This book for children teaches children aged 4 through 8 two important lessons: some of the rituals of Passover and how the spirits of loved ones remain with us even after their deaths. [Donald H. Harrison]
Passover Book Helps Children to Deal with Death Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Fiction, Staff and Bylined Contributors
Blume’s fight against the book banners, led to her becoming active in the National Coalition Against Censorship. Her treatment of menstruation, masturbation, teen sex, and birth control in different books have prompted calls for their banning. In 2000, the Library of Congress named her a “Living Legend.” [SDJW staff]
Today’s Jewish Birthday: Judy Blume Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Fiction, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA
His play “The Melting Pot” was credited with penning that phrase to describe absorption of immigrants in the United States. After seeing it, former President Theodore Roosevelt reportedly leaned out from his theater box and shouted, “That’s a great play, Mr. Zangwill. That’s a great play.” [SDJW staff]
Today’s Jewish Birthday: Israel Zangwill Read More »
International, Israel, Jewish Fiction, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA
Shloyml Boyml and his band receive an invitation from a rebbe from some distance away to play at his Purim party. The rebbe requests that the band compose and play on the violin a special Purim melody. Shloyml is both ecstatic and worried by the invitation. It’s a great honor to play for the rebbe. But his band does not have a violinist. [Donald H. Harrison]
A Klezmer Adventure in old Bessarabia Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish Fiction, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors
In this book for children aged 3 to 6, a tyrannosaurus is very sad because no one wants to come to his Passover seder, so terrible is his reputation for eating everyone. [Donald H. Harrison]
A Seder for Dinosaurs Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Fiction, Staff and Bylined Contributors
SAN DIEGO – This collection of five graphic stories was released on Halloween, October 31, not coincidentally. Each fictional tale has elements of the supernatural, mostly intervening on behalf of Jews who otherwise would have been murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust. [Donald H. Harrison]
Supernatural Tales Embody Wishes of Holocaust Rescue Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, Jewish Fiction
At times, you must have a quick break, if only for the reason of your mental sanity, from watching the horror on TV. I found the short breaks I needed in the clever, refreshing, short stories, of only a few pages each, in this anthology of semi-biographical Feingold pieces. [Donald H. Harrison]
Short Stories to Momentarily Distract Us from the Awful News Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Fiction
There are many enjoyable extrapolations, known as midrashes, on the Biblical story of Noah. Here comes another one, this time to familiarize children between the ages of 4 and 8 with mathematical concepts while delighting them with stories of animals at work and play on the famous Ark. [Donald H. Harrison]
Naamah, the Numbers Whiz on Noah’s Ark Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Fiction
In this fictional story, Rube Goldberg is a 6th grader, living in modern times, and he is obsessed with building novel machines. You might think of the story as a guess about what the real Rube Goldberg might have been like if he were a kid today. [Donald H. Harrison]
With Heirs’ Permission, Rube Goldberg Reimagined as a Modern 6th Grader Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Fiction
These are not the kind of stories that you would read to your little children, although you might be tempted by the time they are tweens to retell these stories around a nighttime campfire while using a flashlight to illuminate your face from the chin up. [Donald H. Harrison]
San Diegan Elizabeth Schwartz Retells 3 Yiddish Horror Stories Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Fiction, San Diego County
This year, 2023, was declared in Lodz, Poland, to be the year of Chava Rosenfarb, one of its most famous Yiddish writers. In Lethbridge, Canada, meanwhile Goldie Morgentaler, daughter and translator of Rosenfarb from Yiddish to English, completed for publication 10 of her late mother’s stories. [Donald H. Harrison]
Rosenfarb’s Short Stories Depict the Inner Worlds of Holocaust Survivors Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish Fiction, Lifestyles
When the actors were backstage, they were enmeshed in a real-life love triangle featuring the competition of Edmund (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) and Patryk (Mark Ryder) for the affection of Stefcia (Clara Rugaard). Patryk’s on-stage wife Ada (Valentina Belle) was left out of the backstage action. [Donald H. Harrison]
A High-Stakes Love Triangle in the Warsaw Ghetto Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, Jewish Fiction, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
Produced and directed by Becky Cherlin Baird, the musical is still in its developmental stage: scenes are being rewritten, songs are being tested, audience reaction is being gauged. You might say that as a full-fledged stage production, Hereville is not thereville yet. [Donald H. Harrison]
‘Hereville’ a New Jewish Musical, Well on Track Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Fiction, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
My grandfather Yaakov, my mother’s father, had seven brothers and one sister. At that time Jews in Russia gave birth to many children, because it was God’s will. Then God was forbidden in the Soviet Union, and there were fewer and fewer children. In our family there was less obedience to God’s commandments and fewer children were born. My grandmother Rosa gave birth to only two daughters, the eldest Leah and the youngest Dora, my mother. As in other Jewish families, the mother’s role grew as the number of children decreased. [Alex Gordon, Ph.D]
Jewish Fiction: The Yiddishe Mama Complex Read More »
Alex Gordon, Jewish Fiction