The writings of the grandchildren of Holocaust survivors frequently convey not only the pain their grandparents endured but also the reverberations of trauma in their families. If there is a pattern in these books, it is often the desire to restore a narrative interrupted by untold stories and geographical dislocation. Two new memoirs record grandchildren’s…
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Books
Books
Highly anticipated Philip Roth biography delivers the goods
Books coverage is supported by a generous grant from The Milton and Sophie Meyer Fund. In the autumn of 1960, Philip Roth traveled to the Bay Area to…
Off the Shelf
Jewish literature takes a turn toward adventure
Books coverage is supported by a generous grant from The Milton and Sophie Meyer Fund. One does not conventionally turn first to Jewish literature to…
Culture
Our Pandemic Year: Artists faced a choice — pivot or perish
Part Three of OUR PANDEMIC YEAR, a week-long series examining how the Covid pandemic has changed our local Jewish world. Debra Schaffner has spent much of…
Religion
An Orthodox anti-racism advocate turns his gaze to Jewish texts
In the first chapter of Rabbi Shais Rishon’s new Torah commentary, the voices of ancient rabbis mingle with contemporary poets and, at one point, with…
Passover
New haggadahs: serene and poetic, earthy and playful
It’s been a rough couple of years to publish new haggadahs. Last year, around the time people might have ordered new ones, it became clear that the…
Books
Early S.F. author, 'mother of American Jewish fiction,' gets a reprint
Books coverage is supported by a generous grant from The Milton and Sophie Meyer Fund. Early San Francisco writer Emma Wolf published five novels along…
Books
Stan Lee’s complex legacy gets even more complex in new biography
Stan Lee, arguably the most famous American comic book creator, died at age 95 in 2018. Honoring his Jewish identity, many evoked the phrase “may his…
Celebrity Jews
Spielberg wins Genesis Prize; Golden Globes, Image Awards nominees; etc.
Spielberg wins the big prize Steven Spielberg has beat out notables such as Barbra Streisand and the Bay Area’s own Marc Benioff to win this year’s…