Sit, eat, stay a little while in the sukkah

By Rabbi Daniel Bouskila
Published on October 15, 2008

Sukkot is 'z'man simchatenu' -- our season of rejoicing. It is a time to celebrate, to enjoy meals with guests, to sing, to study and to appreciate life. It is a time 'le-shev ba-Sukkah,' to live life to its fullest -- in the sukkah.

Questions, Prayers and Shabbat Lights

By Amy Klein
Published on April 27, 2006

Questions, Prayers and Shabbat Lights.

Celebrating a Shpiel-Good Holiday

By Jane Ulman
Published on March 9, 2006

Reading the Megillah in esoteric tongues is part of the Purim fun at this Los Angeles synagogue, and congregant Maggie Anton Parkhurst has chosen this infinitely tongue-tying imaginary language of the Trekkies to make her bid at hilarity.

yeLAdim

By Shoshana Lewin-Fischer
Published on February 23, 2006

yeLAdim

Hey Kids!

By Shoshana Lewin-Fischer
Published on October 27, 2005

Kids and Teens

Blind Faith

By Rabbi Asher Brander
Published on October 20, 2005

Jews often live in calendar dialectics. Annually, we oscillate between two Jewish New Years (Tishrei/Nissan) and two "Judgment Days" (Rosh Hashana/Yom Kippur). the Dubner Maggid, Rabbi Yaakov Krantz, perhaps the greatest Jewish storyteller of all time, was once asked: Why do we celebrate both Simchat Torah and Shavuot? Why not condense them into one grand holiday?

Right on Time

By Jane Ulman
Published on September 22, 2005

"I have to wait a month longer this year to eat apples and honey," complains Jeremy, 16.

How Funny Is Passover?

By Shoshana Lewin-Fischer
Published on April 14, 2005

"Many people have spoken or written, thanking us for portraying characters ... in a way where their Jewishness isn't always the main point, but just another aspect of their lives," LaBan said.

Yeladim

By Abby Gilad
Published on April 7, 2005

Inch by Inch, Row by Row! This week's Torah portion, Tazria, means: "If a woman gives birth," but it can also mean "plant." And so, being the beginning of spring, that is exactly what it is time to do!

Yeladim

By Abby Gilad
Published on March 24, 2005

Yeladim

Support Opens Way for Special Needs

By Michael Jackman
Published on March 10, 2005

For most parents, preparing a child for a bar or bat mitzvah is just another of many coming-of-age stresses. But for parents whose children have special needs, the stress can be almost unbearable. Yet arranging b'nai mitzvah ceremonies for such children are not impossible, with a little love and support.

Margie Kommer, whose son, Max, was diagnosed with dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), understands the loss of face some parents feel.

"It's very hard to go to a bar or bat mitzvah and see these shining stars, and see your own children struggling," she said.

And, naturally, children compare themselves to their peers. They can become so disheartened that they give up.

Westside JCC Bash Celebrates 50 Years

By Marc Ballon
Published on December 16, 2004

arshall, 92, served as the center's first public relations director five decades ago. For an instant, he allowed himself to become lost in remembrance of things past.

"There was always so much going on back then," he said. "Never a dull moment."

And so it was on Sunday, Dec. 12, when the Westside JCC threw a 50th anniversary party for itself, and 250 of its friends came. Septuagenarians and octogenarians who hadn't seen each other for years reminisced about the good old days, when the Westside JCC was considered one of the country's state-of-the-art Jewish community centers.

Gifts Galore From Bubbe to Baby

By Sarah Price Brown
Published on December 2, 2004

When it's time to celebrate Chanukah, nobody should be left out of the fun. We've scoured the holiday gift scene to find the perfect presents for Mom, Dad and the whole family.

Give Best, Sweetest to Hungry

By H. Eric Schockman
Published on September 23, 2004

For millions of American Jews, the official end of the summer season brings with it an important new beginning. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, ushers in the holiest period of the Jewish calendar.

When You Can’t Go Home Again

By Keren Engelberg
Published on August 26, 2004

Ah, the High Holidays. Time to gather, celebrate, eat, fast, repent and eat some more. But before you can get to any of that, there's another, perhaps less-ancient tradition that takes place a few weeks prior. It's the High Holiday scramble, and anyone without deeply planted roots knows how the dance goes. Jewish New Year works much like Dec. 31: You don't want to be alone; there's pressure to have someplace to go; and for transplants, singles and others, the options are less obvious than a meal with the family and services at the synagogue where you grew up. A little originality is called for, and the industrious don't miss a beat.

For the Kids

Published on August 19, 2004

Article for children.

Melting Pot for Peace

By Gaby Wenig
Published on June 10, 2004

It's hard to imagine a period when Jews and Arabs got along -- but that's apparently what they did from 800-1400 B.C.E., in the historical Al-Andalus period. In Spain and North Africa, Jews, Christians and Muslims got together and collaborated on arts and sciences to create one of the world's most advanced societies.

Now, Al-Andalus, an eclectic group of musicians from all over the world is recreating the spirit of the historical Al-Andalus in concerts that celebrate the mystical pluralism of the Arab-Jewish music traditions.

Shavuot: A Link to God

By Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson
Published on May 6, 2004

"Why is the festival of Shavuot called 'The time of the giving of our Torah' and not the time of the receiving of our Torah? Because the giving of the Torah happened at one specified time, but the receiving of the Torah happens at every time and in every generation. -- Rabbi Meir Alter of Ger"

"

Israel Needs Hope for Survival

By Ambassador Yuval Rotem
Published on April 29, 2004

Nearly 60 years ago, out of the ashes of the Holocaust, thousands of Jews came with not much more than the shirts on their backs to a land recognizable only as a collective and distant memory.

Spiritual Cleaning

By Judy Gruen
Published on March 25, 2004

There's something very ironic about Pesach. Why is it that getting ready to celebrate our liberation from slavery involves so much hard work?

Keeping Jews in the Flock

By Loolwa Khazzoom
Published on March 4, 2004

We're told repeatedly that intermarriage is the death knell of the Jewish people, but let's face it: Jews have been intermarrying since the beginning of our tribe 4,000 years ago. Marrying "out" is precisely how we got Jews with looks covering the gamut from blonde hair and blue eyes to black skin and nappy hair. It's also one of the reasons that Hitler hated us: We were at it again, blending with the local race, destroying its ethnic purity.

Lights Were Last to Go

By Kathleen Vallee Stein
Published on December 25, 2003

My family never went to church but celebrated Christian holidays by putting up a Christmas tree in December and hunting for Easter eggs in the spring.

Eight Crazy Lights

By Leora Alhadeff
Published on December 18, 2003

A kosher menorah can be fashioned out of any material, so why not get creative?

Yiddishkayt for Yiddle Ones

By Leora Alhadeff
Published on December 18, 2003

Hey parents... Uneasy about plopping your toddlers on the sofa to watch a puffy purple dinosaur? Think they need more Jewish culture?

Trick or Treat?

By Don Rutberg
Published on October 30, 2003

I asked my long-time friend, "Are you a strict father?" "Not really," he said, "but I wouldn't let my daughter out for Halloween."

Mothers, Daughters Bond Over Torah

By Ellen Jaffe-Gill
Published on October 23, 2003

Netivot, the women's Torah study institute, will begin a program next month on a subject not often associated with Orthodoxy: bat mitzvah.

A Cold Wind Blows

By Amy Klein
Published on October 16, 2003

It is cold here this Sukkot in Jerusalem.

A Tabernacle Full of Knickknacks and Love

By Andrea Adelson
Published on October 2, 2003

Sukkot, the eight-day festival that begins Oct. 11, commemorates a central event in Jewish history: the 40-year desert trek that followed the exodus from Egypt when Jews lived in portable shelters or booths.

People celebrate the holiday by building, eating in -- and sometimes sleeping in -- a temporary structure topped by a "natural" covering, such as tree branches or a bamboo mat which allows star-gazing. The structure is a show of trust in God's protection. During the festival -- sometimes called "Tabernacles" and "The Harvest Festival" -- we also say a blessing over the four species: the lulav, etrog, hadas and arava.

Kids Page

By Abby Gilad
Published on June 5, 2003

Kids Page

Israel: Independence and Remembrance

By Andrea Adelson
Published on May 1, 2003

Events remembering Israel's fallen soldiers, on May 6, and celebrating the nation's founding, officially May 7, include two local benefits to address gaping needs of Israelis.

All That Glitters Is Golda

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on April 30, 2003

When Renee Taylor was growing up in the Bronx, her relatives described packaging matzah for Palestine with Golda Meir in the 1920s.

7 Days In Arts

By Keren Engelberg
Published on April 17, 2003

7 Days in Arts

Jews on the Warship

By Janine Zacharia
Published on March 27, 2003

It is hard to know for sure how many Jewish sailors may be among the thousands of Navy personnel -- including 102 fighter jet pilots who have been training for months to take out mobile targets like Scud launchers in the western part of Iraq that would be in striking distance of Israel.

Eight Days in Exodus

By Mark Stone
Published on March 20, 2003

Several companies, based both out of the United States and Israel, will be offering kosher-for-Passover luxury holiday vacations in exotic locales worldwide.

De-Stress the Simcha

By Judy Zeidler
Published on March 13, 2003

On Monday evening, we will celebrate Purim, the holiday that commemorates the liberation of the Jews in ancient Persia, and reminds us of
the triumph of Queen Esther and her uncle, Mordecai, over Haman, the wicked prime minister.

Another Oil Miracle

By Judy Zeidler
Published on December 5, 2002

Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, is a time to recall the miracle that occurred more than 2,000 years ago, and celebrate the discovery of the small amount of oil that burned for eight days, the amount of time needed to prepare pure oil from the local olive trees to rekindle the flame. That miracle is the focus of the Chanukah celebration that begins at sundown Friday, Nov. 29. Was it also a miracle that this event occurred at this time, since the months of November and December are the usual time for the olive harvest?

In early November this year, we joined Faith Willinger, our Florence-based food-journalist friend, on a trip to Naples and the Campania area of Italy. One of the highlights of our trip was spending several days at the hotel-restaurant La Caveja, located in the small village of Pietravairano, just a one-hour drive north of Naples.

Menorah Lights Our Way

By Marisa N. Pickar
Published on November 28, 2002

For three years, I lived in an apartment in Jerusalem next to a bus stop. The rhythm of my life quickly adapted to the bus schedule.

7 Days in the Arts

By Keren Engelberg
Published on November 21, 2002

7 Days in the Arts

A Dose of Wisdom to Combat Illness

By Rabbi Jack Riemer
Published on November 14, 2002

This is a book for those who are or who some day may be ill, which is another way of saying for everyone. It contains wisdom culled out of ancient, medieval, modern and contemporary Jewish literature that is intended for the patient, the caregiver and the physician.

Merit and Mazel

By Marlene Adler Marks
Published on August 1, 2002

I'll be 54 this weekend. Not for me the modesty of hidden age. I'll take my years, gladly, as I'm given them.

The Circuit

By Michael Aushenker
Published on June 20, 2002

L.A. resident Ralph Harpuder reports that he had a fantastic time at the 2002 Rickshaw Reunion in Foster City, Calif., which brought together 320 former refugees, including Harpuder, from around the world who were all part of the Shanghai Jewish Ghetto.

A Lesson from the Maccabees

By Rahel Musleah
Published on December 6, 2001

The news from Israel these days takes me back to 165 BCE. We all know the story: The Maccabees, a small band of Jewish rebels, fight the mighty Syrians who rule the land and have desecrated the Temple.

Light Eight Candles to Honor our Heroes

By Rabbi Daniel S. Brenner
Published on November 29, 2001

On the nights of Chanukah, Dec. 9-16, Jews around the country will remember a little pitcher of olive oil.

Celebrating Israel’s 50th

Published on January 22, 1998

Celebrating Israel's 50th.