Weeks after Sandy, enormity of human and economic costs are becoming clear

Published on November 20, 2012

Kenny Vance's multimillion-dollar beach house has stood proudly on the Long Island shore and weathered all manner of storms since 1916. Then came Sandy.

My G-20 Jewish Homecoming

By Jay Firestone
Published on September 24, 2009

Economic crisis affecting all strata in community

By Lilly Fowler
Published on November 19, 2008

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

Published on November 13, 2008

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

Published on November 7, 2008

" . . . 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 . . ."

Could economic slump—which means less giving— kill Jewish community innovation?

By Jacob Berkman
Published on October 10, 2008

According to a survey taken in late September by the private wealth research firm, Prince & Associates, the cuts have arrived. Fifty-one percent said they planned on giving less next year than they did this past year -- and only 16 percent said they planned on giving more.

Wall Street, Main Street, Jew Street

By Rob Eshman
Published on October 8, 2008

If only those nasty money changers and culture vultures in the seething cities below would just let them sow their wheat and do their books and raise their children up good.

Communities can use High Holy Days to help ease economic angst

Published on September 25, 2008

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.

McCain and Obama campaigns focus on sanctions as Iran threat looms

By Ron Kampeas
Published on September 16, 2008

The mounting anxiety over Iran's nuclear program is sparking campaign chatter over a possible Israeli strike and prompting a bipartisan effort to revive long-stalled sanctions legislation in the U.S. Congress

Table for none?

By Amy Klein
Published on May 5, 2008

They open, they close -- will this latest entry in the kosher restaurant wars survive a year?

As U.S. dollar plummets, Israelis rediscover the shekel

By Dina Kraft
Published on March 1, 2008

No longer the subject of derision or victim of hyperinflation, the shekel is now among the strongest currencies in the world. For the first time in years, businesses and real estate agencies that once dealt only in dollars are now instead setting their rates to the shekel.

Illuminating the Jewish chapters of the Los Angeles story

By David N. Myers
Published on November 9, 2006

Los Angeles, to the first-time visitor, can seem something of an enigma. Its vast physical spread often spawns negative stereotypes of a city beset by traffic, smog and the absence of a core.

R.E. Hard Crash? Soft Landing? Bursting Balloon? Leaking Balloon?

By Marc Ballon
Published on August 31, 2006

The Jewish Journal spoke to Cohen about the recent reversal in the local housing market.

The Slop Sink

By Rob Eshman
Published on December 29, 2005

At the heart of the tenement kitchen was the slop sink, a metal basin maybe a foot shorter than a standard bathtub, but a few inches deeper. Here the woman of the house washed vegetables and clothes, and on occasion herself and her children.

German Jews Praise Merkel

By Toby Axelrod
Published on October 20, 2005

As Germany stands on the brink of a new political era -- about to have its first woman and first former East German as chancellor -- Jews are peering over the horizon with cautious optimism.

Netanyahu Resigns Over Gaza

By Leslie Susser
Published on August 11, 2005

Benjamin Netanyahu's resignation from the Israeli Cabinet may have come too late to scuttle Israel's planned withdrawal from Gaza and the northern West Bank, but it seems almost certain to change the face of Israeli politics.

Israel Has Rx for U.S. Health Care

By Mordechai Shani
Published on August 19, 2004

Israel and the United States each have successes and failures in their respective health care systems, but the younger of the modern nations, rooted in its tradition of helping the needy, has much to teach its American ally.

Vote Yes on 57, 58: They Will Ease Crisis

By Bruce L. Bialosky
Published on February 26, 2004

If you study the state budgets over the last few years as I have, you would see that we have had a deficit at the end of each year that keeps getting larger each and every year. Even when revenues were perceived to be at a peak, we were outspending those revenues. The state budget began each year in the hole that just got deeper as the months went by.

Israel’s Poor Endure Tough Situation

By Dina Kraft
Published on November 27, 2003

Three years of Palestinian violence have scared away investors, a worldwide economic downturn has devastated Israel's once-thriving high-tech industry, factories are closing because of foreign competition and government cutbacks in welfare and social spending in response to a $6 billion deficit have taken their toll.

Return to Founding Ideals Poses Challenge

By Alice Shalvi
Published on May 8, 2003

The major overall challenge we face today is that of returning to the ideals of a democratic, pluralistic Jewish State that found their expression in the noble words of Israel's Declaration of Independence.

Made in Israel

By Michael Aushenker
Published on March 27, 2003

The marketing campaign was launched earlier this month in a collaboration by the Southern California Israel Chamber of Commerce, The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, the Government of Israel Economic Mission and the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute.

Argentina

By Richard S. Gunther
Published on January 2, 2003

The Argentine government owes $135 billion to the IMF and the world bank, with little chance of ever repaying this staggering amount. In addition, over the past 45 years, 15 of the 19 agreements with the IMF have been broken, and thus, Argentina has zero credibility for further borrowings.

Budget Danger Ahead

By James D. Besser
Published on August 8, 2002

In Jewish communal boardrooms in New York and Washington, all eyes are focused on the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the tricky matter of U.S.-Israeli relations in a changing era.

Indirect Victims

By Rachel Pomerance
Published on February 14, 2002

An alarming number of at-risk children are among the Jewish victims of Argentina's economic collapse.

Economic Emergency

By Larry Derfner
Published on November 22, 2001

On top of being in a military state of emergency for over a year, Israel is now in an "economic state of emergency" as well, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced last week. He was about the last person in the country to say the words out loud.

We’re in the Money

By Anita Chabria
Published on August 16, 2001

Despite a tough economic year that prompted more than $550 million in line-item vetoes by Governor Gray Davis, the new California state budget allocates almost $10 million dollars to Jewish organizations.

The Circuit

By Michael Aushenker
Published on January 20, 2000

If the multitude of Jewish events are any indication, the holidays hit hard this season.

New Vistas

By Dennis Gura
Published on November 29, 1999

"The New Geography: How the Digital Revolution Is Reshaping the American Landscape," by Joel Kotkin. (Random House, $22.95)

Joel Kotkin, a senior fellow at both Pepperdine University Institute for Public Policy and Milken Institute and a research fellow at the libertarian Reason Public Policy Institute, for 20 years has been researching and writing about what he terms "intangible" inputs into economic life.

Israel Bonds

Published on October 7, 1999

Israel Bonds: They're not just for bar and bat mitzvahs anymore.

Which Side Are You On?

By Marlene Adler Marks
Published on January 14, 1999

Is Mike Davis right about Los Angeles? And if so, what does it mean for our increasingly conservative Jewish community?