Books, Poetry & Short Stories

Book Review: ‘The Jewish Journey Haggadah’

The Jewish Journey Haggadah: Connecting the Generations by Rabbanit Adena Berkowitz, Gefen Publishing House, Jerusalem, © 2019, ISBN 978-965-229-912-3, p. 211 plus appendices and bibliography, $29.95. By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California – Over one thousand Haggadot (plural of Haggadah) are listed in Amazon books, covering a wide variety of genres, from traditional to women-centric. Is […]

Book Review: ‘The Jewish Journey Haggadah’ Read More »

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

UC Berkeley boasts Rube Goldberg’s cartoon collection

Story by Donald H. Harrison; Photos by Shor M. Masori BERKELEY, California – This coming May will once again be Jewish American Heritage Month.  The theme for this annual celebration will be “American Jewish illustrators” —and perhaps none is better known than Rube Goldberg, who donated a collection of more than 5,000 of his cartoons

UC Berkeley boasts Rube Goldberg’s cartoon collection Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Science, Medicine, & Education

Berkeley professor translates the Bible anew

Story by Donald H. Harrison; photos by Shor M. Masori BERKELEY, California – For some two dozen years, Dr. Robert Alter, now a professor emeritus of comparative literature at UC Berkeley, retranslated various portions of the Hebrew Bible.  He was distressed that most previous translations “were not only deficient, but I would say that they

Berkeley professor translates the Bible anew Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Science, Medicine, & Education, Shor M. Masori

A Passover story for young readers

Can’t Start Passover without the Bread by Leba Lieder and Israel Drazin; © 2013; ISBN 9781481-995467; 30 pages, available via Amazon. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Our columnist, Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin, and his schoolteacher daughter Leba Lieder, created this storybook for children between the ages of 4 and 8.  It is a

A Passover story for young readers Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Travel and Food

Caroline Rothstein’s poems enchant at LFJCC

By Eileen Wingard LA JOLLA, California — Caroline Rothstein’s poems were strong and brash, with unique imagery and vivid descriptiveness. She delivered them with the dramatic fervor of a seasoned actress.  They ranged in subject matter from love and personal trauma to world upheavals. The three dozen people who gathered in the Rehearsal Room of

Caroline Rothstein’s poems enchant at LFJCC Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eileen Wingard, San Diego County

The Haggadah seen through mystical eyes

Faith and Freedom, a commentary on the Haggadah based on the teachings of Eliezer Berkovits By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Hungarian-born scholar Eliezer Berkovits (1908-1992) was a highly respected Orthodox rabbi. He was educated in Berlin, Germany, where he received his PhD. He authored 19 books in several languages. He held

The Haggadah seen through mystical eyes Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion

Man who coined ‘cli-fi’ exults over Jeopardy

By Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — Hollywood is catching up with my ”cli-fi” buzzword these days, if the popular TV show “Jeopardy” is any indication. Let me explain: On my cable TV set in Taiwan, where I can watch over 100  channels from around the world in over a dozen languages, I cannot get

Man who coined ‘cli-fi’ exults over Jeopardy Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food, USA

Book Review: ‘kaddish.com’ by Nathan Englander

Kaddish.Com by Nathan Englander; Alfred A. Knopf; © 2019; ISBN 9781524-732752; 203 pages; $24.95. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – As a young man, Larry, bridles at having to sit shiva for his father and absolutely refuses to say kaddish for him for the year after his death. Instead, he arranged for someone in

Book Review: ‘kaddish.com’ by Nathan Englander Read More »

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

Just What the Doctor Ordered: Moti’s Purim Story

(c) By  Leba Lieder and Israel Drazin     Page 1 The Purim holiday was around the corner and kids and mice everywhere were preparing their costumes and getting ready to give Purim gifts. Moti, a special mouse, wondered if he could find a Purim gift to give to someone. Page 2 As much as it was

Just What the Doctor Ordered: Moti’s Purim Story Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Trivia, Humor & Satire

What Elie Wiesel taught his students

Witness: Lesson’s from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom by Ariel Burger, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York © 2018, ISBN 9781328802699, p. 264 plus notes, $26. By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California – Elie Wiesel (1928 – 2016), Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize laureate, perhaps best known for his memoir Night, and arguably the most well-known Holocaust spokesman of

What Elie Wiesel taught his students Read More »

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

Goldfaden, Lazarus celebrated at Astor Judaica Library

By Eileen Wingard LA JOLLA, California — Abraham Goldfaden’s beautiful melody, Rozhinkes Mit Mandlen, opened the Jewish Poets of the Past program, in an arrangement for violin and viola, in which my daughter Myla Wingard played  violin, and I played the viola. This presentation, March 5, at the Astor Judaica Library of the Lawrence Family

Goldfaden, Lazarus celebrated at Astor Judaica Library Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eileen Wingard, San Diego County