Travel and Food

By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO―Canadian director Naomi Jaye recalls her grandmother telling her how much she feared being buried alive and demanded that her son, Naomi’s father, promise to prick her in the hand with a pin to make sure she was dead before interring her body. The film The Pin is built around this

SAN DIEGO (Press Release) — The second annual San Diego Arab Film Festival will be held at the Museum of Photographic Arts, in Balboa Park. The festival will start on November 15 and run through November 17th. San Diego is one of five California cities that are expanding the 17-year history of the Arab Film

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel ENCINITAS, California — Naomi Ragen is an unusual Ba’alat Teshuva (returnee to Orthodox Judaism). One might think that Orthodox Jewish women are quiescent and tend to their homes. Ragen is different. She is multifaceted leader and bestselling author. In Israel, Ragen has been one of the most important Orthodox feminists in

The Kosher Sutras:  The Jewish Way in Yoga and Meditation by Marcus J. Freed, Freedthinker Books, 2013, pgs 210, ISBN 1624075886 By Eva Trieger What is the outcome when East meets West?  Can two seemingly diverse philosophies blend to give rise to a new paradigm that culls the best from both?  According to Yoga teacher,

By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — Israeli director Eran Riklis excels at dramatizing how individuals from different nationalities or religions can forge friendships despite the hostilities and prejudices that divide them.  In many ways Zaytoun (Olive Tree) is a remake of his early film Cup Final (1991).  Set in Israel’s Vietnam, the Lebanese War of

The Sisters Weiss by Naomi Ragen, St. Martin’s Press, 2013, ISBN 9780312570194; 336 pgs., $24.99, By Eva Trieger ENCINITAS, CaliforniaRebel or conformist?  Sheep-like follower or mindful maverick, Naomi Ragen, in her ninth novel, contends that our life’s journey reveals our nature at the soul level. The Sisters Weiss is a tale of an ultra-Orthodox family

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Sometimes it seems to me as if we are living in a Kafkaeque world where common sense has all but disappeared. After reading and writing a book review  (https://www.sdjewishworld.com/2013/10/21/authors-protest-the-feminization-of-boys/) on Raising Boys by Design, I wanted to share some after-thoughts–especially in light of an interesting news story

  The Spy Who Loved, by Clare Mulley. S. Martin’s Press, 426 pp., 2013 By David Strom CHULA VISTA, California — Christine Granville was a British Spy during World War II. She was a woman who loved dangerous adventures who risked her life many times to save others in occupied Nazi territory.  Christine challenged the

Raising Boys by Design: What the Bible and Brain Science Reveal About What Your Son Needs to Thrive. Authors: Gregory Jantz, PhD. and Michael Gurian 240 pages; Publisher: WaterBrook Press (2013); ISBN-10: 0307731685. Price: $14.99. By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken