Documentary on largest-ever gift to Israel to screen at international film festival
A documentary that reconstructs the lives of Holocaust survivors Lottie and Howard Marcus, who made the largest-ever charitable donation to an institution based in Israel, will screen at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival...
Biography of David Sealtiel Tells Struggles of Pre-State Israel
This small book, subtitled (in German) “I want to be a compatriot of the Jewish people,” describes the life of the man who rebelled against the bourgeois and orthodox way of life of his...
Leonard Bernstein Netflix film criticized over ‘Jewface’
In lush black and white, a man and woman sit back-to-back in a park, playing a guessing game together, dreaming that they can communicate telepathically if they just try hard enough. The scene cuts...
All eyes upon this 13-year-old
A young man starts to say the Shema because his father made him promise to do so if the Nazis were to get him. His sister, Sara, covers his mouth, and as the lights of the Nazis...
Historian chronicles Hitler’s friends and fellow travelers
Former California Gov. Gray Davis, a liberal Democrat, and the Koch Brothers, billionaire businessmen and Libertarians often associated with conservative causes, would seem to have little in common. However, that is why digging into...
Pursuit of wealth, fame can devastate families
Generation Wealth explores the American dream, which it defines as the quest for fame and fortune. This interesting and somewhat distressing documentary written and directed by Lauren Greenfield explores some of the obsessions of modern...
Streaming movies about American anti-Semitism
Street Scene (1931): Elmer Rice play about immigrants living in a tenement reveals the stereotypes they have of each other.
Black Legion (1937): Bogart movie about nativist racist group in Detroit. Euphemisms are used, but Jews also...
Following Grandma’s WWII Path Leads Author to Self-Discovery
When Sergiusz Scheller left his home in Poland to move to America to be with his bride, Rachael Cerrotti, his mother Danuta told him, “We share the same sky. We look at the same...
STEM, STEAM, and Now STREAM Children’s Books
Educators long have worked with STEM curricula — emphasizing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. When artists declared such curricula were too limiting, the notion of STEAM was introduced. Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.
Now,...
Book Review: ‘Newcomers in an Ancient Land’
For the most part, this is a pleasant if tentative memoir, which will be informative for people contemplating a first trip from the United States to Israel, but which otherwise breaks no new ground. ...