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Calendar Girls picks and clicks for Sept. 6–12: Hip hop art, veggie Jews, string theory & laughs
Escape, exile, rebirth: Iranian Jewish diaspora alive and well in Los Angeles
Thirty years have passed since the massive and violent demonstrations against the Shah of Iran that began in September 1978, and for many, the start of that country's bloody revolution might seem a faded memory. Yet I have carried those shattering events with me all of my life: I was born on in Tehran on Sept. 11, 1978, as chaos unfolded on the streets outside
Younger Persians seeking greater role in community
Over the past decades, nearly two dozen local Iranian Jewish groups have been involved with political awareness efforts, but no group until now has seriously pursued or organized communitywide political and civic activism.
Terrifying journey marks escape of widow and children
"It was one of the longest nights in my life.They kept telling me to go to sleep, but I just could not, because I had young girls with me. Then one of the smugglers came into the room and fell asleep at the entrance."
Delivery chef unable to savor his culinary success
Schwartz wanted to cook from the time he was a teenager. His rabbi father and rebbetzin mother would host 50 people for dinner each Friday night, and Schwartz says he would spend Thursdays and Fridays after school cooking with his mother. "I knew by 14 years old that I wanted to go to culinary school," he said
Exile’s gains and losses
I don't know what will become of the legacy of Iranian Jews outside of Iran, how history will judge us in the context of the opportunities we had and the extent to which we helped make the world a better place with what we were given.
Going home again is truly a family affair for filmmaker Azazel Jacobs
"I remember at an early age being told in school that Jews were a minority in the world," filmmaker Azazel Jacobs mused. "And I remember just not believing that because I lived in New York City and thinking they must have things wrong because I was surrounded by so many Jews. That was the whole world to me."
Calendar Girls Picks and Clicks August 23 - 29: Benny Goodman, opera, magic and more
This may be your only chance to help a budding filmmaker out and see "The Impossible Itself."
What Rick Warren said at Sinai Temple; it wasn’t ‘Jesus’
The dark side of TV’s Danny Tanner
Local teens to compete for gold at Maccabi Games
At the same time Southland Jewish Olympians like Jason Lezak and Dara Torres medaled in Beijing, the next generation of local athletes was preparing to compete in events of their own.
Angelena Dara Torres helps U.S. relay swimmers to silver
Record time, new record for winning medals in five different Olympiads.
Southern California pastor protests in Beijing
Jordan Farmar shifts from Mideast peace to environmental movement
Baseball as religion: Manny is Samson, Torre his Delilah
Fake L.A. Times: Polygamists pen TV deal
Earthquake rattles San Gabriel, Pomona synagogues, Israeli consulate evacuated
An earthquake felt throughout the Southern California area Tuesday morning caused no visible damage to synagogues close to the epicenter in the San Gabriel and Pomona valleys. but the Israeli Consulate on Wilshire was evacuated
Economic ripples rock Jewish community
LA times in Zell Hell
‘Why do people think Jews run Hollywood?’
Lakers Farmar enters Mideast peace process
Borat and the Jewish cowboy
The Straight-Talk Express returns
Hadassah convention to stimulate mind, body, soul
An overflowing plate of activities, from Shalom Yoga exercises at 6:15 a.m. to festivities lasting until midnight, will be served up to some 2,000 energetic delegates attending the 94th annual convention of Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, in Los Angeles.
The fake Israel—post-Zionism in the Valley
The blood they gave lasted less than a day
The Best of (Jewish) Los Angeles 2008
We like to think of our Annual Guide to the Best of (Jewish) Los Angeles as kvetch-proof. Our writers and editors provide personal favorites that are so idiosyncratic and eclectic that it's hard to argue. Year after year, by the way, Los Angeles is still our "Best Jewish City."
Evangelical on same-sex marriage: Quoting Scripture not enough
Baron Davis to sign with Clippers
Calendar Girls picks and clicks for June 28 - July 4
Rabbi Zoë Klein: L.A. delegation to Israel returns with wealth of optimism
I was proud to be part of this delegation, proud to be among someof the gatekeepers of our city, astounded at the vast amount Israel had to offer us and the generosity of her leaders to share.
UCLA dorm kosher meal plan discontinued, Jewish Little League sends All-Star team to Israel
After only one year, UCLA's meal plan offering hot kosher meals to students has come to an end. The failure of students to sign up for this dining option is in part the reason for its demise, as participation dwindled from five students in the fall trimester, to only three in the winter, and eventually one lone student in the spring
Terror cell member sentenced for plotting LA attacks
L.A. benefits from ties with Israel
Over the past week, I led a delegation of civic, faith, business and community leaders on a trip that will help make Los Angeles stronger, safer, more secure and better stewards of the environment -- and all Angelenos stand to reap the benefits of our efforts.
LA Times: High gas prices forcing Jews to walk on Sabbath
Photo essay: Mayor Villaraigosa in Israel
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa inaugurated a state-of-the-art computer learning program in the besieged Israeli town of Sderot Friday, June 13.
Leading a delegation of LA community leaders and politicians, Villaraigosa presented the computers to Sderot residents so that their could continue learning despite constant rocket-fire by Palestinians in the neighboring Gaza Strip.
Los Angeles-based Israel Leadership Club (ILC), which initiated and -sponsored the computer initiative, provided the Journal with these photos. Danny Alpert, ILC's Co-Founder and co-Chairman said during a memorable speech in the city he said, "Today we mark a significant milestone in fulfilling our commitment to the young generation in Sderot. We mark a key point new stage for the relationship between the community in Los Angeles and the city of Sderot. Together, we provide the children of Sderot with the opportunity to receive proper education just like the children of Los Angeles receive."
Big AIPAC turnout signals newfound voice for Angelenos
The bulk of the upswing in support has come from synagogues, where lay leaders have taken an active role in engaging with legislators, and rabbis increasingly use their pulpits to educate congregants on how to support the Jewish state short of living there
9th Circuit chief justice posted porn on Web
Mock LA mayor: ‘when I say Jewish state, I am referring not just to Israel, but also to California’*
Jewish Jordan to be messiah of NBA Finals?
Outstanding seniors, Class of 2008
Southern California's best and brightest graduating high school seniors
White supremacist loses judicial race
Jumping for Jesus in a house filled with Jews
Judicial candidate advocates deporting non-whites
Calendar Girls picks and clicks for May 31-June 6
Home Page
Major Villaraigosa going to Israel, AJ Committee Asian Pacific outreach
More L.A. parishes pony up for price of pedophile priests
Zev Yaroslavsky: From Soviet Jewish activist to Los Angeles power player
Villaraigosa renews his Israeli ties
NY Jews protest attack on teen
Long Beach professor justifies anti-Semitism
It’s ‘alleged’ anti-Semitism: a-l-l-e-g-e-d
‘Golden Boy’ Art Aragon keeps the faith
Aragon was a notorious fighter who relished packing the Grand Olympic Auditorium downtown and bringing the crowd to its feet, not with cheering but raucous booing.
Tribal Affairs: Boxing’s Golden Boy was Jewish
Parish donates $1.5 million to abuse victims
Rev. Lee blasted in Wall St. Journal
Fauxmemoirist likens gangsters to suicide bombers
Dodgers strikeout adding Canter’s to Koufax
A Passover celebration with Jews and Rev. Lee
Beckham’s boy to enter Jewish day school
Scene and Heard
Scene and Heard briefs.
Will L.A. top rabbis make ‘Top Rabbi’ list—again?
Last year, when Newsweek published its inaugural list of America's 50 most influential rabbis, Jay Sanderson, one of the list's creators, said he was surprised by how much buzz it generated.
Calendar Girls picks and clicks for April 12- 18
Calendar Girls picks and clicks for April 12- 18
Rev. Lee ‘unequivocally’ denounces anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism interrupts black frat event?
Why Jews should vote for Obama
Gang of Actors reaches a new stage
The Actors' Gang, now in residence at the historic Ivy Substation in Culver City, is celebrating its 25th anniversary. The substation, constructed in 1907 by the Los Angeles Pacific Railroad, looks more like a Spanish mission than an electric power facility, strangely appropriate for The Actors' Gang, which is both a theater troupe with a strong sense of mission and a longtime source of power plays and electric performances (and that's as far as I'm willing to stretch this metaphor).
L.A. displays eco efforts to Israeli delegation
Gil Yaakov and Sagit Rogenstein arrived in Los Angeles on March 2 to address an awakening among American Jews to the environmental threats to Israel. The two were among a group of 18 academics, environmentalists and politicians participating in the Friends of Israel's Environment exchange program. The goal of the exchange, which is sponsored by the Tel Aviv-Los Angeles Partnership of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, is to share solutions for environmental problems that plague both cities, such as air pollution, wastewater treatment, recycling and planning green spaces.
Hagee came, he didn’t conquer, but he wasn’t booed
Mourning the Mercaz Harav massacre
Only the best go there
There are moments when half a world away seems right around the corner. At Young Israel of Century City (YICC) on Sunday afternoon, Israel's pain at the murder of eight young yeshiva students burned through the Los Angeles Jewish community, just as it has in Jerusalem, where the boys lived, and as it has through Jewish communities throughout the world. The death of eight innocent boys studying Torah at Yeshiva Mercaz Harav shrunk the world.
Protesters and counter-protesters flank Wilshire Boulevard
Demonstrations and counter demonstrations in Los Angeles following the terrorist attack on Mercaz Harav yeshiva.
Jerusalem killing hits home for local yeshiva students
"You hear about tragedies in Israel, but it hits so close to home because this is us next year. Next year we're going to yeshiva," said Chaim Gamzo, a 17-year-old senior. "These guys had their whole lives ahead of them -- like me. I hope to go to yeshiva, to go to college, to have a normal successful life, but they didn't have the opportunity to do that."
From red alerts to the red carpet—a teen from Sderot speaks
Vitolda Nahshonov, 15, is one of 10 teens brought to Los Angeles from Sderot by the Israeli Leadership Club and the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles to share her story of what it's like to live under constant attack from Qassam rockets. What follows is an edited version of our conversation.
Anti-Semitic incidents in U.S. and California down in 2007, ADL reports
Continuing its downward trend, the number of anti-Semitic incidents statewide and nationwide dropped last year, according to the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) annual audit.
Scientology is entertainment or religion?
Support for Sderot is strong at L.A. benefit concert
"Live For Sderot," a benefit concert organized by the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles and the Israeli Leadership Club (ILC), aimed to raise awareness of one of Israel's most painful, ongoing issues, along with funds for children's educational programs.
Visit Sderot: Zionism reborn
Eating his way to the spiritual center of LA
L.A.’s Jewish high schools are all over the map
In the early 1980s, when Dina and her husband Michael were applying to Los Angeles Jewish high schools, there was only one choice -- YULA (then known as Yeshiva University of Los Angeles). The Los Angeles Jewish community has expanded and matured since then, and its high school scene now offers nuanced choices with differences in overall philosophy, academic approach, religious level and social atmosphere.Because of that range, a steadily growing number of families with teens are opting for Jewish immersion.
‘The Nazi in the hot tub’
‘This is the end, beautiful friend …’
‘Terrorism is the lousiest shortcut to failure’
City and Feds offer $95,000 reward for information on Valley firebombings
Los Angeles and Jewish officials announced today that the reward for information about last week's firebombing attacks on The New JCC at Milken and the West Valley residence of a Jewish family has been increased to $95,000.
LA’s mayor a member of the Tribe?
A Muslim at Hebrew College
Young Iranian Jews get primed for politics, Isreality rocks the Avalon
Circuit.
Toward a better Federation
I believe that we can again make The Federation exciting and relevant to the Jewish community. I ask you to join with me in a new inclusive Jewish Federation; one that is especially welcoming to the young professional leaders in our lay community. If the challenge appeals to you, don't hesitate to contact me ... we'll find a meaningful position for you. The responsibility of Jewish continuity and the Jewish future and Klal Yisrael is not a job for a small group of elite Jews, but rather a job for all of us and I hope The Federation will be your door to fulfilling that responsibility.
Molotov cocktail thrown at Valley Jewish center
Israel @ 60:The day that Israel came to town
Who is Roger Diamond?
I got to know a quirky, passionate Los Angeles native who never dreamed he'd become a counsel to skin merchants nationwide and the reviled bête noir of neighborhood groups everywhere.
Beloved rabbi says unbelievably regrettable things
War on Scientology begins
Brother, can you spare a few grand?
LA Mayor Giuliani
L.A. woman
Ruthie Rotenberg is the executive director of Limmud in Los Angeles. The idea behind Limmud is to gather Jews of all denominations to celebrate the kaleidoscope of the Jewish experience. For the conference on Presidents' Day Weekend, there will be up to 14 different classes from which to choose. They have almost 400 reservations from Jews of all denominations, and they have maxed out on presenters.
LA Archdiocese sells headquarters
Inside Scientology’s Celebrity Centre
Hey Karl Rove: What happened to two Jews, three opinions?
Israeli Consulate in L.A. evacuated
A bomb scare prompted the evacuation of the Israeli Consulate offices in Los Angeles this afternoon.
Hollywood goes to the Holy Land
The art of intuition
Chanukah: The Not Christmas
Cardinal Mahony assaulted because of clergy scandal
The religion of Dennis Kucinich
Holocaust survivors in L.A. are still struggling
There are an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 Holocaust survivors living in Los Angeles, according to Federation spokeswoman Deborah Dragon. Of these, 3,000 are determined to be financially needy, a figure based on a United Jewish Communities Report published December 2003, which found 25 percent of Holocaust victims in the United States living in poverty.
French philanthropist aid to Iranians comes full circle
Philanthropist Hubert Leven, a French Ashkenazi Jew who recently visited Los Angeles, has ties to the close-knit Iranian Jewish community that go back four generations.
Only a few left-coasters make ‘Forward 50’
So it should be no surprise that when the New York-based, albeit national, newspaper, The Forward, published its Forward 50 -- naming its version of this year's most influential Jews -- only six hail from Los Angeles. Does it matter where they're from?
Funny and frum
Mark Schiff is a rare bird. He's made a living as a stand-up comic for more than 30 years and is much admired in the fraternity of American comedians. For years, he's been performing on the road with Jerry Seinfeld (one of his closest friends). Last year, his book, "I Killed," a compilation of stories of the road from the country's top comedians, got a glowing review on that most exclusive of book review stages, the Sunday New York Times. But swing by my neighborhood at around midday on any Shabbat, and chances are you'll see another Mark Schiff. This is the Orthodox Schiff, who is quietly walking back from synagogue with his wife, Nancy, and one or more of his three sons.
‘Stalking celebrities in LA’s churches’
Gangster Jews and the bid to defy weakness
The light of Jewish culture shines
Circuit briefs.
Kosher clothing
Israeli commandos stalk Hollywood paparazzi
JJ editor: ‘Writers Strike is a Jewish issue’
‘GOD STILL LOVES US’
Meet some extraordinary givers
Profiles of Jewish philanthropists.
The changing nature of Jewish philanthropy
The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles president and CEO Marvin I. Schotland sat down with The Jewish Journal recently to talk about the changing nature of Jewish philanthropy.
Fundraising the Rabbi Hier way
Interview with Rabbi Marvin Hier who created the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Museum of Tolerance and Yeshiva University of Los Angeles (YULA).
Life on the picket lines—a striking writer reports
When I was asked by The Jewish Journal whether I'd like to write something funny about the WGA strike, I thought -- hey, there's nothing funny about this: corporate bullies refusing to pay writers for their work. This is serious. But as my friend Rob Lotterstein, creator and executive producer of Fox's "The War at Home" says, "Just because we're not writing doesn't mean we've lost our sense of humor."
Local diabetes fighter goes global with Discovery Health Channel documentary
Dr. Francine Kaufman has seen the incidence of diabetes skyrocket in the last 30 years. The pediatric endocrinologist is director of the Comprehensive Childhood Diabetes Center at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, and she says the disease's local increase is part of a worldwide phenomenon. Now Kaufman is turning to the small screen to bring attention to this global epidemic in a one-hour, commercial-free Discovery Health documentary narrated by actress Glenn Close, "Diabetes: A Global Epidemic," on Sunday, Nov. 18.
Hebrew course piques Iranian Jews’ interest
Also known as "Read Hebrew America," the course has been picked up by nearly 700 synagogues in North America during last 10 years through the National Jewish Outreach Program (NJOP), a nonprofit organization based in New York. The objective is to promote Hebrew learning among American and Canadian Jews who have lost touch with their Jewish identities. While this is the first year Nessah has participated in the program, its leaders said the free Hebrew course has attracted more than 600 local Iranian Jews to its first three sessions.
Briefs: DREAM Act passage pushed, City clears Holocaust Museum hurdle, but one more remains
Community briefs.
Theater: Davidson’s retirement leads to ‘Lessons’
Gordon Davidson is back where he belongs, in the director's chair. The man whose name is practically synonymous with Los Angeles theater, who raised the city's reputation from a provincial backwater to the breeding ground for innovative and controversial plays, retired in the summer of 2005 as founding artistic director of the Center Theatre Group. Now he has resumed his craft, not at the Mark Taper Forum, the site of many of his triumphs and some failures for 38 seasons, but at the more modest venue of the Strasberg Creative Center's Marilyn Monroe Theatre in West Hollywood.
The photographer who defined urban L.A.
An appreciation of Julius Shulman, the still much-in-demand architectural photographer famous for his photos of Modernist homes, who turned 97 a few weeks ago.
One courageous Palestinian freedom fighter
‘Mormon Robin Hood’ robbin’ banks
Former Pepperdine ballplayer the face of ‘Crazy Robertson’
‘LA is the apocalypse’
LA drug ring fronting for Hezbollah
Loving our passion
Rabbi Kanefsky is as passionate a Jew and lover of Israel as I've ever met. By lighting up a firestorm of passion in other Jews, he reminded me why I so passionately love my people, even -- and sometimes especially -- when I disagree with them.
Congregations, rabbis try to stop the ‘Big Day’ from becoming the last day
The bar and bat mitzvah is traditionally viewed as an entry point into the adult Jewish community, but for many, it's also seen as the door out of both Jewish education and the synagogue. For those who become congregants, Los Angeles synagogues are trying to help b'nai mitzvah students and families understand that the ceremony and its preparation symbolize one point on a continuum of Jewish life and learning. Their goal is to strengthen the communal ties of their marginally committed congregants.
The ‘Jewish hustler’ gets some real green
Quote of the day
New Israel Fund renews local presence after four-year hiatus
Ronit Heyd, joined by Ilana Litvak, who came to Israel from the former Soviet Union, and Nidal Abed El Gafer, a Palestinian lawyer, were in Los Angeles last week as three "connected" Israelis, working to empower their country's underprivileged and raise the level of civic involvement. Their presence at a roundtable was sponsored by the New Israel Fund (NIF), which has just raised its Los Angeles profile by reestablishing a local office, after a four-year hiatus.
Milken students win first high school X PRIZE
Milken Community High School students joined the space race this week when two seniors won the first-ever X PRIZE competition for high schoolers. On Sunday, Michael Hakimi and Talia Nour-Omid took home the first Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Award for their concept of developing bio-monitoring sunglasses to keep space travelers healthy during civilian spaceflight.
Museum of Tolerance expansion plans controversy continues at City Hall
A long-running dispute between homeowners and the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Museum of Tolerance (MOT) and Yeshiva of Los Angeles (YOLA) entered a more formal stage last week, with a hearing by the Los Angeles City Planning Department on Oct. 24 at City Hall.
Briefs: Jordan’s Queen reveals hopes for Mideast, Nahai to DWP, Halle Berry’s nose joke
Briefs.
UJ’s Levy crafts confab to celebrate authors
A new bookshelf, overflowing with volumes, testifies to Gady Levy's latest and perhaps most ambitious endeavor: the Celebration of Jewish Books, which begins on Monday and extends through an all-day festival on Sunday. The celebration will offer lectures and signings with 40 authors -- including big names, such as Larry King, Michael Chabon, Kirk Douglas and Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket) -- plus music and dance performances, food and a thousand titles for sale, provided by Borders and the Hebrew-language bookseller Steimatzky.
LA 8 case over
Go west, old man
Young Israel rabbi reportedly mugged
The downside of upscale growth
I've been following the Los Angeles housing story for a few months because of its special relevance to the Jewish community.
Briefs: Chabad launches Israel education program, Shoah indexer to speak, Halachah in the age of tes
Community briefs.
Coulter speaks at USC
It’s meant to burn
Quote of the day
Six-figure Persian weddings
Briefs: Does L.A. matter to N.Y. Jews? Is ‘The Secret’ kosher? Why can’t we all get along?
Community briefs.
Stanley Gold: ‘I don’t get ulcers - I give ulcers’
‘Don’t have the house of the Lord in sub-prime loans’
Sony Pictures CEO’s Jewish journey
Hollywood’s Arab typecast: terrorist
From the ‘Only in LA (County)’ files
Free OJ—are you nuts?
That neighborhood racket is a bunch of atoning Jews
All Saints cleared by IRS
The intersection of God and grades
Briefs: New chairman at Jewish Federation, AskMusa reaches out to Muslims
Community Briefs
Chabadmania, Ed Asner, Jewish Big Brothers and Sisters
Circuit
Scene and Heard
Puppet score tugs at Elfman’s heart strings
"My strongest link to my Jewish background is musical," he said. "I found myself drawn to Russian and Eastern European musical roots."
Abstract eye follows Dali in film at LACMA
Early in the last century, when film was a newer medium, many artists were intrigued by its kinetic visual possibilities, and for a fantasist like Dali, the opportunities must have seemed especially rich.
Nuns on the run (sort of)
LAPD investigating alleged embezzlement at cardiac nonprofit
Los Angeles police last week began looking into the possible embezzlement of more than $700,000 from the Save A Heart Foundation, a nonprofit affiliated with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center that offers paid fellowships to Israeli cardiologists who want to study under specialists at the Westside hospital.
New faces in town as two Orthodox schools debut
Two new Orthodox day schools -- a preschool and a high school -- are scheduled to debut this year in Los Angeles, enhancing the Jewish educational landscape with nuanced curricula and sophisticated schooling methodologies.
Luke’s no longer happy …
Luke Ford’s ‘unrequited love’
Is Luke Ford good for the Jews?
Luke will be back …
Luke is getting anxious
It’s like Match.com for adulterers
A picture is worth how many words exactly?
Hollywood gives Jewish
City Voice: The Mayor is cheating … on L.A.
Breaking the commandment against adultery shouldn't disqualify you for public office. Still, I don't think the adulterer should expect cheers from the Jewish community. This is especially true when the official is Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has made his family and his life story a big part of his persona.
Briefs: Kosher grasshoppers and eco-Torah
Briefs
Paradise lost for LA Times religion reporter
Cardinal Mahony as the serpent and the mayor as Adam
It’s official: the LA Times hates Israel
Don’t touch that dial—you’ll miss Jesus
Aliyah to New Orleans
Holocaust denial or alter kaker row?
LA Archdiocese to sell headquarters
Cardinal Mahony on Line 1
LA Church to pay big for its pedophile priests *
Jonathan Gold: Mining L.A.’s eclectic eateries
"The plov is great." Jonathan Gold, the LA Weekly's restaurant critic and the 2007 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, e-mailed me the above about Uzbekistan (the restaurant on La Brea, not the country), where we were planning to meet.
Permanent home planned for Holocaust Museum
Nearly 50 years after a group of survivors first conceived the project, the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (LAMH) has cleared the last legal hurdle to build a permanent home.
Mayor Villaraigosa getting prayers
Who’s afraid of lashon hara? *
Time to repent, Antonio, or pay the reaper
L.A. Persian Jews and Muslims oppose bombing Iran
In recent weeks, calls for possible strikes against Iran by Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and other government officials have caused alarm among some local Iranian Jews and Muslims familiar with the Tehran regime.
Can a minister put the fear of God in gang members?
City of L.A. Report Card: Mayor Villagairosa and the Jewish community at midterm
Antonio Villaraigosa is coming up to halftime in his first term as mayor of Los Angeles. This is as good a time as any to assess the direction of his mayoralty and its implications for the Jewish community.
A not-so-random sampling of the Class of 2007
Every year when I send out that first e-mail asking educators and leaders from around the city to nominate high school seniors for this "Outstanding Seniors" article, the angst begins. I get the names of dozens of nominees, and through a one-paragraph description I'm supposed to figure out who belongs in this feature. It's an impossible task, and inevitably I resign myself to the ultimate randomness of this selection -- for every teen I pick, 10 others could have filled that spot.
L.A.: The New Israel
When you have spent time away from what feels like a Jewish home, Los Angeles becomes the new Israel. Los Angeles is a gateway to the prospect of positive Jewish American identity. There is a fearlessness to the Hebrew on the walls, the Jewish labor movement mural on the building. There is a fearlessness to having a kosher Subway sandwich shop.
LAUSD president gets lesson in partnership
When Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa held a news conference on Friday, May 18, to announce his decision to end a yearlong legal battle to take control of Los Angeles schools, Board of Education President Marlene Canter was standing by his side.
Jesuits to pay $16 million for dirty hands
Villagairosa tells Sderot’s mayor he longs for end to violence
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villagairosa reassured Eli Moyal, Mayor of Sderot, of his continued support Friday, after Palestinian rocket attacks forced a partial evacuation of the city.
Sex abuse will spur archdiocese to sell headquarters
LAPD arrests man for defacing councilman’s Valley office
A Sherman Oaks man has been arrested for defacing the Valley district field office of L.A. City Councilman Jack Weiss early Thursday morning with three swastikas and two incoherent messages, glued to the glass entrance door with epoxy.
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Featured Stories
World
Will new ‘Cold War’ play out in Middle East?
With talk of a new Cold War in the offing following Russia's recent military successes in Georgia, Israel is worried Russia might reassess this policy and use the sale of new weaponry to Syria -- or the threat of it -- to strengthen Russia's hand vis-à-vis Israel's primary
Kids & Teens
Cambodia’s killing fields revisited
I can vividly remember the first time I visited the Museum of Tolerance, in seventh grade. Not personally knowing anyone who had survived the Holocaust, I had been shielded from the grisly details of World War II.
