Great Neck Synagogue Cancels Pamela Geller’s Talk

By Orit Arfa
Published on April 10, 2013

Alicia Keys: Israel Will Inspire [VIDEO]

By Orit Arfa
Published on March 12, 2013

Welcome to the zAngel

By Orit Arfa
Published on December 17, 2012

Jews and guns: A day on the firing range

By Ryan Torok
Published on December 5, 2012

Susanne Reyto carefully loaded her rifle and switched the safety off. Peering into the scope attached to the top of the weapon, she pulled the trigger while former U.S. Army platoon leader Charlie Jasper looked on to ensure she was handling her weapon safely.

ZOA L.A. office in doubt

By Jonah Lowenfeld
Published on November 8, 2012

Citing budgetary pressures, the Zionist Organization of American (ZOA) will vacate the small office it has rented in The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard later this month. The pro-Israel nonprofit exercised an opt-out clause in October, passing up the chance to renew its one-year lease on a small office space on the building’s fifth floor, for which it has paid somewhere between $800 and $1,000 each month, according to officials from ZOA and Federation.

ZOA to protest outside Hotel Shangri-La

By Jonah Lowenfeld
Published on August 21, 2012

The ZOAngel’s Purim Message [VIDEO]

By Orit Arfa
Published on March 7, 2012

Analysis of Obama’s rhetorical style

By Orit Arfa
Published on March 5, 2012

But Is He Kosher?

By Orit Arfa
Published on June 22, 2010

So what does a good Jewish girl do when her date goes in for the kiss after he downed meatloaf and she mac-and-cheese? In “Life, Love, Lox: Real-World Advice for the Modern Jewish Girl” (Running Press, $13.95) by Carin Davis, the issue at steak (pun intended — the book inspires them) is not breath or kissing technique, but whether the kiss violates the rules of kashrut that dictate separation of meat and milk.

Kochav Nolad: My Star Isn’t Born

By Orit Arfa
Published on June 15, 2009

The Making of ‘The Chosen Dish’

By Orit Arfa
Published on March 25, 2009

Prior to becoming a food writer and restaurant reviewer for The Jerusalem Post, I always thought of kosher food as limited and bland. But Israel demands competitive kosher cuisine — hotels generally adhere to kashrut laws; corporate lunch meetings must often accommodate observant clientele alongside secular counterparts who’d prefer a Tel Aviv bistro serving sautéed shrimp. This is true even though, at the same time, at the heart of Israeli culture are Jews who, no matter how much they like to think of themselves as the new Hebrews, still fondly recall their grandmother’s traditional kosher Jewish specialties.

The great T-shirt circumciser

By Jay Firestone
Published on December 18, 2008

Hollywood’s top 12 Jewish hotties?

By The Web Guy
Published on October 12, 2008

Orit: I went to Macao and it’s not Las Vegas!

By The Web Guy
Published on October 3, 2008

Zell it, Sam; Cool it, Orit; 40 million Frenchmen

Published on August 7, 2008

" . . . In Fairfax High School, I had a brilliant and wise instructor of advanced placement European History who used to say: 'Do not put all your faith in one man. For surely he will disappoint you.' And he also said: '40 million Frenchmen can be wrong' . . ."

Go ahead, gogle me

By Orit Arfa
Published on July 30, 2008

If someone's life is not worth at least one page of Google search results, does that mean he hasn't accomplished or written anything of enough import to be broadcast online?

10 dating tips for men

By Orit Arfa
Published on May 29, 2008

Invest in her interests, but sincerely. There is nothing more attractive than a man who gets to know the heart of a woman by investigating what is important to her

The Great Shave, the anti-Semitic professor in the U.S. Mail, Barack, Orit, Hillary and Suissa

Published on May 29, 2008

I think you made one faux pas, however. Religious Jews don't allow a razor to come in contact with their face when shaving, which is why Orthodox Jews use only electric shavers instead of razor blades.

Sabra love

By Orit Arfa
Published on May 15, 2008

I've been considering giving up on Israeli men, at least the purebred Israeli men, the sabras. What's painful is that I say this as someone who has made my home in Jerusalem, and I am hesitant to make harsh generalizations about Israeli bachelors, especially as Israel celebrates its 60th.

Leave Israel alone!

By Orit Arfa
Published on May 11, 2008

Inspired by Chris Crocker’s infamous and passionate YouTube appeal for people to leave Britney alone in the wake of her failed performance at the MTV 2007 Music Video Awards, Orit from Israel has created a passionate appeal to the world community to LEAVE ISRAEL ALONE!

NOT wishing you a Shana Tova

By JewishJournal.com
Published on September 11, 2007

Barry Frydlender: from camera obscurity to MOMA

By Orit Arfa
Published on March 15, 2007

Barry Frydlender greets a reporter at his apartment in southern Tel Aviv with gentility and reticence. In his spacious living room, a sofa set rests on old, cracked, Arab-style tiles that block a studio nook containing a computer set-up. A window overlooks the Tel Aviv beach promenade, where the 52-year-old Israeli photographer meets friends every morning. All around his living space are slices of Israeli life in the form of mural-sized photographs pinned up on the walls.

Sheinkin Street meets superhighway

By Orit Arfa
Published on October 5, 2006

Michael Simkin, CEO of C-Do Networks, believes that Sheinkin still retains enough of its eccentricity and bustle to perpetuate its mythic status.

New book tries to keep Orthodox, well, Orthodox

By Orit Arfa
Published on September 21, 2006

>"Off the Derech: Why Observant Jews Leave Judaism; How to Respond to the Challenge," by Faranak Margolese.

Public Reactions Are Strong to A Personal Journey

By Orit Arfa
Published on August 31, 2006

Los Angeles photographer Naomi Solomon capped off her informal summer presentation series "Settlers: A Photographic Journey of the Life and Disengagement of the Jews Living in Gaza" at Nessah Synagogue in Beverly Hills last week, drawing more than 150 people.

End of Sanity

By Orit Arfa
Published on July 28, 2005

Gush is one of the sanest places in Israel I had ever visited. The people are healthy and happy. They love life and they love Israel.

Laser Heart Surgery

By Orit Arfa
Published on May 26, 2005

My only decent pair of glasses broke en route from Los Angeles to Israel, and I took it as a sign -- it was time to for corrective laser surgery, a.k.a. LASIK.

"Make sure on the day of surgery someone comes with you," the Israeli receptionist said to me after I set my appointment.

Great. Who would I call on to come with me? If I lived in Los Angeles, someone in my family would have shepherded me. But I wasn't comfortable asking my family in Israel to escort me.

An Unorthodox Artist

By Rachel Brand
Published on February 27, 2003

When most people think of a spiritual awakening, they don't necessarily think of such a thing taking place at the GAP. But then again, artist Orit Arfa isn't really into conventionality.

While walking down the streets of Manhattan seven years ago, dressed in her ankle-length skirt and modest Orthodox clothing, Arfa caught a reflection of herself in a revolving door.

"I felt I looked really shleppy, and it didn't really reflect who I was inside and what I was feeling," she said.

Arfa immediately marched straight to the GAP and into a new pair of jeans. "I was jumping up and down! There was this freedom. This spiritual freedom. It seemed like the whole world opened up for me."

For Arfa, the experience was not only religiously liberating, it was creatively liberating.

"I knew that part of my challenge was to break the stereotypes of the ideal Jewish woman, both for myself, and I wanted to paint the foremothers as sexual, sensual, beautiful, vibrant women," Arfa said.

Israeli-Style Fitness

By Orit Arfa
Published on August 24, 2000

Maybe it's no Sports Club/LA in its luxury and beauty, but the Elite Sports Center at Tel Aviv University is one of the best sports clubs in Israel, with facilities and services that may make even the premier sports club in L.A. a little envious.

Officials Visit Israel

By Orit Arfa
Published on November 18, 1999

Andrew Carter, a participant of Operation Unity, a program that brings minority Los Angeles high school students to live on an Israeli kibbutz for six weeks, never felt as accepted as he did in Israel. No one treated him differently because of his color, he said, and the minute he got off the plane, "Everyone wanted to hug you."

“Anne Frank” for Teens

By Orit Arfa
Published on August 5, 1999

Contemporary Holocaust literature for young adults seems to favor a theme: transport unaware teenagers to German-occupied Europe and, together with the characters, the readers will emerge as more sensitive, aware young adults.

A Drink from the Same Cup

By Orit Arfa
Published on July 16, 1998

If the pursuit of peace in the Middle East will not unite the parties concerned, then one life-sustaining element may. Israeli, Arab and American researchers and engineers have come together to find ways to produce more potable water for agricultural use, as demands for supplies of Middle Eastern and Californian freshwater continue to increase.

Three’s Company

By Orit Arfa
Published on April 9, 1998

Perli Pelzig first knew he had talent at the ageof 5, when he would chalk life-size figures of animals on thesidewalks in his native Germany. These figures attracted attentionfrom passers-by, and, not long after, Pelzig was named "wunderkind"for his dazzling artistic capabilities.