Education

October 9, 2008

Milken JCC hires new director; Heschel West receives US.gov award

The U.S. Department of Education has given Heschel West Day School the National Blue Ribbon Award, a prestigious prize given to the "top 10 percent of schools nationally, based upon academic achievement."

Featured

Matt Albert Photo by Rachel HellerWednesday, August 27, 2008

P. S. Tikkun Olam: Veteran Jewish educator opens charter school driven by vision of a community

By Rachel Heller

"We want to nurture a diverse body of students who are passionate about learning, engaged in their community and have respect for themselves and others."

Ben-Gamla photos by Nadia MaloveWednesday, August 27, 2008

Public money for Jewish schools:
Free not-quite-but-sort-of Jewish education

By Julie Gruenbaum Fax

Are Hebrew-language charter schools the answer to the tuition crisis, or a threat to both Jewish education and American values?

Latest

Temple Judea students and their Israeli counterparts in L.A. taking in a Laker game.Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Twinning builds friendships between U.S. and Israeli youth

By Sharon Schatz Rosenthal

The goal is to maintain a strong bond between Jews in the United States and Israel. Currently, 18 Los Angeles schools participate in the program. Participating students, or "delegates," range from fifth to 11th grade, depending on the school.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Mini-school teaches major lessons

By Celia Soudry

The students say the Jewish literacy they've gained has inspired greater introspection and a fuller Jewish life

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

You can’t be too involved in supporting your child

By Kathy Shenkin Seale

Thirty years of research, much of it conducted by my co-author, Clark University psychologist Wendy Grolnick, has found that the more parents are involved with their children -- be they toddlers or teens -- the better it is for their kids. In fact, you can't be too involved with your child.

Third-grader Jordan Levine with Wanana Kindeh, one of four Bat Ami girls at Hillel Hebrew Academy last year Photo by Ezra FaxWednesday, August 27, 2008

Young women—Bat Ami Girls—bring Israel to Los Angeles schools

By Ayala Or-el

When Jewish day schools open their doors next week, along with old friends and new teachers, students will greet a new batch of "Bat Ami girls," young Israeli women who bring a touch of Israel to Jewish schools.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Briefs: Irvine school receives $10 million gift, Orthodox schools get federal funding

Tarbut V'Torah Community Day School (TVT) in Irvine received a $10 million gift from an anonymous donor to be used for student scholarships, beginning this fall.

MAST program director Roger Kassebaum, far right, poses at the 2008 US First robot competition with Milken's Rabid Rabbit Robot team, including MIT freshman Richard Dahan, fourth from left. Photo by Adam WillsWednesday, August 27, 2008

Science program helps six Milken grads head to MIT

By Adam Wills

"One of the things we were really committed to when we started the academy is that kids were not going to fit into the typical box of science classes," said Jason Ablin, Milken's head of school.

'Palestinian Holocaust' exhibitWednesday, August 20, 2008

Quiet war on campus: Israel remains under attack despite fewer public protests

By Brad A. Greenberg

While she worked bringing pro-Israel speakers and programs to campuses, Davoodi also built up quite a collection of fliers claiming Zionists are the new Nazis, that the 'Israel lobby' has hijacked American foreign policy and the Jewish state is built on a mounds of lies and Palestinian bones.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Campus groups offer students cash for Torah study

By Ben Harris

Several years ago, Rabbi Shlomo Levin hit on a new way to attract students from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to classes at his nearby Orthodox synagogue. Instead of spending money on eye-catching advertising, Levin reasoned it would be simpler just to give the money directly to the students in exchange for attendance

Saturday, August 2, 2008

VIDEO: Bar Mitzvah the Tradition

This video, an open source release of Mercer County Community College in New Jersey, gives a good, factual overview of the meaning and tradition of the Jewish coming-of-age ritual, the Bar Mitzvah.

Moshe KavehWednesday, July 16, 2008

Donors push Bar-Ilan to head of the class

By Tom Tugend

"I wish I had 10 percent of the success with the Israeli government as I have with private donors," sighed Moshe Kaveh, the president of Bar-Ilan University.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Extending the Birthright privilege

By Julie Gruenbaum Fax

Birthright's success in awakening a connection to Jewish heritage and Israel is unprecedented in American Jewish life. The number of alumni continues to multiply and their enthusiasm is infusing new energy into American Jewry

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Michael Ross—who got Sammy Davis to kiss Archie Bunker—donates milions for Jewish studies

By The Web Guy

Michael Ross, the former producer of and writer for iconic American sitcoms "All in the Family," "The Jeffersons" and "Three's Company," has given some $14 million to create Jewish studies programs at UCLA and City College of New York in recent months.

Kids enjoying the arts and crafts at the free family festival. Photos by Gary LeonardWednesday, July 9, 2008

In which the writer discovers Nextbook’s new read on culture

By Tom Tugend


"A man should live, if only to satisfy his curiosity." The Yiddish proverb, tacked to the wall of my study, came to mind when curiosity -- and the assignment to entertain my visiting young grandsons -- led me to the Nextbook festival. It's a personal embarrassment, or the fault of the organization's anti-promotional attitude, that I had never heard of Nextbook, or as its logo has it: nextbook>.

Former religious school teacher Jay Firestone is "ready to move on" rather than "give up." Photo courtesy of Temple Emanuel of Beverly HillsWednesday, July 9, 2008

My (early) ‘golden years’

By Jay Firestone

My nursing home is my mattress, my "stories" are Sunday morning football and my "meals-on-wheels" program is a delivery of Buffalo wings. At 24 years old, this is my retirement -- from teaching religious school.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Bill Gates to receive Einstein award from American Friends of the Hebrew University

"The Einstein Award represents the creation of a continuum of great minds and was inspired by the legacy of Albert Einstein, a founding father of our university who wrought a profound revolution in human understanding of our world," said Hebrew University President, Professor Menachem Magido. "The award pays tribute to today's most original, creative and effective thinkers. Bill Gates is a most worthy recipient -- like Einstein, he is a leader whose actions stem from the knowledge that human progress includes alleviating human suffering."

Mark and Judy Yudof greet an employee at a University of California staff reception in Oakland on June 16, 2008Tuesday, July 1, 2008

New UC president keeps kosher, loves Israel

By Tom Tugend

The new president of the University of California keeps a kosher home, lectures on Maimonides for intellectual stimulation and is an unabashed Israel supporter.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

UCLA dorm kosher meal plan discontinued, Jewish Little League sends All-Star team to Israel

After only one year, UCLA's meal plan offering hot kosher meals to students has come to an end. The failure of students to sign up for this dining option is in part the reason for its demise, as participation dwindled from five students in the fall trimester, to only three in the winter, and eventually one lone student in the spring

Todd Samuel PresnerThursday, June 26, 2008

Digital archaeologist traces history of Berlin, Jews

By Tom Tugend

The UCLA professor glides easily across the centuries by way of a construct he labels alternately as digital archaeology, information navigation, hypermedia and time-space documentation.

Up the service road to the Getty Villa, at the base of Gene Gladden's property and next to the Mormon Church's brick-walled parking lot sits the 3,000 square-foot former storage building that Rabbi Zushe Cunin hopes will become the new site of Palisades Jewish Early Childhood Center. Photo by Jane UlmanWednesday, June 25, 2008

Chabad finds possible solution to land-use problem in Pacific Palisades

By Jane Ulman

The recent discovery of a long-overlooked legal document could substantially alter the situation, potentially allowing for a public street to be constructed that would lead directly to the entrance of the proposed site.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Memoir recalls educator’s hardships, success in Iran

By Karmel Melamed

Treating him like a rock star, the crowd mobbed 70-something Eshaghian, seeking an autograph or photo op during the May 20 launch party for his Persian-language memoir, "A Follower of Culture."

The Caltech Beavers on the court. Photo by Bob PazThursday, June 19, 2008

‘Hoops’ harder than rocket science

By Adam Wills

Caltech has more Nobel laureates than any other university and is considered among the top five academic institutions in the world. The Pasadena campus' contributions to science and technology are vast. And then there's their basketball team, the Beavers.

(From left) Dorothy Greenstein, Jean Greenstein, Sigi Hart, Emil Jacoby, Erika Jacoby, Sidonia Lax and Paula Lebovics during the graduation ceremony at New Community Jewish High School. Photo by Louis RaynorThursday, June 5, 2008

Shoah survivors ‘graduate’ from New Jew

By Julie Gruenbaum Fax

New Community Jewish High School (NCJHS) awarded eight Holocaust survivors honorary high school diplomas last Wednesday night, symbolically handing them back a part of their adolescence that had been stolen by the war

Daniel LibeskindThursday, June 5, 2008

S.F.’s new Contemporary Jewish Museum meshes art, ideas and architecture

By Sue Fishkoff

"We want people to ask questions -- what does 'contemporary' mean?"

-- Connie Wolf, Executive Director, Contemporary Jewish Museum

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Outstanding seniors, Class of 2008

Southern California's best and brightest graduating high school seniors

Community Calendar

10/12/08 10:00 am
Writing with Light

10/12/08 10:00 am
Picturing the Process: Landscape Through Time and Space

10/12/08 10:00 am
A Literacy of Images: Nancy Newhall and the Art of Photography

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Candlelighting

10/17 5:58 p.m. PDT


Featured Stories

Tommywood
Steven Spielberg dreams anew

What does it mean that Spielberg's other founding partners, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg, are no longer with the company?

Theater
Emily Stern—Howard Stern’s daughter—on stage and off

As a child, Emily first performed in the choir at her Reform temple in Roslyn, N.Y., where she sang at children's services and Jewish camp. She continued to perform in high school; but studying acting at New York University did not mesh well with her intuitive approach to theater, she said.

Israel
Briefs: Peace process proceeeds, says Livni; Bush waives Palestinian aid rules

Tzipi Livni said the peace process will move forward and that Israel will be able to face challenges better with a stable government.

Green
Menorah lights hope for second oil miracle

From Iran to Venezuela, petrodictators are using billions of our dollars to fund terrorism and propaganda against the United States and Israel, noted Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Wiesenthal Center.

Los Angeles
VideoJew’s VideoGuide to L.A. #2—Driving from here to there

VideoJew Jay Firestone is back with the second 'volume' in his VideoGuide to L.A. This week -- driving around town

World
Anne Frank diary resonates with Cambodians

The famed Holocaust memoir, translated into Khmer, strikes an all-too-familiar theme for a people who felt the genocidal wrath of a despotic regime.

Films
Habonim spirit influences work of director Mike Leigh in ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’

Leigh's physician father and midwife mother met through Habonim, the Labor Zionist youth movement, in 1936. Mike Leigh, in turn, became a Habonim leader and traveled with the group to Israel on a ship as a teenager. The experience had a dramatic effect on his future work as an artist: "The atmosphere was one of chevrah, of sharing, openness and coming together -- of making things happen by colluding -- which describes the spirit of how I work with actors and the atmosphere of my rehearsals."

Elections
Wall Street, Main Street, Jew Street

If only those nasty money changers and culture vultures in the seething cities below would just let them sow their wheat and do their books and raise their children up good.

Music
MUSIC: ‘That Yemenite Kid’ Diwon makes a mix tape—in Yiddish

Courtesy of Diwon, the artist formerly known as DJ Handler and otherwise known as the executive director of Modular Moods and Shemspeed.com, comes this fresh mix of pop, hip-hop, electronica and . . . Yiddish?

Calendar
Calendar Girls Picks and Clicks Oct. 11-17: Mr. Maus in the haus, Yiddishkayt, Sita Sings the Blues

Singles
True confessions of an online dating addict #10: Dating more than one person at a time

Torah Portion
Restoring Moses

Parshat Ha'azinu (Deuteronomy 32:1-32:52) It isn't nice to say, but if I were hanging out in the desert with my friends -- all excited about moving in to a land of milk, honey and great falafel -- and an old man with a stutter insisted on "speaking into our ears" a weird doom

Weddings
Personalize your ketubah without breaking the law

Although the Orthodox community is committed to the existing ketubah document, whose language comes from the Mishnah, Blau said he has no problem with a bride and a groom making additional agreements and commitments, as long as they do not controvert Jewish law.

Opinion
Wall Street, Main Street, Jew Street

If only those nasty money changers and culture vultures in the seething cities below would just let them sow their wheat and do their books and raise their children up good.