Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Funny music, sad life
By Jonathan Kirsch
On an otherwise unremarkable day in 1938, a chubby but charming student at John Burroughs Junior High in Los Angeles “cracked the code of his comic. . .
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
The ‘light’-er side of Temple Israel of Hollywood
by Jared Sichel, Staff Writer
Temple Israel of Hollywood (TIOH) lived up to its name on April 28 when it threw a free biblically themed matinee musical, “Let There Be Light,”. . .
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
The mishegoss of mom, shmaltz-free
by Evan Henerson, Contributing Writer
Anybody who has trod the boards knows that little blitz of stage fright that can flood through an actor when a member of the family is in the. . .
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Daniel Rolnik: ‘The world’s most adorable art critic’
by Jonathan Maseng, Contributing Writer
Daniel Rolnik bills himself as “The World’s Most Adorable Art Critic,” and if you speak to him for even a minute, it’s easy to see why.. . .
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Hank Greenberg's Jewishness
By Jonathan Kirsch
The big question in Detroit in the fall of 1934 had nothing to do with the troubled state of the world. Rather, the fans of the Detroit Tigers wanted. . .
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
What it really feels like to be alive today
by Elaine Margolin
David Shields, author of the hotly debated “Reality Hunger: A Manifesto,” has bewitched us once again with his innovative genre-bending. . .
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Breaking with all black, some Chabad men pushing fashion boundaries
by Gil Shefler, JTA
Yosel Tiefenbrun looked in the mirror and he liked what he saw.
Friday, May 3, 2013
On Jewish writing
by Erika Dreifus
I’m noticing a trend among my coreligionists-who-write: arguing against being “labeled” as Jewish writers — especially when they are. . .
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Ghosts of Communism
By Jonathan Kirsch
Two weeks ago, my wife, Ann, and I completed our first trip to the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. Everywhere we went, our local guides proudly. . .
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
‘My Mother’s Wars’: Witness From Afar
By Jonathan Kirsch
I met Lillian Faderman last Saturday when we both appeared on a panel titled “Holocaust Lives” at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. To be. . .
Thursday, April 18, 2013
From the ‘Heart’
By Tom Teicholz
Sons of famous fathers rarely eclipse their parent. Although there are some notable exceptions (JFK and Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes come to mind),. . .
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Israel Film Festival explores unfamiliar territory
By Tom Tugend
Among its other benefits, the Israel Film Festival takes even those of us familiar with the country to places and people we know only superficially,. . .
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Israel Film Fest to fete Martin Landau
By Pat Sierchio
When he was barely out of his teens, Martin Landau was already a successful cartoonist working for the New York Daily News. In fact, the young artist. . .
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Saying ‘Allen Ginsberg’s Kaddish’ at UCLA
by Jonathan Maseng, Contributing Writer
For most Jews, the word Kaddish evokes images of loss, mourning, death. But for Hal Willner, “Kaddish” is a spoken-word piece — some would call. . .
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Listening to veterans
By Naomi Pfefferman
Harvard psychologist Dr. Paula J. Caplan recalled how her Jewish father, a captain of one of the first black tank units to serve in combat in World. . .
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
The comfort of lies
by Dora Levy Mossanen
The ups and downs of everyday life, the many dramatic struggles woven into the fabric of life, provide writers—this group of shameless voyeurs and. . .
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Resistance and rescuers: Holocaust books for kids
by Lisa Silverman
When children approach their parents with inevitable questions about death, divorce, homosexuality or how babies are made, adults often turn to books. . .
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Contentious collaboration
by Iris Mann, Contributing Writer
The contentious, often hilarious, collaboration between legendary screenwriter-director Billy Wilder and mystery novelist Raymond Chandler is the. . .
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Michael Chabon’s search for authentic expression
By Tom Teicholz
A writer walks into a room full of rabbis. This sounds like the beginning of a joke, but it’s not. In the words of Woody Allen’s “Broadway. . .
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
HaZamir Los Angeles members make their voices heard
by Evan Henerson, Contributing Writer
After facing down a formidable Milken Community High School sound system and the best vocal efforts of the knights of “Monty Python’s. . .
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Humor thrives in ‘Divorce Party: The Musical’
by Iris Mann, Contributing Writer
Divorce can be a devastating experience, but one can get through it, survive and even thrive, according to Amy Botwinick, co-author of “Divorce. . .
Friday, March 1, 2013
Yiddish: The enduring language
By Jonathan Kirsch
Among the many ways the Jewish people have sought to honor the Six Million, perhaps none is so life-affirming as the revival of interest in Yiddish,. . .
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Theater à la Second Avenue
by Iris Mann, Contributing Writer
With the revival of his musical about a Jewish cabaret comedian, writer-director Pavel Cerny feels he is giving the current generation of Los Angeles. . .
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
OSCARS BALLOT 2013- Fill yours out for a chance to win great prizes
By JewishJournal
Oscar Ballot 2013