- NEWS & COMMENTARY
A new era of Jewish leadership in L.A.?
Los Angeles chose Eric Garcetti as its first elected Jewish mayor, one of a number of political contests on Tuesday that reflected the city’s diversity, as well as its numerous…
Stone-walling
In the last two years, the Western Wall in Jerusalem — also known as the Kotel — has become a place of controversy as much as of worship. It’s the site of a battle that has long been waged by…
Gun violence in America: Scandal!
Two years after his mother was shot and killed, Dallas Sonnier received a phone call from the police: His father had just been shot and killed.
- HOLLYWOOD
Spielberg to produce ‘Halo’ television series, plus other news from the Xbox One announcement
Microsoft Corp gave the world a first look at its new Xbox One on Tuesday, announcing that its first gaming console in eight years will come with exclusive video and…
Justin Timberlake and Coen brothers answer Jewish questions at Cannes
Using his preternatural smoothness, Justin Timberlake saved the Coen brothers from some serious awkwardness at a Cannes press conference for their folk singer film “Inside Llewyn Davis” on Sunday. “Jewish…
Sean Penn lobbies for Charedi man imprisoned in Bolivia
Actor Sean Penn urged a congressional hearing to pressure Bolivia to release a haredi Orthodox father of five under house arrest in the country.
- LIFE & CULTURE
Sarah Silverman sings about staying home in ‘Perfect Night’
For your listening pleasure, “Perfect Night,” in which Sarah Silverman recounts the benefits of skipping the club for the couch. Because this is a Silverman production you can expect references…
Maccabi Tel Aviv back on top but coach future uncertain
Champions Maccabi Tel Aviv have reasserted their dominance of Israeli soccer but media reports on Tuesday suggested they might have to continue their revival without coach Oscar Garcia.
7 Rules for Perfect Hummus
When was the last time you opened a tub of hummus and swooned? When was the last time a restaurant put a plate of hummus in front of you, and…
- BLOGS
State 194: A Documentary About Palestine
Opening this weekend at Laemmle’s Music Hall 3 is a very hot-button new documentary called State 194, which follows the recent history of Palestine. Many will approach this film with…
7 Rules for Perfect Hummus
When was the last time you opened a tub of hummus and swooned? When was the last time a restaurant put a plate of hummus in front of you, and…
What would my Israeli grandmother think?
When I hear about the latest events in Israel – the air strikes on weapons facilities in Syria, the flare-ups over women donning prayer shawls at the Western Wall –…
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Gun violence in America: Scandal!
Two years after his mother was shot and killed, Dallas Sonnier received a phone call from the police: His father had just been shot and killed.
Biden: ‘Jewish heritage is American heritage’
Vice President Joe Biden said at a Jewish American Heritage Month reception that American and Jewish cultures are intertwined.
Mel Brooks’ top 10 Jewy Jewish scenes [VIDEO]
Monday night marks the national premier broadcast of the American Masters installment on Mel Brooks. To mark the occasion, we’ve put together a collection of Brooks’ best Jewish clips.
Growing anger over American drones in Yemen
"Mrs. Michele Obama: Tell us can your husband sleep after so many innocent people were killed by his drones?" read a banner held by a Yemeni activist at a recent rally to protest increasing American drone strikes in Yemen.
A suit and a story
It had been a tough week. The more news I read about the Boston bombing, the less I understood. Who were these young men, full of grievance, using a fresh start in America to maim and kill innocents?
What Americans Really Think About Intervention in Syria
Holder to ADL: Protect rights of all, including Muslims, after Boston
In a speech to the Anti-Defamation League, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder urged Americans to protect the rights of Muslims and other minorities in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing.
Criticism is not Islamophobia
Criticism is the oxygen of journalism. Here at the Jewish Journal, we will criticize anything that we believe deserves criticism, including religion.
Berkeley students vote to divest from Israel latest in a UC string
UC Berkeley student senators approved a bill on Thursday calling for the University of California system to divest of stock in American companies that provide technological and weapon support used by the Israeli military in the Palestinian territories.
Obama in Boston vows U.S. will find perpetrators of bombings
President Barack Obama told a memorial service for the Boston bombing victims that "we will find" whoever carried out the attack that killed three people as investigators search for two men seen on a video of the scene shortly before the blasts.
Appeals court hears Jerusalem passport case
A U.S. appeals court panel heard arguments on whether Americans born in Jerusalem can list Israel as their place of birth on passports and birth certificates.
U.S. to give Syrian rebels medical, food aid, not arms
The United States said on Thursday it will for the first time give non-lethal aid to Syrian rebels and more than double its aid to Syria's civilian opposition, disappointing opponents of President Bashar Assad clamoring for Western weapons.
Illegal Israeli mall workers drawing attention from U.S. law enforcement
In 2006, aspiring Israeli singer Rami Feinstein faced a big-time dilemma: Would he sign a 19-year contract with a top talent agent and relinquish 45 percent of his future profits, or take a job illegally selling cosmetics at an American shopping mall?
Window into our minds?
Jews and disabilities: What still must be done
February is Jewish Disability Awareness Month. In thinking about Judaism and disability, most might start with the teaching in Leviticus “Do not curse the deaf nor put a stumbling block before the blind.
Field Notes from Gun Appreciation Day
Being American is bad for your health
“Americans are sicker and die younger than people in other wealthy nations.”
Russian Jews in U.S. to remember Koch
The Russian-American Jewish community will honor the late New York City mayor Ed Koch at an upcoming event.
Jews fight for food stamps
As many Americans worried about the wide implications of the fiscal cliff debate at the end of last year, Jewish groups concerned about domestic hunger issues fought to protect one issue in particular: food stamp funding.
Top Egyptian official calls Holocaust a ‘myth’
A top Egyptian official close to President Mohamed Morsi called the Holocaust a myth.
Survey: 27 percent of Americans see God’s hand in sports
Fewer than three in 10 Americans believe that God plays a role in determining sports outcomes, according to a survey by the Public Religion Research Institute.
Israeli vote may strengthen Obama’s hand with Netanyahu
Get ready for The Barack and Bibi Show, Part Two. With crunch-time looming in the Iranian nuclear standoff and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict still smoldering, the fractious relationship between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be tested in coming months like never before, as both leaders move into new terms in office.
Obama in second inaugural speaks of a united America, U.S. involvement abroad
President Obama in his second inaugural address spoke of U.S. involvement throughout the world and Americans working together at home.
A special bond: Martin Luther King Jr., Israel and American Jewry
This year, U.S. Jews, like other Americans, mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day by remembering him as a powerful voice against racism and for civil rights. But for Jews, Dr. King was also something else: a uniquely important ally in the fight against anti-Semitism and for a secure Israel.
Slavery’s horrific shadow lives on — and so does Hitler’s
Quentin Tarantino’s "Django" is sparking controversy — and not just for its flagrant use of the n word. According to African-American film critic Tim Cogshell (quoted by Erin Aubry Kaplan in the Times), “The surreal liftoff that happens at some point in ‘Basterds’ [Tarantino’s take on the Holocaust] doesn’t happen here, because of the weight of what’s still real. For example, there’s a certain racial backlash to Obama that’s still going on. Quentin wants this to be a dark comedy, but with [black] history the way it is, you can’t get from here to there in a movie.”
Obama administration: PLO’s U.N. elevation broke no laws
The Obama administration said the Palestinians' ascension in U.N. membership status did not violate U.S. law.
Yemeni security forces on highest alert after Al-Qa’ida targets U.S. ambassador
Yemeni and US embassy officials went on high alert recently after Al-Qa'ida offered a bounty to kill US ambassador to Sana'a Gerald Feierstein or any American soldier in the country.
A Beshert Happening: Crossing Paths with the UMMA Community Clinic
Jewish clergy lobby against social program spending cuts
Jewish clergy joined an interfaith group that lobbied Congress to protect low-income Americans in “fiscal cliff” negotiations.
More than 400 Jewish clergy press Netanyahu on E1
More than 400 American Jewish clergy asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to go ahead with new construction in a corridor connecting eastern Jerusalem to the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Adumim.
The speech President Obama should have given after the Connecticut school shooting
When news of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School first broke, President Barack Obama stood before the nation, felt our grief and shed a tear.
Nov. 29 and Palestinian Statehood
Even as the sound of “Hatikvah” reverberated in the auditorium of the American Jewish University, where Los Angeles commemorated the 65th anniversary of the historic United Nations vote of Nov. 29, 1947, another U.N. vote was casting its shadows on our consciousness — the vote for Palestinian statehood, on Nov. 29, 2012.
Jailed Gross calls for U.S. to sign pact with Cuba
Jewish-American contractor Alan Gross asked the U.S. government to sign a non-belligerency pact with Cuba in an effort to obtain his release from a military hospital there.
Gross biopsy results ‘hopeful’ but not determinative, lawyer says
The results of a biopsy released by the Cuban government raises hopes that Jewish American contractor Alan Gross does not have cancer, his lawyer said, but his family still wants his own physician to examine him.
Despite mounting criticism, Western Wall remains in haredi Orthodox hands
Sitting in his office 20 feet above the Western Wall Plaza, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz is unperturbed by the simmering tensions below.
American push to temper Palestinian U.N. bid reportedly fails
An American push to temper a resolution asking the United Nations General Assembly to grant the Palestinians enhanced status has failed, Haaretz reported.
Studying abroad in a war zone, Americans in Israel are shaken but undeterred
When the first two sirens went off, Shoshana Leshaw ran from her second-floor bedroom down to the bomb shelter in the basement. By the time the third and fourth sirens wailed, she went no farther than the stairwell.
How much collateral damage is too much?
That is a question that should be asked regarding America’ drone operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but it cannot be answered except episodically because nothing about those operations is available for public scrutiny.
L.A. Jews in ‘Forward 50’
Four Angelenos are among the 50 American Jews selected by the Forward newspaper for its annual list of newsmakers, which was published on the New York-based newspaper’s Web site on Nov. 12.
The first Jewish president? Lincoln, in the Abrahamic tradition
Abraham Lincoln has been dead for almost 150 years, yet suddenly he’s everywhere. At the Skirball Cultural Center, you can see an original copy of the Emancipation Proclamation, signed by Lincoln, amid an impressive array of founding American documents.
21st century Tikkun Olam: An unprecedented opportunity to unite Jewish communities
As a Jewish kid growing up in Israel, I never dealt with the issue of Tikkun Olam. Even though the words are in Hebrew, they say much more to Americans than to Israelis.
Let’s not lose our political voice
Something in our DNA inspired Jews to be a voice for social justice and public service in America. Jews have served at all levels of civic leadership since the founding of this country.
RJC urges unity after Obama win, notes GOP’s Jewish gains
The Republican Jewish Coalition called on all Americans to "come together to craft real solutions to the very serious problems our country faces today" after President Obama won re-election.
As Obama takes second term, Israelis wonder what the future holds
Most Israelis were asleep as the polls closed in America and voters waited for the results, but on one rooftop in central Tel Aviv a party with loud classic rock music and flashing lights was going strong.
Sandy stories: Destruction, recovery and human kindness
A week after Sandy swept into the New York area with fierce winds, driving rain and a high tide for the history books, the nation’s largest Jewish community was still picking up the pieces. JTA gathered stories from around the storm zone about Sandy’s destruction, the recovery and the remarkable tales of human kindness.
YOUR VOTE MATTERS
Peres sends letter to Obama in wake of Sandy
Israeli President Shimon Peres expressed sympathy and friendship on behalf of the people of Israel to President Obama in the wake of superstorm Sandy.
Israeli debate of political party heads waiting for Bibi’s answer
Leaders of Israel's major political parties accepted an invitation to an American-style debate, except for Likud leader and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Moderate Muslims must battle fanticism
Blasphemy has become the focus of attention, with ongoing turmoil in the Middle East sparked by a crude YouTube trailer for a possibly nonexistent movie mocking Islam.
Foreign policy: In favor of Romney
Mitt Romney likes to recount a conversation he had with Shimon Peres, the president of Israel, back when he was governor of Massachusetts. Peres told him that “America is unique in the history of the world for its willingness to sacrifice so many lives of its precious sons and daughters for liberty, not solely for itself but also for its friends.”
Who’s winning the foreign policy debate?
It is often assumed that foreign policy is a field in which deeds matter more than words. But looking at the two presidential candidates in the 2012 election cycle, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney, one might end up with the opposite impression: It is words, not deeds, that make their foreign policies seem different.
Homeland Security, other agencies distribute Jewish community primer
American law enforcement and homeland security agencies are distributing a primer prepared by the Jewish community that details Jewish life and violent incidents directed at Jews in the United States and abroad.
Syria’s FM Moallem: U.S. stays out of Syria at Israel’s behest
Walid Moallem, the foreign minister of Syria, blamed Israel in part for the American hands-off approach to fighting in Syria.
Yemeni President asserts authority as U.S. partner on American visit
If there were any doubts about the budding alliance between US President Barack Obama and his newly-inaugurated counterpart in Yemen, Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi, the Yemeni president dispelled them in his first official visit to the United States over the weekend.
Shai Agassi, founder of Better Place, is replaced as CEO
Shai Agassi, the Israeli-American founder of Better Place, which is bringing electric car charging stations to Israel, was ousted as the company's CEO.
Out of Reagan’s shadow
Even though this is going to be a very close presidential election, maybe closer than in 2008, the Democratic convention of 2012 revealed a party that is stronger today than the dynamic gathering of hope and change that nominated Barack Obama four years ago. For the first time since Ronald Reagan won the White House in 1980, Democrats seem to be emerging from Reagan’s shadow.
September 11
Jimmy Carter calls Rachel Corrie case ruling ‘unacceptable’
Former President Jimmy Carter called “unacceptable” a court ruling that declared the State of Israel is not responsible for the death of an American activist.
Romney/Ryan and the lullaby of lying
It shouldn't have taken Todd Akin's crackpot contraception comment to alert us that Paul Ryan thinks rape is just another "method of conception."
This week in power: Zion Square, skinnydipping Congressmen, Austria cartoon, Western Wall women
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