By Teresa Konopka SAN DIEGO — When reading tales of our ancestors in the Torah, it can seem more like fiction than fact. The characters are distant peoples from faraway lands whose personal lives we can only speculate about. As the same parshas are read year after year, it is easy to be desensitized to
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Jewish Religion, Opinion, Teresa_Konopka
“Never Forget Your Name: The Children of Auschwitz,” by Alwin Meyer; English version Polity Press (c) 2022; ISBN 13:978-1-5095-4550-6; 496 pages. By Sandra Scheller CHULA VISTA, California — In 1971, 21-year-old Alwin Meyer made his first trip to the Auschwitz concentration camp, not as a relative of a survivor but as a German observer. He
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Sandra Scheller
Author Wayne Hoffman regales us with two concurrent non-fiction stories. His search to learn the identity of the person who murdered his great-grandmother as she lay sleeping in her bed, with an infant child at her side, occurred at the same time that his mother, Susan, was having increasing problems with her memory as Alzheimer’s progressively took a worsening toll. [Donald H. Harrison]
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History
This charming book tells in rhyming couplets the story of a Passover celebration from the viewpoint of young children in a multiracial Jewish family. [Donald H. Harrison]
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion
By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Bart Denton Ehrman, born on 10/5/55, a PhD American New Testament scholar and author or editor of several dozen very popular, fascinating, and informative books, began life as a fundamentalist Christian, became a minister, and preached in churches. But he gave up Christianity and became an
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion
“The Foundation of Judaism,” by Akiva Aaronson (originally published by Targum Press, Inc. 1997, 2000); Feldheim Publishers, 2021; ISBN: 978-1680254815; 216 pages. By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO — I just finished composing my weekly D’var Torah on parashat Terumah, focusing on gifts, and a surprise parcel arrived at my front door. A delightful
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Michael MantellBy Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — I was requested to write on the question, “Did Maimonides believe that God produces miracles?” This question has been debated for centuries. I will give the ideas held by those who state that Maimonides contended that God does not perform miracles. To understand this view, one
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Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion
“Why Do Jewish? A Manifesto for 21st Century Jewish Peoplehood,” by Zack Bodner; Gefen Publishing, Jerusalem, ©2022; ISBN 978-965-7023-68-6; 196 pages, plus references and index; $18.00. By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California – Prognostication is very difficult, particularly as it pertains to the future. Zack Bodner, having extensive background in Jewish communal life and currently
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Judaism
By Jerry Klinger DALYAT AL CARMEL, Israel — On Sunday night, in the largest Druze city in Israel, Dalyat al Carmel, a first occurred. The Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation (JASHP) donated a sculpture, the Flame of Friendship, to the community and all of Israel’s Druze citizens. The Druze of Israel, an ethnic Arab
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Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Middle East
By Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — There is an old joke that most rabbis probably know: From where in the Torah do we know that God is a great baseball fan? The answer is simple: Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim v’et ha’aretz: In the big inning, God created heaven and the
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Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Opinion, Sports & Competitions
Haftorah reading for Mishpatim is Jeremiah 34:8-22 and 33:25-26 By Irv Jacobs, M.D. LA JOLLA, California — These short passages, entirely in prose, were written in the setting of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, begun in 588 BCE. Jeremiah’s words were selected from, out of the order of his writings, by later rabbis, apparently to
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Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish Religion
Hidden Heroes: One Woman’s Story of Resistance and Rescue in the Soviet Union by Pamela Braun Cohen; Gefen Publishing House © 2021; ISBN 9789657-023365; 393 pages including appendices and an extensive index. By Toby Klein Greenwald EFRAT, Israel — How did the prisoners of Zion and refuseniks have the courage, strength and dedication to apply
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Toby Klein Greenwald, USA
By Gedaliah Borvick JERUSALEM — In honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which falls out on January 27, permit me to share with you the remarkable story of Charles Lutz. A friend visiting Jerusalem’s Neve Yaakov community was walking on Charles Lutz Street. The street sign mentioned that Lutz was among the Chasidei Umot Ha’olam
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Gedaliah Borvick, Jewish History, Middle East, Travel and Food
This memoir tells of a man bouncing on the exceedingly rough seas of entrepreneurship and finding emotional safe harbor again and again in the warmth of his family. It is not your standard how-I-made-a-bundle-and-you-can-too motivational book; it is a very intimate autobiographical portrait of Del Mar resident Richard Jaffe, which he wrote with the assistance of his daughter Charly. [Donald H. Harrison]