The Worst Teacher I Ever Had & The Most Important Lesson I Ever Learned

By Rabbi John Rosove
Published on March 12, 2013

Sepulveda Pass class

Published on January 9, 2013

When he greets students next month who have enrolled in his four-session class “The Sepulveda Pass: From Creation to Carmaggedon,” instructor and historian Erik Greenberg will be returning to familiar territory.

Mystery: Where is class consciousness?

Published on June 13, 2012

An absolute precondition for class warfare is class consciousness. And one of the great mysteries of American history is that with just a few transient exceptions, there has been near zero class consciousness here.

Occupy Ideas

By Rob Eshman
Published on May 9, 2012

It’s May. The grunions are running and so are the members of Occupy L.A. They wriggle up from the cold and dark, plant their tushies on the warm ground and squirm about frantically, desperate to get something accomplished, until a massive tide sweeps them away.

Survey discovers Israel’s digital divide

Published on May 9, 2012

The higher one's income the more likely he will be connected to the Internet, a new survey of Israelis' Internet use has found.

We got Apples and Oranges and Pears, Oh My!

By Julia Bendis
Published on April 28, 2011

Wall Street, Main Street, Jew Street

By Rob Eshman
Published on October 8, 2008

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.

Should laptops be allowed in class?

By Emma Lipner
Published on April 3, 2008

Laptop use involves a lot of controversy, from students who believe they should be used to their maximum potential to those who don't want to see laptops at all.

Underclass Surfaces From Floodwaters

By H. Eric Schockman
Published on September 8, 2005

The gut-wrenching scenes of human suffering witnessed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are not only the result of the levee failures at Lake Pontchartrain, but also the failure of a nation numbed to the growing division between "haves" and "have-nots."

What is appearing on television sets across America is the inevitable impact of decades of ignoring a stark difference in economic realities. While wealthy, predominantly white Gulf residents -- and most Jews -- were able to leave the region or escape to higher ground, it was poorer, largely black, elderly and sick Americans who were left behind to fend for themselves.

In the case of New Orleans, high poverty rates already existed before the storm: More than 30 percent of the population lived below the federal poverty line. These are, in most cases, the victims whose bodies we saw floating in the Mississippi River and dying for lack of basic necessities at the New Orleans Convention Center and Superdome.

One Tough Room

By Wildman Weiner
Published on August 12, 2004

As a Los Angeles Unified School District teacher of world issues for seniors in Los Angeles, I began yesterday's class by playing a taped interview of Michael Moore talking about his movie, "Fahrenheit 9/11." I had suggested that the class go see the film, so we could discuss it.

Teleconferencing With Tel Aviv

By Lea Silverman
Published on June 24, 2004

Students at UCLA participate in a live teleconference with its sister class at Tel Aviv University in Israel.

Movsha Hoffman

By Archie Barkan
Published on August 7, 2003

For the past two and a half years, I have been the facilitator of a Yiddish reading class at Santa Monica Emeritus College. We are currently completing the reading in the Sholom Aleichem's classic, "Motl, Peyse dem Khazn's" ("Motl, Peyse the Cantor's Son").

The Missing Student

By Abraham Shafran
Published on July 24, 2003

Last month, as we began our daily daf yomi class (the daily study of a page of Talmud) we all looked over to the chair where Tibor Reis usually sat, to my immediate right. On the rare occasion when Tibor did not attend, we assumed he was just too tired. After all, traveling by bus each day to downtown Los Angeles takes a toll on an elderly person. But that day it was different. We all felt that, perhaps, Tibor was the fifth unidentified victim of the horrible June 6 airplane crash at a Fairfax apartment building. Unfortunately, the Los Angeles Times identified Tibor as the sole resident of the apartment building to die as a result of the crash.

Protocol

By Michael Aushenker
Published on December 12, 2002

Rules of etiquette suggest that one must whisper in a library. But for the Jewish Community Library of Greater Los Angeles, that rule is just the beginning.

The library recently held its culminating ceremony for a group of youngsters enrolled in its Children's Etiquette and Social Grace class. This is the first time that the institution has sponsored such a class.

The idea developed after the library director Abigail Yasgur and children's director Sylvia Lowe, children's librarian, enrolled their respective youngsters in an etiquette class.

"Libraries are not just about the books," Lowe said. "They're becoming meeting places for people in the community."

My Mystical Road Back to Judaism

By Jamie Kiffel
Published on July 25, 2002

I entered the tea-scented room, took a yoga mat and joined a circle of 20-somethings seated on the hardwood floor.

Self-Defense Vitalfor Women

By Nancy Sokoler Steiner
Published on July 25, 2002

Each year in January, female friends, co-workers and family members of Nicola Shocket can count on receiving a phone call or e-mail.

Together Apart

By Rob Eshman
Published on July 6, 2000

David Lehrer may be overstating his case only slightly when he says that most Westsiders are unaware of what goes on "6 inches below the 10 freeway and 6 inches east of the Golden State."

The Mirror of

By Rabbi Ed Feinstein
Published on June 5, 1997

Rabbi Lawrence Kushner tells of the time he brought a nursery-school class into the synagogue sanctuary for a tour. He showed them the bimah, the ner tamid, the cantor's and rabbi's lecterns. Finally, the tiny kids stood before the huge doors of the Holy Ark.