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L.A.'s Top Ten Mensches: Our fourth-annual salute to big-hearted Angelenos
The Jewish Journal created this list as a response to all those lists extolling fame, money, power and hotness. We honor these special ten because they are just people -- menschen, to use the proper Yiddish plural -- who understand the power and possibility of just one person.
Meet Gabriel Halimi, Kim Krowne, Manijeh Youabian, Andrew Wolfberg, Susan Corwin, Ari Moss, Richard Braun, Bracha Yael, Jack Matloff and Neil Sheff
2009
The image of oil sheiks lighting campfires to keep warm beside their indoor ski slopes comforted me for only an instant. The truth is, their pain and our pain are interconnected, as it is with the fate of those striking Chicago factory workers, the college grads unable to find decent jobs and, of course, our own Jewish community.
Post-election healing — kumbaya in class and at the beach
Now that the election is over and campaign exaggerations can give way to reality, in schools, and everywhere else, people are making efforts to put things back into perspective. While a lot of healing may still be needed before that sort of unity can move beyond a Saturday night at the beach, one uniting factor all agree on is that this election brought a new level of political awareness and passion across party lines and across ages.
No healing the world here—Humanistic Jews are ‘building’ the world
"Religion is not primarily about faith in God; it is about community, identity, heritage and being of service to others," he said. "We Humanists must also do more to meet these needs, rather than complain about what others believe.
Create a new model to enhance work, self, family and community
There's much pain. Too many people feel overwhelmed, disconnected, pessimistic and with no other purpose than to merely survive. Demand for change is the order of the day, as it has always been in our Jewish tradition.
Communities can use High Holy Days to help ease economic angst
Too many will sit in synagogues through this season and be equally concerned with their own economic situation as they will the state of their soul.
Ed Guthman leaves legacy of fighting injustice
When Ed Guthman died Aug. 30 at the age of 89, the Los Angeles Jewish community lost one of its most distinguished members
Beauty can arise from tragedy
As the events unfolded, it was a story that could only be measured against the biblical account of Job. It was everyone's worst nightmare.
Neighbors oppose Chabad expansion on Pico
Rabbi Boruch Shlomo Cunin, head of Chabad of California, has a dream -- a block-long, five-story "village" on Pico Boulevard that would provide a girls day school and boarding school along with affordable, safe housing for Holocaust survivors and other elderly people and for teachers with large families.
Mayor: Building inspectors need better training, increased sensitivity -- and no more Yom Kippur showdowns
Korobkin, the Yavneh spiritual leader, said he was very pleased with the mayor's recommendations and that the fault for last year's incident lay mainly in the way DBS was structured, as well as a certain lack of sensitivity.
Zucky’s and SOVA—knishes and compassion
"Hy looked at me and said, 'He's not Jewish,'" recalled his wife, Zucky Altman, 89. "I said, 'So what? He's hungry.' From that moment on, we decided we would just feed everybody."
How I returned
But as much as she loves the pulpit, Naomi, like me, finds the modern synagogue problematic. She believes that Judaism offers people a sense of purpose, a mission to heal society and a fulfilling spiritual path, but that too often standard synagogue services don't attract or inspire Jews, much less compel them to commit to a community.
P. S. Tikkun Olam: Veteran Jewish educator opens charter school driven by vision of a community
"We want to nurture a diverse body of students who are passionate about learning, engaged in their community and have respect for themselves and others."
Picture looks bleak for mural adorning former JCC
The mural was meant to be a collaboration: A public arts agency led the bid for its creation, the surrounding community approved its design and Chicago artist John Pitman Weber stayed in the homes of local residents while he and a team of volunteers painted it during the summer of 1993.
VIDEO: CNN visits the dwindling Jewish community of Yemen
CNN's Paula Newton reports on the few hundred Jews left in Yemen
Young women find it’s not their bubbe’s Hadassah
A spiritually-attuned mother of two with a background in software sales, Rabishaw might not seem like your typical Hadassah member. Then again, many young members say, this isn't your grandmother's Hadassah.
Welcome to the neighborhood
UCLA dorm kosher meal plan discontinued, Jewish Little League sends All-Star team to Israel
After only one year, UCLA's meal plan offering hot kosher meals to students has come to an end. The failure of students to sign up for this dining option is in part the reason for its demise, as participation dwindled from five students in the fall trimester, to only three in the winter, and eventually one lone student in the spring
A birthday gift
Here we are, Jews in every corner of the world, awash in a frenzy of celebrations for Israel -- all because of a birthday. And not just any birthday, mind you, but one that ends in a zero.
Pico-Olympic traffic plan on hold after judge’s decision
City of Los Angeles has been ordered to conduct a new environmental impact report (EIR) before implementing the Pico-Olympic traffic plan.
Calendar Girls picks and clicks for May 3-9
Calendar Girls picks and clicks for May 3-9
Some retirees make aliyah to San Miguel de Allende
A growing number of American Jews have chosen to retire to Mexico. Two of the largest expatriate communities, in San Miguel de Allende and Ajijic; have experienced contrasting experiences while attempting to establish spiritual leadership.
Genocide 2.0
In Washington and abroad, longstanding Jewish organizations added their voices of protest against the genocide in Darfur.
But guess what: It's not enough.
We don’t need more gabfests on diversity
Our communities' leadership has to absorb the reality that the next generation of open-minded young people sees diversity as a plus, not as a burden to be overcome.
The intercontinental JConnector dreams big
Just try to put Michal Taviv in a box -- she won't fit.
No food will be wasted if Joseph Gitler has his way
Rescuing excess food from Israeli corporate cafeterias on a daily basis is just one of the projects Joseph Gitler conceived about five and a half years ago when, as a new immigrant to Israel, he decided he must do something about the disturbing reports of poverty in Israel.
Theo for Jews in Poland, Italian seder, HIBM awareness
Passionately devoted to the resurgence of Jewish life in Poland, entertainer Theodore Bikel, accompanied by Tamara Brooks, performed an hour-long private concert of Yiddish, English and Hebrew songs to benefit the nonprofit Friends of Jewish Renewal in Poland.
Market maven enjoys love affair at the farm stand
More than chef or author -- both of which she is -- Amelia Saltsman is an advocate for the Santa Monica Farmer's Market, a doyenne of good taste whom everyone here seems to know. The farmers invite her judgment on their best produce; the chefs ask for advice on recipes.
Did we need blood?
A fascinating debate has broken out among certain members of the community regarding the appropriateness of publicizing people's personal e-mails. A week ago, this paper went public with some incendiary e-mails from a rabbi who was trying to discourage women -- who were considered non-Jewish according to the Orthodox tradition -- from crashing his singles parties and dating Jewish men.
A dancer’s dream
But Mom, I don’t want a bar mitzvah!
I saw the blinking light on my answering machine and listened to the frantic voice of my girlfriend, Debbie, as I put the groceries away.
"Heeeeeelp! Jason says he doesn't want to do his bar mitzvah anymore. We've got the date and the place, I've hired the DJ and he's already begun to prepare. He's making me crazy. What should I do? Call me."
Wow, what a bummer, I thought to myself.
Community-supported agriculture grows on local Jews
Pico-Robertson to mayor—let our parking stay
‘Mixed’ marriages lose stigma among Iranians
If Arash Saghian's recent marriage had taken place in the late 1980s or early 1990s, he would likely have faced ostracism from Los Angeles' Iranian Jewish community. The family of the 25-year-old businessman might have also frowned upon the match, all because his spouse Maya was Ashkenazi.
Survey says Reform rabbis don’t know what members want
Leaders of Reform synagogues don't quite get their members, according to a new study by the movement.
The study shows a marked disconnect between what the leaders think their members are looking for and what the members say they actually want.
Why do people go to church?
Club Kung Fu teaches special kids lots more than skill
Club Kung Fu is a martial arts program for Jewish special-needs children ages 9-15 that is designed to improve self-discipline, self-esteem and physical fitness. Right now, about eight boys meet weekly, but the program is expanding, thanks to a Cutting Edge grant from the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles.
From the San Diego fires—a burning question
What would you do if you had 10 minutes to get out of your home, not knowing whether it will still be there tomorrow? What would you take? What would you leave? What is truly indispensable? These are the questions that too many of my fellow San Diegans have faced in the last few days as fires ravage homes all over San Diego County. Members of our shul, families from our day school, my husband's colleagues -- many have been displaced, forced to grab their loved ones, pets and the few things they can't bear to live without.
City Building & Safety inspectors briefly interrupt Kol Nidrei services at Hancock Park shul
Was the incident an unfortunate bureaucratic foul-up or a malicious anti-Semitic act?
A shul grows in Dixie—Insha’Allah
"I was born and raised in the West Bank," said Fadil Bayyari. "I've been in the U.S. for 36 years and northwest Arkansas for 27.... I respect other peoples' ways of life, other peoples' religion."
12 thoughts on happiness for the 10 Days of Awe
Thoughts on happiness.
New Chabad telethon chief follows in his father’s footsteps
Rabbi Chaim Cunin, 33, executive producer of the telethon and CEO of Chabad of California, may represent a movement that dates back to the 1700s, but on a recent August day he wasn't wearing a dark frock coat. Instead, he sported casual attire: a blue button-down shirt, a brown tie and a yarmulke, that, when flipped around, bore the trademark dancing rabbi logo.
City Voice: Condo conversions cause casualties
In Jewish communities in Los Angeles, tenants are uneasily contemplating a fate increasingly familiar to renters - the conversion of their building to condominiums.
Shopping for back to shul
Success in finding the perfect shul in Los Angeles for you and your family too often seems just one more visit away.
Street smarts safety program helps Orthodox kids combat abuse
The Safety Kid program -- its full name is the Aleinu Julis Child Safety Program -- was developed by the Aleinu Family Resource Center, the arm of Jewish Family Service that reaches out to the Orthodox community.
Stop ostracizing the intermarried
The extreme practice of ostracization was justified by the belief that only by completely cutting off those who married out would we be making a sufficiently strong statement as to the extent of their betrayal, thereby dissuading those who might follow suit.
Does Hollywood give Jewish?
The Wiesenthal Center may only be 30 years old, but Jewish entertainment leaders have been deeply involved in Jewish nonprofits since before Hollywood became synonymous with the motion-picture business.
I’m ready to take the wheel
When I finally got behind the wheel of a car myself, conceit and self-importance set in. If ever I saw someone with that familiar awe-struck gape staring at my car during one of my innumerable driving lessons, I would think, with a shameful amount of pride, "I am cooler than you because I am operating a motor vehicle right now."
An inconvenient voice
It is too easy to label Korah evil and dismiss his claims. There is nothing in the pshat, the simple reading of the biblical text, to castigate Korah as the embodiment of evil. In fact, it is suspicious how ready everyone is to get rid of him. What are we covering up? What truth does Korah know?
Creating a new community
When the grind of settling in subsided, I leased a studio-with-a-view in pristine Santa Monica and acquired a job in the film industry to foot the rent; I also regained the luxury of longing. Three thousand miles divided me from comfort and companionship, and though I was determined to forge ahead and establish my independence, I needed a community.
Find your inner cheesecake
What I did not expect was to get a phone call from one of the city's illustrious Orthodox rabbis defending the magical, mystical, community-building power of ... the cheesecake.
Fiery holiday lights up Lag B’Omer spirit
Lag B'Omer, literally the 33rd day of the counting of the Omer -- the period between Passover and Shavuot -- is a relatively minor Jewish holiday that in recent years has become more popular among spiritually seeking Jews. It marks the day that the plague that killed 24,000 of Rabbi Akiva's students ended; it also marks the anniversary of the death of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, who some think wrote the primary Kabbalistic text, the Zohar. The holiday has always been observed by the Orthodox, and in Israel, it's celebrated nationally and is a school holiday, but these days, some non-Orthodox synagogues, Jewish youth and singles groups and others have also taken to the beach to build fires, sing and revel in the fun.
A sweet 31-cent adventure
What can you get for 31 cents? It turns out a whole lot more than a bargain scoop of ice cream.
Valley Cities JCC property deal falls through
So members were stunned last Thursday, when it was announced that a $2.7 million offer from a private philanthropist to buy the Burbank Boulevard property and turn it over to the center was rejected by the building's current owner, the Jewish Community Centers Development Corp. (JCCDC) -- formerly the JCC parent organization Jewish Community Centers of Greater Los Angeles.
A Big Giver
Anyone who cares about the future of Jewish life in Los Angeles eventually explodes in frustration over the community's inability to tap its own enormous wealth.
City Voice: We’re not who we think we are
There is a preconceived notion about the Los Angeles Jewish community being affluent, increasingly conservative and preoccupied with Israel to the exclusion of other issues.
Stop sugarcoating intermarriage
Social scientists, myself included, have charted -- and implicitly celebrated -- the growing and exhilarating diversity of Jewish identities, communities and innovation.
Koreatown residents visit the synagogue next door
Korean Americans and Jews gathered at Wilshire Boulevard Temple to dialogue about mutual understanding and to discuss conditions in the formerly Jewish Wilshire Center district, which is now home to the largest Korean population outside of Seoul.
You have the right to shut up
There's a controversy that has bubbled up in the Jewish world today around this question: Is it good for Israel when Jews go public with harsh criticism of Israel?
What we need: Philanthropreneurship
I'm learning that to American eyes, Canada can be very deceptive. It looks and smells like America, but scratch the surface and our northern neighbor is a million miles away. It's a very different place and culture.
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In the Mideast, Israel is the opium of the people
What else explains the collective amnesia on display?
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