Somebody Stop Me
Mark Miller
February 6, 2003
I\’ve been spending so much time and energy dating that it sometimes feels like an addiction.
Category
writer
A Writer, A Rabbi and a Connection
Sandee Brawarsky
January 16, 2003
Some synagogues want a rabbi who\’s a good sermonizer, others want a scholar; some want someone who relates well to their teenagers, others want a rabbi they can call by first name and play tennis or basketball with; some want an individual well known in the larger community, others want a rabbi who knows them well; some go for formality, others for lots of hugging. Some want it all.
In \”The New Rabbi: A Congregation Searches for Its Leader,\” investigative reporter Stephen Fried gets inside the congregational mindset the way no other writer has. He intensely follows the process of finding a replacement for Rabbi Gerald Wolpe, when he steps down after leading a Main Line Philadelphia synagogue, Har Zion, for 30 years. But the compelling book is as much about Judaism in America and the role of the rabbi, as it\’s about Har Zion. And it\’s as much about Fried\’s return to synagogue life as it\’s about Wolpe\’s departure.
‘Light’ From Darkness
Rita Berman Frischer
January 2, 2003
The UPS man brought an envelope containing a beautiful ray of hope, an exceptional picture book by Jane Breskin Zalben titled \”Let There Be Light: Poems and Prayers for Repairing the World\” (Dutton Books, $15.99).
A Graceless Will?
Keren Engelberg
December 19, 2002
Is Jewish the new gay? That\’s how it\’s looking this season on NBC\’s \”Will and Grace.\”
Hijinks ‘n’ Hilarity Mark Wit’s Career
Hank Rosenfeld
December 12, 2002
Irving Brecher, my 88-year-old writing partner, stood onstage at the Arclight Cinemas on Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street after screening "Meet Me in St. Louis." Irv wrote this classic in 1944, one of seven MGM musicals he did.
Up Close and Comical
Naomi Pfefferman
December 5, 2002
\’I\’m a ham,\” said legendary actor-writer-director Carl Reiner.\n\n\”When you\’re a showoff, you\’ve gotta get on that platform.\”\n\nWhich is why 80-year-old Reiner is eager to regale the audience with tales of his life in a speaking engagement at the Orange County Performing Arts Center on Dec. 9. He\’ll cover everything from working on Sid Caesar\’s TV shows to playing straight man to Mel Brooks\’ 2,000-Year-Old Man to writing semi-autobiographical novels such as \”Enter Laughing.\”
My Chanukah Miracle
Carin Davis
November 28, 2002
I\’m an experienced multidater, so I\’m usually pretty good at juggling men.
Stan Burns
Jewish Journal
November 21, 2002
Stan Burns, an Emmy Award-winning comedy writer, died of heart failure Nov. 5 at the Motion Picture and Television Fund Hospital. He was 79.
Magnolias and Menorahs
Ruth Andrew Ellenson
October 17, 2002
\”Shalom Y\’all: Images of Jewish Life in the American South\” photography by Bill Aron, text by Vicki Reikes Fox (Algonquin Books, $24.95).
While the idea of Southern Jews may be as improbable for some as snacking on matzah while drinking a mint julep, in fact, the American South has had a thriving Jewish community since the early 1700s.
Homecoming From Hell
Naomi Pfefferman
September 5, 2002
One day during his junior year abroad in Vienna in 1978, Jon Marans told a professor of his intention to visit the concentration camp Dachau. Her response stunned him. \”She said, \’Why do you want to go there for? It\’s just a bunch of dead Jews,\’\” recalled the Pulitzer-nominated playwright, whose \”Jumping for Joy\” opens Sept. 7 at Laguna Playhouse.
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