Knowing Oneself: The Art of Translation

By Beit T'shuvah
Published on April 29, 2013

Frenemies?

By Noga Gur-Arieh
Published on March 22, 2012

It’s Ok To Ignore His Words

By Tamara Shayne Kagel
Published on September 22, 2011

I WANT 2 TXT U UP

By Orit Arfa
Published on March 20, 2008

Sometimes I wonder if the SMS was created not to ease communication between people but to protect the egos of single men and women. By asking people out by text, they don't actually have to hear a blatant "no." And if the other side accepts the offer, SMS courtships already set low standards of communication.

The Pearl Fellow

By Rob Eshman
Published on November 1, 2007

Editorial about Syrian journalist and Daniel Pearl Fellow Ramy Mansour and his internship at the Jewish Journal.

Next time, I’ll try the pre-nup

By Heather Moss
Published on October 25, 2007

What do men want?

By Roberto Loiederman
Published on August 2, 2007

Herb Goldberg has now returned to his lifelong themes in the recently published, "What Men Still Don't Know About Women, Relationships, and Love" (Barricade Books, 2007).

Women: Put down your swords!

By Orit Arfa
Published on August 2, 2007

The mantra had jump-started the two-day workshop for women titled "Celebrating Men, Satisfying Women," which I attended not long ago at a conference room in a hotel near LAX. The program was created by a woman named Allison Armstrong, a self-professed expert on men, and it promised to foster better communication, understanding and respect between the sexes.

I heart Hollywood endings

By Esther W. Hersh
Published on June 21, 2007

I met "Mr. Nice Guy" more than three years ago, and I cherish our special connection -- he's affectionate, understanding, a good listener, open-minded, practical ...

A physician examines his profession’s blind spots

By Zackary Sholem Berger
Published on May 17, 2007

Interview with Jerome Groopman, a physician and clinical scientist at Harvard University, a specialist in AIDS and cancer. He's also a writer for The New Yorker, with a successful and thought-provoking series of books on such topics as the intersection of spirituality and medicine and the importance of a physician's intuition.

Let’s get personal

By Amy Klein
Published on April 26, 2007

People say they don't really know me. That's what the last guy I dated said.

Closing the curtain

By Orit Arfa
Published on April 12, 2007

n March, I had the privilege of co-starring in the Jerusalem premiere of Neil LaBute's play "Some Girl(s)" at the Center Stage Theater at Merkaz Hamagshimim Hadassah. The play follows Guy, an about-to-be-married 33-year-old American writer, as he tracks down his ex-flames to "right some wrongs" so he can begin his new life with a clean slate ... or so it seems.

A match made in D.C.?

Published on February 8, 2007

One of the primary reasons many groups give for the limited availability of premarital counseling programming is the lack of available funding.

Online social scene clicks with younger set

By Sharon Duke Estroff
Published on January 18, 2007

Save the few Web sites with supertight security (most of which are considered too babyish by tweens and up), worry resounds throughout kiddie cybersocial world. While parental e-mail consent may be required before activating a child's registration, there's no way for a Web site to determine whether the e-mailed permission is indeed linked to a parent.

Progressive values propel Daniel Sokatch’s rising star

By Marc Ballon
Published on January 18, 2007

Sokatch is the founding executive director of Los Angeles-based Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA), a nondenominational group dedicated, in his words, to "connecting Jews to the critical social justice issues facing our city, such as criminal and economic justice and interfaith dialogue."

Jews join the quest for space commerce

By Adam Wills
Published on November 2, 2006

Commercial space interests are now playing a critical role in the dawn of the second space age -- one built on business ventures and international cooperation. Instead of Hilton and Pan Am, the corporate names associated with the commercialization of space include Budget Suites and Virgin.

Letters to Mom

By Rabbi Haim Ovadia
Published on November 2, 2006

The message that no action goes unnoticed or unaccounted for and that communication is essential to a healthy family and society.

No Vacation

By Rob Eshman
Published on August 3, 2006

The snow-capped Sierras jutted into a deeply blue sky. The hot tub bubbled away. "Israelis don't want to run away when there's a war," the woman explained. "We want to run home."

Focus on the Love

By Rabbi Perry Netter
Published on March 30, 2006

Rashi, the most famous of our medieval biblical exegetes, quotes a beautiful Midrash to explain the unusual grammatical construct.

"Calling," Rashi writes, "preceded every statement, every saying and every command. It is lashon hibbah, the language of love."

The Circuit

By Norma Zager
Published on March 2, 2006

Circuit

Nonverbal Baby Talk a Sign of the Times

By Sharon Schatz Rosenthal
Published on February 23, 2006

Rather than waiting for her son to express himself verbally, Rabbi Debra Orenstein, like many Southland parents, decided to enhance Emmet's language skills by taking baby sign-language classes. Teaching sign-language to preverbal hearing babies is one of the fastest-growing parenting trends in North America.

Unmarried Counseling

By Teresa Strasser
Published on December 1, 2005

My neurosis is like a Ferrari. I can go from 0 to 60 in under four seconds.

Balancing Tikkun Olam and Self-Interest

By Andrew Silow-Carroll
Published on October 6, 2005

I'm reluctant to draw lessons from the hurricane, even if the High Holidays are a time of stock taking, and even if Jewish tradition suggests that calamities are "heavenly alarms" meant to arouse repentance.

Mama Said…

By Lori Gottlieb
Published on June 9, 2005

No disrespect to our mothers, but courtship rituals have changed since they were dating. So forget all their antiquated rules.

The Digital Lives of Kids: What Parents Need to Know

By Wendy Mogel
Published on June 2, 2005

Have you noticed more and more lately that your child is engrossed in a constant, beeping dialogue with her computer?

Principal for a Day, Lesson for a Lifetime

By Sarah Price Brown
Published on March 24, 2005

It's a lot more than Kenn Phillips could have bargained for when he accepted this gig as principal. Lucky for him, he doesn't have to come back tomorrow.

That's because Phillips isn't the real principal, but merely principal for a day. Phillips is among more than 200 professionals who arranged to shadow principals as part of a Los Angeles Unified School District effort to create alliances between businesses and schools.

The Court of Cupid

By Lori Gottlieb
Published on February 10, 2005

It seems a bit disingenuous for women to get all bent out of shape over Harvard President Larry Summers' recent suggestion that innate gender differences may account for variances in math and science skills. After all, most women maintain that innate gender differences exist when it comes to other highly valued skills, like communication.

The ‘L’ Word

By Teresa Strasser
Published on January 20, 2005

How do you spell crippling inability to connect? L-U-V. That's how I spelled it. After months of trying to make myself say the "L word," I finally managed only three of the letters.

Stay Tuned

By Rob Eshman
Published on December 30, 2004

Last October, a man called with a complaint. Before I could ask what was the matter, he launched into a tirade about a biased and

inaccurate article. He said he couldn't believe a serious newspaper would print such lies. He was so angry, he was this close to canceling his subscription.

I wasn't sure which article he was referring to, so I gently asked him to be more specific. He went on to describe a piece I had absolutely no memory of.

"Are you sure you read this in The Jewish Journal?"

"The Journal?" he said. "No! This was in The Los Angeles Times."

"The Times?" I said. "So why are you calling me?"

"Because they won't pick up the phone!"

Iceberg Sinks ‘Race’ Menches

By Shoshana Lewin-Fischer
Published on November 18, 2004

Eleven teams. Thirty days. One-million dollars. Zero bagels. That is what 32-year-olds Avi Scheier and Joe Rashbaum tried to face as one of the teams on the sixth season of the around-the-world reality show "The Amazing Race."

"Race" teams are given clues telling them where to go and what tasks they must perform. At the end of each episode, the last team to reach the "pit stop" is eliminated -- the first team to cross the finish line at the end wins $1 million.

Einstein in California

By Tom Teicholz
Published on September 2, 2004

One hundred years ago, Einstein was a Zurich Polytechnic teaching graduate who couldn't land a job in academe.

A Roll in the Snow

By Tom Tugend
Published on October 2, 2003

Seldom has the boredom, tension and camaraderie of men and women at war been portrayed more realistically and economically than in this film, which has been a surprise hit among Israeli moviegoers, soldiers and civilians.

Communities Find Light in Darkness

By Rachel Pomerance
Published on August 21, 2003

"I gotta tell you," said Lenny Silberman, North American continental director of the JCC Maccabi Games, "doing this for the games for 20 years and working with those communities, the potential for a big balagan [brouhaha] was definitely there."

Majority Report

By Rob Eshman
Published on May 15, 2003

Numbers never tell the whole story, but these come close. By retaining control of the West Bank, Gaza and the Palestinian populations therein, Israel will either cease to be a primarily Jewish State, or will become an undemocratic one, where a Jewish minority rules an Arab majority.

Don’t Judge aBook by Its Cover

By Yosef Reinman
Published on February 13, 2003

The media has been busy for months with "One People, Two Worlds" (Schocken Books, 2002), the book I co-authored with Ammie
Hirsch, and the promotional tour from which I withdrew after two appearances in deference to the Council of Torah Sages.

Money Talks

By Lilla Zuckerman
Published on December 26, 2002

We live in the age of full disclosure. In this era of creepy stalkers, emotional maniacs and frightening venereal diseases, you can't be too careful, so singles have learned to utilize romantic phrases such as, "Have you been tested for AIDS lately?" as casually as one used to suggest, "Shall I pick you up at 8?"

Show Me the Way

By Rabbi Naomi Levy
Published on September 12, 2002

Not long ago, a friend of mine called me and said, "Naomi, I need your help.

Education Briefs

Published on August 22, 2002

Rashi Hebrew Academy, a new yeshiva for learning disabled and gifted children, will open Sept. 3 at Congregation Shaarei Tefila on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Advice From the Trenches

By Lynne Z. Gold-Bikin
Published on February 8, 2001

The statistics haven't changed much in the close to 30 years I've been in practice. About 50 percent of all American marriages end in divorce. As a family law attorney, I work with people every day who are giving up on their dreams of marital bliss. And in many cases -- for my client and for the well-being of children involved -- ending the marriage is a good idea. Marriages that break up because of untreated physical abuse, gambling, drug and alcohol problems, and infidelity are often damaged beyond repair. In those cases it's usually best for everyone concerned if the marriage is dissolved, allowing the innocent spouse to move on with his or her life.

They Have Your Attention—But Can They Keep It?

By Julie G Fax
Published on September 9, 1999

Fresh out of seminary, Rabbi Naomi Levy gave High Holiday sermons the way she thought they were supposed to sound -- formal, ponderous, laced with phrases such as "my dear friends."

Linking Up Our Community

By Joel Kotkin
Published on November 19, 1998

For much of their history, Jews have been the masters of networking. Even before the destruction of the Second Temple, far-flung Jewish communities, usually through itinerant traders traveling precariously across the Mediterranean and land routes, maintained sophisticated communications networks with each other in a diaspora that extended from Palestine to Spain, in the West, and Persia, in the East.