Rob Eshman

The Prophet

Published on November 18, 2009

Last Friday evening, I arrived early for a Shabbat event at American Jewish University, where I was supposed to interview Israeli writer Amos Oz in front of some 300 guests.

Bibi Then and Now

Published on November 10, 2009

If you heard Benjamin Netanyahu speak at the General Assembly in Los Angeles three years ago, you would have thought, except for the perfect diction, it was a different man.

The Goldstone Follies: Live debate with Judge Goldstone

Published on November 5, 2009

Last year, the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem released a video showing an Israeli soldier shooting a rubber bullet into the left foot of a bound and blindfolded.
Palestinian demonstrator at close range while a lieutenant colonel and other soldiers watched. After an army investigation of the incident, a military court charged the battalion commander with conduct unbecoming an officer.

Tough Guys

Published on November 5, 2009

I arrived in Israel in 1984. I didn’t speak or understand Hebrew, didn’t have a job and didn’t have a friend. In my pocket I had the name of the one person I knew in the entire country: a middle-aged Israeli American woman I had heard lecture on contemporary Hebrew literature at an Orthodox synagogue in Berkeley. After her talk, I mentioned to her that I would soon be moving to Jerusalem. She scribbled down her address and told me to come by for Shabbat.

Claude Levi-Strauss,  Raw, Cooked, Kosher, Treyf

Published on November 3, 2009

The Wall Project: Good Cause, Bad Comparison

Published on November 3, 2009

Chillax

Published on October 28, 2009

Every day, more like every hour of every day, I get e-mails, letters and phone calls crying out that Israel faces dire threat, if not certain doom.

Col. Richard Kemp Testified at U.N. on Gaza [VIDEO]

Published on October 28, 2009

LA Unity Mission

Published on October 28, 2009

Mel Levine: Obama “Well Understands”

Published on October 27, 2009

Obama’s Big Jewish Speech

Published on October 23, 2009

Neda Square

Published on October 20, 2009

Everybody with a cause, everybody angry at a country eventually ends up in front of the Federal Building on Wilshire Boulevard at Veteran Avenue, waving a poster at passing cars, hoping for a honk. It may not be the most effective form of activism, but at least it tries to reach Angelenos where we live: in our cars.

The Heretic: Q & A With David Sax

Published on October 20, 2009

Rob Eshman interviews David Sax, author of the book, "Save the Deli."

Top Jewish Non Profit

Published on October 20, 2009

Thanks, Chief

Published on October 14, 2009

The way I see it, after a sheriff rides into town, cleans the place up, then rides off into the sunset — those townspeople better be out in the center of Main Street, waving goodbye and choking back tears.

Was Christopher Columbus a Jew?

Published on October 12, 2009

Higher Learning

Published on October 7, 2009

My friend Norma came up to me at the celebration following my daughter’s bat mitzvah and said, “Do you know how special this is?”

Who Killed the Biodiesel Car? [VIDEO]

Published on September 29, 2009

This past summer, the last two Westside gas stations offering 99 percent pure biodiesel closed down their pumps. You can still buy regular gasoline at those stations, but the Great Green Hope of the Millenium, a powerful fuel made from sustainable organic matter, is nowhere to be found. Well, not quite.

Windmueller’s Wise Take

Published on September 29, 2009

“Please, Rabbis, Stop Telling Us It’s Bad to Steal”

Published on September 29, 2009

Lessons of the Yom Kippur War

Published on September 29, 2009

Loving Luntz

Published on September 23, 2009

I have tried to hate Frank Luntz, but I can’t. Luntz is the Republican-aligned pollster and wordsmith who devised the Contract with America that thrust Newt Gingrich into power. He renamed the estate tax the “death tax” and sealed its doom in public opinion.

Arianna Goes to Israel

Published on September 22, 2009

MacArthur Jews

Published on September 21, 2009

Muslim President: “Shana Tova”

Published on September 21, 2009

Dear LA Times: Who What When Where Why

Published on September 21, 2009

Deniers-in-Chief

Published on September 18, 2009

Jay Sanderson Named New Federation President

Published on September 16, 2009

Jay Sanderson Named New Federation President

Published on September 16, 2009

The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles has named as its next president Jay Sanderson, CEO and executive producer of Jewish Television Network (JTN), a nonprofit producer and distributor of Jewish-themed television programming.

New Fed Prez by Tonight?? **Pre-Shabbat Update**

Published on September 10, 2009

Marking Outrage

Published on September 9, 2009

A few weeks after Sept. 11, I visited the site of the wreckage with a group of Jewish journalists. The makeshift museum that had sprung up along the perimeter fence — photos, snapshots, handmade “Have You Seen Her?” posters, flowers and toys — was as tragic as anything I’ve ever seen.

Former William Morris Topper the Mystery Candidate?

Published on September 8, 2009

And Then There Were Three…

Published on September 7, 2009

David Myers v. Gary Ratner

Published on September 1, 2009

Kill Wilhelm

Published on August 26, 2009

I watched two Holocaust revenge movies this weekend, the first of which left me wondering: How did Quentin Tarantino get inside the mind of every 12-year-old Jewish boy born since 1939? His “Inglourious Basterds” is about a secret team of American Jews sent behind enemy lines during World War II to kill and terrorize Nazis — in other words, it’s what all of us growing up wished “The Dirty Dozen” and “The Great Escape” and “Guns of Navarone” were about. We wanted to be Steve McQueen on his motorcycle, or Anthony Quinn with his plastique explosives. As Nazis blew up around us, we imagined ourselves taking extra delight in knowing we weren’t just winning the war, we were getting even.

Ted Kennedy, Israel and the Jews

Published on August 25, 2009

“Boycott Israel” Nope: Boycott the Arabs [VIDEO]

Published on August 20, 2009

Woman in Combat

Published on August 18, 2009

The deaths of certain strangers stay with you. A once unknown face becomes first recognizable, then familiar, then unforgettable.

EveryJew

Published on August 11, 2009

Fern Wallach is my mother-in-law’s sister’s daughter. You’ll want to keep that in mind for this column to make sense.

Free at Last?

Published on August 5, 2009

I’m no different than most Jews — I enjoy a good Kiddush.

Beautiful Souls

Published on July 29, 2009

Not long before he became Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, historian Michael Oren wrote an essay in Commentary magazine on the “seven existential threats” his country faces.

Why The New Jersey Rabbi Sting Stings

Published on July 23, 2009

Divest Now

Published on July 21, 2009

Active Memory

Published on July 15, 2009

Fifteen years ago this week, a bomb ripped into the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) building, a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, killing 85 people and wounding more than 250.

“I Resist” This Dumb YouTube Video

Published on July 9, 2009

Sedentary

Published on July 8, 2009

You know how every deli has its table of regulars, the same aging Jewish men who tell the same jokes, kvetch over the same aches and pains, order the same turkey sandwiches (dry) and complain about how the world is going to pot?

Should Israel Attack Iran?

Published on July 7, 2009

Sizzling Nude Bar Rafaeli..Commentary

Published on July 3, 2009

One Day

Published on July 1, 2009

I have seen the Jewish future — it’s loud, and hypnotic, and it reeks of pot.

Is Al Franken Jewish?  Are You Kidding?

Published on June 30, 2009