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- NEWS & COMMENTARY
Opposition continues despite new Boy Scout policy
In 2001, Temple Israel of Hollywood (TIOH) overwhelmingly decided to end its sponsorship of Cub Scout Pack 1300 to protest the Boy Scouts of America’s (BSA) policy banning openly gay…
Jews should get offended
If there’s one thing the Palestinians are great at, it’s saying no. For years now, many peace-loving Jewish heads have been bruised from banging against the brick wall of Palestinian rejectionism.
NSA and JEW
If you ever needed a sign that Jews feel fully integrated and accepted by society, consider this: Not one major Jewish group made a peep over the revelations of National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance.
- HOLLYWOOD
“Curb” star Jeff Garlin spends two days in jail following parking lot confrontation
Actor Jeff Garlin ("Curb Your Enthusiasm") was released from a Van Nuys jail yesterday, at approximately 7:30 a.m., according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) website. An incident…
‘Man of Steel’ screenwriter David S. Goyer on Superman and religion
“People are always so quick to point out the Christ allegory in “The Man of Steel” but Superman has always struck me as a combination of Old Testament and New…
Superman is a Jewish Fantasy
This past week my wife surprised me with tickets to the new Superman movie “Man of Steel” for my birthday. So late Saturday night, we sat in a packed movie…
- LIFE & CULTURE
Archie Comics feature film in the works
Archie comics lovers, rejoice!
Israel’s SodaStream inks deal with KitchenAid
The Israeli company SodaStream agreed to develop a home system for making carbonated drinks for KitchenAid appliances.
Barbra Streisand receives Honorary Doctorate from The Hebrew University
Barbra Streisand, after receiving an honorary doctorate from The Hebrew University, stands in front of the plaque of the Institute of Jewish Studies Building, established in 1984 in honor of…
- BLOGS
Summer Peaches Are Here
I always figured peaches were a super sugary fruit as they are so darn good. But it is not so. Peaches: are often less than 100 calories, making them a…
The Power of Language: Cultivating Positive Emotions
Language affects the heart. When we’re surrounded by others who speak negatively, it can really affect our mood and disposition. Are we aware of how much negative language there is…
Attention Forward: We Aren’t That Radical
It has been said that most of us believe newspaper reporting to be generally accurate, until we read an article on a subject with which we are intimately familiar. It…
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Gaby Wenig
The Nazi Who Saved the Rebbe
"Rescued From The Reich: How One of Hitler's Soldiers Saved the Lubavitcher Rebbe," by Bryan Mark Rigg, Yale University Press, 2004.
When a German army officer trawled the streets of Warsaw in 1940 looking for Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneersohn, the sixth Lubavitcher rebbe, people either pleaded ignorance or ran away in fear.
Circuit
Circuit; Fine Thing for Feinstein; The Stem Cell Circuit; A Visit from The Rebbe; In Memory of Hindy; A Dance for Barbara; Baby Love.
Shadows of Shoah in ‘Snicket’ World
Daniel Handler looks like a character in one of his own "Lemony Snicket" novels. At a breakfast interview with The Journal at a New York café, he wears a pinstriped suit with a handkerchief in the pocket -- reminiscent of something the bumbling Mr. Poe might wear when he deposits the unfortunate Baudelaire orphans at the home of a relative who wants to kill them and collect their fortune. In repose and in photographs, Handler's face turns dole, as if, like Snicket, he is turned melancholy by the events he narrates.
Torah Advice for Happily Ever After
As most engaged couples know, the stress of preparing a wedding and pleasing two sets of in-laws is enough to take that blissful sheen off even the most romantic of occasions.
Dancing the Chai Life
Now, 40 years later, The Sarah Sommer Chai Folk Ensemble (Sommer died in 1969) is no longer dancing in basements or clicking their heels to accordion music. The nonprofit troupe is run by a board of directors and has a full artistic staff, including costume designers, choreographers from Israel and Argentina, and a technical team that ensures that Sommer's Israeli folk-dancing vision stays alive. The troupe itself now numbers 47 -- including eight vocalists, nine musicians and 20 dancers. They perform in large venues all over the world.
Circuit
It was not dinner as usual at the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) Los Angeles Celebration on Dec. 18 at the Beverly Hilton. While keynote speaker attorney Alan Dershowitz gave a standard stump speech about why people should support the ADL, what was more poignant were six spoken-word vignettes, heard throughout the evening, that singled out an individual whose life was touched by the work of the ADL.
Do ISM Activists Exploit Birthright?
When Vicki Kaplan's Birthright Israel trip finished, the Los Angeles native wasn't sure what she wanted to do. Kaplan definitely wanted to stay longer in Israel, so she extended her ticket, but the politically active college student wasn't sure where she should take her activism.
Circuit
Circuit.
Fly the Mitzvah Skies
El Al, Israel's national airline, is the only airline that keeps kosher, observes Shabbat and even gives out doughnuts on Chanukah, but recently it has been doing other mitzvot as well.
Orthodox Parents Create Special-Needs Camp
When the Los Angeles Unified School District broke for the recent winter vacation, a group of nine 10-year-old boys gathered in the Jewish Educational Movement in Beverly Hills for a mid-winter camp called, Kol Hanearim ("all the children"). The public school students were primarily from observant homes, and all have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD).
The World of Do-It-Yourself Judaism
So is it possible to squeeze 5,765 years of history, culture, law and food into a 380-page book? Yes! While academics might snub their noses, the books actually can teach both the idiot and the dummy quite a bit about Judaism.
Faith, Responsibility Top OU Convention
In his keynote address at the Orthodox Union West Coast Torah Convention last weekend, Judge Daniel Butler told the crowd of 300 the harrowing tale of the difficult but celebrated life of his son, Mikey.
"Mikey's sign-off line was 'Day by glorious day,' said Butler, describing how Mikey spent his truncated life in and out of the hospital, coughing up phlegm in his lungs from cystic fibrosis.
Before he died earlier this year, at age 24, from lung transplant complications, Mikey graduated from Yeshiva University, where he was vice president of the student body. He was also a counselor at Camp HASC (a New York camp for children with special needs), a drummer in a band -- and his story inspired hundreds of Orthodox communities across the United States to pray and do good deeds in his merit.
Curb Your Verbosity
Wolpe's goal with this book and with his columns is to achieve the most coveted accolade of all newspaper columnists -- to have his column posted on someone's refrigerator.
‘Heaven’s’ Mysterious Spirits
Rabbi Joseph Telushkin said that he was inspired to write the book, which CBS plans to bring to the small screen in fall 2005, after he conducted a hypnotic regression with a friend of his who went back to a life in the year 1853.
Circuit
Circuit
Circuit
Circuit
Circuit
The Circuit, information on events around los angeles.
December Dilemma: Distorting Chanukah
Welcome to Chanukah and the December Dilemma. In Hebrew schools all over Los Angeles -- and in temple discussion groups for intermarrieds on how to survive the holiday season -- Chanukah is taught as a ritually dense Jewish substitute for Christmas that needs to elbow its way into some December shelf space, rather than a holiday that commemorates a group of Jews fighting against the forces of Hellenistic secularism to remain an insular, Torah-committed community.
Circuit
The Circuit, information on events around los angeles.
Tragedy in Sudan Spurs Local Action
On Rosh Hashanah, Rabbi Harold Schulweis of Valley Beth Shalom (VBS) gave a sermon on the tragedy of Sudan and what the Jewish community needs to do about it.
His proposed remedy: Start the Jewish World Watch (JWW), a commission of caring men and women that will monitor atrocities around the world by organizing educational evenings with international relations experts and raise money to help societies being ravaged by genocide.
"
A Kidney for Chana
Chana Bogatz is 5 years old, and she loves cutting and pasting paper, playing with her brothers and sisters and having "Happy Birthday" sung to her.
Circuit
Circuit
Whose ‘Land’ Is It?
Barbara Grover had traveled the world photographing such heart-wrenching subjects as children living in trash dumps, but it was a garlic braid and a pair of kids' shoes in a bombed-out house that moved her most of all.
That house belonged to Salah Shehada, commander of Hamas' military wing, Izz al-Din al-Qassam, the most lethal and extreme of the Palestinian terrorist organizations. Shehada and several members of his family were killed in 2002 when an Israel Defense Forces F-16 destroyed their home.
Circuit
Circuit
Wilshire Boulevard Gambles on Future
On any given day, Wilshire Boulevard Temple's Audrey and Sydney Irmas Campus in West Los Angeles is a hub of activity. Built seven years ago for $30 million, the campus attracted new members like a magnet. They came flocking to enroll their children in day school or religious school or attend the many other activities the campus offered.
Now it wants to repeat its success in a part of town that is far less congruous with Jewish life than the Westside: Koreatown. The temple is planning on spending $30 million to revamp its Wilshire Boulevard property and to turn it into a major Mid-City Jewish destination.
Circuit
Cast members from the new "Ten Commandments" musical performed for about 120 people at AMIT's Cherish The Children dinner on Oct. 25 at Brentwood's Luxe Hotel, with the organization event raising money for AMIT's 60 schools serving 15,000 at-risk Israeli youth.
Sotheby’s Auctions Hebrew Collection
Jacob Joshua Falk was home studying Talmud when a nearby gunpowder factory exploded. Trapped beneath debris with no escape route in sight, the 22-year-old Pole made a vow to God: if saved, he would study Talmud diligently. He immediately spied a clearing and crawled out of the rubble only to find that his entire family had been killed.
Circuit
Circuit
Passion to Help Sick Spawns Wider Effort
When Lori Marx-Rubiner underwent a bilateral mastectomy two years ago, she lost the use of her arms for a few weeks. She couldn't brush her teeth, let alone tackle cooking dinner or driving her son to school.
Jewish Groups Vow to Help Sudanese
On Yom Kippur, as his congregants at B'nai David Judea were fasting and praying for the year ahead, Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky asked them to think not about themselves, but about people being killed in Darfur, Sudan.
"I asked people to make a contribution to one of the relief organizations in the amount of what they would have eaten themselves were in not Yom Kippur," Kanefsky said. "Sudan is calling to us for immediate attention."
Circuit
On Oct. 4, the Beverly Hilton became the only place in town where you could watch Jeffrey Tambor and Rabbis Laura Geller and Debra Orenstein say Hamotzi.
How Jewish is ‘Too Jewish’?
Eugene Yelchin painted his "Section Five" series using his fingers instead of brushes. In the earthy, orangy-brown tones and thick, rounded strokes of paint, the faces he painted emerge blurred somewhat with the background, as if the artist didn't want them to be seen clearly.
Examining the Jewish Vote
Like many Jews, Paul Kujawsky is a vociferous supporter of Sen. John Kerry. But at Shaarey Zedek Congregation in the Valley, he stands out as such an anomaly that his rabbi refers to him as "the one Democrat in the shul."
Local Team Solves Ancient Mystery
In 1979 two tiny pieces of cracked and deteriorated silver found in a tomb outside of the Old City of Jerusalem proved to be one of the most important archeological discoveries of the century.
Circuit
Circuit
Circuit
There are some new faces at UCLA. Rabbi Aryeh and Sharona Kaplan were recently hired to be the Torah educator couple for the Orthodox Union's Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC).
A Retreat to Comfort Converts
Rabbi Harold Schulweis tells a joke about a Jewish man who complains to his father after marrying a convert.
Twins Bring Hope to Paralyzed Couple
As a couple, they bonded over their shared disabilities, their commitment to religion (they are both Orthodox) and their desire to have children.
"When Shmuel and I were dating that was one topic we discussed," Rivkah Klein said. "We both wanted children, and it wasn't a question of whether we would be able to, but rather finding the right way to have them."
TO LIFE! TO RAISE FUNDS!
The dancing rabbis returned Sept. 12 at the 24th annual Chabad L'Chaim -- To Life! Telethon. The program was beamed into homes in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas and on the Dish Network.
Rabbi Consoles Hurricane Survivors
Rabbi Isaac Jeret, president of the Brandeis-Bardin Institute (BBI), and members of Adat Israel in Naples, Fla. headed out to a Naples beach to observe Tashlich on the first day of Rosh Hashanah. Everyone stared in shock before the service began.
The Circuit
When the spring mission of the Men's Division for Israel Bonds went to Israel in June they made a pit stop at Magen David Adom (MDA)'s Blood Center in Ramat Gan so that all the mission participants could donate blood.
The Shofar
Davi Cheng had some trepidation when she went to Hillel for the first time. She tried to feel comfortable, but she couldn't understand the language of the services and the liturgical rituals were confusing.
Then she spied something unfamiliar on a bookshelf that made her feel right at home: a shofar.
The Circuit
The Circuit
Kilmer’s Moses a Real ‘Ten’
Val Kilmer plays Moses in "The Ten Commandments," the new musical version of the Exodus story, which is set to open at the Kodak Theatre on Sept. 27.
The Circuit
Circuit
‘Slaves’ to Drugs Find Help in Chabad
When John Ostlund was 33, a judge offered him a choice: Quit heroin or lose your 3-year-old daughter.
Twins Bring Hope to Paralyzed Couple
Shmuel and Rivkah Klein have all the hassles of being new parents. Their twins don't sleep through the night, and with all the feedings, baths and diaper changes, they have difficulty finding time for themselves.
But the Kleins have an added challenge: They are both paralyzed, and they need to care for 8-week-olds Yosef Netanel and Yaakov Aryeh from the confines of their wheelchairs.
Jewish Advocacy, Guerrilla Style
The set is a converted garage in Pico-Robertson. Eight Hollywood hopefuls dressed in T-shirts and cargo pants, holding shovels and frying pans, are waiting for the camera to start rolling.
A boom mike looms overhead and a klieg light shines in their faces, but for screenwriter Shlomo Heimler, these things matter less than the fact that for him this shoot, which advertises volunteering in Israel, is one with soul.
"This is the most meaningful work I have ever done," the 38-year-old former advertising art director said. "When you go to work, there are typically no emotions involved, but this is all heart and soul, for everyone."
Back to Breed Street
"Boyle Heights was the Ellis Island of Los Angeles," said City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa at the Breed Street Shul Open Day on Sunday, Aug. 22. "And this shul was the mother of all synagogues."
But the "mother of all synagogues," which opened in 1923, was abandoned by its few remaining congregants in 1996, and left to molder away -- unused and unprotected from the elements -- in Boyle Heights, a primarily Latino neighborhood.
Until now.
Synagogue Perks Entice Unaffiliated
What does $1,000 buy you these days in Jewish life?
Maybe, if you're lucky, a full-year family synagogue membership. But what exactly does that mean? Two tickets to High Holiday services? Free parking? Entree to Kiddushes?
At a time when families have limited time and money and so much competing for it, synagogue leaders are realizing the need to offer more to potential and existing congregant.
Anti-Semitic Sing-A-Long
Borat is a fictional Kazahkstanian reporter distinguished by his utter lack of social propriety who allegedly films segments on American culture for Kazakhstan television. Like the spectacularly stupid pseudo black rapper Ali G and the unashamedly vapid gay Austrian fashion reporter Bruno, Borat is a creation of British Jewish comic Sacha Baron Cohen. And, like the other characters, Borat uses his lack of shame to expose people's darker sides by asking them uncomfortable questions.
The Circuit
News from the Circuit.
Melrose: Avenue of the Stars of David
The street was made famous by the TV show "Melrose Place," and for years, scores of tourists have trawled Melrose Avenue every day, hoping that some Los Angeles stardust will rub off on them.
The Circuit
Circuit
Under The Skin
In the new "Body Worlds" exhibit at the California Science Center, a plastic man called "Chess Player" sits at a table with his back hunched forward and his hands cupped under his chin. His lips pursed, his eyes stare intensely at the chess board.
‘Flicks’ for Generation Y
Kenny Schnurr and Micah Smith are concerned about Jewish education. "One of the problems is that students are not interested [in what's being taught]," Schnurr said. "The students are used to this very engaging visual language [of the media], and the teachers don't have anything to compete with that."
So Smith and Schnurr, both filmmakers in their 20s, teamed up to create J-Flicks, a series of educational "trigger" films that repackage esoteric Jewish concepts in a slick neo-MTV style garb for a media savvy audience.
The Real Scoop Behind Ice Cream
"Ice cream was something my husband and I were hooked on," said Vicki Grossman, talking from New York Scoop in Woodland Hills, her newly opened modern reincarnation of an old-fashioned ice parlor. "It was something of a ritual -- we would take the family to Carvel at least once a week."
That ritual, and others like it -- such as serving ice cream for desert or eating it straight out of the carton with a spoon -- have made ice cream one of the most popular foodstuffs in America today. No better time to celebrate that fact now, with July being National Ice Cream Month, designated by former President Ronald Reagan in 1984.
Presbyterians Ignite Divestment Uproar
Before the sermon at each of the three services at Bel Air Presbyterian Church last Sunday, the Rev. Mark Allan Brewer did something unusual -- he protested. Speaking in a clear, forceful voice, the reverend denounced the 216th annual General Assembly of the Presbyterian church's decision to selectively divest funds from companies doing business in Israel.
The Circuit
Barbara Balser, national chair of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the first woman to lead the organization in its 91-year history, was the special guest speaker at its 10th annual Deborah Awards Gala on May 20 at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
The Circuit
The Circuit, information on events around los angeles.
Little Miss Shmutzy
Anne-Marie Baila Asner decided that she was going to reinvigorate Yiddish by writing and illustrating cute, brightly colored children's books that would help people develop an affinity for the language.
Baker Whips Up Cakes for the Kosher
Vicki Hulbert wants to change kosher weddings: She would like people to start thinking about wedding cakes a little more seriously.
Have Ark, Will Travel
Rabbi Abner Weiss is looking through the closet that holds his shul. There are two Torah scrolls lying face up on shelves, the gold mechitza curtains are hung against the wall and the mini-weekday ark is facing the closet door.
"'Have ark will travel' -- that's our motto," Weiss said, and quoted the verse that is used in the Shabbat liturgy when the Torah scroll is removed from the ark in the synagogue: "Vayehi binsoah aron" (and behold the ark was traveling).
The Circuit
The Circuit, information on events around los angeles.
Religious Court Serves as First Resort
In downtown Los Angeles, three judges are deciding a case involving tens of millions of dollars and dozens of properties. The judges aren't dressed in robes or seated behind wooden podiums with a court reporter close at hand. Instead, the three bearded rabbis are sitting in a small conference room at a table piled high with documents they peruse carefully.
How to Win Leaders and Influence People
Melina Gimal has been a Jewish community professional for most of her life.
‘Shrek 2’ Writer Gets His Happy Ending
Before David Weiss came to Hollywood as a 24-year-old screenwriter hopeful, the elders of his church put their hands on him to entrust him with a Godly mission.
Tull Lends a Hand to the Homeless
She first started worrying about those on the streets in 1980, and now, 24 years later, Tanya Tull is fighting against a real estate boom that prices the low-wage earners out of the housing market and federal aid cuts that exacerbate the problem.
Lights, Camera, Action, Israel
Does Hollywood ignore the Israel issue? Some seasoned industry professionals are tackling the public relations problem head on by nurturing a group of novice filmmakers to create Internet movies that will get people thinking about Israel and Judaism.
Santa Barbara Sees Growth Spurt
It's Friday night at Young Israel of Santa Barbara, and an enthusiastic chorus of seven men and eight women sing Shabbat prayers while banging on the tables in rhythm to the melody.
At least two of the 15 in this Orthodox storefront shul are not Jewish, but that doesn't appear to be issue enough to dampen their enthusiasm for davening or the in-shul Shabbat meal that follows.
Melting Pot for Peace
It's hard to imagine a period when Jews and Arabs got along -- but that's apparently what they did from 800-1400 B.C.E., in the historical Al-Andalus period. In Spain and North Africa, Jews, Christians and Muslims got together and collaborated on arts and sciences to create one of the world's most advanced societies.
Now, Al-Andalus, an eclectic group of musicians from all over the world is recreating the spirit of the historical Al-Andalus in concerts that celebrate the mystical pluralism of the Arab-Jewish music traditions.
The Circuit
The Circuit, information on events around los angeles.
The Circuit
The Circuit, information on events around los angeles.
Material Girl Nixes Israel Dates
Has the Material Girl become the new target for terrorists? According to Britain's The Sun, Madonna cancelled the Israel leg of her Reinvention Tour after terrorists allegedly threatened to kill her and her children, Lourdes and Rocco, if she performed in Israel.
The threats reportedly came in the form of a series of poison-pen letters that were sent to Madonna's Los Angeles office. According to The Sun, Madonna first thought she was being targeted because of her kabbalah beliefs, but then she realized that she was being threatened because she represented all the things that these terrorists hate about the West. The terrorists were reportedly Palestinian, and Madonna took them seriously enough to cancel her three September concerts at Tel Aviv's Bloomfield Stadium -- her first concerts in Israel since 1993 -- because they knew intimate details about members of her staff.
Academy Wants to Ease Wallet Strain
For the past couple of years, Rabbi Shimon Kashani has been concerned about Jewish education. While he saw several day schools in Los Angeles, he was worried that some students whose families couldn't afford the fees were opting for public schools, and therefore had limited options for Jewish education.
Angelenos Lobby for Israel in D.C.
"You have tears in your eyes at one moment; you are angry the next -- the emotional swing is enormous," said Michael Tuchin, a Los Angeles lawyer who was in Washington, D.C., this week for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual conference. "
A Taste of Tunisia Comes to Melrose
It's a formula that Marmet is trying to emulate in his Melrose Avenue restaurant. Named for his wife of four months, Greta Pinto, who also helps out with the cooking, Greta's pays homage to the Parisian bistros that Marmet loved so much. The resturant offers a Tunisian menu of extremely fresh, tasty and hearty food served in a setting made intimate by its rustic earth-toned colors and through the soft glowing light from candles on the table and wall votives. Greta's has a dining room of only 34 seats, and its produce is bought from local vendors and then prepared a-la-minute, to order.
How to Be Religious in Prison
California state prison inmate Raymond Morrison was forced to wear paper clothes, had his personal property taken from him, spent months in "the hole" (a.k.a. administrative segregation), was denied telephone calls and family visits, all because of his adherence to a halachic tenet.
A Reason to Wig Out
Aside from the obvious religious issues involved, anti-wig forces in the ultra-Orthodox community are using the brouhaha to bolster a century-old argument against the use of wigs.
The Circuit
Recognition and Honor to individuals, groups, schools and a special appearance by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
The Heimish Home Stretch
HeimishHome.com, a new Web site that wants to be the one-stop shop for researching Jewish neighborhoods. Heimishhome has listings from realtors in different neighborhoods around America with special features that allow the users to check how close the house is to the nearest shul, school, kosher restaurant or mikvah. There are also editorials on the site that offer thumbnail descriptions of the different communities.
The Circuit
The Circuit
Charities Ask L.A. to Help Israel’s Poor
Ask Abraham Israel about hungry people in Israel and he gets exasperated.
Charitable Yums
Thinking about doing something for Israel but don't have time or inclination to go there and volunteer in person?
The Circuit
The paparazzi lined the halls of the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel on March 31 hoping for a glimpse of some of the A-List guests arriving to watch producer and Revolution Studios founder Joe Roth receive the Dorothy and Sherrill C. Corwin Human Relations Award at the American Jewish Committee's (AJC) annual dinner.
These Soldiers We Remember
Yigal Shaked warned his mother that if she told the enlisting officers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that he should be excused from service because of his asthma, he would never speak to her again.
The Circuit
The Circuit, information on events around los angeles.
The Circuit
The Circuit, information on events around los angeles.
Groups Celebrate Seders With a Cause
At Jewish Family Service's Freedom Seder, participants read from a haggadah that was just a little bit different. Instead of reading of the four sons, those at the Freedom Seder read about the "four community members."
"The wise community member asks, 'How can we, as individuals, and a community, address domestic violence?'"
The Circuit
The Circuit
Chabad Brings Brooklyn to L.A.
Amid the kosher restaraunts, Judaica stores and storefront synagogues on a particular stretch of Pico Boulevard, a little piece of Brooklyn has just been built.
OK, the new three-story, 47,000-square-foot brown-brick building is hardly little, but it is straight out of 770 Eastern Parkway, the Crown Heights address that houses the central Chabad center and the headquarters of their former spiritual leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, otherwise known as "the Rebbe."
Catharsis Found in Haggadah Artwork
While Israeli artist Avner Moriah was creating "Haggadat Moriah" (Moriah Haggadah), his wife, Andy, was undergoing chemotherapy treatments for leukemia.
"I sat next to her when the chemicals were dripping in," said the 50-year-old artist, in Los Angeles this week for an exhibit opening of his work at the University of Judaism. "In Israel everyone davens and says 'Tehillim' when someone is sick, but I came up with images for the haggadah. When I started, the images were really small but as she got healthier, they became more colorful and more lively. When I finished [and Andy recovered] I realized that I had painted my own journey from Egypt."
Delice Solves Holiday Baking Challenge
When Julien Bohbot and Jacob Levy opened Delice Bakery on Pico Boulevard two years ago, they had one goal in mind: introducing the kosher community in Los Angeles to authentic French-baked goods that adhered to the highest standard of kashrut without sacrificing taste or quality. So during the year, that meant that Bohbot and Levy were paying three or four times as much as other bakeries for ingredients so that they could use cholov yisroel (milk that has been supervised), butter and cream to make Delice's flaky croissants. But at Passover time, the two men faced a greater challenge to make Passover cakes that tasted as good as year-round cakes and make the cakes affordable -- or almost affordable -- despite the high cost of kosher-for-Passover ingredients.
The Circuit
The Circuit
Evangelical Media Gather Around Israel
"Free soup's on us!" That was the invitation David Suissa's Los Angeles-based charity Meals 4 Israel extended to all 5,000 participants of the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Charlotte, N.C. last month -- and it was pastors and ministers who made their way to the booth to sample some soup and learn more about the charity.
Pullman Stars on the Drive Home
"I am very proud of my Jewish heritage," Jason Pullman said, talking to The Journal from the Clear Channel offices (Star's parent company). "I used to use stage names, but then as of four or five years ago [I decided] I am myself, and that is only person that I want to be."
The Circuit
Circuit
Batsheva Blurs Artistic Borders
During "Naharin's Virus" a provocatative dance/performance piece that the Batsheva Dance company will excerpt this week at UCLA, a dancer holds chalk in her hand, dragging it through her body movements: Arching her back, outstretching her arm, she trails Hebrew words on a blackboard.
Ten Tips for a Great Speech
"I'm more nervous about the speech than I am about reading the Torah," Jonathan Shainberg told The Journal. "When you are reading the Torah you aren't looking at people, but when you give the speech you have to look out at the whole crowd and seeing the faces makes me nervous."
The Circuit
Actor Jack Black wowed the crowd during Beth Chayim Chadashim's (BCC) Humanitarian Awards Brunch at the Omni Hotel on Feb. 22 when he played his "saxaboom" -- a toy saxophone that belts out prerecorded tunes.
The Circuit
The Circuit, information on events around los angeles.
The Case of the Missing Torah
A Montreal resident claims that a Torah she loaned to a local senior home has illegally ended up in a Southern California synagogue. And now she's on the hunt to find it.
Pages Reveal a Whole New Esther
As far as narrative goes, Megillat Esther is one of the most exciting parts of the Tanach. It is rich in religious significance and considered a seminal text on the miracle of Jewish survival, the story of Esther, the orphan girl who is chosen in a nationwide beauty contest to become the queen and ends up saving the Jewish people from the evil machinations of Haman the Wicked, has all the elements of a good potboiler. Played out under the specter of Armageddon for the Jewish people are great and lavish displays of wealth, a mighty king who is duped by his nefarious adviser, scheming chamberlains, a harem full of nubile virgins, power plays among the king's underlings and enough surprising plot twists to keep the pages -- or the scroll itself -- turning.
The Circuit
All over Los Angeles, Jewish groups were finding innovative ways to commemorate Tu B'Shevat, the 15th day of the Jewish month of Shevat, which is the New Year for trees.
Out of Africa, Into the Valley
When his father was arrested for building a sukkah at a time when Idi Amin had outlawed Judaism in Uganda, Gershom Sizomu paid the arresting scout five goats for his father's freedom.
Mrs. Smiles, You’re on the Air
While the Los Angeles community has it share of rabbis and teachers who can teach a great class or two, there is always an allure of having someone come in from overseas as a special guest speaker. But now, airplanes are no longer necessary to get an overseas speaker to talk in Los Angeles.
The Haunting of the Weird
Diane Arbus, acknowledged as one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century, thought photographs were the ultimate enigma.
All-Female Plays Fill Niche for Frum
For "Portraits in Faith," Robin Garbose's husband, Levi, adapted a novel by Marcus Lehman, a 19th-century German writer who is something of a John Grisham of the Orthodox world. His books typically are plot-driven, hard-to-put-down novels that are infused with messages of faith.
YM for the Bais Yaakov Set
Teen magazines like YM or Seventeen are usually aimed at young girls who can spend hours contemplating the deeper questions of life like "How can I tell if he likes me?" or "Is 50 Cent hot or not?"
The Circuit
The Circuit, information on events around los angeles.
Looking for Love?
JDate is the largest Jewish singles site, but for those interested in swimming in smaller ponds, below is a sampling of some of the other offerings on the web.
Haven’t I Seen You Before?
SawYouAtSinai -- the name coming from the midrashic aphorism that every Jewish person met his or her soulmate when we received the Torah on Mount Sinai -- is a site where users can fill out a profile, and then choose one or more matchmakers out of the 46 (four are from California) currently on the site to find a match for them.
Desperately Seeking Soulmates
The most successful matchmakers in the Jewish community don't want to talk romance.
His own romance "happened so long ago, there is really not much to say about it," Alon Carmel, the co-founder, of JDate.com, the largest Jewish online personals site, tells The Journal when asked for some personal tips of the romance trade.
Carmel's business partner, Joe Shapira, is even less inspiring.
Stroll Among the Scrolls
In 1947, a young Bedouin scrounging around some caves about 15 miles from Jerusalem came across some sealed clay urns and unearthed one of the most important archeological discoveries of the century -- the Dead Sea Scrolls. The scrolls are 2,000-year-old fragments of Hebrew manuscripts written on parchment, leather and copper. Some are transcriptions of Torah portions, others contain commentaries on the Torah, and still others contain records of a separatist Jewish sect in the mid-Second Temple era that established itself high on the hills of Qumran, where the scrolls were found.
Krazy for Kugel
It has a solid, stodgy presence on any dinner plate; it comes in as many flavors as Baskin-Robbins, but the most popular are noodle and potato. It can be served as side dish or, in some cases, a dessert. It can be sweet or savory, soft or firm, and though almost everyone can recognize a piece if placed in front of them, most would have a hard time defining what a kugel actually is.
The crude English definition of the Yiddish word is pudding, but that is not only an inadequate way to describe that square piece of -- well, kugel that graces so many Jewish meals but incorrect also, given that "pudding" has a distinct dessert connotation, of which a hearty piece of kugel often has no part.
No, kugel is definitely more than pudding, and how much more will be seen this Sunday, when kugel aficionados will gather to wow the cognoscenti of the food world with their kugel creations at Yiddsihkayt Los Angeles' Kugl Kukh-Off.
Healing the Spirit, the Torah Way
Hinda Leah Scharfstein sees the Torah as more than just the original source of halachah, Jewish law, and the earliest telling of our nation's birth.
"The Torah takes a holistic look at the individual, and it does tend to have a sort of healing effect on people," said Scharfstein, the executive director of Bais Chana Women's International, a New York-based nonprofit. "I attended my first holistic Torah retreat 20 years ago, and I have been involved on a professional and personal level with it ever since, and since then I have definitely felt better. My thinking has become healthier, and I feel more whole."
Chabad to Make L.A. a Yeshiva City
On Waring Avenue, west of La Brea Avenue, Yeshiva Ohr Elchonon Chabad is undergoing a $5 million expansion. Under construction is 35,000 square feet of dormitories and study rooms, including a light and airy beis midrash (study hall) that will double as a synagogue.
The Circuit
The Circuit, information on events around los angeles.
Yeshiva Spy Kid Videos Find a Niche
Eight-year-old Sruli Slodowitz from Pico-Robertson likes dressing up as his favorite hero; no, it is not Batman, Superman or even Harry Potter -- but Agent Emes, "an ordinary kid with an extraordinary mission" who is the 11-year-old protagonist in a new mystery adventure video series for Jewish children.
The Circuit
The Persian community's first major fundraiser for Israel this year took place at the home of Dr. Ata and Sima Kashani in Encino on Jan. 14. The Persian Group Council of Hadassah Southern California organized the event, which raised $50,000 to go toward scholarships for Hadassah college students in Israel.
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