Non-Jewish man returns chametz

Published on April 28, 2011

A non-Jewish man who took possession of the chametz given to him by a haredi Orthodox community just before the start of Passover returned the goods shortly after the end of the holiday.

Bibi slams rabbis’ ban on renting to non-Jews

Published on December 7, 2010

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blasted a ruling by dozens of Israel's municipal chief rabbis that forbids renting homes to gentiles, and more specifically to Arabs.

Jewish Money

By Rob Eshman
Published on December 24, 2008

If you scroll through the list of Madoff's philanthropic victims, you'll find plenty of evidence that even Jews who have shed every vestige of their ancient practice short of circumcision still resonate to the prophetic call to heal the wider world.

Q&A with showbiz power broker Irv Weintraub:  Why doesn’t Hollywood give Jewish?

By Danielle Berrin
Published on July 17, 2008

" . . . We have one thing that's not happening now that happened then, which was the memory of the Holocaust. We are 50-plus years removed. The urgency that existed then doesn't exist today. The Federation campaign did better with Lou Wasserman -- people didn't tell him no. There isn't that iconic person like Lou who is willing to be identified publicly with their Judaism . . ."

Community Briefs

By David Finnigan
Published on June 23, 2005

Community Briefs

Matchmaker, Look Through Your Book

By Keren Engelberg
Published on February 10, 2005

It seems the Jewish tradition of matchmaking is alive and well these days, as two very different Jewish novels on matchmaking come to us just in time for Valentine's Day.

"Seven Blessings" by Ruchama King (St. Martin's Press, 2003) is out in paperback, and focuses on the Orthodox Jewish community, specifically American and Canadian ba'alei teshuvah living in Jerusalem.

No. 2, "Matchbook: The Diary of a Modern-Day Matchmaker" by Samantha Daniels was released in hardcover this month. Daniels' story centers on the trials of a single Jewish matchmaker whose clients are single New Yorkers -- both Jewish and non-Jewish.

Santa Barbara Sees Growth Spurt

By Gaby Wenig
Published on June 10, 2004

It's Friday night at Young Israel of Santa Barbara, and an enthusiastic chorus of seven men and eight women sing Shabbat prayers while banging on the tables in rhythm to the melody.

At least two of the 15 in this Orthodox storefront shul are not Jewish, but that doesn't appear to be issue enough to dampen their enthusiasm for davening or the in-shul Shabbat meal that follows.

Non-Jews Provide Key Community Support

By David Finnigan
Published on January 1, 2004

They are security guards, schoolteachers, cooks and banquet hall waiters. They are waitresses, agency and museum executives and walkie-talkie-toting synagogue maintenance workers. There are hundreds of non-Jewish support staff at synagogues and other Jewish institutions throughout Southern California, and they are integral to the life of the Jewish community.

"Amazing, amazing people," said Conservative Rabbi Mark Diamond, executive director of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California. "I don't think our Jewish institutions could function properly without the efforts of our non-Jewish support staff and even sometimes senior staff."

A Love Like Mime

By Mark Miller
Published on October 9, 2003

In my San Francisco days, I once had a brief romantic affair with a mime. I was living in a house with lots of bedrooms, which were rented out to many different people. One of them was her, Angie, a young woman who each day would leave the house, go down to the park and do her mime thing, collecting dollars in a hat. I would tease her and we would flirt.

Righteous Rescuers Honored

By Susanna Crosby Perrin
Published on May 17, 2001

Though certainly one of the most bitter memories of history, the Holocaust was also a time of true heroism and great humanity. On Sun., May 6, Mt. Sinai Memorial Park in Simi Valley dedicated a grove of trees to the non-Jewish heroes who risked their lives to save Jewish lives during the Holocaust. Lidia Furmanski of Pasadena, a rescuer from Poland, and Bert Lerno of Simi Valley, a Jewish Dane who was rescued, were guests of honor at the dedication ceremony.

Skirball at Five

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on April 12, 2001

When the Skirball Cultural Center opened in April 1996, its founding president and CEO, Rabbi Uri D. Herscher, didn't buy the philosophy "If you build it, they will come."

Strangers at the Feast

By Ellen Jaffe-Gill
Published on April 5, 2001

My worst Passover was my first in Los Angeles, more than half a lifetime ago. I had nowhere to go the first night, and the second night, a college friend took me to an institutional seder that was so sterile and faceless that I went home early and, paraphrasing Scarlett O'Hara, vowed, "As God is my witness, I'll never go without a seder again."

Berlin Bound

By Tom Tugend
Published on December 14, 2000

More than 300,000 visitors have thronged the Jewish Museum in Berlin since it opened to the public in February 1999, and more are coming at a clip of 20,000 each month.

An Acquired Taste

By Rabbi Steven Z. Leder
Published on February 3, 2000

A friend told me about a scene he witnessed recently at a delicatessen. There was a woman who apparently was not Jewish standing in line at the bakery counter. When they called her number she pointed to the prune and poppy seed hamantaschen and asked for a dozen.
"No, you want these," said the elderly Jewish woman who was serving her, pointing to the apricot hamantaschen instead.

"No, I want those," the woman reiterated pointing again to the prune and poppy seed variety.