- NEWS & COMMENTARY
Opposition continues despite new Boy Scout policy
In 2001, Temple Israel of Hollywood (TIOH) overwhelmingly decided to end its sponsorship of Cub Scout Pack 1300 to protest the Boy Scouts of America’s (BSA) policy banning openly gay…
Jews should get offended
If there’s one thing the Palestinians are great at, it’s saying no. For years now, many peace-loving Jewish heads have been bruised from banging against the brick wall of Palestinian rejectionism.
NSA and JEW
If you ever needed a sign that Jews feel fully integrated and accepted by society, consider this: Not one major Jewish group made a peep over the revelations of National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance.
- HOLLYWOOD
“Curb” star Jeff Garlin spends two days in jail following parking lot confrontation
Actor Jeff Garlin ("Curb Your Enthusiasm") was released from a Van Nuys jail yesterday, at approximately 7:30 a.m., according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) website. An incident…
‘Man of Steel’ screenwriter David S. Goyer on Superman and religion
“People are always so quick to point out the Christ allegory in “The Man of Steel” but Superman has always struck me as a combination of Old Testament and New…
Superman is a Jewish Fantasy
This past week my wife surprised me with tickets to the new Superman movie “Man of Steel” for my birthday. So late Saturday night, we sat in a packed movie…
- LIFE & CULTURE
Archie Comics feature film in the works
Archie comics lovers, rejoice!
Israel’s SodaStream inks deal with KitchenAid
The Israeli company SodaStream agreed to develop a home system for making carbonated drinks for KitchenAid appliances.
Barbra Streisand receives Honorary Doctorate from The Hebrew University
Barbra Streisand, after receiving an honorary doctorate from The Hebrew University, stands in front of the plaque of the Institute of Jewish Studies Building, established in 1984 in honor of…
- BLOGS
Summer Peaches Are Here
I always figured peaches were a super sugary fruit as they are so darn good. But it is not so. Peaches: are often less than 100 calories, making them a…
The Power of Language: Cultivating Positive Emotions
Language affects the heart. When we’re surrounded by others who speak negatively, it can really affect our mood and disposition. Are we aware of how much negative language there is…
Attention Forward: We Aren’t That Radical
It has been said that most of us believe newspaper reporting to be generally accurate, until we read an article on a subject with which we are intimately familiar. It…
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Egypt army seeks national unity as crisis mounts
Egypt's army chief called for talks on national unity to end the country's mounting political crisis after a vital loan from the IMF was delayed and thousands of pro- and anti-government demonstrators took to the streets.
PA says it’s facing ‘worst financial crisis’
The Palestinian Authority is facing its “worst financial crisis” yet, according to a PA official, because of a foreign aid shortfall and the rejection of a $100 million loan by the International Monetary Fund.
Beinart's 1% crisis
One of the more brazen initiatives in the Jewish world today is Peter Beinart’s call, in his book “The Crisis of Zionism,” to boycott anything produced in the Jewish settlements of Judea and Samaria (commonly known as the West Bank). In his view, the settlements must be stopped because they are encroaching on a future Palestinian state that is necessary for the survival of a Jewish and democratic Israel.
With debt crisis looming, Jewish service groups are on alert
Jewish service groups are telling their constituents to be on guard for a possible government shutdown or slowdown after Aug. 2, when the United States is scheduled to hit its debt ceiling.
Groups concerned about potential for flotilla violence
J Street and Americans for Peace Now are expressing concerns about the possibility of violence between Israel and the latest Gaza flotilla.
Flights resume from Israel’s airports, but fuel crisis continues
Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport resumed flights Friday after jet fuel contamination halted all outgoing flights Thursday afternoon. Friday morning, the airport was permitted to tap into emergency jet fuel supplies to enable grounded planes to fly to refueling stations in Cyprus or Jordan, Ha’aretz reported. But that’s only a temporary solution, the airport’s chief official told reporters.
News Nincompoops Narrate Nuclear Nonsense
U.S.: “Gadhafi has lost the legitimacy to govern”
International pressure on Moammar Gadhafi to end a crackdown on opponents escalated Monday as his loyalists fought rebels holding the two cities closest to the capital and his warplanes bombed an ammunition depot in the east. The U.S. moved naval and air forces closer to Libya and said all options were open, including patrols of the North African nation's skies to protect its citizens from their ruler.
IDF to open internal flotilla investigation
The Israel Defense Forces will conduct an internal investigation into its interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla that ended in the death of nine activists.
The Gaza Flotilla Tragedy (NOT Just Another Opinion)
Obama: No ‘crisis’ in U.S.-Israel ties
In his first public remarks on the strain in U.S.-Israel ties, President Obama said there was no crisis in relations between the two countries.
In an interview with Fox News aired Wednesday night, the U.S. leader said Israel's announcement last week during Vice President Joe Biden's visit of new construction in eastern Jerusalem has not led to a crisis in ties between Israel and the United States.
Will recession fuel a return to public schools?
Throughout the Los Angeles Unified School District, the recession is prompting middle-class parents to take a look at public middle and high schools they have long disdained.
Panel discusses strategies for dealing with recession
Talking investment strategy might not top everyone's agenda for a bright Sunday morning, but about 75 local residents gathered at Young Israel of Century City on Dec. 21 to do just that.
Hope vs. slippery slope
Ralph Waldo Emerson, it’s always Sunny in Hebron
" , , , Eshman, here is the question I have for you: Brother can you spare a dime? . . . "
Is Bernie Madoff Jewish? Very. Oy.
"It's all just one big lie."
With those words Bernard Madoff confessed to senior executives of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities that the $17 billion hedge fund he founded was nothing more than a Ponzi scheme. Madoff is at the center of "the largest investor swindle ever blamed on a single individual."
The news that broke today on the front pages of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reverberated in Jewish communities across the world. "A lot of Jewish charities had investments with him," one prominent investor told The Jewish Journal. "So did a lot of Jews."
UPDATE: Among the victims was the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles.
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.
Kadima cuts costs via Community Tuition Partnership
The Community Tuition Partnership, which will take effect in the 2009-2010 academic year, will lower costs for the entire K-8 student body
Thanks, Cal State —thanks a lot
When we hear that the one option that has always been guaranteed to us is now an uncertain variable, we can do nothing but doubt. When competition rages from all angles, and the safety we counted on no longer exists, we can do nothing but give up, right?
Don’t let the stress of ailing economy kill you
Research based on 17 years of Pennsylvania unemployment records concluded that workers affected by mass layoffs at a plant were 15 percent more likely to die of any cause over the next two decades.
Don’t cut support to innovative nonprofits
Our major institutions are struggling to adjust, react, prepare but most of all to respond to those most harmed
Synagogues re-group as economic downturn challenges building campaigns
" . . . People are thinking psychologically that they are poor, or less wealthy, so it creates this difficulty for institutions to raise basic capital, as well as operational monies . . . "
Economic crisis affecting all strata in community
The Jewish community is feeling the pinch, with rabbis reporting that congregants are either seeking aid from synagogues or expressing fears about prospects in the immediate future. Given the decline in charitable giving, the Jewish community's ability to keep up with demand is diminishing.
Pinched pocketbooks no bar to party planning
Have tough economic times forced you to scale back your child's bar or bat mitzvah party plans? With your 401(k) down, is the ice sculpture out? Is your resetting ARM making you reconsider that 18-piece orchestra?
‘When there’s life, there’s hate’: Q & A with ADL’s Abe Foxman
" . . . Hatred has been around since Cain and Abel. I'm not a philosopher; I'm not a sociologist. I don't pretend to be. But they used to say, 'Where there's life, there's bugs.' When there's life, there's hate . . ."
Judaism teaches that the economy must rest on justice and righteousness
Perhaps now, as Alan Greenspan walks off into the night, a pathetic has-been idolator, we will be empowered to see justice and righteousness as the principles on which to ground our economy.
Old traditions, new rules
The media is full of sad-sack accounts of billionaires who, having lost 20 percent of their net worth overnight, are down to their last 9 billion. Some of these men have the gall to say they will have to reduce their charitable commitments.
Alan shrugged
Wall Street's problem, in the president's mind, is not a systemic pathology, not an illness that comes on the same chromosome as the profit motive. Instead, it's the behavior of a frat boy on a bender, the reckless phase of a good-time Charlie rather than the symptom of profound disease.
Sukkot on the streets—finding community amid temporary shelter
Every night on Skid Row, 5,000 people pile onto shelter cots or erect their flimsy huts in the concrete desert of the city. Another 9,000 go to bed in the area's residency hotels, hoping to still have a roof over their heads the next day. In the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, year-round they share their sukkot with each other and remind us that we have failed to do the same for them.
Congregations help the homeless into homes—one family at a time
Imagine LA coordinators work with facility case managers and faith partners to determine the family's needs and set up a plan for independent living.
Fatah fighters’ escape to Israel and what it means
Even for the complex Middle East it was a moment of exceptional irony. Some 180 Fatah loyalists fleeing a series of shootouts and summary executions by Hamas
on the streets of Gaza ran for the border -- banking on the mercies of the enemy they usually target
Crises in Israel energize support from diaspora communities
Jews invariably differ on their feelings toward Israel, whether discussing its place in their hearts or the policies of the current government or the rightful borders of the nation. But nothing unifies quite like military conflict. War awakens Diaspora communities and arouses Israeli affinities.
Men: the ill topic of choice
Men are the scapegoat for lost and neurotic twentysomethings. Men and women and the dating scene really are the ill topic of choice for so many of my otherwise smart friends.
Victory of a Blessing
As life would have it, the term of tranquility is short, but we can emerge from these times strengthened both physically and spiritually.
King/Drew closing spotlights crisis in health care
Asking the 100,000 uninsured residents of South Los Angeles to take an hourlong bus ride for medical services they may not receive is hardly a solution to the current health-care
crisis.
It’s hard to find good day school leaders these days
A dearth of leadership talent is wreaking havoc on the Jewish day school system as schools find it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain qualified heads.
Two-state solution ASAP only chance for peace
Gaza's economy, health care and social services are near collapse, and there are growing signs of malnutrition. Sixty percent of the population is without electricity, due to Israel's bombing of Gaza's only power station.
Movie on pedophile priest puts a face on evil
"Evil" -- which won the nonfiction prize at the 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival in July -- presents for perhaps the first time a convicted pedophile speaking graphically about his actions on camera. O'Grady's words provide "the backbone of a deeply disturbing documentary about the Roman Catholic clergy abuse crisis," the Associated Press said.
Local organizations seek funds to help Israel
Some of the local organizations collecting donations to aid Israel in its time of crisis.
Groups Rally to Raise Funds for Israel During Crisis
Jewish organizations throughout the Los Angeles area, as well as supportive Christian groups, are shifting their fundraising efforts into high gear to succor civilians and soldiers in embattled Israel.
For Middle East Women, ‘Cavemen’ Are Not Wanted
Little noticed among the vast media coverage of the latest Middle East crisis were a couple of dispatches by journalists highlighting the actions of an admittedly few women in Israel.
Attacking Syria Would Ensure Cease-Fire in North
Nearly 40 years ago, Israel and the Arab world fought a war that altered the course of Middle Eastern history. Now, as the region teeters on the brink of a new and potentially more violent cataclysm, it is important to revisit the lessons of the Six-Day War, a conflict that few Middle Eastern countries wanted and none foresaw.
People, Opinions and Smells Fill Emergency Shelters
With the distant booming of Katyusha rockets becoming louder and more frequent, only a few brave souls ventured out - and when one boom sounded particularly close, everyone rushed back into the shelter, some in near-hysteria.
NGOs Feel Sting of Hamas Ban
A variety of officials from nonprofits operating in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip discussed the challenges of operating in Hamas-run territory at a conference last week on nonprofits, human rights and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Nation-World Briefs
Views Differ on Role in Centers Crisis
The local Jewish community, unlike those in other cities, neither supported most existing centers nor clamored for the types of state-of-the-art facilities that have proven so successful elsewhere, he added.
Dating by Committee
When it comes to relationships, girls are all about group think. We poll all our friends; we share all the evidence.
Tax Cuts Bring Shameful Silence
This month House Republicans will try to wrap up work on proposals aimed at slowing the hemorrhage of red ink from federal budget ledgers while finding a way to pay for hundreds of billions of dollars of hurricane relief and for two wars that don't seem about to end anytime soon.
Lulav Shortage Shakes Jewish World
American legislators, Israeli officials and Jewish groups are working diplomatic channels in an effort to stave off a looming lulav shortage ahead of Sukkot.
Unfashionable Crisis
Dov Charney, founder, CEO and president of American Apparel, has been hailed by many anti-sweatshop activists as a pioneer in the fair treatment of garment workers in Los Angeles, in an industry notorious for substandard working conditions and abuse. But now, a competing, unflattering reputation is beginning to overtake his good press, as allegations of sexual harassment come to light.
Is an Israel Brain Drain Nigh?
A quiet crisis is unfolding here. It's grabbing few headlines and it's rarely the stuff of public debate.
Rabbis Call for Day of Fasting for Darfur
Rabbis from all denominations are calling upon Jews in Los Angeles to participate in a day of fasting, prayer and political activism to raise alarm about the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.
It’s Time to Heal Workers’ Comp
When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reformed California's disastrous workers' comp system in 2004, I was bothered by the effort expended by Sacramento's elected Democrats to fight reform in order to protect their lawyer allies who were gaming the badly broken system.
Although the Democrats controlled the state legislature and governorship for five years, they adopted only tepid reform under Gov. Gray Davis, aimed largely at reducing doctor and drug costs -- not the main causes of the worst workers' comp crisis in America.
Come Fill Fatima’s Cup With Hope
Ten days ago, I was in the Al Serif Camp in Darfur, Sudan, with Fatima, the girl you see in the photograph. She lives there with 15,000 other refugees.
The Graves Of Sudan
In this remote region, more than 1.5 million African tribal farmers have been violently driven from their homes by the government of Sudan and the militias they armed, called Janjaweed (evil men on horseback). Despite repeated calls from humanitarian organizations and U.N. agencies warning of the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today, there continues to be a systematic program of expulsion, rape and murderous violence that has taken at least 100,000 lives.
Sudan—Why We Can’t Give Up on the U.N.
The people of Darfur, most of whom are farmers, need to be safe in their own land. They need immediate relief -- food, medicine, shelter -- and the opportunity to rebuild their lives.
How to Win Leaders and Influence People
Melina Gimal has been a Jewish community professional for most of her life.
Ethnic Cleansing in Sudan Is Still Genocide
As early as March of this year, humanitarian organizations were issuing warnings of ethnic cleansing in Darfur, Sudan.
Buy It Now
It continues to baffle me why anybody who cares about the future of Jewish communal life in Los Angeles
would seriously contemplate closing the Valley Cities Jewish Community Center (JCC).
Charities Ask L.A. to Help Israel’s Poor
Ask Abraham Israel about hungry people in Israel and he gets exasperated.
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