Travel and Food

By Eileen Wingard LA JOLLA, California — Eddie Shapiro grew up in Manhattan where his parents took him to Broadway musicals from the time he was five years old. While other boys were memorizing sports scores, he went to the library to devour playbills, learning the names of the writers, directors, producers and star performers […]

By David Amos SAN DIEGO –Some of my readers may have heard me in a lecture or two about the Israel Philharmonic. This unique orchestra is not only an outstanding ensemble, but it has a history of humor and humorous incidents that few other organizations can rival. I read a book recently. It is titled

By Eric George Tauber SAN DIEGO –“Each of us thinks we’re unique. But we’re somebody else’s stereotype.” -Sam Woodhouse Before Honky opened, the REP was accused of being racist for staging a show with such a racially charged title.  Somebody even stole the poster from the REP’s front window –a first in their history.  These

By Cynthia Citron LOS ANGELES — Okay, so we all have dysfunctional families.  And their doppelgangers have been running rampant, loving and hating one another, as in August–Osage County, or attempting to provide hilarity onstage a la Kaufman and Hart’s You Can’t Take It With You.  So enough already! The latest entry in the “whimsical family” category is a heavy-handed attempt

To Be An Actress by Nava Shean; 2010, Hamilton Books. By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — The life and times of actress Nava Shean, born Vlasta Schonova in Czechslovakia in 1919, embody many of the events experienced by the Jewish people during the course of the twentieth century. But above everything towers her dogged

By Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — I am sure New York Times columnist David Brooks meant well when he wrote his “Love and Gravity” column the other day about the faith aspects of Christopher Nolan’s new Interstellar movie. Brooks is a very good writer, a bit on the rightwing side of things and with a

Arab Knesset member’s aide: we’ll slaughter 50 Jews at soccer game (JNS.org) Israeli Knesset Security Chief Yosef Griff on Wednesday revoked the entry permit to the Knesset for Khaled Bashir, an aide to Arab MK Masud Ganaim (Ra’am-Ta’al), who was overheard by a Knesset security guard as saying “we’ll slaughter 50 Jews” at next Sunday’s

By Erin Philips LA JOLLA, California – Why watch TV, when you can read about it? Defying the trend of books becoming TV shows and movies, two events during the closing weekend of the San Diego Jewish Book Fair (November 15 and 16) were dedicated to books inspired by television. A Slimy Tale Saturday’s “Late Night

Editor’s Note:  The San Diego Jewish Book Fair concluded Sunday evening, Nov. 16, after more than 30 authors spoke over the intervening week.  Sheryl Rowling, who usually writes about business and personal finance for San Diego Jewish World covered three of those authors: Ayelet Waldman, Love & Treasure; Jonathan Eig, The Birth of the Pill:

By Eileen Wingard ENCINITAS, California — Amnon Weinstein, Tel Aviv’s  famous luthier, who learned his craft from his father, Moshe Weinstein, has been restoring violins used during the Holocaust. Seven such violins were exhibited at the University of North Carolina. The chair of the music department, Musicologist, Dr. James A. Grymes, fascinated by these restored instruments,

By Natasha Josefowitz, Ph.D. LA JOLLA, Califorinia — This is part five of a five-part series, The Seven States of Loss and Healing. The poems are excerpted from my book, Living Without the One You Cannot Live Without: Hope and Healing after Loss. Post-Grief Missing Him Again He has been gone for several years and