Books, Poetry & Short Stories

New book tells stories of Jews sheltered in China

7 years of research yields trove of material about wartime experience A new book was launched on Dec 12 in Shanghai that gives a new Chinese perspective on Jewish refugees in China during World War II. Publication of Jewish Refugees in China (1933-1945): History, Perspective and Chinese Model marked the conclusion of a project sponsored […]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History

Israeli team probes how people make decisions

  The Undoing Project; a Friendship that Changed Our Minds by Michael Lewis; W.W. Norton and Co. (c) 2017. By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson   MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — In this book Michael Lewis sets out to describe the way two Israeli psychologists worked together over the course of several years to develop a theory about the process

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

Jerome Crowe, the FBI agent who delivered the ransom money in the Frank Sinatra Jr. kidnapping, dies at 93

LOS ANGELES — Jerome Crowe, a former L.A.-based FBI agent who delivered the ransom money in the Frank Sinatra Jr. kidnapping and led a SWAT team in the bloody SLA shootout, has died after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. A lifelong law enforcement officer who is credited with assembling the FBI’s first SWAT team

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

‘P is for Palestine’ children’s picture book ignites controversy in New York

By Renee Ghert-Zand The saga of a newly published ABC children’s book that has had adults up in arms just may have a happy ending after a summit this week between New York rabbis and an independent bookstore chain’s owners. Once upon a time in mid-November, the launch of “P is for Palestine” was immediately

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Middle East, USA

Dueling poems by Josefowitz, Zahn, charm

He Writes, She Writes: A Dialogue of Contrasting Views Written in Verse by Natasha Josefowitz and Irwin Zahn; © 2017 Createspace; ISBN 9781975-785055; 79 pages plus introductory material; $7 on Amazon. By Donald H. Harrison   SAN DIEGO – After reading this collaboration by Natasha Josefowitz and Irwin Zahn, three descriptive words came immediately to

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Natasha Josefowitz

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer; the Jewish story

FORT WORTH, Texas December 2, 2017 – Robert May’s holiday standard, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer will be 78 next month. Rudolph first appeared in a 1939 booklet written by Robert L. May and published by Montgomery Ward, a retail and catalog department store in Chicago, Illinois The origins of Rudolph The author of one of

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Shatner Wants Clever Kid’s New Word Added to the Dictionary– All We Have to Do is Use it

Levi Budd has always been fascinated by the English language – and now, he might even have a chance to contribute to it. The 6-year-old from Victoria is going viral on social media after he made a video describing how he has made up an ingenious new word that he wants to add to the

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories

British Library publishes treasure trove of Hebrew manuscripts

By Raphael Ahren The British Library last week published a new website showcasing 1,300 Hebrew manuscripts, ranging from ancient Torah scrolls and prayer books to philosophical, theological and scientific works. The new site is the library’s first bilingual online collection, allowing users to search for scans of the manuscripts in Hebrew and English. “The British

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International

‘Dollmaker’ is a Holocaust story with a fictional twist

The Dollmaker of Krakow by R.M. Romero; Delacorte Press, 2017, ISBN 97815247-15403; 316 pages plus notes; $16.99. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — R.M. Romero has written a fairy tale that couldn’t possibly have a happy ending. Written for students in the middle school grades, The Dollmaker of Krakow is set in Poland during

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison

‘Anne Frank’ wins and breaks our hearts

By Eric George Tauber SAN DIEGO–“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” –Anne Frank In 1942, after being denied visas to the United States, the Frank family went into hiding in the Secret Annex, a tight, dingy storage attic above the pickling factory that Otto

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eric George Tauber, Jewish History, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast