Israel Festival brings L.A. a taste of Tel Aviv

Published on April 23, 2013

Eden Bennun craved a taste of Israel. Growing up in Kfar Saba and Rishon LeZion as a child gave her a love of Israel’s smells, sounds and foods.

A season of change

Published on October 21, 2011

Lunch in the small, red-tiled Paprika Grill in Tarzana, with its short, kosher Mediterranean menu, seems like a simple proposition.

[PODCAST] An Emmy Nomination for the Kosher Porky Pig: ‘Looney Tunes’ ’ Bob Bergen [UPDATE]

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on September 19, 2011

Torah Study on Aisle Two

Published on January 11, 2011

A 28-year-old struggling writer walked up to a checkout counter at Whole Foods in Tarzana. “What aisle is the Torah study on?” he asked. “Oh, you mean the class with the rabbi? That’s in the back near the nuts,” the woman at the register said. She wasn’t being pejorative — the Torah study really is in the back near the bulk bins of nuts and trail mix. I should know. I’m the nut teaching Torah in a market on Wednesdays. In my 20-plus years as a Jewish educator, I never thought I would be teaching Torah in a supermarket. But then again, I am pretty sure that the two dozen or so students who regularly participate in the class never thought they would be studying Jewish text every week, let alone doing so surrounded by organic produce and herbal supplements.

Terrifying journey marks escape of widow and children

By Karmel Melamed
Published on September 4, 2008

"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."

Briefs: Journalist: West Is losing ‘War of Ideas;’ Daniel Pipes comes to Pepperdine

Published on January 25, 2007

Community Briefs

Betty Neymark: Second Career From a Second Language

By Jane Ulman
Published on December 28, 2006

Mayor Carries Torah to <br>Vandalized Tarzana Synagogue

By Adam Wills
Published on July 9, 2006

On Sunday, in the intense heat of a mid-summer day, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, carried a Sephardic Torah for one-half mile along city streets in Tarzana to a new Persian synagogue that had been the victim of an anti-Semitic attack just two days earlier. Police are still investigating the arson attempt, which burned a rear door of Beith David Education Center on Clark Street, as well as anti-Jewish graffiti left at the scene, as a hate crime.

Farmar Trades Bruin Blue for Laker Purple

By Ali Austerlitz
Published on July 6, 2006

Farmar stands a natural leader at 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds and has been extensively covered in the Daily Bruin since before his entrance into UCLA in fall 2004. A psychology major with a 3.0 grade point average, he has been described in the Daily Bruin as having innate leadership skills, a competitive spirit and a dedicated work ethic.

Arsonist Attacks Persian Synagogue in Tarzana

By Adam Wills
Published on July 6, 2006

Following an inquiry by the mayor's office and City Councilman Dennis Zine, the LAPD reported that patrols of the area will be stepped up in advance of the new shul's Sunday ceremony.

Principal for a Day, Lesson for a Lifetime

By Sarah Price Brown
Published on March 24, 2005

It's a lot more than Kenn Phillips could have bargained for when he accepted this gig as principal. Lucky for him, he doesn't have to come back tomorrow.

That's because Phillips isn't the real principal, but merely principal for a day. Phillips is among more than 200 professionals who arranged to shadow principals as part of a Los Angeles Unified School District effort to create alliances between businesses and schools.

Off the Bimah: A Concerted Effort

By Ellen Jaffe-Gill
Published on February 19, 2004

With her slender figure, long, shining strawberry-blonde hair and big hazel eyes, Alison Wissot looks more like a stage ingénue than most people's conceptions of a cantor -- not surprising, since that's what she was 10 years ago.

Wissot's cantorial career is off to a brilliant start: Less than three years after graduating from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion's School of Sacred Music in New York, she is filling the largest Reform cantorial pulpit in the San Fernando Valley, the 1,300-household Temple Judea in Tarzana and West Hills.

Alzheimer’s Home

By Wendy J. Madnick
Published on May 9, 2002

Imagine you are 90 years old and the world you once knew, even your own home, feels like a frightening and unfamiliar place. Sometimes you find it hard to recognize even your closest family members. You don't understand why people get angry when you wander away or when you cannot finish a sentence. You may be fit physically, but psychologically you are at a loss -- and so are your family and friends. Imagine you move to a small, lovely village. There are strangers there, but they are gentle and caring. There are places to walk, and no one gets angry if you get a little lost. They just calmly lead you back to where you need to be. When you are in the mood, there is plenty to do, but no one gets angry when you just want to sit. Best of all, your family doesn't seem so worried anymore. This scenario is the aim of the new Goldenberg-Ziman Special Care Center located at the Jewish Home for the Aging's Eisenberg Campus in Tarzana.

Deaf Synagogue Relocates

By Wendy J. Madnick
Published on April 13, 2000

Temple Beth Solomon of the Deaf (TBS) has a new home. The congregation, which for 35 years was located in Arleta, is now renting space at Temple Judea in Tarzana.