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Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Iran First

By Rob Eshman

I’ve had six different conversations over the past two weeks with the leaders of six different pro-Israel groups, few of whom get along particularly well and none of whom work closely together.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

The Runaway

By Rob Eshman

All great literature, and most good Disney movies, begin with a missing parent. And so “The Happy Life of Martin Manrique” begins with these words:

Monday, April 27, 2009

The Good Doctor

By Rob Eshman

I first heard about Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish when everyone else did. As he was being interviewed live, in Hebrew, on Israeli television describing the conditions inside Gaza in the midst of the last war, the news came in that an Israeli tank shell had landed on his home and killed his three daughters. It happened at 3:05 p.m. on Jan. 16, 2009.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Smarty Pants

By Rob Eshman

So I woke up Saturday morning to discover I was brilliant. That’s what the Los Angeles Times reported, right there on the front page of the paper, Column One, Section A.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

‘My Name is Joseph Neustadt’

By Rob Eshman

When I finally spoke with Joseph Neustadt by phone, I told him how nice it had been to see him a few weeks ago in person.

“We’ve never met,” he said.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

American Idols

By Rob Eshman

Last Saturday night, I was at the Honda Center in Anaheim watching Billy Joel in concert. He was banging about the piano, singing his heart out, doing all those great songs about being young and horny and streetwise back in the old Italian neighborhood.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Seizing an Opportunity

By Rob Eshman

Up until this week, if you had asked me how I rated President Obama on a scale of 1 to 10, I’d have said I give him a 2. That’s 2, as in Bush 2.

It astounded me that this president seemed to be making the same fundamental mistake the last one made: thinking he could handle this mess without us.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Job Opening

By Rob Eshman

If you really want to see tumbleweeds blow through an auditorium, ask an audience of L.A. Jews who their leader is.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Surviving Madoff

By Rob Eshman

On Tuesday came word that Bernard Madoff, accused of running the largest Ponzi scheme in history, would plead guilty to charges that would result in a life sentence.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Cohen Bombs v. Real Bombs

By Rob Eshman

The anger in a significant portion of the Los Angeles Jewish community this week is not about the economy, Hamas or Bernie Madoff — it’s about Roger Cohen.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

In the Age of Lieberman

By Rob Eshman

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Double Fault?

By Rob Eshman

Whether as an individual or a group, you only get a handful of chances to stand up for something in this life. It’s easy to say or write what you believe, a lot harder to stick by it in the crunch.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Jews Without Money

By Rob Eshman

Last week, a couple of days after President Barack Obama took the oath of office and set about trying to straighten out the country, I was in a meeting room at the elegant Brandeis House on Manhattan’s Upper East Side with a small group trying to do the same for the Jews.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Little Gaza

By Susan Freudenheim

Just three miles east of the happiest place on earth lies a small strip of shops and fast-food outlets where, last Sunday, people were anything but pleasant to one another.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

The Other Invocation

By Rob Eshman

The swearing in of the 44th president of the United States will be a moment freighted with enormous expectation, trepidation, relief and significance.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

For your consideration

By Rob Eshman

Hollywood and the movies still cling to the image of the Jew-as-victim, while in the world beyond Blu-ray the reality is much more ... complicated.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Gaza outcomes

By Rob Eshman

I deeply believe Israel has the right, the obligation,to stop Hamas from its capricious acts of terror.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Jewish Money

By Rob Eshman

If you scroll through the list of Madoff's philanthropic victims, you'll find plenty of evidence that even Jews who have shed every vestige of their ancient practice short of circumcision still resonate to the prophetic call to heal the wider world.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Madoff

By Rob Eshman

I wish Jews believed in hell, because then I could take comfort that Bernard Madoff will go there.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

2009

By Rob Eshman

The image of oil sheiks lighting campfires to keep warm beside their indoor ski slopes comforted me for only an instant. The truth is, their pain and our pain are interconnected, as it is with the fate of those striking Chicago factory workers, the college grads unable to find decent jobs and, of course, our own Jewish community.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Open House

By Rob Eshman

Whether in Thailand or San Francisco, when I wanted a place to spend a holiday, to pray on Shabbat or just to connect, there was always one of those perennially cheerful Chabad rabbis, a motley collection of tossed-about Jews and some schnapps. And I was home.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

D I Y

By Rob Eshman

There are good things we can only achieve together -- if we can first come together. It's not clear how we do this when 10 friends, some cash and a Web site are enough to create a Jewish world unto themselves.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

A Moderate Proposal

By Rob Eshman

The start of the event was running late -- did I mention it was a Jewish event? -- and midway through our green room conversation, Hitchens pulled out a small bottle of Johnnie Walker Black. He emptied it into a 16-ounce clear-plastic cup and drizzled in some Crystal Geyser spring water. And he began sipping.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

It can’t happen here

By Rob Eshman

"People choose to remain gay, and people choose to remain Jewish," said an organizer. "Why should the majority of us be forced to honor that choice?"