Editorial Cartoon: House half full

By Steve Greenberg
Published on January 30, 2013

National Yiddish Book Center alters focus, cuts staff

Published on January 3, 2011

The National Yiddish Book Center, amid a change in focus, has laid off four employees and closed its bookstore. As part of its strategic change from saving and restoring ancient Yiddish texts to educating people about them, the center in Amherst, Mass., made the layoffs in December, the Amherst Bulletin reported. The cut positions include the director's personal assistant, a major gifts officer, the bookstore manager and a designer of the center's magazine, according to the newspaper. The center's vice president and program director also resigned, leaving the center with 16 employees.

Can the Center Hold?

Published on June 8, 2010

Fear pervades the Jewish community today. The fallout from the Gaza flotilla episode continues to reverberate in unpredictable and unsettling ways. Israel finds itself in a very difficult bind. It faces growing political isolation and, at the same time, has to deal with Hamas and Hezbollolah — both tough and unpleasant neighbors perched on its borders. Meanwhile, the greater strategic threat, Iran, is led by a clever dictator who spews bile at every turn and constantly outmaneuvers the West in his dangerous quest for nuclear weapons.

Left Coast peacemakers mourn 9/11 in many languages

By Naomi Glauberman
Published on September 14, 2006

Campers Hit the Great Outdoors

By Lea Silverman
Published on May 27, 2004

Nestled deep within a Malibu canyon off the Pacific Coast Highway, the Shalom Institute, a Jewish summer camp and nature center, has planted an extensive organic garden on its grounds this year and plans to incorporate the age-old tradition of farming into its summer programs.

Against the Stream

By Gaby Wenig
Published on July 25, 2002

It's 10 a.m. on Shabbat at The Kabbalah Centre on Robertson Boulevard and the crowds are starting to converge in anticipation of the Torah reading.

Ray of Hope

By Michael Aushenker
Published on January 17, 2002

What will become of five Jccs? The question has still not been answered, but by next week, a resolution will be definitively closer.

From Three to One?

By Wendy J. Madnick
Published on January 3, 2002

Can one Jewish Community Center (JCC) serve a population as vast as that of the San Fernando Valley?

That is the question facing Jewish communities from Burbank to Calabasas, and so far, the answer is a resounding no -- even from some of the people who launched the idea in the first place.

Bunny vs. Rabbi

By JTA Staff
Published on January 3, 2002

Lindsey Vuolo, Playboy bunny, met her match last month: Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.

Virtual Schmooze

By Ruth Andrew Ellenson
Published on March 8, 2001

We all hear rumblings about a global community, but a global schmooze? That's just what the Jewish Community Centers of North America, in conjunction with the 92nd Street Y in New York City, propose to execute. Starting on Sun., March 11, the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Los Angeles will host an innovative new lecture series through Kallah -- a program sponsored by The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and supported by the Charles and Dora Mesnick Cultural Arts Fund -- by bringing such speakers as Alan Dershowitz, Elie Wiesel and Anne Roiphe to you live, via satellite. The lectures will be broadcast from the 92nd Street Y in New York City directly to JCCs across the nation, allowing participants to ask questions to their lecturers in real time for what is being termed a "virtual gathering."

Beach Blanket Bar Mitzvah

By Shirley Nigri
Published on April 6, 2000

In a city where most people go to the beach on Saturday mornings, a new center has opened in an effort to connect the local Jewish community with its heritage.

An Early Face Lift

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on September 2, 1999

On the north side of the Skirball Cultural Center, two dozen construction workers shout to each other over the roar of the 405 Freeway.

Up Front A Museum of Tolerance &‘009;&‘009;in Israel

Published on June 12, 1997

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is fully committed to building a $50 million museum in Jerusalem -- despite skepticism expressed by some Holocaust scholars.

Strumming, Fiddling at the Skirball

By Beverly Gray
Published on May 1, 1997

What is there about klezmer music that sends feet flying and excitement levels of certain Jewish audiences soaring? Nostalgia for the past or a just-found fondness for a "new" music"? Whatever it is, when the klezmer band struck up a "Freylach," almost instantly, a woman in a red baseball cap jumped to her feet, raised her arms to the sky and began bouncing joyfully to the music. She was quickly joined by someone in a jaunty straw hat and a T-shirt emblazoned with the word "Danceaholic." Soon, there was an impromptu circle of happy bouncers -- young and old -- stepping lively under the warm California sun.