Michael Aushenker

Vista Del Mar’s Grand Dame

Published on January 29, 2004

Ruth Shuken's backyard is a floral wonderland. Shuken, who turns 94 on July 4, strolls through aisles of roses, lilacs and azaleas. Her green thumb has also served her well in cultivating a garden of mitzvahs.

Shuken's Beverlywood manor, which she has called home for 55 years, is a short drive from Vista Del Mar, the place she has served for more than five decades. Vista Del Mar operates on a $32 million annual budget to assist teens from troubled backgrounds.

Fred Kort

Published on November 6, 2003

Fred Kort, Holocaust survivor, philanthropist and founder/CEO of Imperial Toy Corporation, died on Sept. 6. He was 80.

The Circuit

Published on September 25, 2003

The Circuit

Building the Perfect Painting

Published on September 25, 2003

For local artist Rebecca Levy, building a body of work literally begins with the building. "Each one is different and has a charm of its own,"

Ethiopian Pied Piper Rocks Heartstrings

Published on September 18, 2003

This Rosh Hashanah, the dreadlocked Santa Monica resident will showcase his talents at B'nai Horin, the Culver City shul he has been performing at since 1997. Alula Tzadik will play the kirar, a harp-like instrument dating back to King David's time.

The Circuit

Published on September 18, 2003

Community members turned out in full force when Geoffrey Gee, former Israel Humanitarian Foundation Chair and University Synagogue president, was honored at a Cure Familial Dysautonomia fundraiser at University Synagogue in Westwood.

Rhodesli Sefer Torah Visits Westwood

Published on September 18, 2003

An 800-year-old Jewish sage is coming to Westwood this week.

Valley Festival Draws Thousands

Published on September 11, 2003

"More booths, more vendors, more of everything" is how festival co-chair Nancy Parris Moskowitz described this year's Los Angeles Jewish Festival.

The Circuit

Published on September 11, 2003

The Circuit, information on events around los angeles.

Fred Kort

Published on September 11, 2003

Fred Kort, Holocaust survivor, philanthropist and founder/CEO of Imperial Toy Corporation, died on Sept. 6 at the age of 80.

Kort, like fellow philanthropists Jona Goldrich and Max Webb, survived the Holocaust to become one of Jewish Los Angeles' most prominent and impassioned supporters, as well as a big giver to secular humanitarian organizations. Kort gave millions to dozens of Jewish causes, including Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Bar-Ilan University, the Anti-Defamation League and Israel Bonds. He was a founding donor of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and contributed to Goldrich's L.A. Holocaust Memorial.

True Tales of the Tribe’s Rockers

Published on September 4, 2003

With chapters organized by decades, "Stars" devotes chapters to some shopworn but necessary rock pioneers -- Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Bob Dylan, Roth -- as well as more eclectic entries: late T-Rex frontman Marc Bolan, Lee Oskar of WAR and Phish bassist Mike Gordon, suddenly topical after he was arrested Aug. 16 and charged with endangering the welfare of a minor.

The Circuit

Published on September 4, 2003

Rachel Firestone and Michel Grosz, both juniors at Milken Community High School, were among the 26 teenagers across North America to receive 2003 Bronfman Youth Fellowships that entitled them to spend five weeks in Israel this summer.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Rules at 2003 Valley Fest

Published on September 4, 2003

The Los Angeles Jewish Festival, known until recently as the Valley Jewish Festival, originally began as the Exodus Festival to drum up support and awareness for the rescue of Soviet Jews, under the leadership of The Federation's Jewish Community Relations Committee.

The Circuit

Published on August 28, 2003

The Circuit

The Circuit

Published on August 21, 2003

The Circuit

Big Apple Of His Eye

Published on August 21, 2003

He was the guy with all the good lines. The late Saul Steinberg helped establish The New Yorker magazine as a purveyor of visual excellence. "Art of the Spirit," an exhibit at The Jewish Federation running through Dec. 15, is a welcome reminder of the late illustrator's visual wit.

Milking The Peace Cow

Published on August 14, 2003

A year and a half ago, Woodland Hills resident Steve Handelman believed he had a novel idea: merchandise bearing the slogan "Got Peace?" Before long, the writer got his wife, Trudy Handelman, a medical dental consultant; and his children, Alexandra, 13, and Gabriel, 9, on board. He produced baseball caps, T-shirts, even a plush Holstein cow riffing off of the slogan.

Habush Wrapped Life in L.A. History

Published on August 7, 2003

Jerry Freedman Habush led excursions through historic Jewish Los Angeles as vice president of tours at the Jewish Historical Society of Southern California (JHS) for more than 20 years. In recent months, Habush's commitment slowed, but not from a waning passion. He was receiving chemotherapy for cancer that spread through his pancreas, liver and lungs. Habush died on July 29 at age 60.

Writers: Redd Still Gold on TV Land

Published on July 31, 2003

Fred calls Lamont a "big dummy." Aunt Esther warns Fred to "Watch it, sucka!" Fred fakes a heart attack, crying out heavenward, "Elizabeth, I'm comin' to join you!"

Thirty years ago, when few representations of blacks appeared on television, "Sanford & Son," starring Redd Foxx, brought such gags into the pop culture lexicon. And for most of its 1972-1977 run, a couple of Jewish boys, Saul Turteltaub and Bernie Orenstein, oversaw the writing on the top-rated African American sitcom. Today, "Sanford" is the second most-watched program among viewers age 25-54 on rerun cable outlet TV Land, trailing only its doppelganger -- the wholesome, decidedly white "The Andy Griffith Show."

Japanese Youngsters Sing Shalom

Published on July 31, 2003

When Temple Beth Am of Los Angeles extended a konnichi wa during Saturday services to its Japanese visitors, they answered "Shabbat shalom." Small Hands, a group of Japanese goodwill ambassadors, ages 12-18, offered a cultural exchange on its July 26 visit.

Ariel Avrech

Published on July 24, 2003

iel Avrech died of complications from severe pulmonary fibrosis on July 1. He was 22.

"He was incredibly learned," said Avrech's father, Emmy-winning screenwriter Robert Avrech ("The Devil's Arithmetic"). "I always learned from him. Our roles were reversed. He was also very funny and had a very dry, ironic sense of humor."

The Circuit

Published on July 24, 2003

The Circuit

A Graphic Anniversary

Published on July 10, 2003

"What the graphic novel has done is make it clear we're dealing with an art form," said Maggie Thompson, editor of Comics Buyer's Guide.

The Circuit

Published on July 10, 2003

The Circuit

The Madman of Montparnasse

Published on June 26, 2003

Before his life was tragically cut short in 1920 at the age of 35, Amedeo Modigliani left an impression on every person he met. Take fellow artist Jacques Lipchitz, whom the possessed Italian Jew liked to visit at 3 a.m.

The Circuit

Published on June 26, 2003

The Circuit

The Circuit

Published on June 12, 2003

The Circuit

The Circuit

Published on June 5, 2003

The Circuit

The Circuit

Published on May 22, 2003

The Circuit

Realty’s Fealty for Jewish Los Angeles

Published on May 22, 2003

Mark Karlan and other successful Jews in the business believe that realty's fealty to Jewish causes lies in factors unique to the nature of the business, which is driven by a generation profoundly connected to Jewish values and impacted by the Holocaust and the creation of Israel.

The ‘Bogey’ Man

Published on May 15, 2003

Even though he promises to be a kinder, gentler version of himself, his raspy growl is -- and will be -- unmistakably unchanged.

The Circuit

Published on May 15, 2003

All traces of the solemnity and sadness of Holocaust Remembrance Day were gone by nightfall when the gang from New York-based Heeb Magazine threw their first West Coast party at the Hollywood-and-Vine hotspot Deep.

The Circuit

Published on May 8, 2003

Becker General Contractors' Sandy Becker was happy to be at what is known in the real estate and construction business as a "sunriser" -- an early morning get-together.

Thursdays With Pini

Published on May 8, 2003

The moment you enter Tempo restaurant in Encino on a Thursday night, you realize that it's Pini Cohen's town, and we just dance in it.

Foundations Try to Stop a Jewish Killer

Published on April 30, 2003

Imagine a disease that strips a child of the routine autonomic and sensory abilities that we take for granted. A disease that affects a child's nervous system to such a degree that he or she cannot feel pain or produce tears, even when seriously wounded. The child becomes plagued with developmental delays, both physical and cognitive, and must be fed through gastric tubes to prevent inhaling food through the windpipe instead of down the esophagus. He or she experiences severe vision problems, breathing episodes, seizures, an absence of taste, cyclical vomiting, unstable blood pressure, fainting spells, excessive sweating, skin blotching and other abnormalities. The child also incurs numerous hospital stays, frequent surgeries and enormous medical bills. Worst of all, the disease statistically guarantees that the child will not live to see his or her preteens.

Minority Retort

Published on April 30, 2003

A war is brewing. A minority in our midst is being actively persecuted. Society fears and loathes them. The government is using legislation to identify them and the military to hunt, contain and kill them. This is not Nazi Germany. This is America.

Bonded by Ghetto

Published on April 24, 2003

Irene Gutovicz remembers the days when members of the local group of philanthropic Holocaust survivors, known as The Lodzer Organization of California, would donate a bowl of borscht or a plate of kugel.

Kosher Pig-Out

Published on April 24, 2003

Eat-4-Israel was the brainchild of Monique Grunberger, a high school senior at the Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto, who developed the idea with two local Yeshiva University of Los Angeles students, Yitz Novak and Zvi Smith.

Clay Feat

Published on April 17, 2003

It may have been a silent film, but Paul Wegener made an international noise with "Der Golem." The 1920 German Expressionist classic -- screening April 21 at the Skirball Cultural Center -- remains a popular incarnation of the Golem.

A Pass-SOVA Tradition

Published on April 17, 2003

Helping the needy is what SOVA (Hebrew for "eat and be satisfied") has been doing since 1983, when Santa Monica deli owner Hy Altman and wife, Zucky, created the nonprofit organization.

Courting New Blood

Published on April 10, 2003

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Perhaps a
cliché, but it may well be the mantra of local Jewish institutions struggling
to attract new blood, as organizations and synagogues revamp their young
professional divisions in an effort to distance themselves from past
programming that has failed to meet expectations.

Loco for Local Art

Published on April 10, 2003

In January, the Los Angeles Craft and Folk Art Museum (CAFAM) ended its international search for an executive director and picked an Angeleno: UCLA professor Peter Tokofsky.

What sold CAFAM on Tokofsky was his suggestion that the museum buck the tradition of looking outward to international cultures for exhibit material, and focus on indigenous trends instead.

"It's all right here," Tokofsky said. "This museum is going to be increasingly about L.A."

Tokofsky promises that future exhibits at the Miracle Mile museum will revel in local culture -- ethnic and popular -- and Los Angeles' populace, including the Jewish community. As an appetizer, entertainer Len Levitt will stage a Passover-themed puppet show, part of CAFAM's "Puppets" exhibition, on April 13, and Hebrew University professor Shalom Sabar will lecture on the lore and lure of Hebrew amulets on April 19.

The Circuit

Published on April 10, 2003

Citizen Canine

Published on April 3, 2003

From Blaxploitation to ‘Booth’

Published on April 3, 2003

On Nov. 15, 2002, filmmaker Larry Cohen should have been at the multiplex, gauging opening day reaction to the film he wrote, "Phone Booth," about a man who must outwit a sniper while trapped in the eponymous telephonic cabin. But the Washington Sniper changed all that.

No, Cohen was not the target of a hit. But his movie was, last October, when 20th Century Fox postponed the release because of the snipers (who were ultimately apprehended after killing 10 people and critically wounding three).

"Phone Booth," directed by Joel Schumacher and starring current "it boy" Colin Farrell, opens in theaters April 4.Â

Made in Israel

Published on March 27, 2003

The marketing campaign was launched earlier this month in a collaboration by the Southern California Israel Chamber of Commerce, The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, the Government of Israel Economic Mission and the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute.

Queen of Laughter

Published on March 27, 2003

The self-described raconteur refuses to label herself a stand-up comedian. But Rhea Kohan's wit has, over the last decade, made her a sought-after personality in the local Jewish community, and she refuses to charge money for her humorous hostessing.

Irwin Goldenberg,

Published on March 27, 2003

Irwin Goldenberg, Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles past president and an active community leader, died on March 20. He was 85.

On With the Show

Published on March 20, 2003

So how will this year's Academy Awards differ from previous Oscar outings? One word: War.

Janet Williams

Published on March 13, 2003

Janet Williams, a past president of City of Hope's auxiliary division, Gems of Hope, died on Feb. 9, 2003. She was 84.