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eHarmony goes gay
Rahm Emanuel is a fighting policy wonk with a Jewish soul [VIDEO]
One thing Rahm Emanuel is not, all agree, is the president-elect's conciliatory signal to the Jewish community after a campaign fraught with worries that Obama would tip toward even-handedness in dealing with the Middle East
To let go and to pray
Parshat Lech Lecha (Genesis 12:1-17:27) Lech Lecha begins with God telling Abraham, "Go forth from your land, from your birthplace, from the house of your father to the land that I will show you."
An unexpected family in Netanya
Watching the children cry, clinging to us and begging us not to leave, I realized the power of selfless giving, an experience I had not discovered before this volunteer opportunity.
Oregon judge rules against 13-year-old’s circumcision
Transcendence: Jacob Artson’s eloquence and spirit defy his severe autism diagnosis
"You hear so much from autism organizations about what a horrible disease this is and how the parents have been robbed of their children, yada, yada, yada, and I suppose on a certain level that is true," Jacob told me, typing the words on a special keyboard that allows him to fully express his ideas. "But I refuse to live the rest of my life believing I am a defective human being. I have gifts and talents and challenges just like everyone else, and I have the same desire for connection and a need to be treated with dignity and respect."
Create a new model to enhance work, self, family and community
There's much pain. Too many people feel overwhelmed, disconnected, pessimistic and with no other purpose than to merely survive. Demand for change is the order of the day, as it has always been in our Jewish tradition.
Beauty can arise from tragedy
As the events unfolded, it was a story that could only be measured against the biblical account of Job. It was everyone's worst nightmare.
Muslim mom tells daughter a Jewish husband would be kosher
AP discovers rabbi related to Obama
Wait a minute: Nigerian Muslim told he can keep 86 wives, at least for now
A request from the Jewlyweds
Evangelicals and the Palin pregnancy
GOP platform offers strong support for Israel, veers right domestically
The Republican Party platform endorses positions at odds with those of most Jewish voters -- but not when it comes to Israel.
Nigerian Muslim downsizing wives corps from 86 to 4
McCain’s pregnant teen
Muslim dating service on JewishJournal.com
Riverside County woman charged with polygamy
Nigerian Muslim has 86 wives
Checklist: What to do when someone dies
Job one: Contact the hospital or mortuary so that you can fill out any paperwork, i.e., death certificate, as soon after the death as possible
NYT Mag gets intimate with girls of the FLDS
Calendar Girls Picks and Clicks July 26-August 1—Rothman, Pressman live
Jewcy: ‘Hell hath no fury like a pissed off Jewish mother’
VIDEO: Duke professor searches for ‘kohanim’ genetic marker
Dr. David B. Goldstein from Duke's Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy talks about tracking the genetic history of the ancient Jewish priesthood (kohanim) and the Lost Tribes of Israel, the focus of his news book, "Jacob's Legacy"
What to expect when you’re not sure you’re done expecting
One night on the phone, she confesses to me about the "voices" -- the voices in her head that keep telling her she feels empty. I tell her the story about the man who picked up radio signals via the fillings in his mouth. She ignores me and tells me she knows it's about wanting another baby. That she wants to have another kid, and it's too late.
God’s Blog #4: Leaving your father and mother
Welcome to the neighborhood
Eva’s prayer
He wasn't the only one who helped Eva fight through the pain. For years, Eva has had an extended family down the street at Maimonides Academy. The head of the school, Rabbi Boruch Kupfer, often came to visit. One day, knowing what Eva was going through, he asked her what they could bring. Eva wasn't shy: Food, she said, and lots of soup.
My two Jewish mothers
Gay marriages begin in California
Guerilla filmmaker brings verite ‘Pleasure’ to robbery
For Safdie, filmmaking is an extended family affair. His brother Benny, whose own short film was screened at Cannes, is part of the merry band of movie makers at Redbucket Films, which Sadie describes as "kind of like a tree house for kids who wanna grow old together."
Court sides with polygamist families
Israel and I: The first 60 years
By ship and plane, I've traveled to Israel 15 times over the last 60 years and, looking back, my relationship to the Jewish state has a certain Zelig-like quality.
American Jews and Israelis: brothers from different mothers
Books: It’s mom vs. daughter in Weiner’s latest novel
What bestselling author Jennifer Weiner remembers most about her bat mitzvah is her hair.
"It was really unfortunate hair, really tragic -- like short and feathered and awful," said Weiner, author of "In Her Shoes," which was adapted as a 2005 film starring Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette.
Judy Toll is one funny valentine
So what can you say about a 44-year-old comedian who died? That she leaves a certain legacy of laughter, through the efforts of her brother, to those who never heard of her.
It’s not about a plan
Religion Editor Amy Klein speaks with Rabbi Sherre Hirsch about Hirsch's new book 'We Plan, God Laughs: 10 Steps to Finding Your Divine Path When Life is Not Turning Out Like You Wanted'
The fear of silence
It's estimated that 97 percent of Polish Jews died in the war. To this day, Geminder can't quite fathom how he ended up in the 3 percent that survived.
The indestructible spirit of Holocaust survivors
Settle down
Lori Gottlieb isn't advocating marrying a man who repulses you or puts you to sleep every time he answers the question, "How was your day, dear?"
Many of Texas’ FLDS teen girls pregnant, mothers
Wheaton professor fired over divorce
Honey, you’re home!
Stop me if you've heard this one before.
Student gets into good university. Student obtains esteemed degree. Graduate flounders in unsteady job market; must confront the dreaded possibility of moving back in with her parents, Ima and Abba, whom I dearly love -- and come college, was all too ready to leave.
Born-again Christians more likely to divorce
How to throw a great party for less than $3,000
We all wanted to give my nephew the bar mitzvah party to not just match but surpass all of the one's he'd been invited to during the year. Yet the family's fortunes were not equal to the task. All we could scrimp together was $3,000. It could only have been divine inspiration that led us to the conclusion that this actually made the job of putting together a bar mitzvah to remember a lot easier than it seemed.
Films: Director examines healing from surgery, grief
Seated at his office in Beverly Hills, Ben Mittleman, 57, doesn't have a trace of gray in his sandy-brown hair. He says his mother used to kid him that he must have had a "facelift or something," but despite the fact that this veteran TV actor turned director-producer looks 10 years younger than his age, he underwent heart surgery in 2001. That experience is the subject of "Dying to Live," along with his response to the cancers that later took the lives of both his mother and his wife, Valerie. The film premieres Thursday, March 13, at Laemmle's Music Hall, where it will screen for two weeks.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one
Heroic parents, we salute you!
Being a parent is a heroic act. Being a parent of a teenager sometimes makes us feel less than heroic. Indeed, we, as parents, often become an embarrassment. Congratulations to those of us parents who "embarrass" our kids in a manner that shows how much we love them.
30-day sex challenge
Beloved rabbi says unbelievably regrettable things
SWM seeks ‘every single other Jew’
Our family’s journey to make sure our special son was included
As soon as they put him on my belly, I knew. I looked at his eyes, and they were a bit puffy, as is normal after a regular delivery, but I knew.
My husband, Mark, said he looked perfect, with all fingers and toes accounted for. I kept asking if he was all right; he was our second child, after all, and I knew he wasn't, because a mother knows.
Mark kept believing everything was OK until he followed the nurses down to the nursery, and they asked for pediatricians to come in. Nurses attended to our first born, Jason -- not doctors.
A shiksa’s quest to destory the Jewish community
The Calendar Girls: Picks, kicks and plugs
Summary of upcoming cultural events of note. Theatre, photography, films and lectures!
The Calendar Girls: Picks, kicks and plugs
Calendar of events, January 26 to February 1: Kids, film, lecture, theater, maccabi games, singles, tu b'shevat, volunteer, concert, comedy, adventure, drama, photography, book signing, music, youth art show, mardi gras.
Ashkenazi women and ovarian cancer
Dr. Beth Y. Karlan is the director of the Cedars-Sinai Women's Cancer Research Institute at the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute. Her specialty is ovarian cancer, the deadliest of gynecologic cancers and one that is diagnosed in more than 22,000 women annually.
The poisoning of Beverly Hills High
Joy Horowitz's "Parts Per Million: The Poisoning of Beverly Hills High School" (Viking) is a dense 350-page book detailing a four-year fight between 1,000 litigants who claimed oil wells at the school caused diseases, such as cancer, and defendants -- including the oil companies, the city of Beverly Hills and school officials -- who said there had been no harmful effects from the (profitable) derricks.
Research and references are the key to selecting assisted living facility
Many potential residents pin their hopes on assisted living and its menu of services as a means to keep them independent for as long as possible. Seniors who require help and support in managing their daily activities, but who don't need medical oversight or intense supervision, are the best candidates for assisted living. They may select from a range of possible services, including meals, laundry, cleaning, bathing, dressing, toileting and other personal care, albeit for additional fees.
Program helps grandparents nurture interfaith grandkids
Bettina Kurowski is the chair of the 2008 fundraising campaign of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and active in her Conservative synagogue. She's also a grandmother of three young grandchildren. They give her great naches, or joy, she says, but she's also worried -- the children's father is not Jewish, the kids are being raised in an interfaith home and Kurowski, for all her Jewish involvement, is not sure what role she should play in passing on the Jewish heritage that is so dear to her.
Doctor with ‘healing hands’ helps kids from Iran to L.A.
When Ralph Salimpour was six years old in Esfahan, Iran, he had malaria -- a blood disease spread by infected mosquitoes that kills millions of people in the developing world every year.
More on the MySpace suicide
The American wives of Saudi men
As she remembers it
Do you write from memory? Someone always asks, and I become tongue-tied and uncertain, scrambling for the words, the ways to make believable what I know will sound bizarre -- a too-complicated response where all that is required is a simple "Yes" or "No" or "Sometimes; the rest is research."
I lived in Iran for only 13 years. I remember very little -- a handful of places, a couple of dozen friends and relatives. Yet, I've spent my entire career writing about the country and its people, and I've written it all -- this is the part that's difficult to explain -- from memory.
Reform Jews must refashion Shabbat
Communal leaders outside of the synagogue love to talk the language of corporate strategy. They engage in endless debates on the latest demographic study. They plan elaborate conferences and demand new ideas. But sometimes we don't need new ideas; we need old ideas. We need less corporate planning and more text and tradition, less strategic thinking and more mitzvot, less demographic data and more Shabbat. Because we know in our hearts that in the absence of Shabbat, Judaism withers.
‘Father killed daughter for not wearing hijab’
This is parenting?
My sister Sarah
"Bitch, bastard, damn, s--t." Okay, her menschiness has never taken a traditional form. But the crowds roared. The performer was 2-year-old Sarah. The stage was our living room. The set was our father's lap on one of our giant round sponges -- 1970s artsy chairs -- in orange and beige stripes, upon the bright green carpet of our living room.
What’s in a name? More than you think
Rabbi will pay for love
Correction of the ... whatever
Mom’s last day
Remembrance of a mother's last day.
When one parent thinks the other is going to Hell
Let us travel to Iran
Why Iran? Why now, you may ask.
In part, it is incredible that such an old and established Jewish community is unknown to most of us, and that the life they led is, for the most part, no more.
Transcendence—a true story for Yom Kippur
What is it that allowed this family to stay whole and renew the life in themselves when fate, or God, or a violent man, dealt them unimaginable grief? In this season of renewal and introspection, of fate and faith, what can others facing obstacles of any degree learn from this family's remarkable ability to transcend the unthinkable?
And who shall die?
This New Year, we will enter our synagogues to take the measure of our souls, to account for our actions, to seek forgiveness, to face the fact that God wants something better from us. Is it so unfair to want, in return, something better from God?
12 thoughts on happiness for the 10 Days of Awe
Thoughts on happiness.
Family Table: Recipes from our families to yours
Our favorite memories of the High Holy Days often come from food -- especially the food we ate growing up at our family tables. Some of the following recipes have been handed down through the generations, others are borrowed from friends, neighbors, friends of friends. All have stories of origin, and most draw on the Rosh Hashanah tradition of sweetness, in hopes for a sweet New Year. However they got on our tables, they are here to stay for generations to come. Our writers share some of their favorites.
Is the pomegranate the perfect fruit?
When I see pyramids of pomegranates displayed in a market it's difficult to deny them space in my shopping cart. Buy them at your local farmers market when they are in season since they keep for several weeks in a refrigerator.
Class notes: Students attend ‘Israel High;‘ Boychik Scouts; Honors abound
Education
Books: Exile from Egypt through a daughter’s eyes
Lucette Lagnado, an award-winning investigative reporter for The Wall Street Journal, portrays her father and the cosmopolitan Cairo he loved and had to flee in 1963 when life became exceedingly difficult for the Jews, in the decade after King Farouk's fall and Gamal Abdel Nasser's ascent to power.
Books: Land of ‘Golden’ dreams and tarnished identities
In her intricately plotted story, Gilmore deftly weaves fact into fiction as she traces the fortunes of three intertwined families of Jewish immigrants in early 20th century New York. The result is a compelling portrait of hopes, both realized and dashed, that explores questions of identity, self-invention, women's roles and the definition of success.
Shopping for back to shul
Success in finding the perfect shul in Los Angeles for you and your family too often seems just one more visit away.
Cutting someone out of will can leave a legacy of pain
Steve Kaplan had just finished sitting shiva for his mother when he was dealt another blow: He had been written out of her will.
Brotherly Advice
In the last year, my younger brother has been asking for and taking my dating advice on an almost daily basis. It's a fact that continues to astound me. This isn't to say I don't have anything worthwhile to say on the topic, despite the fact that I'm married now and raising two kids. It's more that I've simply never had this kind of relationship with him before.
I’ll love him like a brother ... in-law
When I saw how happy my sister was, I realized that this wedding experience wasn't about me. It wasn't about creating a gender balance in my family. It wasn't about gaining a big brother.
Creating a new community
When the grind of settling in subsided, I leased a studio-with-a-view in pristine Santa Monica and acquired a job in the film industry to foot the rent; I also regained the luxury of longing. Three thousand miles divided me from comfort and companionship, and though I was determined to forge ahead and establish my independence, I needed a community.
‘Undue influence’ is dangerous form of elder abuse
The elders in these scenarios do not have dementia. Most courts would find them competent. How then are they bamboozled into losing what has taken a lifetime to accumulate? These examples of financial abuse (a form of elder abuse) occurred because of an insidious process called undue influence.
My second childhood
It took eight decades, but at last I know what is meant by "second childhood."
Road to Freedom Is Paved With Relationships
My father was a man who was not tied to money. Most important in life, he taught me, are our relationships. When we care about others, we will then find the essence of who we are.
Becoming American
I'm thinking of the Southern accent, the country-club attitude, the ship-captain husband, trying to figure out how any of that fits in with a story about a family from the Jewish ghetto of Esfahan. "She might have told me," I confess. "I didn't listen because it didn't make sense."
One seder too many?
Nothing can bring out the worst in families more than the holidays -- "to grandmother's house we go," but which grandmother? To avoid conflict, some families eat two turkey dinners. Or there is the "this year, we'll go to your parents' house and next year we'll drive to Sheboygan to visit my parents."
Family Feud—with my family, it’s no game
I would take my mom against Clint Eastwood in any movie. Sure, he usually plays a grizzled, gunslinger with cat-like reflexes and something to prove, but if you cross my mother, you will find yourself, like the title of Clint's greatest Western, "Unforgiven."
Passover Calendar 2007
Upcoming Events
Don’t let foodies eat up all the fun
Food has become the obsession of an increasingly judgmental nation: We care not just about what we should eat, but what we shouldn't.
Jacob’s Ladders
This week, Jacob is doing research on the Internet for a little dvar Torah he'll be giving at the Etta Israel Shabbaton at Beth Jacob Congregation. Etta Israel is the popular local organization that caters to kids with Down syndrome and other special needs, and it's where Jacob studied Judaism every Sunday for seven years.
Stop sugarcoating intermarriage
Social scientists, myself included, have charted -- and implicitly celebrated -- the growing and exhilarating diversity of Jewish identities, communities and innovation.
Tough neighborhoods, hard times feed cycle of poverty
Anti-poverty activists and residents say the situation of many towns like Shechunat Hatikvah is the result of decades of government neglect and poor planning -- places seen as dumping grounds where immigrants were settled in demographically strategic locations but far from job opportunities.
Teens should follow in footsteps of volunteerism
While many children of bar mitzvah age are unable to grasp all that their newfound responsibilities entail, each one recognizes the occasion as an important turning point in their lives as Jews.
Siblings show they have write stuff
For Daniel and Lauren, becoming authors has also meant serving as peer educators.
"I told my friends that I wrote a book about the Holocaust, and at least three of them didn't know what it was," said Daniel. Lauren had a similar experience.
A down-home way to treasure that special day
Consider orchestrating a Bar Mitzvah Treasure Hunt that you can host in your backyard, throughout your house or even in a hall rented for the occasion.
Former emcee sheds light on beaucoup-buck parties
George Valencia said the inspiration for the film came from his worst memory as a bar mitzvah emcee -- he had run out of glow ropes during a party for a particularly affluent family only to discover that the bar mitzvah boy had never received one.
Books: Mailer scrutinizes evil in form of young Hitler
Power, politics and sex. War and violence. What more could he write about, you might well ask. Now, just turned 84, he has published "The Castle in the Forest," which attempts to engage and scrutinize the nature of evil personified in the life of the young Adolf Hitler. He -- Hitler as a youth -- ostensibly is the subject of the novel.
Try main course hamantashen for a topsy-turvy day!
If you're the type of person who likes gift giving, especially treats from your kitchen, then you probably look forward to the holiday as much as my family does. I especially enjoy the making of hamantashen. Holiday cookbooks are full of poppy seed, prune, chocolate, and even jelly-filled recipes.
Iranian Jews struggle with segregation, presumption and assimilation -- how the stranger became the Angeleno
There is no demographic study of the Iranian Jewish community in Los Angeles, although its size is generally given as 30,000, including the American-born children of the original immigrants.
There Is Nothing Like Home
By the time they left the synagogue, Abraham Foxman had made up his mind. When he returned to the nursemaid's home he announced that he wanted to be Jewish because he liked the "Jewish Church." There he said, they "celebrate life."
IFF: One Israeli’s ‘War Within’
American audiences, in particular, will welcome a film that depicts Israelis as three-dimensional human beings, with strengths and weaknesses, rather than the array of no-goodnicks favored by many Israeli directors harshly critical of their own society.
So many singles, so few tables
Jews are no different. Whether male or female, young or old, Ashkenazic or Sephardic, rich or poor, left-wing or right-wing, religious or secular, SUV-driving or Prius-driving, loud or quiet, screenwriter or grant writer, somehow, no matter how good you feel in our own skin, and how much you enjoy your own company, none of us wants to be alone.
Peers give Orthodox teens lesson in drug use and abuse
For many years, at-risk behavior and drug use among yeshiva high school students has been an open secret, but only in recent years have kids and their families had anywhere to turn.
The Schwartzes and me
The Schwartzes have been my friends for more than 21 years. Their learning and charisma has had a deep effect on many Jews, not least among them Jews in Hollywood's Jews.
The city branches into the Tu B’Shevat business to make L.A. naturally beautiful
This year, as Jews living in Los Angeles, we are teaming up not only with God but also with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has launched an ambitious drive to plant 1 million new trees in Los Angeles neighborhoods, schoolyards and parks, on both public and private properties, over the next several years.
Jewish parent + Christian parent = Jewish kids
Many interfaith couples are raising their children to be Jews, even without conversion of the non-Jewish parent.
Release of ‘Alpha Dog ‘ reopens Markowitz family wounds
The film, "Alpha Dog," based on the 2000 kidnapping and murder of 15-year-old West Hills resident Nick Markowitz, has received mixed reviews but growing notoriety.
Books: Max Apple is a bard of the background
One of the best American short story writers, Apple has just published "The Jew of Home Depot and Other Stories" (Johns Hopkins Press), his first collection of stories in 20 years. He writes with the same playful imagination and comic intelligence as in his earlier stories, layered with irony and an infallible sense of detail.
Films: The ‘Little Miss’ that could maybe hopefully
When Peter Saraf signed on to co-produce the film, "Little Miss Sunshine," he says he did so without hesitation. The script, about a dysfunctional family's road trip, spoke to him immediately, and he was proud to bring his great-aunt and great-uncle to see it.
At Party Time: Candy is dandy—charity is sweeter
As my son's bar mitzvah day inched closer, I began to see the world in a whole different light -- a disco ball light, to be exact -- for as my child grew, so did his friends, officially putting us both on the b'nai mitzvah circuit.
MLK Observances; Beethoven @ LACMA; Alpha Dog Rising
Calendar
Laura’s Smile
Laura has never spoken a word, but she can coo, laugh, sigh and cry. At her best, she has taken steps with the help of a walker. She has a thin body with a smallish, sweet face framed by dark-brown hair. She gets 24-hour home care, with three rotating nurses monitoring her breathing and other vital signs.
Oh yeah, and she loves to smile.
Yehoram Uziel: A Lifeline to Mexico
When he was sent by his high-tech company to America in 1989, it was only natural that he would begin to search for more volunteer opportunities. An experienced pilot, Uziel, 56, began working for various medical aid organizations, flying needy sick people, as well as medical equipment and doctors around the country.
Rebecca Levinson: Born to Be a Volunteer
Rebecca Levinson grew up always doing things for the community.
"This is what you do," the 17-year-old junior at North Hollywood's Oakwood School, said matter of factly.
For Cryin’ Out Loud
Camp Ramah marks 50 years
"Ramah is a place where campers and counselors have their first experience in not only participating in, but helping to form and lead the Jewish community in which they find themselves," said Camp Ramah of California Executive Director Rabbi Daniel Greyber.
Jump start Summer at Winter Expo; More help picking a Jewish summer camp
Jewish camping, particularly overnight camping, has been documented to be one of the most effective ways to build a lasting and active connection to Jewish living.
American-style retirement for Israel’s seniors
Although old-age homes have always existed in Israel for those who cannot care for themselves, it is only in recent years that the American idea of retiring to a comfortable community of seniors has taken off here.
Fry the latkes, try the gingerbread
The received wisdom for Jewish parents is not to dilute, pollute or mix traditions. Christmas is such a joy bully, if you let any of it in the door, Chanukah will be blown out the window. But just as Republicans don't own family values, Christians haven't appropriated winter gladness and glitter.
I’m… dreaming… of a white… Chri—ummm, holidays
Christmas, you know (unless you've all forgotten, which is increasingly possible), doesn't celebrate the birth of Santa, but the birth of Jesus, and Jesus was a Jew.
Los Angeles mom pleads for life of son kidnapped in Iran
"Why is the world so silent -- why are Jews so silent about the plight of Jews being held captive in Iran?" Elana Tehrani, an Iranian-born Jewish woman now living in Los Angeles asked a crowd during a speech at the Nessah Cultural Center in Beverly Hills.
Theater: Troy vs. ‘Tsuris’
When asked whether he is Jewish, Mark Troy responds, "You will be needing proof of that?"
An open letter to the rabbis at the Jewish Theological Seminary
In elementary school I realized I was different. I had no vocabulary for it, but all the books, movies and relationships I saw led me to believe that my feelings were not normal and needed to be suppressed.
Take a stroll down memoir lane with the family
Amid this seasonally induced excitement, if we are lucky, we'll be spending more time with our families -- both nuclear and extended.
Films: The trials and tribulations of fathers and sons
For so many Jewish men, it always comes back to fathers and sons, despite what Philip Roth might think. Look at the films of Daniel Burman, the rising young star of the New Argentine Cinema.
Milken School head gets the surprise of her life
"I want to recognize and celebrate a person whose intelligence, whose leadership, whose commitment and compassion have made a profound difference in our community, a person who has positively impacted thousands of young people's lives," said Lowell Milken, chairman of the Milken Family Foundation, which gave the naming gift and maintains close ties to the high school.
Eight ways how ‘tis better to give back
Having trouble finding the perfect gift for the one who has everything? Want to give back to the community this holiday season and into 2007? Here are eight great ways to contribute.
Has your gift list got game?
Demand for PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii is outstripping the available supply, and analysts predict the shortage could lead to increased demand for Microsoft's Xbox 360.
But how will you know which system is the right fit for your family?
Theater: All in the ‘Herbicide’ family
"Herb is this wonderful combination of New York savvy, old school wisdom and outrageous life experiences," Kaminoff says. "Imagine Garrison Keillor, only if he was a handsome Jewish guy from Brooklyn."
Arts in LA
Arts
Letters to the Editor
Class Notes: Camp Ramah celebrates Golden Anniversary
Education
There is God in this place
I reached back to cover the asparagus fern I had placed just behind the front seat. (At that time I was told no out-of-state plants were allowed.) The car swerved, ran over the embankment and careened down a ditch at top speed.
Mamma Mia! That’s a Chanukah
The Skirball Cultural Center has chosen to focus on Italian Jewry as the theme for its upcoming "Hanukkah Family Festival," a series of performances, workshops, exhibits and other activities on Sunday, Dec. 10.
Transcript of David Grossman’s speech at the Rabin memorial
... I am speaking here tonight as a person whose love for the land is overwhelming and complex, and yet it is unequivocal, and as one whose continuous covenant with the land has turned his personal calamity into a covenant of blood.
Rainbow-haired couturier takes fashion fun seriously
"I'm a colorful person," Tochterman said. "I like color; I like texture; I like mixing things together. I think my customer is a sophisticated, ageless, confident woman."
Nessah president blazing trail for Iranian women
After Hakimi's election two years ago, participation of women in religious services became a lightning-rod issue on both sides of the mechitza in the Orthodox congregation.
It’s Pat—South African queen of kosher cuisine
Although had she expressed a desire to become a professional cook, Fine is convinced that her mother "would have freaked." Cooking was thought of as "such an ordinary job, one that simply wasn't OK for nice Jewish girls," Fine said.
Obituaries
In the ‘hood, the treat is no trick
Halloween is seen as the crowning achievement of secular emptiness. You celebrate, glorify, trivialize and idolize something as deep and holy as death, and in return, your kids get to gorge on KitKats and day-glow jawbreakers.
Books: Kristallnacht’s memory revealed and recovered
Kristallnacht marked the end of Jewish life in Germany; a pivotal turning point in what later became known as the Holocaust. A generation is passing, but it is a generation that has left behind voluminous records, testimonies and memoirs, video recordings and diaries, letters and notes.
Q&A With Rabbi Harold S. Kushner
Twenty-five years ago, Rabbi Harold S. Kushner wrote a book that changed his life and the perspective of millions,"When Bad Things Happen to Good People". Now, Kushner, 71, has written another practical guide of spiritual wisdom. His 10th book, "Overcoming Life's Disappointments," uses Moses' example to discuss ways of dealing with - and rising above - failure.
The magic Spend/Save/Tzedakah Plan keeps kids thinking
How do we enlighten our concrete-thinking kiddies to the fact that -- despite popular playground belief -- money doesn't grow in ATM machines? With the Spend/Save/Tzedakah plan, of course!
Israelis, Palestinians deserve US/Euro push for peace
Are Israelis simply too weary to make it in the long term? Why do Israelis and Palestinians deserve less than the Irish, the Cypriots, the Serbs, the Bosnians or the South Africans?
51 Birch Street: House of Blocks . . . House of Cards?
Single, 60, and invisible no more
All age groups seem to want the same thing: a soulmate, a soft shoulder to lean on occasionally, companionship for dinner in or out, theater, movies, and travel. I still enjoy cooking (and I'm good at it). I'm not too old for cuddling and hugging, and I happen to enjoy it.
Steve Rubin has a passion for war
To meet him, you might think Steven Rubin is a normal person. Tall, handsome, happily married with young children, he is personable, affable -- in short, one of the gentlest and nicest guys you could meet. But he is a man obsessed with war -- World War II to be precise.
You’re Lucky You’re Funny: How Life Becomes a Sitcom
The following excerpt is the prologue to "You're Lucky You're Funny: How Life Becomes a Sitcom," (Viking, 2006) a memoir by Phil Rosenthal, creator and executive producer of "Everybody Loves Raymond."
Wanted: someone to help suffering Jews
Who will provide spiritual care for the needy?
Winning Nobel Prizes seems to run in one family’s chemistry—and biology
You've heard of the nuclear family. But how about the deoxyribonucleic family? Thirty-seven years after Arthur Kornberg won the Nobel Prize in medicine, his eldest son, Roger, took home this year's prize in chemistry.
New Queen Esther flick is whole ‘nother megillah entirely
"One Night With the King," which, despite its somewhat titillating title, contains nary a hint of sexual abandon or even suggestive cleavage, opens Oct. 13 at close to 1,000 theaters across the United States.
Pro soccer rookie Bornstein gives small goals a big kick
ChivasUSA's Jonathan Bornstein is the top contender for the 2006 Major League Soccer (MLS) Rookie of the Year award. Not bad for the Los Alamitos native who was not invited to the MLS combine and was chosen in the fourth round (of four) of 2006 MLS SuperDraft (37th pick overall).
Violinist Joshua Bell walks in the footsteps of masters
Bell is, by his own admission, more of a cultural Jew than a religious one. "My mother is Jewish, a very typical Jewish mother," he said. "She was very involved in my practicing. Both my parents were behind me and loved music. But for me, Jewishness was very much a cultural tie. I feel very close to the Jewish side of the family. I grew up with my Jewish cousins, going to all the bar mitzvahs, so I feel very close to that side, and I identify myself as being Jewish."
What did you say your name was?
Deciding whether to take your husband's surname.
Obituaries
Obituaries.
Brachas vs. bluegrass: moms make the switch
The Season premiere of FOX's "Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy." The very intriguing but highly unlikely pairing of a Shomer Shabbos Jewish family from Brookline, Mass. (near Boston), and a coon-huntin' family from Olympia, Ky.
When a couple divorces, the custody battle goes beyond dishes and children
Jews are not immune to America's divorce endemic.
Obituaries
Obituaries.
Clues to family drama’s Jewish roots finally add up on ‘Numb3rs’
Third season of "Numb3rs"
Pico-Robertson: Live in the Hood
David and Deena Brandes didn't need the drama of a fire to know they were surrounded by an extended family.
Bittersweet symphonies: the Pearls struggle to find life after Daniel’s death
Music was Daniel Pearl's avocation, but journalism was his profession. In pursuit of a story on Al Qaeda's financial ties, the then-38-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter was kidnapped in early 2002 in Pakistan and beheaded by Islamic extremists.
Faithful, happily ever after, right?
Does everyone cheat? Surely I've been living in a sheltered world. Where I come from infidelity is the rare exception to the rule; and yet, in the world I live now, the distinction seems to be between people who admit they cheat and people who don't.
Exercise your right to read—without censorship
The American Library Association got more than 400 requests to ban books last year. But most of those requests were unsuccessful, because of librarians, teachers, parents, students and other people who make sure books stay on shelves.
Orthodox youth not immune to high-risk lifestyles
Some kids aren't cut out for academic rigor. Leaving them in a mismatched environment often leads them toward self-destructive paths to failure
A dessert wine with a healthy finish
Several years before pomegranates became a favorite of health food fans everywhere, a family in Israel's Upper Galilee region began working to create a tastier and healthier version of the ancient fruit, only to cross their way into yet another huge food market. Their product: the world's first pomegranate wine fit to be sold to international wine connoisseurs
Youth services give kids a break— from their parents
At what age should kids should sit in the main sanctuary? That's a question that synagogues grapple with yearly, as they shuffle an everchanging set of services.
Vietnamese Israeli family takes a long trip ‘home’
What happened to the Vietnamese refugees, and the hundreds that followed them, in "the land of the Jews"?
Rabbi Carron brightens prisoners’ darkest days
With any luck, Daniel will be spending Rosh Hashanah on the outside. It's likely he'll soon be making the transition from jail to the recovery program at Beit T'Shuva, a nonprofit that works with at-risk youth.