2+ day, 17+ hour ago   (415+ words) By Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel in Chula Vista, California Not melody, nor art of silver flute, A primal cry where human tongues are mute. Tekiah rings—a sudden, piercing dawn, The slumber from the weary spirit drawn. A solitary…...

1+ week, 5+ hour ago   (323+ words) By Alex Gordon in Haifa, Israel For a Jewish writer, mythologization becomes a defense mechanism against a hostile reality. It helps him overcome the tragedy of reality. In 1937, a short note appeared in Literary Gazette in which Babel accused the…...

1+ week, 2+ day ago   (290+ words) Gerry Burstain, 90, recently penned a private memoir intended for his progeny and for close friends. I am among the latter category of the memoir’s recipients. Although healthy enough to be planning another trip to his native Israel, Burstain has faced…...

1+ week, 3+ day ago   (308+ words) Cuisine & Empire, Cooking in World History by Rachel Laudan; University of California Press, 2013, paperback, 2015. By Oliver B. Pollak in Richmond, California I have enjoyed at least 57 national cuisines with multiple regional permutations, eaten Bouillabaisse, Cioppino, and Mohinga in their countries of…...

2+ week, 6+ day ago   (1278+ words) By Cailin Acosta in San Diego For Jewish refugees fleeing Europe during and after World War II, Shanghai became both a refuge and a place of uncertainty. But not every Jewish family experienced Shanghai in the same way. Tifereth Israel…...

3+ week, 2+ day ago   (162+ words) Jacques Lipchitz (August 22, 1891 – May 26, 1973) was a Lithuanian-born French-American Cubist sculptor. Lipchitz retained highly figurative and legible components in his work leading up to 1915–16, after which naturalist and descriptive elements were muted, dominated by a synthetic style of Crystal Cubism. [Wikipedia]…...

3+ week, 4+ day ago   (92+ words) San Diego Jewish World Shaul Tchernichovsky (August 20, 1875 – October 14, 1943) was a Russian-born Hebrew poet. He is considered one of the great Hebrew poets, identified with nature poetry, and a poet greatly influenced by the culture of ancient Greece. Tchernichovsky was born…...

3+ week, 4+ day ago   (368+ words) By Oliver B. Pollak in Oslo, Norway We witnessed the total eclipse of the sun on August 12 from a cruise ship in the North Sea. At Oslo, Norway we planned to tour the Nobel Peace Center. It was a walking tour…...

4+ week, 5+ hour ago   (146+ words) Zalman Schachter (August 17, 1924 – July 3, 2014) was an American rabbi, writer, and activist, and one of the founders of the Jewish Renewal movement and an innovator in ecumenical dialogue. [Wikipedia] Born in Poland, Schachter-Shalomi was raised an Orthodox Jew in a variety…...