 by the Hamburg Department for Political Education with an introduction by Barbara
On Translating Martha Glass’s Diary Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson
By Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO–Conductor David Amos chose, for the opening concert of the season, Nov. 17, familiar and beloved repertoire which both the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra (TICO) members and the audience could thoroughly enjoy.The concert opened with Tchaikowsky’s Little Russian Symphony. From the opening notes of the solo French horn intoning a melancholy
Two pre-Thanksgiving concert feasts Read More »
Eileen Wingard
A Prayer for the Departed by Bill Broder, The Ainslie Street Project, ISBN 978-1-461-13893-8 ©2011, $12.95, p. 230 By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California — The narrator of the TV show Naked City, a detective series about the 65th police precinct in New York City, which aired from 1958-63, ended each show with “There are
A story of Jewish Detroit Read More »
Fred Reiss, EdD
By Donald H. Harrison EL CAJON, California — During Tata Twins: The Remix, a play modernizing the ancient Greek playwright Plautus’s The Twin Menaechmus and similar farces based on mistaken identities, we first meet “Lady Tata” (Stephanie Johnson) shouting the F-word as she emerges from her Hollywood mansion. Thereafter, not one of her spoken
‘Tata Twins’: A modern comedy of errors Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
Echoes of Eden, Sefer Bereishit, by Rabbi Ari D. Kahn, “Echoes of Eden,” OU Press, 386 pages, ISBN 978-965-229-499-9. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — This is an eye-opening commentary on the Book of Genesis (Bereshit) which probably should be recommended for adults only. The interpretations delve into some of the underlying sexual content
Kahn offers sexually frank Torah commentary Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO –Scientists at the Sde Boker campus of Ben Gurion University of the Negev are making strides in their quest to make the world’s deserts more productive by increasing their yields of energy, food and water, Pedro Berliner, director of the Blaustein Institute for Desert Research told about 50 people Tuesday
Can the desert be made to yield more water, food and energy? Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonBy Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — It is almost becoming a genre in itself. Instead of journeying through space, the final frontier, in a quest for exploration, people intimately associated with Star Trek explore the various permutations of the old television series in a quest for self-exploration. We recently had Captains, in which William
Of Guns, Revenge and Hope by D. Lawrence-Young, Gefen Publishing House, 289 pages, ISBN 9789652295330, price not listed. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–Although he was killed before I was born, when I first started practicing journalism 50 years ago, I found my hero. His name was Ernie Pyle. He was a war correspondent during
Novel’s focus on foot soldier like Pyle’s reportage Read More »
Donald H. Harrison