Published by Radar Online Gene Simmons has tested positive for COVID-19. According to TMZ, KISS announced Tuesday that the band is choosing to postpone their next 4 tour dates as Simmons recovers. The band and rest of the crew will reportedly remain at home and isolate for the next 10 days. “Doctors have indicated the
Gene Simmons Tests Positive For COVID-19, KISS Tour Dates Postponed Read More »
Jewish Celebrities
After a year’s absence, Western States Jewish History, a half-century-old journal, has made its reappearance in a new format. No longer a quarterly, the journal will be published semi-annually by Texas Tech University Press, under the editorship of Jonathan L. Friedmann, professor of Jewish Music History at the Academy for Jewish Religion-California in Los Angeles. [Donald H. Harrison]
‘Western States Jewish History’ Now Semi-Annual and Peer-Reviewed Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Oliver Pollak
Published by Loudwire Death metal grandma and holocaust escapee Inge Ginsberg has died at 99. Ginsberg became a beloved figure on the metal world when she discovered metal music in her 90s and formed a metal band called Inge & the TritoneKings. Inge & the TritoneKings exploded onto the metal scene when Ginsberg was 93.
Inge Ginsberg, Death Metal Grandma + Holocaust Escapee, Dies at 99 Read More »
Jewish Celebrities
We support the Forgotten People Fund of Netanya, which has Israel’s largest Ethiopian Israeli population. Our grass roots fund, composed solely of volunteers, attempts to fill the gaps left by the city’s social services department. The ultimate mission is to help our local Ethiopian Israeli community members to better themselves. FPF depends on donations to carry on the important undertakings like assisting the community to obtain professional qualifications, such as managers, teachers, lawyers, nurses, and engineers. See the website at: http://www.fpf.org.il. [Steve Kramer]
Fund for Ethiopian Israelis Needs Replenishing Read More »
Middle East, Steve Kramer
This is a biography of two Dutch Jewish sisters who survived much of World War II living under assumed identities in a country villa located on a high knoll in the middle of the woods near Amsterdam. [Donald H. Harrison]
Biography Tells of Hiding in a ‘High Nest’ from the Nazis Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) is drawing backlash over putting pressure on Israel to release the body of a slain terrorist who attempted to kill Israeli soldiers in June. In a social media post on Sunday, Tlaib criticized Israel’s policy of holding onto the bodies of terrorists who are killed during an attack. [JNS.org]
Rashida Tlaib’s Post Draws Hikind Backlash Read More »
Travel and Food
Published by Chicago Tribune CHICAGO — An actor can make a good living, and even flourish, across an entire career without finding the role that truly understands him. Ed Asner, who died Sunday at 91, found his: Lou Grant, the surly, sneaky-avuncular news director of WJM-TV on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Prior to that
Remembering Ed Asner: How a Chicago-trained ‘heavy’ met his match with Lou Grant. Twice Read More »
Jewish Celebrities
Published by The San Diego Union-Tribune SAN DIEGO — The man charged in the hate crime attack at a Poway synagogue that killed one woman and injured three others will not face the death penalty in federal court, prosecutors said Monday. In a terse one-sentence court filing, prosecutors with the Department of Justice said they
Feds: No death penalty for San Diego-area synagogue shooter Read More »
San Diego County
When I read a new book I want to turn my hours of page turning into a review. I have done this hundreds of times. Even compulsion has its limits. I list unpublished reviews in my 18,000 word resume under “Unsubmitted.” They were not rejected by an editor, they were never sent to one. Until yesterday it contained three books published between 2007-2014, and now has increased by 33 percent to four titles, totaling 1323 pages. I’m a non-fiction reviewer wary of speculation, creative non-fiction, and historical fiction. [Oliver B. Pollak, Ph.D]
Books That I Declined to Review Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak
Rabbi Abraham Chill (1912-2004) gives readers of The Mitzvot, The Commandments and their Rationale a very readable listing of the commonly accepted list of biblical commands, presented in the order in which they appear in the Five Books of Moses. He identifies the location of the command in the Bible, and gives the explanations offered by various highly respected ancient rabbis, including Maimonides, Nachmanides, Abarbanel, ibn Ezra, Radak, Ralbag, Rashi, Sforno, Saadiah, and 15 others. He describes each of the 23 rabbis that he quotes. As my uncle, Rabbi Dr. Sidney B. Hoenig, Dean, Bernard Revel Graduate School, Yeshiva University, wrote in his Foreword to the book, “His work presents in digest form each and every perspective of every one of the 613 divine commandments and, in clear style and comprehension, makes the reader part of the whole gamut of thinking in Oral Law perception.” [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
Explanations of the 613 Biblical Commandments Read More »
Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion
As our license plate maven Melanie Rubin correctly points out, “Yallah” is an Arabic expression meaning “Let’s Go!” It is widely used in Israel by both Arabs and Jews. This original spelling of the word, may suggest that the owner of the car is in a real hurry to get going! Kudos to Melanie for spotting this license plate.
Jewish-Interest License Plate: YAALAAA Read More »
Melanie Rubin, Travel and Food, Trivia, Humor & Satire
Famed Mossad agent Yael Man, whose contributions to the intelligence agency made her a national Israeli hero, passed away on Sunday at the age of 85. Man served as an undercover agent in Lebanon, gathering intelligence on the Palestinian Liberation Organization under the guise of a British screenwriter. [JNS.org]
Mossad Agent Yael Man, 85 Read More »
Jewish History, Middle East
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz met with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Sunday evening, in the first official high-level talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders since 2010. [JNS.org]
Gantz Meets with Abbas in Ramallah Read More »
Travel and Food
When Eytan Stibbe heads off to the International Space Station at the end of the year, becoming only the second Israeli ever to go into space, he’ll take with him a 1,900-year-old coin recently unearthed in the Judean Desert. [JNS.org]
Israeli Astronaut to Carry Ancient Coin to International Space Station Read More »
Jewish History, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education