* Leizar: A Struggle Across Generations* by David Gelernter; independently published © 2021; ISBN 9781399-912051; 430 pages including cast of characters and glossary, $18.99. SAN DIEGO – This is a novel that traces a Jewish family through several gener…
Holocaust Survivor’s Story: From Snow Shoveler to Multimillionaire
Unstoppable: Siggi B. Wilzig’s Astonishing Journey from Auschwitz Survivor and Penniless Immigrant to Wall Street Legend by Joshua M. Greene (foreword by Deborah Lipstadt); San Rafael, California: Insight Editions © 2021; ISBN 9781647-222154; 315 pages…
Jewish Philosophers Believed in Truth, Whatever Its Source Might Be
*Schlepping and Schmoozing Along the Interstate 5,*Chapter 12, Exit 8A (H Street) Temple Beth Shalom * From H Street exit, turn right (east) and go to 2nd Street, turn left, At Madrona Street, turn left again. Temple Beth Shalom is at the southwestern …
There’s More Than One Kind of Mikvah for Conversion Ceremonies
*Schlepping and Schmoozing Along the Interstate 5, Chapter 11, Exit 7B (Marina Parkway): Bayside Park, Chula Vista* ** ** Exit west to Marina Parkway and follow it as it curves north to Sandpiper Way, turn left on Sandpiper Way and follow to Plover Way…
Children’s Literature: Pesach in 1950’s Iran
A Persian Passover by Etan Basseri (Illustrated by Rashin Kheiriyeh); Moosic, Pennsylvania: Kalaniot Books, © 2022; ISBN 9781735-087566; 32 pages including glossary; $19.99. SAN DIEGO – The red-cheeked children on the cover of this charming little stor…
Children’s Literature: ‘Matzah Means So Many Things’
Matzah Means So Many Things by Faith Goldstein; Tulsa, Oklahoma: Yorkshire Publishing © 2022; ISBN 9781954-095113; 31 pages including end notes, a recipe for making matzah at home, an author’s note enlarging for adults upon the text written for childre…
Novelists Paint Complex Portrait of Hitler
Sins of the Fathers: A Novel by Herbert J. Stern and Alan A. Winter; Skyhorse Publishing Inc. © 2022; ISBN 9781510-769427; 432 pages, $29.99. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Here is a mixture of history, biography, and pure fiction depicting the poli…
A Portrait of Immigrants’ Physical and Psychological Survival
Shayna by Miriam Ruth Black; Burnsville, Minnesota: Kirk House Publishers; ISBN 9781952-976315; 330 pages including Yiddish glossary; $18.95. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – This intense novel is about two journeys, one physical, the other psychologi…
‘Ripped Away’ Is a Jewish Tale of Time Travel
Ripped Away by Shirley Reva Vernick; Fitzroy Books (c) 2022; ISBN 9781646-032037; 132 pages. SAN DIEGO — Here is a short time-travel novel suitable for Young Adults and older readers imagining two high school students who barely acknowledge each other …
Children’s Literature: ‘Passover, Here I Come!”
Passover, Here I Come by D.J. Steinberg (illustrated by Emanuel Weimans); Grosset & Dunlap (c) 2022; ISBN 9780593-224038; 32 pages plus a page of stickers; $5.99. It starts with such preparations as cleaning the house and ridding it of any trace of cha…