Cecelie Wizenfeld is not alone in her efforts to find memorable ways of helping children connect with the holiday. While model seders, seder plate illustrations and handmade afikomen bags have become standard educational fare in the classroom, many Southland religious and day school teachers are finding that creative and unusual holiday projects make more of an impact.
David Ellenson had made a mistake, and he knew Sara Lee could help. Months ago he had declined an invitation to apply for the position of president of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR). Now, at the 11th hour, he had changed his mind.
On a recent gloomy Sunday afternoon in L.A. Family Housing\’s recreation room, 13-year-old Julia Harreschou laughs with 5-year-old Lara as they take turns drawing on a Magna Doodle.
When Amy Cohen graduated from Adat Ari El\’s day school in 2003, her family faced a decision: Where would she continue her education?
No, you didn\’t have to leave New York to discover Jewish observance, but something had to plant the desire. In my case, it was my bar mitzvah.
For \”Portraits in Faith,\” Robin Garbose\’s husband, Levi, adapted a novel by Marcus Lehman, a 19th-century German writer who is something of a John Grisham of the Orthodox world. His books typically are plot-driven, hard-to-put-down novels that are infused with messages of faith.
Financial wizard Michael Steinhardt is blunt in assessing the future of North American Jewry.
The next generation is \”mostly Jewish ignoramuses,\” Steinhardt said. \”We haven\’t convinced the general Jewish population of the value of a Jewish education.\”
Aviva Kadosh, who serves the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Los Angeles (BJE) as a specialist in religious schools and Hebrew-language programs, has been an educator for 34 years.
First comes love, then comes marriage. But when baby makes three, an interfaith couple has to face hard decisions about their child\’s religious upbringing.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.