Zina Schiff demonstrates her violin mastery in Alan Hovhaness CD

From the time Conductor Kostelanetz suggested Zina learn the Hovhaness Concerto and the release of this CD, she recorded 16 other CDs, all gaining critical praise. This Alan Hovhaness CD is also receiving a great deal of media acclaim. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Travel and Food

David Chait narrates a fanciful shtetl folktale

The basic story, set in an Eastern European shtetl, is about the disappearance of the dye-maker Samuel. Samuel has a special technique for extracting dye from the flowers, and that is by listening to the flowers, letting them live their lives, and then picking them only when they’ve died. [Sandi Masori]

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Jewish Fiction, San Diego County, Sandi Masori, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Jewish biography: Siegfried Lichtenstädter, anti-utopian author

Lichtenstädter loved historical-prophetic sketches. In his book Das Neue Weltreich (The New Empire, 1903), he predicted Germany’s attack on Poland in October 1939 (he was off by one month). In 1912, Lichtenstädter predicted the “monstrous” slaughter of Armenians by the Turks, which took place in 1915. Long before the historical events, Lichtenstädter predicted the annexation of Austria by Germany in 1940 (he was off by two years). [Alex Gordon]

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Alex Gordon, Antisemitism, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Television sit-com ‘Kim’s Convenience’ comes to Old Globe stage

Written in 2005 by Ins Choi, who also played the role of Appa (the dad) in this production, it was originally written while Choi was attending the Soulpepper Academy in Toronto.  At the time Choi cast himself in the role of Jung, the son. But, he said, he always aspired to play Appa when he “got old.”  [Sandi Masori]

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Lifestyles, Opinion, San Diego County, Sandi Masori, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Why Sinai and ‘sinah’ are still best frenemies

On Shavuot we celebrated the greatest moment in Jewish history — the Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Our ancestors stood at the foot of that mountain and received the divine blueprint for how to live as a holy people. But our sages, with their sharp eyes and even sharper sense of wordplay, noticed something curious about the location. The mountain is called Sinai. And what does that sound like in Hebrew? Sinah — שִׂנְאָה — hatred. [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]

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Antisemitism, Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Public lives not matched by family’s private ones in ‘Purpose’

On the surface it seems that his family is the “ideal” family. Dad Solomon (Cornell Womack) is a civil rights hero and minister, and his mom is a former lawyer turned homemaker. The photos on the wall show them with all the greats of the Civil Rights movement. [Sandi Masori]

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San Diego County, Sandi Masori, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food