- NEWS & COMMENTARY
Bill Clinton to Israelis: Share future with a Palestinian state
There is no alternative to a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, Bill Clinton said at an event to honor Israeli President Shimon Peres.
Murder victim related to temple founder
A Porter Ranch woman, who authorities said was shot and killed early Friday morning when a domestic dispute escalated, was the daughter of a founding member of Temple Ahavat Shalom (TAS) in Northridge, according to a family member of the…
Time to enter the Iranian bazaar on the nuclear issue
The election of the cleric Shia Mujtahid Hassan Rohani is the perfect Iranian move in a nuclear chess match where Iran seems to be consistently outmaneuvering the United States.
- HOLLYWOOD
The future of Hollywood, according to Steven Spielberg
Can’t imagine shelling out $25 to see “Iron Man” in the theater? Soon you may not have a choice, says Steven Spielberg.
Six reasons why Superman is Jesus in ‘Man of Steel’
Last night I attended a press screening of the latest installment of the Superman franchise, “Man of Steel,” directed by Zack Snyder and produced by "Batman" director Christopher Nolan. An…
Old Spice guy does another Israel commercial
Old Spice guy Isaiah Mustafa has taken his act to Israel… again. Two months after sporting a suit and tie for a Maccabee beer ad, the actor has gone shirtless…
- LIFE & CULTURE
Barbra Streisand slams Orthodox Jews’ actions against Israeli women
U.S. entertainer Barbra Streisand on Monday took a swipe at Orthodox Jews in Israel who compel women to sit in the back of buses and assault them for following religious…
Cute video of the day: Matisyahu’s kid sings
Nothing says “happy Father’s Day” like your very own kid covering your very own song. In this clip, which Matisyahu posted to YouTube (and we saw on Jewcy), the reggae…
The Continuing Mystery of Bruno Schulz
The great writer and mystifier Bruno Schulz left a plethora of puzzles, myths and hidden chambers in two thin booklets of essays. However, one of his lesser-known and most challenging…
- BLOGS
Genius at Work
By Matt Shapiro I stood there, transfixed. In passing, it's just a cabinet; the placard on the wall shared that it was filled with notecards, written and organized by Stanley…
This week from Israel
Watch out, USA, the Israelis are coming! Last week, more than 1,200 Israeli young adults made their way to North America to serve as Jewish Agency emissaries at day and…
5 Best Foods For Lowering Blood Pressure
1. Low Fat Milk Fight high blood pressure with milk products, which contain calcium, potassium and magnesium. Two to three servings per day is sufficient. Make a milkshake, grab a…
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How to become a Jew
There are a variety of options for how to begin the process, but all involve study with a rabbi. Some people study with an individual rabbi for a period of time, and other people enroll in group classes designed especially for converts.
Divine spark: expressing the unique mission of your soul
New York Diary: Between Hikind, Galliano and MacFarlane
How Purim Differs from Halloween
Hikind apologizes for Purim blackface
Dov Hikind apologized after coming under criticism for dressing up in blackface for Purim.
This week from Israel
Unmasking: The Purim Blog
Is Haman alive today? Purim & Happiness!
Purim in Israel [SLIDESHOW]
Israelis celebrate Purim in full costume throughout Israel.
Purim for all—Special Needs Events this Weekend
Our Annual Purim Spoof Cover 2013: Hagel, Kittenyahu, Lena Dunham [SLIDESHOW]
Connect. Inform. Perspire
Purim’s other woman: Vashti, the queen who kept her clothes on
When it comes to the story of Purim, Queen Esther has received lots of attention. All the little girls want to play her in the Purim spiel. She’s brave, beautiful, loving and heroic: the quintessential female biblical role model.
The heroine
In a pile of as-yet-undigitized family photos, I found a gem. It’s from a Purim party, years ago, when my wife and I were newly married. She is dressed as a Chasidic rabbi — black suit, side curls, black hat, mustache and beard. Beside her is the rabbi’s wife — me — in a long proper dress and a blond wig.
Sarah Silverman’s niece can visit Western Wall on Purim despite ban
The niece of American comedian Sarah Silverman will be allowed to attend a women's Megillah reading at the Western Wall despite being banned from the site.
Feb. 23-Mar. 1
From the San Fernando Valley to Hollywood, West Los Angeles to the Eastside, synagogues and organizations celebrate one of the year’s liveliest holidays, which begins Saturday night. Highlights include Nashuva’s megillah rock opera, the Groundlings performing the story of Esther at Wilshire Boulevard Temple, and Sinai Temple poking fun at Taylor Swift and Cee Lo Green during its Purim Grammys. Between family-friendly events, activities for teenagers and risqué fare for ages 21 and older, there is something for everyone.
Purim event calendar 2013
Purim events in Los Angeles for all ages and adults only.
Purim: Beyond the playfulness, a time for examination
The central character of Purim is Esther, whose name means hidden. The story is full of things hidden, and waiting for the right time to be revealed.
A vegetarian buffet to celebrate Queen Esther [RECIPES]
What makes Purim so special? Maybe it’s the heroic story of Queen Esther. Whatever you decide, it is still one of the happiest of all Jewish holidays. Filled with accounts of bravery, it tells the story of Queen Esther and how she helped defeat the wicked minister Haman in ancient Persia.
Megillat Esther — The book of the exile
Purim is an extraordinary festival in the Jewish calendar. It can be distinguished from all the other festivals by the character that it was granted in later generations, but mainly by its most primary source - Megillat Esther itself.
A Purim directive: Laugh it up!
Little kids will laugh at anything. The simplest knock-knock joke or a tickle fest -- even the threat of one -- can so easily end in hysterics. They laugh because they are surprised by something unexpected in a world they are constantly discovering.
Alcohol poisoning suspected in man’s death after Florida Purim celebration
A man was found dead, apparently of alcohol poisoning, in the parking lot of a Florida Chabad center following a Purim celebration.
Letters to the Editor: Mormon proxy baptisms, Purim cover, UCLA Hillel
As members of a committee that is actively engaged in outreach with the Los Angeles Jewish community, we enjoy reading articles in The Jewish Journal that accurately profile other religious faiths.
The ZOAngel’s Purim Message [VIDEO]
Revisiting the Mask of Purim
Haman’s fall: Diaspora dreams in the Biblical Book of Esther
Even if you’re a serious student of the Bible, you might not know what the Book of Esther is doing there, in the Bible. Don’t worry though, nobody else knows either. Although it tells of near-tragedy, it is written melodramatically, almost as a farce; and it is very hard to read with a straight face.
‘Matisyahu’s Beard Finds New Host’—and other Purim fun
Purim’s Gift
A Thought for Purim
Snagging bargains for shalach manot
Falling between the giving season of Chanukah and the getting season of tax refunds, Purim time finds households like mine searching for ways to keep holiday expenses down to earth without losing the mirth.
Make your own babka: a how-to video
Day 715 - Murder at a Purim Feast
Blot out the memory
Our Annual Purim Spoof Cover 2012: Angry Beards, Donald Trump, Berman v. Sherman, Proxy Baptism
Our Annual Purim spoof Cover
Purim Calendar 2012
Purim parties, festivals and carnivals around Los Angeles.
Poppy seed pleasures
It all began with Queen Esther, the heroine of the Purim story, who became a vegan when she married King Ahasuerus and moved into the palace. She favored fruits, beans and grains in her diet, and legend has it that poppy seed pastries were her favorite.
‘Shalakhmones: The Purim Platters’
Wearing a silk kerchief and a plain apron - a combination of holiday and weekday attire - Mama stood by the table, practically at her wit’s end. It was no trifle, you know, receiving almost 100 shalakhmones...
Jewish NBA player “Completely not jealous” of Jeremy Lin
Jeremy Lin’s NBA debut, in which he scored more points in his initial five games than any other new player, resulted in a fan frenzy that Charlotte Bobcats third-string small forward Elon Steinman “totally gets.”
Purim: Are you doing it right?
Purim is a festival renown for celebration, excessive drinking and wild, outlandish costumes; or, as Chasids in Brooklyn call it, Tuesday. It’s the story of the Jews escaping genocide in Persia, marking it as the last time the region has ever made Jews uneasy. For the uninformed, I have some facts and tips below.
Purim: The importance of democracy
Video Vault: Purim is just around the corner
Girls’ faces blurred in toy store ad in Beit Shemesh
The faces of young girls modeling Purim costumes in a toy store ad were blurred in a haredi Orthodox newspaper in Beit Shemesh.
Mishloach Manot of Song from Maccabeats
Madonna celebrates Purim in Charlie Chaplin costume
Everyone needs a happy ending (no, not THAT kind of happy ending)
My personal Purim miracle
It was Purim, 1985. The surroundings seemed so strange to me. From childhood, Purim always meant Megillah reading, noise from noisemakers, loud music, lively dancing, people dressed up in different costumes, lots of good food, exchange of Mishloach Manot gift baskets, and a little “l’chaim” to top things off. That was exactly the Purim I had in 1984, 1983, 1982…all the way back to 1964, the year I was born.
Michael C. Hall, Sarah Silverman and Ben Schwartz do Purim and “Peep World”
Recipes for the Fast of Esther [PURIM]
Purim and the tsunami
Purim seems to have come at the wrong time this year. It’s Adar-be Happy! But how can we be happy when there are images of destruction all around us, as Japan plunges into a nuclear disaster of huge proportions on the heels of a 9.0 earthquake and a terrifying Tsunami? How can we joyously wave our gragers against the evil Haman when we are deluged by images of tens of thousands of people swept into the sea? How can we celebrate this holiday when our world seems to be spinning out of control?
Not Every Day is Purim
A colloquial Hebrew expression says, “not every day is Purim.” It can loosely be translated as “you can’t fool all the people all the time.” But when it comes to Israel, there are those in our US Jewish community who not only choose to live in a delusional virtual reality, but insist on dragging others into their la-la land. It is bad for Israel and bad for America. Take the case of Rep. Anthony Weiner, the Democrat from New York, who in a televised debate recently insisted that there was no Israeli occupation in the West Bank and no Israeli military presence there. This was not a satirical show or a Purim spiel. The man was serious.
Our Annual Purim Spoof Cover 2011: Charlie Sheen, Wisconsin, Wikileaks, Dior, Egypt
Purim spoof cover
No more tears of a clown
A man walks into a shrink’s office and says he wants to commit suicide. “What you need is a good belly laugh,” the shrink says. “Go across the street to the circus. There’s a clown there who makes everybody laugh.” “Doc, I’ve been to the circus across the street,” the man says. “I’m the clown who makes everybody laugh.”
iGragger
iGragger - Happy Purim!
My Shabbat in Malmo
From 1932 to 1946, Rabbi Eliezer Berlinger served as the chief rabbi of the Malmo Jewish Congregation. The most important events in the history of this Jewish community in Sweden took place on his watch. There were the numerous Danish Jews who fled deportation and certain death by the Nazis with the help of their righteous Christian neighbors who reached Malmo in 1943 and 1944.
Purim Calendar
Spotlight: Purim museum tour. Sat. 1 p.m. and Sun 1 p.m. Free (does not include museum admission). Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. (310) 440-4500. skirball.org.
Retelling Purim: Q & A with Mordechai, Esther, Vashtie and Hayman
With Purim just a grogger’s turn away on March 19, it's time to reroll the scroll of Esther and take another look at the whole megillah. It's a story with characters so lifelike, I should quote them. That would be news. But lacking a time machine, I was still able to go to the source to hear what Mordecai, Esther, Haman and Vashti have to say: I interviewed prominent people -- Jews and a non-Jew -- whose names either come from the Megillah or sound like they are straight from the scroll:
Jew Are You? [VIDEO]
Jew Are You?
Turning the world upside-down on Purim
When was the last time you stood on your head? If you don't practice yoga, and you're not a 2-year-old, it's probably been quite a while. Noting that my toddler couldn’t get enough of being upside down on his little sister’s infant seat, I understood the allure. Seeing the world in a completely unexpected way is titillating. Subverting the natural order of things is energizing.
Drinking does not drive the Purim celebration
We are an American generation sadly marred by excess, addiction, and reduced public morals. On line at the supermarket we see magazines that headline Lindsay Lohan, Brittany Spears, and Charlie Sheen. Purim is around the corner, and the question arises: What’s the deal with getting drunk on Purim? So here’s the deal:
“Megillat Hitler,” FDR, and the Jews
Among the more remarkable documents of the Holocaust is a scroll, created in North Africa in 1943, called "Megillat Hitler." Written in the style of Megillat Esther and the Purim story, it celebrates the Allies’ liberation of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, which saved the local Jewish communities from the Nazis. What the scroll’s author did not realize, however, was that at the very moment he was setting quill to parchment, those same American authorities were actually trying to keep in place the anti-Jewish legislation imposed in North Africa by the Nazis.
The Maccabeats - Purim Song [VIDEO]
Buy this song on iTunes http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-purim-song-single/id423668845 Based on "Raise Your Glass" by P!nk Filmed, Directed and Edited by Uri Westrich. Production assistant - Rivie Shalev. The music in this and all Maccabeats songs are made entirely from their voices and mouths.
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