Homes for homeless

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on November 20, 2012

Back in 2004, attorney Jerry Neuman was driving in Hollywood with his then-4-year-old son, Jake, when the boy noticed a disheveled homeless man on a bus bench beside a shopping cart of belongings. Jake asked his father where the man lived.

PA to provide housing for released prisoners

Published on November 6, 2011

The Palestinian Authority will provide housing for the Palestinian prisoners released in the Shalit swap.

State Department criticizes Israel over E. Jerusalem housing approval

Published on August 10, 2011

The Obama administration criticized Israel over the approval of a new housing project in eastern Jerusalem.

Libya will allow Jews to visit homes

Published on September 3, 2010

Libya will allow two Italian Jewish women to visit their ancestral homes.

Building Homes, Building Hope

By Rabbi Mark S. Diamond
Published on May 25, 2006

The prophet Isaiah asks: "What is the house which you would build for Me, and what is the place of My rest?" (Isaiah 66:1). In the days following the Easter and Passover holidays, 41 Angelenos traveled to the Gulf Coast to translate their faith into action. We were rabbis and pastors, African Americans and Jewish Americans, high school seniors and senior adults, synagogue and church members from 12 Los Angeles congregations who rebuilt homes in Gulfport, Miss.

‘Monster’ Maven Tames Wild Homes

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on June 23, 2005

"Monster House," which dubs itself "a home show on steroids," capitalizes on viewers' hunger for prickly reality TV shows. On each episode, Schwartz and five builders -- all strangers to each other -- have five days to transform a house into a family's dream theme -- with absolutely no peeking by homeowners. Tempers flare as the team crashes spaceships through ceilings, turns fireplaces into fire-breathing Tiki gods and bursts the Three Stooges through living room walls.

Teens Build a Bridge Beyond the Past

By Ellie Kahn
Published on May 27, 2004

On April 19, 12 German teenagers left Heidelberg, flew west for about 6,000 miles, disembarked at LAX, and entered the lives and homes of 12 Jewish American teenagers. None of the 24 teens knew quite what to expect.

During their two-week stay in homes of Kol Tikvah congregants, the German students visited local high schools, attended Shabbat services, took part in a Yom HaShoah program, tried a range of new foods and looked everywhere for Tom Cruise.

Congregations Rally to Aid Fire Victims

By Tom Tugend
Published on October 30, 2003

By phone, e-mail and word-of-mouth, the bad news kept piling up at Congregation Emanu El in San Bernardino.

The homes of six families had been burned to the ground in the devastating wildfires sweeping across Southern California.

Another 30-40 families had been forced to evacuate their homes, and no one knew the present whereabouts of eight other families.

Rabbi Douglas Kohn, the Reform congregation's spiritual leader, was at the point of utter exhaustion.

Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

By Sandee Brawarsky
Published on March 6, 2003

"Welcome to Heavenly Heights" by Risa Miller (St. Martin's Press, $23.95).


Many writers have imagined the Jewish immigrant experience, setting their novels and short stories on the Lower East Side and places like that, where newcomers can forge their way to become Americans. Risa Miller's debut novel, "Welcome to Heavenly Heights," is a different version of that story, with American Jews making new homes in Israel, reversing the exile. This transition can be more pressure cooker than melting pot, mixing idealism, religion, bureaucracy, family complexities, shifting expectations, love and, never far away, violence.

The Circuit

By Michael Aushenker
Published on December 6, 2001

More than 600 people attended the Second Annual L.A. Family Housing Awards at Universal Studios' Globe Theatre.