Netanyahu, the bomb and the Memes

By Noga Gur-Arieh
Published on September 28, 2012

City School accepting applications

Published on August 22, 2012

The City School, a new public charter school in the South Robertson neighborhood, has opened applications for the upcoming school year. Located on Robertson Boulevard several blocks south of Pico, the campus is open to sixth- and seventh-grade students only, and it plans to expand to grades six through 12.

Maarat Ayin: Eduardo Saverin’s decision to renounce his U.S. citizenship

Published on May 23, 2012

By now everyone has heard that Eduardo Saverin, one of the co-founders of Facebook, filed legal papers in September 2011 to formally renounce his American citizenship. Brazilian by birth, Saverin became an American citizen in 1998. Born in Sao Paulo, Saverin’s father was, according to press accounts, a wealthy Jewish industrialist with varied interests in clothing, shipping, real estate and commercial exports.

Facebook IPO: Good for the Jews?

Published on May 15, 2012

If the Talmud were written today, would it look like Facebook? First, the rabbis of the Mishnaic period post a Jewish legal rule.

All aboard for the Expo Line

By Julie Gruenbaum Fax
Published on April 20, 2012

Why would the Metropolitan Transit Authority invite ethnic media for their own tour of the new Expo Line, the regional train line set to open April 28? Because the line is as much about getting from Culver City to Downtown L.A. as connecting to the spots in between.

Reality Nation Wide Drama

By Noga Gur-Arieh
Published on March 28, 2012

Tel Aviv seeks approval to run buses on Shabbat

Published on February 21, 2012

The Tel Aviv City Council approved a resolution to allow public transportation to run on Shabbat. The measure was approved Monday evening by a vote of 13-7.

HOOTERS, children and me being the greatest parent that ever lived…

By Julia Bendis
Published on January 3, 2012

‘She’s acting like a Jew!’ Ho ho ho Chanukah! [VIDEO]

By The Web Guy
Published on December 26, 2008

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.

Preschool Project Strives to Educate All

By Rabbi Eli Hecht
Published on December 8, 2005

King Solomon was known to have coined the expression, "Educate the child accordingly so that when he grows old, he will not leave." In other words, take advantage of the child's education as soon as possible.

In modern times, this admonition certainly applies to preschool, and it's something that my day care school, the Bilowit Learning Center, based in the Lomita-Torrance area, has always taken as a mission.

Public Bat Mitzvahs Come to Orthodoxy

By Rachel Sarah
Published on March 10, 2005

Traditionally, Orthodox girls wanting a bat mitzvah have had intimate ones with close family and friends, complete with candlelightings and blessings.

Unlike the Reform, Recostructionist and Conservative movements, which have embraced and formalized the bat mitzvah in the synagogue (the Recostructionist movement had the first bat mitzvah in 1922), Orthodox shuls and schools tend to take a more varied, low-key approach.

While many Orthodox girls still have private coming-of-age rituals, others are opting for more public and creative ceremonies, perhaps more closely aligned to a bar mitzvah. Most choose to study extensively with parents, teachers or rebbetzins, and many seek out chesed projects -- acts of loving-kindness -- to help those less fortunate.

You’re Fired!

By Raphi Salem
Published on October 28, 2004

From the beginning, even before it was famous, "The Apprentice," Donald Trump's reality TV show, had piqued my interest -- but not enough to make a standing engagement with my TV set whenever it was on.

Our Cross to Bear?

By Judy Gruen
Published on June 17, 2004

At first blush it seemed an odd thing for an observant Jew to do: Slogging my way through morning rush-hour traffic to get downtown to demonstrate against the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' decision to remove a small cross from the county seal.

And yet, I felt compelled to be there. The supervisors had already capitulated, in a 3-2 vote, to a threat by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to sue the county over the cross. Surprised by the public outcry, the supervisors called for another vote to consider a so-called "compromise" with the ACLU in which the cross on the seal -- just one of a dozen various symbols of the region's history -- would be replaced by a mission. But as one clever observer noted, a mission without a cross just looks like a Taco Bell.

East Meets West

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on April 3, 2003

About six months ago, Gregory Rodriguez, a contributing editor to the Los Angeles Times opinion section, phoned his friend, Rabbi Gary Greenebaum, West Coast regional director of the American Jewish Committee (AJ Committee). Rodriguez had attended events purported to promote intellectual fellowship among diverse Angelenos, but had found them not-so-diverse. "There's a lot of lip service paid to crossing barriers in this city, but many gatherings are organized around political or ethnic lines," Rodriguez said.

To mix things up a bit, the two friends went on to launch a program, co-presented by the Los Angeles Public Library. The series, Zócalo, which means "public square" in Spanish, will gather Eastsiders and Westsiders for private discussions and public lectures on crucial civic issues. It kicks off at the downtown Central Library's Mark Taper Auditorium on April 9 at 7 p.m., when the Economist's Washington correspondent Adrian Wooldridge, co-author of "The Company: A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea," will describe his take on the corporation as "an engine that can work for the public good as well as ill," Greenebaum said.

Lecture Stirs Anger

By Tom Tugend
Published on February 27, 2003

A public lecture by a visiting scholar on the UCLA campus usually doesn't make much of a ripple, but nearly all of the 1,800 seats in Royce Hall were taken and the atmosphere was electric when professor Edward W. Said stepped up to the lectern.

Polls Find U.S. Jews Worried but Calm

By James D. Besser
Published on January 30, 2003

's been a busy few weeks for pollsters who study the Jewish community -- and for the politicians who turn each new survey into partisan fodder. At least three major surveys focused on different issues, but beneath the statistical mumbo jumbo, they pointed to the same thing: the U.S. Jewish public is worried about the unsettled state of the world but not panicked.

The statistical blitz offers hints that Jewish political allegiances may be softening, but despite the best efforts of the political spinmeisters, there is little sign of any wholesale political upheaval. Jewish voters may be receptive to new political messages, but right now they are listening, not buying.

In the American Jewish Committee (AJCommittee) 2002 Survey of Jewish Opinion, two conclusions stand out: fears about anti-Semitism are strong and pessimism about the Middle East peace process is growing.

The Faces Behind Fairfax

By Ruth Andrew Ellenson
Published on February 28, 2002

Ask Boris Dralyuk about his student days at Fairfax High School and the impish young man with startlingly blue eyes will mockingly compare himself to one of the great anti-heroes of literature. "I know about the experiences of Saul Bellow's Augie March and the little Jewish kids growing up in tough urban areas, but Los Angeles is not one of those places. There is very little in common between the Lower East Side and Los Angeles. It's not a battle to grow up here. It is not a struggle."