Rob Eshman

The embrace

Published on February 8, 2012

At the end of Shabbat services last Saturday, I watched a 7-year-old boy recite the blessing over the wine, the Kiddush. His voice was pure, the Hebrew, a learned language for him, flowed fast and flawlessly from his mouth. His face shone.

Opinion: Save Los Encinos

Published on February 1, 2012

Things change; I get it. My favorite diner — Benice, in Venice — closed this week after 24 years in business. Life goes on. They pave paradise. Joni Mitchell is 67, for Pete’s sake.

Bridge to empathy

Published on January 25, 2012

If you like your satire dark, I mean jet black, you probably love the scene from episode four, season four of “Weeds,” in which Len Botwin, played by Albert Brooks, gives a history lesson to his young nephew Shane.

Opinion: History lessons

Published on January 18, 2012

Imagine you are a developing country in the heart of the Middle East. The entire world suspects you are starting to build nuclear weapons, but you deny it. The one country in the world that has the diplomatic, economic and military might to stop you — the United States of America — has made it clear, over at least three administrations, that it will not permit you to go nuclear. Fearful of its retaliation, you give your solemn promise that your nuclear development is entirely peaceful.

Opinion: Stop the Stalinists

Published on January 11, 2012

First, can we all just acknowledge the obvious hypocrisy? Imagine that over the past year Israel had slaughtered 5,000 Palestinians. The Arab reaction would be massive street protests, suspension of all diplomatic ties, demands for expulsion from the United Nations, calls for outright war, the launch of the mother of all BDS movements and unrelenting terror attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets anywhere and everywhere.

Opinion: Lord Shmuley?

Published on January 4, 2012

The first time I met Shmuley Boteach, it was 2 p.m. on a Thursday; he was sitting in the lobby of the Luxe Beverly Hills, and he asked me if I wanted to go outside for a beer and a cigar. My kind of rabbi, I thought.

The Shtarker

Published on December 21, 2011

Of all the eulogies and essays about Christopher Hitchens that have appeared following his death Dec. 15 at age 62, one is particularly pernicious.

Christmas at Mezze

Published on December 19, 2011

Opinion: Guilt trips

Published on December 14, 2011

I wish I had gone out with Sofa Landver last Thursday night. Not for a hot date, but for a cold reality check.

Kosher Club CLOSED?!?!?

Published on December 8, 2011

Opinion: A Jewish vote?

Published on December 7, 2011

The election to replace the termed-out Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa isn’t until March 2013, but already candidates are out raising cash, taking meetings, locking up supporters. I’ve run into City Controller and mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel at so many pro-Israel banquets, you’d think she was making aliyah. 

Rob Eshman: On Iran, one voice

Published on November 30, 2011

I don’t know who will win the presidential election in 2012, but I know whom I don’t want to win it: Iran.

Opinion: Proud bastards

Published on November 22, 2011

A few weeks ago we sent out one of our regular e-blasts with the following headline: “Poll: One in five Americans believes Jews have too much control of Wall Street.”

Lox, Wine, Gopnik, God

Published on November 22, 2011

All’Angolo Restaurant: A Foodaism Favorite [REVIEW]

Published on November 18, 2011

Opinion: Like crazy

Published on November 15, 2011

Events over the past week provide a case study in extremism.

Opinion: Poor sports

Published on November 9, 2011

Eventually, there is one thing every aspiring American political writer must do: write a long feature story about how Jews are turning Republican.

Opinion: My lunch with Lefsetz

Published on November 4, 2011

Do you know about Bob Lefsetz? He is a middle-age guru living in Santa Monica. For 25 years, he’s been commenting on our culture in an idiosyncratic independent newsletter — first in hard copy, then in an e-mail newsletter and now in an online blog.

Why I Love Venice, or, The Perfect Shabbat [SLIDESHOW]

Published on October 29, 2011

How to Stuff a Pumpkin [RECIPE]

Published on October 28, 2011

Opinion: My 2011 Nissan Solyndra

Published on October 26, 2011

Last June, I wrote about my initial love/hate affair with Nissan’s all-electric production car. Since then, people keep asking me how I like my Leaf.

Qaddafi’s Death, Israel and the Middle East [WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTO]

Published on October 20, 2011

Good meats

Published on October 19, 2011

Opinion: Shalit.com

Published on October 17, 2011

What makes this prisoner swap different from all other prisoner swaps? Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to exchange Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier Gilad Shalit for more than 1,000 Arab prisoners instantly became the biggest story of the year out of Israel.

When Life Gives You Chard Ribs [RECIPES]

Published on October 17, 2011

Bono Does Sukkot

Published on October 12, 2011

Opinion: You and the UN

Published on October 12, 2011

If you care about Israel, you have one very clear assignment over the next two months. In about eight weeks, the U.N. Security Council could vote on whether to recognize Palestinian statehood.

A Very Korean Sukkot [VIDEO + RECIPE]

Published on October 12, 2011

Steve Jobs, His Father and Sukkot

Published on October 10, 2011

Five Tips for an Easy and Safe Fast

Published on October 7, 2011

Humane Kapparas

Published on October 6, 2011

Opinion: Who’s sorry now?

Published on October 5, 2011

Some big Jewish ideas really get around. Over the past year, New York Times columnist David Brooks devoted one column to the value of Torah study, another to the big idea behind the word haimish. His colleague Roger Cohen weighed in on Aug. 11 with a column on Jewish identity, which was, improbably, also the focus of the season opener of “The Good Wife.”

Great Kosher Duck

Published on October 4, 2011

How to Make Panisses [SLIDESHOW]

Published on October 3, 2011

Rosh Hashanah Cooking Orgy [RECIPE]

Published on October 2, 2011

OPINION: Rosh Hashanah and the art of beekeeping

Published on September 28, 2011

“The Backyard Beekeeper.”The Happiness Hypothesis

How to Make Gribenes[VIDEO]

Published on September 28, 2011

Opinion: The big picture

Published on September 21, 2011

Patrick Goldstein writes “The Big Picture,” a column for the Los Angeles Times.

Good year, good food

Published on September 21, 2011

Opinion: UN-vote

Published on September 14, 2011

The threatened U.N. vote on Palestinian statehood has pundits and politicians apoplectic.

Opinion: 9/11, 10 years later

Published on September 7, 2011

When I was in New York last week, I prowled Ground Zero.

Opinion: Face to face

Published on August 31, 2011

I asked Aatekah Ahhmad Mir, a journalist from Lahore, Pakistan, and Emal Naweed Haidary, a journalist from Kabul, Afghanistan, what sights they wanted to see while in Los Angeles.

Heroes of the Arab Spring

Published on August 24, 2011

A journalist with family in Syria told me there’s a joke going around that country these days.

Judy’s kitchen

Published on August 24, 2011

Never mind your choice of desert island food. Tell me, who’s your desert island foodie?

The Zeidler Table

Published on August 23, 2011

Opinion: Count-less

Published on August 17, 2011

Here’s the dirty little secret about organized Jewish life in Los Angeles: We literally don’t know who we are.

Rob Eshman: The seer

Published on August 10, 2011

One evening last February, long before 300,000 people took to the streets of Tel Aviv to march for economic justice, I joined a handful of well-heeled Israelis and Americans for a private dinner.

Inside Empire Kosher Chicken

Published on August 4, 2011

Rob Eshman: Good Leaders

Published on August 2, 2011

If Republicans want a primer on how to keep losing the Jewish vote, all they have to do is look at what happened in Washington this past week.

Norway tragedy: A new twist on hate

Published on July 26, 2011

In 1980, for the umpteenth time, someone asked the Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal whether “it could happen again” — “it” being the Holocaust. “You take hatred and technology and you add in a crisis, and anything can happen,” Wiesenthal replied. Last week, something tragic, horrific, almost beyond words happened.