Obama to donors: Israel and the U.S. need ‘fresh eyes’

Published on June 21, 2011

President Obama told Jewish donors to his reelection campaign that Israel and the United States must assess the new Middle East with "fresh eyes."

Funder Helps Holocaust Survivors Make Ends Meet

Published on May 10, 2011

Tuition grants, endowments to benefit day schools

By Julie Gruenbaum Fax
Published on May 10, 2011

More than half the students in Los Angeles Jewish day schools receive financial aid to pay tuition, which runs between $12,000 and $30,000 per year. And with both tuition and the number of students requiring aid expected to continue climbing, BJE: Builders of Jewish Education is partnering with local donors and national organizations both to alleviate the immediate crisis and work toward long-term solutions for lowering the cost of Jewish education.

Donors Save Hen Family From Losing Home

By Dikla Kadosh
Published on April 20, 2010

Avinoam and Rachel Hen, the Israeli couple who suffered through a decade of tragedies and were on the verge of losing their Chatsworth home in March, will be able to keep the home thanks to the efforts of i Short Sale, the real estate company that negotiated a lower rate for their mortgage on their behalf, along with the generosity of several members of the Jewish community who offered financial assistance but asked to remain anonymous.

Donors Protest Israeli Professor’s Op-ed

By Adam Wills
Published on August 26, 2009

Neve Gordon, the Ben-Gurion University political science professor whose Aug. 20 op-ed in the Los Angeles Times titled “Boycott Israel” described Israel as an “apartheid state,” has drawn protests and threats of cutting off funding for the school by some U.S. donors.

A Big Giver

By Rob Eshman
Published on March 22, 2007

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.

White Dies, But Cause Lives On

By Adam Wills
Published on September 22, 2005

Like many tales of mourning, this story was not supposed to end this way -- or to end this soon. Judah White, the young doctor whose battle with cancer became a clarion call for adult stem cell donations, died this month at 39. White, an intensely private person, allowed his suffering to enter the public domain so people could realize that there is no moral controversy attached to adult stem cells, that adult stem cell donation is relatively painless and that these donations are desperately needed to save lives.

White's case now also stands out as an example of the unavoidable imperfection of medical treatments. He died despite getting an adult stem cell transfusion that doctors hoped would help save him.

A Shalhevet Response

By Beatrice Levavi
Published on March 3, 2005

What's Next for Shalhevet?" by Julie Gruenbaum Fax appeared in these pages on Feb. 4. Reactions of Shalhevet

parents, faculty, students, alumni, administrators and, indeed, even its rivals, have ranged from rage and outrage to tears and dismay.

From the beginning of the article where Jerry Friedman, Shalhevet's founder and the owner of a Jaguar with "vanity plates," "kvells" in a weekly school town hall meeting -- Why does he kvell? What transpired in Town Hall to give him such pride? -- and then leaves to "nail" a donation, the stage is set.

Study of UJC Merger Finds Unhappiness

By Tom Tugend
Published on February 3, 2005

American Jewish leaders who created the United Jewish Communities (UJC) umbrella organization out of three separate ones in 1999 are largely frustrated and disappointed by the outcome of their labor, with some scoring the missed chance to form a truly representative and forward-looking voice for American Jewry.

Federation to End Donor Subscriptions

By Marc Ballon
Published on September 9, 2004

Starting next year, Jewish Journal readers who received their weekly newspaper by donating to The Jewish Federation will still be able to get it, but not as part of their Federation donation.

Car Donations May Hit IRS Roadblock

By Adam Wills
Published on April 8, 2004

Get rid of your old car, help out a charity and get a write-off. What could be easier?

With the April 15 IRS deadline drawing near, charities are tapping taxpayer frustration by increasing their appeals for vehicle donations. But a proposed government crackdown on the value donors can claim for a donated vehicle is changing the way programs are being advertised.

Academy for Adult Jewish Studies to Open

By Journal Staff
Published on March 4, 2004

A pilot academy that would give adult students in Orange County certificates of graduation for completing three years of Jewish study expects to accept its first students in September.

Give and Take

By Rabbi Asher Brander
Published on February 26, 2004

Our Torah portion employs an enigmatic turn of phrase that appears quite instructive in this regard. As God commands Moses to solicit the necessary stuff to build the Sanctuary, He demands that the Jews "take for Me a portion."

Fed Campaign Ends on High Note

By Jewish Journal Staff
Published on September 4, 2003

In June, the Journal incorrectly reported the 2003 results as slightly down based on incomplete figures that did not reflect the final campaign push.

Pumping Up the Bottom Line

By Marc Ballon
Published on February 13, 2003

On Sunday, Feb. 23, 800 volunteers from across the Southland will staff the phones from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. to raise money for the Jewish
Federation of Greater Los Angeles.

The Art of Giving

By Rob Eshman
Published on January 2, 2003

Call me short-sighted and atavistic, but I believe one of the most encouraging bits of news I heard last week was the decision by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to suspend its renovation.

The bad news is Los Angeles will have to wait indefinitely to have a splashier namesake art museum, a Getty-by-the-Tar Pits. The good news is the major donors, many of whom are Jewish, now might be swayed to move some of that museum money over into other communal needs.

Just over one year ago, the museum unveiled a bold plan to overhaul and expand the Wilshire Boulevard institution, according to an architectural design by Rem Koolhaas of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The renovation, which would have involved a downstairs plaza and redesigned upstairs galleries under a tent-like roof, was expected to cost upwards of $400 million.

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.