By Eric George Tauber SAN DIEGO — Hershey Felder’s Great American Songbook Sing-Along was the first course of a kosher feast served up at the Balboa Theatre kicking off the 22nd Annual Lipinsky Family Jewish Arts Festival. There was one man with a grand piano playing to a pretty full and appreciative house. Hershey Felder is
Felder starts arts festival with a community singalong Read More »
Travel and FoodBy Mark D. Zimmerman MELVILLE, New York — In what context did David Letterman recently speak about his son Harry and a bar mitzvah? A. Letterman was one of the presenters at a recent event at Lincoln Center benefiting children with cancer. He told the audience about a drive he took with Harry from their home
Jewish Trivia: David Letterman Read More »
Mark D. Zimmerman, Trivia, Humor & SatireLesser Known Summer Blockbusters Part 2 By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO─ Mad Blacks: Fury Road: Heavily-armed figures prowl the apocalyptic landscape of ruins and rubble in strange-looking armored vehicles shooting at anyone who threatens them. No wonder the residents of the African American neighborhoods of Baltimore, Cleveland, and Ferguson view them as the enemy. *
Humoring the headlines: May 26, 2015 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — I didn’t think that I’d ever look back nostalgically at the time when Avigdor Lieberman was Israel’s foreign minister, but I’m already doing it, only a few weeks after he left that office to go into opposition. Recent events warrant it. For reasons which are still not clear, the foreign
Israel’s new zigzag foreign policy Read More »
Middle East1,000-year-old Jewish marriage contract goes on display in Jerusalem (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) In honor of the wedding season that began after Lag Ba’Omer this month, the National Library of Israel is launching an exhibition about the ketubah, the Jewish marriage contract, featuring a rare 1,000-year-old ketubah that testifies to the presence of a Jewish
Jewish news briefs: May 26, 2015 Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — It’s not easy. Perhaps it’s not wise, to comment on someone else’s politics. American officials, and lots of American Jews, especially those to the right and left extremes, often sound like loonies when expressing themselves about Israeli politics. Israelis have also blundered, at high cost. The greatest was Ariel Sharon’s certainty
Miliband flopped distancing himself from fellow Jews Read More »
International, Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Tawian –If the Jews are sometimes called the People of the Book, then certainly we can also be dubbed the people of the books. We like to read. Why not? We like to write, too. Of course, the People of the Book nickname refers to the biggest book the world has
Some possible ways to spend your ‘bookcation’ Read More »
Travel and FoodBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Land is scarce in the Jerusalem area, so I can consider myself very fortunate to have a small plot of land attached to my house. It is divided into terraced sections because of the lay of the land, which is actually the side of a hill. Thus the
Gardening pleasures in a Jerusalem suburb Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle EastRed Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice by Bill Browder, Simon & Schuster, 2015, pp. 396. By David Strom SAN DIEGO — Red Notice is a book worth reading. It chronicles the life of Bill Browder, the grandson of the late American Communist Party leader Earl Browder.
Injustice in Putin’s Russia Read More »
Travel and FoodBy Rabbi Ben Kamin BATH, Maine –Turns out we may have sacrificed hundreds of American lives just to have ISIS swallow up Baghdad. I’m not buying anything today but the fact that it’s about souls, not sales. Walking the streets of this definitive Maine village, with its decorous frame houses, classic churches, sweet bed-and-breakfasts, and
Please think this Memorial Day about its real meaning Read More »
USAMr. and Mrs. Disraeli: A Strange Romance by Daisy Hay, published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2015 By Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO — Though his name described his heritage, it did not describe Benjamin Disraeli’s belief. The family came from Italy to England where he was born in 1804. His father was a member of
From the Jewish library: ‘Mr and Mrs. Disraeli’ Read More »
Travel and Food