Exploring what makes up the Jewish tapestry

By Ruth Ellen Gruber
Published on November 7, 2008

We've all played the "Jewish geography" game -- you know, questioning someone we've only just met in order to discover common Jewish connections, friends or even family

Say it ain’t Jew, Joe

By Marty Kaplan
Published on August 12, 2008

Survival hinges on being light unto nations

By Avraham Burg
Published on May 15, 2008

It's impossible to augur the future of the Jewish people. It can only be summed up in two words: "I hope."

Israel: A work in progress

By Glenn Yago
Published on May 15, 2008

From the birth of the Zionist movement more than a century ago through its 60 years as a Jewish state, Israel has come of age amid a vastly changing world: two world wars, the technological revolution and economic globalization with all its attendant challenges.

Post-Zionism in a diaspora world

By Tom Teicholz
Published on May 15, 2008

What does it mean to be a Jew in a Post-Zionist world?

Fending off the end of aliyah

By Dina Kraft
Published on April 3, 2008

Founded with the express purpose of "ingathering of the exiles" -- but with no more large groups of Jews to save -- Israel is facing the end of the era of mass aliyah.

Fear over intermarriage is overblown

By Leonard Saxe
Published on March 27, 2008

Purim is a time to dull our senses with drink and cloak our identity by dressing in costume. We do so in order to confront a troubling part of our history and the threats to Jewish life and continuity in the Diaspora.

What Israel means to me

By David Mamet
Published on March 13, 2008

Israel is a free society. The rights of the minority, of the oppressed, indeed, of the criminally foolish are protected. Mr. Chomsky would be as free in Israel to pronounce this nonsense as he is in the United States. Were he to move to the Arab world, he would be persecuted as a Jew (as, indeed, he might be in France). And were he, God forbid, persecuted, Israel would offer him a home, under the Right of Return. That is what Israel means to me.

At peace with conflict

By David Suissa
Published on February 28, 2008

One of the bonuses of living in exile is that you can see Israeli society more clearly, one lunch, party, speech or cappuccino at a time. When I'm in the Holy Land, I lose myself in a noisy, beautiful, hectic, joyful and soulful blur.It's as if I'm inside a boat in a stormy sea. Here in the Diaspora, Israel comes at you in neat little waves. Over the past month, I've had encounters with four passionate Israelis, and each, in their own way, has helped me make sense of the craziness of what it is to live the Zionist dream.

Israel obligated to consider Diaspora views on Jerusalem

By Morton A. Klein
Published on January 24, 2008

Do Jews outside Israel have the right to criticize Israeli policies relating to defense and security matters or eternal issues, like concessions on Jerusalem?

PBS documents struggles and successes of U.S. Jewry

By Tom Tugend
Published on January 3, 2008

Jewish life in North America was nearly aborted before birth when the governor of New Amsterdam sought to expel 23 Brazilian Jews, who landed at the southern tip of Manhattan in 1654.

In a petition to his superiors at the Dutch West India Company in Amsterdam, Peter Stuyvesant urged "that this deceitful race... be not allowed to further infest and trouble the new colony."

Grunions

By Rob Eshman
Published on June 7, 2007

The grunion were running last weekend, so I went down to the Venice Beach breakwater just before midnight to watch them mate. The sight of thousands of slim, silvery fish wiggling desperately out of the surf and struggling to spawn before the next wave crashed upon them made me think, of course, of those birthright Israel trips.

Language institute helping Ladino revival

By Jerome Socolovsky
Published on April 26, 2007

The Cervantes Institute has been sponsoring Ladino readings and seminars at its branches in Tel Aviv, Istanbul, Bucharest and Sofia. Now Urrutia says the institute will create a Ladino Department with a Judeo-Spanish archive at its headquarters in Madrid. And Ladino will be the focus of a new Cervantes Institute in Salonika, which will be located next to the city's Sephardic Museum.

U.S. Jews choose to serve in the Israel Defense Forces

By Tom Tugend
Published on April 26, 2007

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) want a few good men like Zach Taylor (photo). Actually, the IDF wants a lot of them. Taylor is a 20-year-old volunteer from North Hollywood serving in an Israeli infantry battalion of Torah-observant and predominantly ultra-Orthodox soldiers.

Nahal Haredi: Unorthodox battalion seeks to change Orthodox image

By Tom Tugend
Published on April 26, 2007

In Israel, where service in the armed forces is every man's -- and most women's -- duty, the majority of Israelis, from secular to Modern Orthodox, have long scorned the ultra-Orthodox "black hats" for avoiding military service by studying in yeshivas. Now, a battalion of ultra-religious young men, known as Nahal Haredi, is seeking to change this image by combining Torah study with the bearing of arms.

Bibi Netanyahu ranks high ...  as racist demagogue

By Larry Derfner
Published on January 18, 2007

Imagine if any non-Jewish government official in the world cited the lowering of the Jewish birthrate in his country as an accomplishment, then recommended that his country's founding institution raise money to help poor non-Jewish families but not poor Jewish families.

Conventional Wisdom

By Rob Eshman
Published on November 16, 2006

Whenever I find myself among large groups of Jews, I have to ask myself this question: How much of the Kool-Aid should I drink?

The Diaspora may be moving, but it isn’t going away any time soon

By Joel Kotkin
Published on November 10, 2006

The changes in the Diaspora community.

The next wave: Zionism needs a new narrative

By Gidi Grinstein
Published on November 9, 2006

The success of Zionism requires a revisiting of values and priorities. Negation of Diaspora may not only be irrelevant, but counterproductive. We need a new vision.

Live in the ‘hood: lingering Shabbat

By David Suissa
Published on October 26, 2006

Understanding the unique power of Shabbat. Shabbat does not just come and go every week. In fact, it never really goes away.

7 Days in the Arts

By Keren Engelberg
Published on October 19, 2006

7 days in the Arts.

L.A. gets ready to be the center of Jewish universe

By Julie G Fax
Published on October 19, 2006

In just three weeks, more than 3,000 leaders of the international Jewish community, including the prime minister of Israel, are coming to Los Angeles. This season's best-kept secret among L.A. Jews seems to be that the 75th annual General Assembly (GA) of the United Jewish Communities is being held in Los Angeles -- the first time in 26 years this city will host one of the largest annual gatherings of Jews in North America.

Israel’s Sephardi Chief Rabbi Amar to visit Los Angeles

By Amy Klein
Published on October 19, 2006

Israel's Sephardi Chief Rabbi Amar to visit Los Angeles; Ask A (Different) Rabbi; Inquiring Minds Want to Know.

Finding Deeper Truths in Fiction—the Best About Israel

By Alana Newhouse
Published on September 7, 2006

One should read Israeli writers, of course -- Agnon, Amichai, A.B. Yehoshua, Aharon Appelfeld, Orly Castel-Bloom, Etgar Keret. But the more appropriate template may come from fellow Americans, writers who, by exploring the Diaspora Jew's relationship to Israel, have gone down this road before.

Lawsuit Filed in Granada Hills Jewish Community Center Shooting

Published on August 24, 2006

World News; Lawsuit Filed in Granada Hills Jewish Community Center Shooting; Young Quits After 'Hurtful' Remarks; Olmert Pressed on War Inquiry; Diaspora Money Heads North; Israeli Officials Face Sexual-Harassment Charges; Israeli Children Anxious After War; Major Israeli Writer Dies; Israel: Hezbollah Used Russian Weapons; Jewish-Owned Market in Moscow Bombed; Restaurant in India Named After Hitler; Annan Chides Iran on Holocaust Cartoons.

Will They Ever Understand an Israeli’s Mind-Set?

By Shira Kaplan
Published on August 24, 2006

I am lying in my Tel Aviv bed long after midnight, soaking my pillow with tears.
My cries are echoing in the house. My folks are fast asleep. The war with Lebanon has finally hit me.

Who Is A Jew?

By Rob Eshman
Published on August 10, 2006

For a great many of us, there is an instant and easy identification with the Jewish state. They are not they, they are we. The heat of battle forges them into us. Whether we've spent much time there, whether we have blood relatives there, we feel ourselves as one, we are they.

Mission To Israel

By Amy Klein
Published on August 10, 2006

They say that Israel is a place where a man might push you over on the bus to get to his seat and break your leg, but he will drive you to the emergency room and stay up with you all night to make sure you are all right -- better than all right, actually.

For Middle East Women, ‘Cavemen’ Are Not Wanted

By Pamela Ann Smith
Published on July 27, 2006

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.

Return to the Promised Land

By Amy Klein
Published on July 26, 2006

Last Sunday, while thousands of Los Angeles Jews were rallying in front of the Jewish Federation headquarters to show support for Israel, the Rembaums were showing a different kind of support for the Jewish state: They were on a plane moving there.

Evangelicals Slate Pro-Israel Lobbying

By Tom Tugend
Published on June 22, 2006

CUFI's purpose, according to its official brochure, is "to provide a national association through which every pro-Israel church, parachurch organization, ministry or individual in America can speak and act with one voice in support of Israel in matters related to biblical issues."

This Week - In and Out

By Rob Eshman
Published on May 25, 2006

Last Friday, when the sun went down in Los Angeles, the Jewish community came alive.

Wandering Jew - Spiritual Headliners

By Amy Klein
Published on May 18, 2006

In recent years Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest Jewish community, has become a stop for visiting Jewish dignitaries -- especially politicians, hoping to tap into the fundraising network here.

A Young Violinist With a Lot of Pluck

By Beverly Gray
Published on April 13, 2006

As a 9-year-old violinist performing for world-renowned cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, Camilla Tsiperovich was told to call herself Camilla Gadjieva. Her headmaster at the Azerbaijan Conservatory considered this a more suitable name, one that reflected the Muslim heritage of her country. While representing Azerbaijan in international music competitions and spending her first year of high school at the famed Moscow Conservatory, she always understood that "there was something wrong because you were Jewish."

Band Gives Klezmer Extreme Makeover

By Robert David Jaffee
Published on March 30, 2006

Joellen Lapidus points out that klezmer, which has famously experienced a revival since the late 1970s, has never been performed exclusively at Jewish functions, and the bands have often included non-Jewish musicians. Likewise, Extreme Klezmer Makeover is not comprised solely of Jews.

Letters

Published on March 30, 2006

Letters to the Editor

Distance Colors Israeli, Diaspora Views

By Gershom Gorenberg
Published on March 23, 2006

At the beginning of the Lebanon War in June 1982, my Jerusalem roommate was packing to leave for grad school in America. Each day's newspapers had pictures of men who'd died at Beaufort, Damour, Sidon.
The supposedly limited operation in Lebanon had morphed into a full-scale invasion that belonged in an updated edition of "March of Folly." Dedicated as I was to living in Israel, I felt a touch of envy for my roommate, soon to be at a quiet campus far away.

Israeli Superstars Rock the Diaspora

By Amy Klein
Published on March 2, 2006

Each of the artists' songs have flooded the radio waves for nearly five decades, a soundtrack, of sorts, to Israel's many wars, casualties, celebrations, assassinations, and shifting moods -- from hopeful to cynical and hopeful again.

‘Top Gun’ Lawyer Aims to Aid Likud

By Tom Tugend
Published on January 12, 2006

Born into a strongly Democratic family but later a founder of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Berman, at 51, is a man of strong physique and opinions.

"I am fed up with intermarriage and with rabbis who reach out to gay and intermarried couples," he said during an interview in his spacious Sunset Boulevard office.

Bye Bye Diaspora, Hello ‘New Jews’

By J. Shawn Landres
Published on January 12, 2006

The authors propose a new map with "multiple homelands" that displaces Israel from "the center of the Jewish universe." They point out that since the mid-19th century, most Jewish religious innovation has originated in the United States, rather than in Europe or Israel. As of 2003, more people emigrated from Israel to Russia than vice versa, and New York is the communal and philanthropic center of Jewish life. Ultimately, the authors find, contemporary Jews are at home wherever they live. "New Jews," they argue, "connect emotionally and culturally with multiple places and traverse routes across national boundaries but are nonetheless rooted in a specific place they call home."

L.A. Jewry Needs More Exploring

By David N. Myers
Published on November 10, 2005

Since arriving, I've also shed another stereotype that I had brought with me as a historian of the Jewish experience. Trained as a Europeanist, I had been inculcated to believe that Los Angeles was to New York as America was to Europe -- a pale imitation of the real McCoy, a "parvenu" in a world in which antiquity and social stratification bestow merit. This view, unfortunately, is all too common among East Coast or Eurocentric academics.

Jewish Weddings in Space

By Ron Magid
Published on September 22, 2005

Based on Whedon's short-lived 2002 TV series, "Firefly," whose fan base helped spur the movie, "Serenity" revolves around the outlaws' attempts to discover the telepath's true identity after she beats up everyone in a bar.

Twenty-Nine Days to Make Mitzvot

By Tzvi Kahn
Published on July 21, 2005

Aryeh Green and Yosef Abramowitz were sipping tea in a Bedouin tent last year in Sde Boker, a kibbutz in Israel's Negev desert, when they had an idea. Participants at a conference of Kol Dor, an organization that seeks to revitalize Jewish activism and unity across the globe, the two were discussing how the group could promote Jewish identity and peoplehood.

Can Jewish Groups Get Back on Track?

By Rachel Pomerance
Published on July 21, 2005

A wave of recent gatherings has tackled the existential questions facing world Jewry, and many are aimed at or driven by new actors. The slew of new forums focusing on the future of the Jewish people reveals a certain angst about today's challenges and raises questions about how much faith Jews have in existing institutions to address those challenges.

Mensch Seeks Shayna Maideleh

By Dina Kraft
Published on June 9, 2005

A team of scouts is scouring the Diaspora for the ideal single Jewish man for a new Israeli reality television show. Once selected, the bachelor, who according to producers preferably will be good looking and "financially secure," will come to Israel for the summer, when 15 young Israeli women will compete to capture his heart.

"We all grow up in Jewish houses and we know the dream of Jewish mothers is that their son finds a nice Jewish girl," said Gadi Veinrib, a producer for the show, to be called -- what else? -- "A Nice Jewish Boy."

What It Takes to Create a Museum

By Michael Berenbaum
Published on March 17, 2005

For Jerusalem to maintain its primacy, its centrality, the brilliant creation of the 1950s, which was then far ahead of its time, had to be updated to the creative language of 21st-century museum-making.

Jerusalem Gets Business Jump-Start

By Rochelle Furstenberg
Published on November 11, 2004

Today, Nir Barkat, high-tech entrepreneur and dynamic Jerusalem councilman, is trying to breathe economic life into the city by using the academic and intellectual sectors to jump-start the capital's economy.

A Settler in Favor of Disengagement

By David Margolis
Published on July 1, 2004

Politically -- for the first time in the history of the Jewish people -- the State of Israel is apparently working toward establishing foreign sovereignty over a part of our land.

We Have an Obligation to Speak Out

By M.J. Rosenberg
Published on March 25, 2004

The major reason many American supporters of Israel line up behind the policies of the Israeli government is that they do not want to be in the position of second guessing the Israelis.

Shalom Y’All

By Anthea Gerrie
Published on March 4, 2004

What brought the first, mainly Sephardic, Jews to Charleston was its remarkable religious tolerance, not to mention the economic prospects elevating them to a new aristocracy to which their Ashkenazi kinsmen who followed greedily aspired.

Avi Chai Grant Saves Birthright

By Dina Kraft
Published on February 26, 2004

Since the program began, it has brought some 60,000 Diaspora youth between the ages of 18 and 26 to Israel for free 10-day guided trips of the country. For many, it is their first trip to Israel. Only youth who never before have been on a peer tour of the country are eligible to participate.

Ethiopian Pied Piper Rocks Heartstrings

By Michael Aushenker
Published on September 18, 2003

This Rosh Hashanah, the dreadlocked Santa Monica resident will showcase his talents at B'nai Horin, the Culver City shul he has been performing at since 1997. Alula Tzadik will play the kirar, a harp-like instrument dating back to King David's time.

Kitaj the ‘Diasporist’

By Tom Teicholz
Published on June 19, 2003

R.B. Kitaj's show in Venice includes more than 20 works, paintings, drawings, even a few abstracts. Clearly, Kitaj's time in Los Angeles has been productive. But can a self-proclaimed "Diasporist" ever be truly at home?

Whose Loss Is it Anyway?

By Amy Klein
Published on April 30, 2003

Yes, Israel very much needs American Jewry's money and political support, and virtual tourism is clearly better than none at all. But when we send charity to them, we are saying that the lack of tourism to Israel only affects them.

Anxiety and Hope

By Tom Tugend
Published on March 27, 2003

What was once a thriving and influential community of 130,000 Jews in the 1940s has been reduced to less than 50 people, and no one in Los Angeles has been able to contact them for some time.

Memories of Iraq

By Joel Kotkin
Published on February 27, 2003

"When I left Baghdad in 1951," Naji Harkham recalled of the day he left for Israel, "I left with tears in my eyes. To me, Baghdad was good. I had so many Muslim friends who didn't want me to leave."

Flourish, Not Fail

By Rob Eshman
Published on November 29, 2001

The financial crisis facing Jewish Community Center (JCC) programs and locations this week will come as an awful shock to tens of thousands of area Jews, and it should (see story, page 14).

JCC officials and Federation lay leaders and staff stress there is no cause for panic. They believe they can work out a way to save the majority of JCC programs and locations. (The Federation is the largest donor to the JCC system.) But there is no question that without immediate community response, the JCC system faces severe cutbacks.

Symbol of All Hopes

By Stuart Schoffman
Published on February 15, 2001

About 20 years ago the Israeli author A.B. Yehoshua wrote an essay called "Exile as a Neurotic Solution," in which he endeavored to explain why so many Diaspora Jews, for many centuries and in our own day, have avoided coming to live in the Land of Israel.

The Melting Wok

By Anthea Gerrie
Published on February 15, 2001

It was Friday night in Shanghai, a major linchpin of the Jewish Diaspora, and folks from all over the world were dropping in to wish Rabbi Greenberg "Shabbat shalom."

Traveling Salesman

By Tom Tugend
Published on September 7, 2000

Gerald "Jerry" C. Lasensky describes himself as the Jewish community's traveling salesman, road warrior and itinerant emissary.