By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO –Some folks enjoy the easy, racially-tinged declaration, after viewing an African American man on the television news being indicted or sentenced for some gruesome crime: “Well, of course.” The assumption, the throw-away epithet, is simple, coarse, and poorly-informed. It is driven by the insipid racism of too many people […]
What color is terror? Read More »
USA
By Cynthia Citron LOS ANGELES –Remember when “mutually assured destruction” meant maintaining détente with Russia—or else? As the threat of nuclear war hung like a mushroom cloud over all our heads, the thought that nobody would survive kept everybody from pushing the button. Oh, for the good old days. But wait, there seems to
‘Mutually Assured Destruction’ is a suburban tale Read More »
Cynthia Citron
By Carol Davis SAN DIEGO –If you’ve ever tried to run interference with your child’s ‘play’ or playground shenanigans you will understand why Yasmina Reza’s God Of Carnage is so spot on funny and tragic at the same time. Oh, I’m not saying that parents shouldn’t be aware of what takes place on the playground
‘God of Carnage’ depicts adults playing badly Read More »
Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
By Eva Trieger SAN DIEGO –A child animator who has won several awards for his work on a movie about the Holocaust now has another poignant story he’s illustrating, one that tells the story of his father’s determined but ultimately unsuccessful battle against cancer. San Diegans first met Perry Chen, 12, through his early career as
Boy animator to draw late father’s life Read More »
San Diego County
By Eva Trieger SAN DIEGO — According to Exodus 20, we are bid to “honor thy father and thy mother.” This edict presents something of a challenge for Pippin, son of Charlemagne, as we see in Pickwick Players’ courageous and feisty production at the Moxie Theater. This playful remake of the 1970s’ Broadway production entertains
Pickwick Players present ‘Pippin’ pretty playfully Read More »
Eva TriegerBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Others can accuse Israel of bringing the world to the edge of disaster over Iran, but not for doing it without discussion. It’s been going on sporadically for several years, and may be reaching a crescendo. Israel Hayom dedicated its weekend supplement to the subject, and gave it the headline “Before
Talk of Israel-Iran war reaching a crescendo Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel -In preparation for our summer in France, or perhaps simply because I like to think I can read books in French, I bought Anne Sinclair’s book, 21 Rue la Boetie. Reading it took me into the fascinating world of French art in the twentieth century, with extensive ramifications regarding
Picasso, Rosenberg and the Nazi looters Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson
By Loren Kantor STUDIO CITY, California — Peter Lorre was an Austrian-American actor known for playing sinister foreigners. Born Laszlo Lowenstein in 1904 to Jewish parents in present-day Slovakia, Lorre’s mom died of food poisoning when he was only four. As a teenager, Lorre was a student of Sigmund Freud in Vienna. Lorre began
Notes from the Woodcutter: Peter Lorre Read More »
Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & BroadcastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Mitt Romney and his crew were not at their best during the campaign trip outside of the United States. The candidate insulted the British in London, raised hackles of Palestinians and the politically correct everywhere with comments about the superiority of Jewish culture in Israel, and his press secretary lost
Friedman rebukes Romney for seeking ‘Jewish money’ Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel SAN DIEGO — Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook writes in his famous mystical and moral tract, The Lights of Penitence: The greatest impediment to the human spirit, upon reaching maturity, results from the fact that the conception of God is crystallized among people in a particular form, which goes back to childish habit
Anthropomorphizing God does HaShem a disservice Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiBy Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO — When the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, unsuccessfully pleaded for a state at the UN last year, many of us in the Jewish community noted with some bitterness: he failed to even mention either the historic Jewish association with the region of Palestine or the horrific Jewish suffering of
When politics erases basic human compassion Read More »
Jewish Religion, Middle East
By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — Is ignorance of the law an excuse? Should people be held responsible for things they do not know? The Ten Commandments appear twice in the Torah, first in parashat Yitro and again in parashat va-Etchanan. While the commandments themselves are substantially the same, there are variations in wording.
Torah’s 2 versons of 10 Commandments differ subtly Read More »
Jewish Religion
By Eva Trieger SAN DIEGO –Sure. Lots of kids build things out of Legos or Lincoln logs, but how many kids replicate a set from Music Man from alphabet blocks when they’re only five years old? I’d wager not many. Jay Heiserman, a two-time Emmy winner, has been designing sets ever since he began
Junior Theatre is a homecoming for acclaimed set designer Read More »
Travel and Food
. By Natasha Josefowitz, Ph.D. LA JOLLA, California –Once upon a time, long, long ago, in a faraway land, in a castle on top of a hill, lived a beautiful princess…. Well, we all know that there must be, somewhere, an equally handsome prince. But we also anticipate a witch, an ogre, or a dragon—preferably
A story about stories — why we love them Read More »
Natasha Josefowitz