Books, Poetry & Short Stories

Escape by marriage: how some fled the Nazis

Persecuted. Engaged. Married. Marriages of convenience in exile by Sabine Bergler and Irene Messinger, Jewish Museum Vienna, 2018, 147 pages. By Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California.– We marry for love, romance, money, and to procreate and extend family lineages. Marriages of convenience (MOC) are embedded in politics, survival, citizenship, and migration. Marriage and Nazi domination evokes […]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Oliver Pollak

Catalog illustrates 70 years of Israel craft and design

By Mimi Pollack SAN DIEGO — My maternal grandparents were born in the 1800’s  in the land that today is known as Israel. They passed away before I was born, and I regret I never got the chance to talk with them and hear their stories. Thus, it is with great interest that I perused

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Middle East, Mimi Pollack, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County

A frenetic campaign to meet business gurus

The Third Door by Alex Banayan; © 2018 Crown Publishing Group of Penguin Random House LLC; ISBN 9780894-136662; 286 pages plus acknowledgments; $26. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – This is the story of a college student’s frenetic search for off-campus enlightenment in which he schemes and obsesses over interviewing the world’s most successful

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

Book describes education in utropia

Uscolia by Gabriel Lanyi;  Sycorrax Books, Boston, 2017 By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — It is many years since I read material on the theory of education, and this book on the subject came into my hands through the kindness of our new neighbor, who also happens to be the author. But it is no

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Science, Medicine, & Education

Love, not conflict, drives this pro- Israel novel

Good Heart by Alan Newman, Gefen Publishing House, © 2018, ISBN 9789652-299550; 251 pages including acknowledgments, glossary, and author’s biography, $15.95. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO –An interesting aspect of this multi-generational, multi-ethnic, and dual religious novel is that love, rather than conflict, pulls the plot along.  Among the central characters in this ode

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

Honors galore for Holocaust survivor Ruth Sax, 89

By Sandra Scheller CHULA VISTA, California — At the age of 89, my mother Ruth Sax never thought that she would see a college diploma in her hand let alone an honorary diploma. Between the ages of 13-17 Ruth was robbed of her education as she survived Theresienstadt, Auschwitz and Oederan concentration camps. Once she

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, San Diego County

Book offers new ways to tour Jerusalem

Jerusalem: The Experiential Guidebook by Tali Kaplinski Tarlow, ScaVentures, Jerusalem, © 2018, p. 198, plus supplemental material, NIS 150, about $42.00. By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California –  Jerusalem is surely a must-see by anyone visiting Israel, and author Tali K. Tarlow gives us an unusual twist to an epic visit – a scavenger hunt to

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Middle East

How we became bibliophiles

© Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — The Jewish Book Council coined the phrase “The ProsenPeople” in 2011, an apt emblem worthy of exploration. The gift of literacy starts young. Parents read to children, then children read on their own. The sense of accomplishment evolved; crawling, toddling, walking, the alphabet, words, sentences, paragraphs, stories, chapters,

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak

Jews of San Diego exhibition closes June 3

SAN DIEGO  (SDJW)–  The exhibition, “Celebrate San Diego: The History and Heritage of San Diego’s Jewish Community,” will close on Sunday, June 3, at the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park. As a send off, the History Center is holding a reception from 6 to 8 p.m.,Thursday, May 31, at which the exhibition’s curator,

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, San Diego Calendar

Floridian praises book on San Diego Jews

By Bruce F. Lowitt CLEARWATER, Florida — Donald H. Harrison’s 77 Miles Of Jewish Stories, a journey along the Kumeyaay Highway (better known as Interstate 8) from the Pacific Ocean to San Diego County’s eastern border, is a wonderful companion to his earlier work, Schlepping Through The American West, vividly revealing often little-known nuggets of

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

How a Jewish story may link to others

© Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — Some observations suggest sharing. They may be intimate, personal, or idiosyncratic. The task is to make them meaningful for a wider reading audience. My mission is to identify stories by Jews and of interest to Jews. Three recent San Diego Jewish World stories appear to have threads. I

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food

The Israel Bible offers precise translations

The Israel Bible edited by Rabbi Naphtali “Tuly” Weisz, Menorah Books, New Milford, CT and Jerusalem, © 2018, ISBN 978-1-940516-80-6, p. 2141, plus introductory and supplemental material, $59.95. By Fred Reiss, Ed.D.  WINCHESTER, California –  The Israel Bible, produced in honor of Israel’s seventieth anniversary by Israel365, an organization promoting the essence and importance of

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

Author, comedian Batalion addresses JFS May 30

SAN DIEGO (Press Release)– Jewish Family Service of San Diego’s (JFS) annual luncheon to support mental health awareness will take place on Wednesday, May 30 at 11 a.m. at the La Jolla Hyatt, with author and performer Judy Batalion sharing her humorous and insightful account of hoarding, healing, and the effects of the Holocaust on

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, San Diego Calendar