Merissa Nathan Gerson

Ghost of holocaust haunts visitor exploring Germany

Published on May 1, 2008

It took me more than a year to buy my ticket. My sister was living in Berlin, and I was supposed to visit her. What she didn't know each time she asked me to come see her was how present the Holocaust was for me in my work.

Meditation—not just for your average JewBu anymore

Published on July 19, 2007

The model for the day was dying for the sake of rebirth. Think meditation, think spiritual awakening, think psychoanalysis.

Men: the ill topic of choice

Published on June 28, 2007

Men are the scapegoat for lost and neurotic twentysomethings. Men and women and the dating scene really are the ill topic of choice for so many of my otherwise smart friends.

Israeli puppies walk the beat with L.A. sheriffs

Published on June 14, 2007

Ami is a yellow Labrador from Pups for Peace, an Israeli organization founded in Los Angeles that trains dogs for counter-terrorism work. He is one of four dogs the group has supplied from Israel to the L.A. County Sheriff's Department's Transit Services Bureau as part of a pilot program in California.

Jamming with the pros at Hamilton High

Published on June 14, 2007

Kenny G reads Hebrew, knows a thing or two about kabbalah and blows the shofar at shul annually. "Because," he said, "I am the only one who knows how."

Blending cultural traditions in the name of love

Published on June 7, 2007

Kirin and Babak might not seem like your ordinary Jewish couple. Kirin grew up Jewish in Anchorage, living the typical western American life. Babak was raised with the traditions of a large Persian Jewish family.

L.A.: The New Israel

Published on May 24, 2007

When you have spent time away from what feels like a Jewish home, Los Angeles becomes the new Israel. Los Angeles is a gateway to the prospect of positive Jewish American identity. There is a fearlessness to the Hebrew on the walls, the Jewish labor movement mural on the building. There is a fearlessness to having a kosher Subway sandwich shop.

‘Campaign to End Israeli Apartheid’ comes to UCLA

Published on May 24, 2007

As part of UCLA's Palestine Solidarity Week, on Sunday, May 20, the Southern California Campaign to End Israeli Apartheid (CEIA) staged a forum titled, "Israel, Zionism and Apartheid: The Case for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions."