Books, Poetry & Short Stories

San Francisco cookbooks reflect city’s diversity

By Oliver B. Pollak SAN FRANCISCO — Erica Peters, author of San Francisco, A Food Biography (2013) and Appetites and Aspirations in Vietnam Food and Drink in the Long Nineteenth Century (2012), gave a presentation at San Francisco’s three-year-old, gorgeously designed, American Bookbinders Museum in the Yerba Buena district, wedged in between Clementina and Folsom […]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak, Travel and Food

A new book for former San Diegan Marilyn Forstot

SAHUARITA, Arizona (Press Release) — More Precious than Rubies by former San Diegan Marilyn Forstot is set during and after the American Revolution. The story follows the life journey of a heroic Jewish woman, Sarah Perez, and her family. The well-researched novel shows early American life from a Jewish perspective and demonstrates the contributions Jews made

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, USA

Survivor Ruth G. Sax impresses Comic- Con audience

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Although Ruth Goldschmiedova Sax of Chula Vista conceded that she didn’t grow up with comics, or even know about Superman, whom she subsequently came to admire, she was clearly the hit of a panel on art and the Holocaust that was held Thursday, July 19, at the Comic-Can

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, USA

Small Press: A little convention within Comic- Con

  By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Miriam Libicki, a Comic-Con veteran of more than a dozen years, says even though the annual convention “is so huge and corporate,” she keeps coming back because “there are many smaller cons inside comic con.”  In a section of the main exhibit hall that is reserved for

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

Suicide’s memoir indicts the Gur sect of Hassidim

Doing His Will (Osah Kirtzono) by Esti Weinstein, published in Hebrew by Kinneret, Zmora-Bitan, Dvir, 2016. By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson  JERUSALEM –The poor woman who wrote this book (and eventually committed suicide) was born into a specific sect, tantamount to a cult, of ultra-Orthodox Judaism known as the Gur Hassidim As a child and teenager the author

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish Religion, Middle East

Editor’s personal blog: Declining language, politics

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Perhaps I am becoming my own grandfather, a gentle architect born in the 19th century who prided himself on being a proper and decorous man.  Recently, I wrote a column decrying the bitter partisanship that divides Washington, D.C., and which sadly is exemplified by the rancorous way that

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, USA

‘Jewish Libya:’ background for the next James Michener

Jewish Libya: Memory & Identity in Text & Image, edited by Jacque Roumani, David Meghnagi & Judith Roumani; © 2018, Syracuse University Press, ISBN 9780815-635628; 280 pages plus bibliography, appendices, and index. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Jewish Libya is an anthology about a place that no longer exists.  Since Israel’s successful 1967

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Middle East

Rube Goldberg still inspires fanciful art

By Oliver Pollak SAN FRANCISCO — The Contemporary Jewish Museum just celebrated its 10th anniversary. The celebration coincided with an exhibit on cartoonist and inventor Rube Goldberg, curated by Goldberg’s granddaughter, Jennifer George.  Initially that exhibit had opened in Seattle, then came to San Francisco from Canadian, Texas, and goes next to Portland, Maine. It

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Travel and Food

S.D. Jewish history book helpful exhibition souvenir

Celebrate, Commemorate: The History and Heritage of San Diego’s Jewish Community, editor Joellyn Zollman, San Diego History Center, ISBN 8780918-740090,  91 pages including acknowledgments and room for personal remembrances. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – The recent exhibition at the San Diego History Center about our local Jewish community contained more information than most

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

Rabbi- historian examines the destiny of the Jews

By Steve Kramer KFAR SAVA, Israel —Rabbi Ken Spiro’s new book, Destiny, successfully guides the reader through the central themes of Judaism: the impact of Jewish values on civilization, Jewish determination, the disproportionate impact of the Jewish people, anti-Semitism and its message, the Jewish vision of history and conception of time, and [even] mankind’s ultimate

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Steve Kramer

Searching history for original wines

Tasting the Past, The Science of Flavor & the Search for the Original Wine Grapes by Kevin Begos. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, ISBN 9781616-205775, 277 pages, $26.95 By Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California —  Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant in Berkeley was the 2nd stop on a three-week, nine-event book tour traversing Florida, California and New York.

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak, Travel and Food