Passionate Judaism

By David Suissa
Published on July 18, 2012

In case you haven’t heard, Orthodox Judaism has pretty much taken over Jewish life on U.S. college campuses. I say this not because I’m smug and happy about it, but as a wake-up call to the Conservative and Reform branches to get their acts together.

Building bridges between Jews and Latinos on campus

Published on May 30, 2012

The growth of the Latino population in the United States is not news. Studies have long shown that those whose background lies in one of the many countries south of the Texas border are becoming a larger and therefore more influential share of the American population. According to the 2010 census, they now constitute 16 percent of the total population, accounting for half of America’s population growth in the previous decade.

Q & A with Daniel Sokatch -- building a better community

By Brad A. Greenberg
Published on June 26, 2008

As the public face and founding executive director of PJA, Sokatch, 40, has been lauded by the left and loathed by the right.

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?

We don’t need more gabfests on diversity

By David A. Lehrer and Joe R. Hicks
Published on May 1, 2008

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.

Diversity lost

By Gina Nahai
Published on May 1, 2008

Are we electing a candidate based on his or her ability to lead the country, or are we crowning a king who looks good in pictures and who is above criticism, examination and challenge?

Women keep out—this seder’s for men only

By Amy Klein
Published on April 10, 2008

"Avadim Hayinu," one of the first refrains of the Passover seder, usually refers to the fact that we were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt. "What enslaves us as men," is another interpretation -- this at The Man Seder, the third annual men-only pre-Passover gathering, which takes place at American Jewish University this year on April 13.

There won’t be blood

By Rob Eshman
Published on January 10, 2008

Bill Clinton, Ann Coulter, James Carville -- over the years American Jewish University's top-notch lecture series has hosted plenty of people who have infuriated plenty of people.

But evidently, when it comes to being infuriating, Karl Rove is in a class unto himself.

The challenge of pluralistic day schools

By Julie G Fax
Published on February 22, 2007

Bibi, Judea Pearl, Muslims and the Dennis

Published on February 1, 2007

Letters to the Editor

MOCA’s latest exhibition reveals the early years of the ‘Feminist Revolution’

By Tom Freudenheim
Published on December 7, 2006

Regarding either Jewish or feminist art, we may ultimately be stuck with Justice Potter Stewart's comment about pornography, "I know it when I see it." And perhaps that will be the most valuable contribution of this exhibition.

Jamie McCourt Proves She’s an Artful Dodger President

By Robert David Jaffee
Published on July 19, 2006

Especially during the McCourts' first year of ownership, the Times sports section for the most part depicted Jamie and Frank McCourt, the latter known by Simers as the parking lot attendant, as carpetbaggers who have little interest in or knowledge of Los Angeles, social climbers who lack the financial resources to run the team and public relations novices.

Latin American Jews Create L.A. Oasis

By Roberto Loiederman
Published on June 8, 2006

Imagine that you live in Latin America and you're Jewish. Typically, you and your family would belong to a full-service Jewish club with cultural, recreational, educational and athletic activities for all ages. The club is reasonably priced, promotes Jewish identity in a secular manner and is the backbone of your social life.

O.C. Incidents Raise Anti-Semitism Fears

By Lisa Armony
Published on June 1, 2006

"There has been a significant rise in the past four years in anti-Semitism generally and on school campuses," said Dr. Kevin O'Grady, associate director of the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) Orange County/Long Beach Region. O'Grady's office recorded 43 cases of harassment and vandalism last year, nearly 50 percent more than in 2003; one-third of these involved public schools.

Cultural Mix Inspires Revenge’s Warfield

By Karla S. Blume
Published on April 27, 2006

Justin Warfield, the monotone-voiced, seductive lead singer and co-songwriter of the local nouveau and dark-wave group, She Wants Revenge, has roots that stretch across the city, and truth be told, he really doesn't feel any tinge of revenge these days, because his band's moody, dance-club-beat debut self-titled album has not only conquered the radio waves nationally, but is about to take on the avid audience at the Coachella Music & Arts Festival this weekend, too.

The Second American Jewish Revolution

By Steven Windmueller
Published on April 20, 2006

Wars, the Holocaust, the creation of the State of Israel and the movement of Jews to countries of freedom and security shaped the first revolution in Jewish communal life. Now, individuals are able to re-invent the idea of "community" on their own terms.

What Do Gen-Y Jews Want? Everything

By Sue Fishkoff
Published on April 6, 2006

The last few months have seen a flood of studies of Gen-Y Jews -- all trying to map their sense of Jewish identity, affiliation patterns, needs, hopes, beliefs and behaviors.

Out of My Comfort Zone

By Benjamin Steiner
Published on February 2, 2006

Having never been to a Jewish prayer service before, the non-Jewish students wanted to see what it was like. The tradition fascinated many, and everyone could relate to the singing and dancing.

The Circuit

By Norma Zager
Published on December 22, 2005

More than 800 people showed up to celebrate the work of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) last week at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where more than $400,000 was raised for ADL's battle against anti-Semitism, hate and bigotry.

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.

Arts and Entertainment

By Tom Tugend
Published on March 10, 2005

The jacket cover of "California Jews" shows a windswept Moses, bearing the Tablets of the Law. He is descending, not Mount Sinai, but the granite face of El Capitan and the waiting Israeli tribes, each under its own banner, are assembled at the foot of the mountain in Yosemite Valley.

Taking Note of 2004

By Bill Boyarsky
Published on January 6, 2005

Last week, I pulled out a big, unsorted folder from my desk filled with material I had used for my Jewish Journal columns.

Rabin’s Daughter Seeks Aid for Center

By Tom Tugend
Published on January 6, 2005

Nearly a decade after the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, his daughter fears that Israeli society has not yet faced up to the underlying causes of the horrifying crime by a Jewish extremist.

Lighten Up on Christmas and Christians

By Joel Kotkin
Published on December 23, 2004

Even in relatively tolerant and officially secular America, Jews long have had to do a dance around the holidays of the majority population. There's a national party going on and, let's face it, we are not invited.

See Change

By Rob Eshman
Published on December 23, 2004

The UJ has been around since 1947. My office window in Koreatown overlooks the block of Ardmore Avenue where it was originally housed. The university followed the Jewish community west in 1979, settling in to the expansive Familian campus, where it fulfills a unique but hardly problem-free niche in a unique Jewish community.

Fritter Away Your Time for Chanukah

By Judy Zeidler
Published on December 2, 2004

We just returned from a trip to Italy, concentrating on the provinces of Puglia and Campania close to Naples. It is a region that we enjoy because of the diversity of the foods and wines available.

Closing the Gap on Believers

By Jack Miles
Published on November 4, 2004

Is religion more prominent or less today in American life? Is it fading away or roaring ahead? Articles about the conservative Christian influence in the Bush administration point -- often fearfully -- in one direction.

Education Briefs

Published on September 2, 2004

Education Briefs

Competitive Coupling

By Lori Gottlieb
Published on June 10, 2004

When I was offered a job to write on "Significant Others," a new sitcom about marriage, I'm not sure who laughed harder -- my mother or I?

Brown vs. Board of Ed.—50 Years Later

By Amanda Susskind
Published on May 13, 2004

"We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

Lev Eisha Women Pray Their Own Way

By Rachel Brand
Published on October 23, 2003

On the first Saturday of each month, while weekly, traditional Shabbat morning services are taking place at Adat Shalom synagogue, another service transpires behind the main sanctuary that is anything but traditional.

No Outrage Over Race Card?

By Joe R. Hicks
Published on October 16, 2003

Californians have reached new levels of accommodation for cultural and other differences, but some of our officials still speak unashamedly in stark racial and ethnic terms.

Diversity Blooms in the Land of Roses

By Gaby Wenig
Published on September 18, 2003

Jews have had a presence in Pasadena since the late 1800s, yet many of the few thousand who lived there preferred to go unnoticed.

Valley Festival Draws Thousands

By Michael Aushenker
Published on September 11, 2003

"More booths, more vendors, more of everything" is how festival co-chair Nancy Parris Moskowitz described this year's Los Angeles Jewish Festival.

Your Letters

Published on July 24, 2003

Your Letters

Worst-Case Scenarios

By Rob Eshman
Published on March 27, 2003

The CST model may not be a perfect fit, and it wouldn't replace increased help from the local and federal governments, but a closer look at it may provide a new and improved way to address the increased security needs of our community.

Culture Shot

By Michael Aushenker
Published on February 27, 2003

The Filipino owners of an Asian restaurant at work. A glimpse of Thai worshippers praying inside a Buddhist temple. A man perusing an
Armenian bookstore.

Christmas Takes

By Sharon Schatz Rosenthal
Published on November 28, 2002

As a young Jewish student in the '60s, Robin Siegal believed that Chanukah was basically ignored in the public schools she attended, which included Hamilton High School. "

Teaching Cops Tolerance

By David Evanier
Published on December 14, 2000

There's enough work to go around for everyone in teaching tolerance and diversity to law enforcement in California, according to the Anti-Defamation League and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Depicting Issues

By Tom Tugend
Published on August 24, 2000

Some 30 delegates to the Democratic National Convention took time out from politicking to participate in a hands-on workshop in democracy and diversity, initiated by a Jewish institution. The workshop was based on the youTHink program, in which public school students use the arts to grapple with social issues and then act out their new awareness to initiate projects that will further responsibility and tolerance in their schools and communities

Hands-on Democracy

By Tom Tugend
Published on August 10, 2000

Delegates to the Democratic Convention will participate in a hands-on workshop in democracy and diversity from the youth perspective, thanks to an innovative program launched by a Jewish institution.The youTHink program uses the arts to help young people grapple with social issues and then act on their new awareness to initiate projects that will promote civic responsibility and tolerance in their schools and communities.

An Oasis in Irvine

By Ellen Jaffe-Gill
Published on March 30, 2000

Tarbut V'Torah Community Day School, founded in 1991 by retired businessman Irving Gelman, exemplifies, perhaps more than any other Jewish institution in Orange County, the blossoming of the Jewish community behind what Angelenos probably need to quit calling "the Orange Curtain." No longer a Jewish backwater, Orange County is home to Jews representing a range of national origin and religious observance almost as diverse as that of its neighbor to the north, and that diversity is well represented at Tarbut V'Torah.

Politics

By James D
Published on October 8, 1998

LAPD officer Terri Utley says that since Los Angeles is such a diverse, multicultural place, it's difficult to know sometimes what the taboos and customs are in different groups. "Our goal is to serve, cooperate and not offend," she says.