- NEWS & COMMENTARY
Hezbollah in big Syria battle, Obama ‘concerned’
Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas have fought their biggest battle yet for Syria's beleaguered president, prompting international alarm that the civil war may spread and an urgent call for restraint from the…
What happened to Obama?
You know things are getting rough for President Barack Obama when even The New Yorker, that bastion of liberal thought, starts ridiculing him. Reacting to how the president is distancing himself from his administration’s three emerging scandals—the mishandling of the…
ZOA regains tax-exempt status
After 15 months, the nonprofit pro-Israel Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has regained its tax-exempt status.
- HOLLYWOOD
Mel Brooks’ top 10 Jewy Jewish scenes [VIDEO]
Monday night marks the national premier broadcast of the American Masters installment on Mel Brooks. To mark the occasion, we’ve put together a collection of Brooks’ best Jewish clips.
Alan Dershowitz sends ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ episode to Netanyahu
Comedian Larry David has been called a lot of things over the course of his long and successful career, but we’re pretty sure “peace maker” has never been one of…
James Franco paints ad for ‘This is The End’
Proving once again that there isn’t anything he doesn’t do, James Franco has created marketing material for his upcoming film “This is The End.” The actor/artist/Ph.D. candidate was spotted in…
- LIFE & CULTURE
7 Rules for Perfect Hummus
When was the last time you opened a tub of hummus and swooned? When was the last time a restaurant put a plate of hummus in front of you, and…
Survivor: Irene Rosenberg
“Mommy, I’ll be right back.” Irene Rosenberg — then Irene Grunfeld — said as she was leaving the apartment of her cousin Mancy Weiss, where she and her mother were…
The Divine Wedding and Kiss - Parashat Naso
“O for your kiss! For your love / More enticing than wine, / For your scent and sweet name – For all this they love you. Take me away to…
- BLOGS
7 Rules for Perfect Hummus
When was the last time you opened a tub of hummus and swooned? When was the last time a restaurant put a plate of hummus in front of you, and…
What would my Israeli grandmother think?
When I hear about the latest events in Israel – the air strikes on weapons facilities in Syria, the flare-ups over women donning prayer shawls at the Western Wall –…
A hot topic, a great panel, and chance to learn and discuss—immigration at issue
It's a critical time for immigration reform in this country. Washington is getting set to make major changes, the likes of which haven't been seen since the 1980's under President…
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Boyfriend? Lover? Partner? Dude I’m Dating?
Words can kill
Israel’s whiz kids
Mickey Haslavsky of Holon is only 18, but he’s already on his second startup.
Conversations From Twitter – Part 3
Homework: Perspectives of a Mother & her Son
Dating with Children: Hope & Expectations
A Nightmare 16 Years In The Making
A Drivers License For Him & No Sleep for Me
Mothers, Sons & Lessons in Love
Being Sad, the End of an Era & Sex with Trolls
My Son, My Teacher, My Oh My
My Hiatus from Online Dating Sadly, and Thankfully, Comes to an End
My Teenager Still Needs Me - Thank God
My Cynical & Jaded Online Dating Butt Just Got Kicked by a Kid
Sunday Drive with a Howler Monkey
The Secular Bar Mitzvah
Sex, Drugs & Driving: Surviving the Teenage Years
Teenagers reveal why this service is different from all other services
Since the recent holiday of Passover was one of asking questions and thinking about transitioning from one state of being to another, it is an appropriate time to think of the bar and bat mitzvah in a similar context. These four questions -- or more accurately one question and four answers -- can be recited by 13-year-olds, but their explanations are particularly relevant for all of us.
The seminar of a lifetime
Who knew that 20 teenagers from Los Angeles could help make a difference in the world?
‘Teenism’ gives young adults an undeserved rep
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are more than 20.2 million people in America aged 15 to 19, and they are 7 percent of the population. So be careful what statements you make, or what biases you might allow yourself to believe.
A summertime find—future Jewish leaders
As a camper, Max Kates was full of energy, soaking up everything Camp Ramah in Ojai offered. He loved sports, singing, his friends and Shabbat. When the summer arrived for him to join the staff, he immediately applied to participate in Ramah's counselor leadership-training program. In his first year as a counselor, Max was placed in a unit I supervised, and I watched with pride as he developed valuable skills in problem solving, public speaking, teamwork, program design and assessment.
Summer activities push camps to offer variety
Ruth Berkowitz, mother of five, has two manila folders stuffed with camp brochures, schedules and a pencil-drawn spreadsheet compiled of summer activities for her five children, including a column for each week.
Teens and philanthropy are a MATCH
Survivor. No, not the television show, as I wish were the case. A young Jewish woman and personal friend, Amy Farber, is a real survivor who was diagnosed with LAM (short for the fatal lung disease lymphangioleiomyomatosis) a few years ago, when she was 35.
Israeli entry ‘Mud’ wins at Sundance
Rebecca Levinson: Born to Be a Volunteer
Rebecca Levinson grew up always doing things for the community.
"This is what you do," the 17-year-old junior at North Hollywood's Oakwood School, said matter of factly.
Israel’s Teens Get Ironic ‘Inheritance’
Amos Oz has explored the subject in novels. Amos Elon has penned essays about it. Politicians as varied as Abba Eban, Mahmoud Abbas, Bill Clinton and even Ariel Sharon have tried to solve it. So, what can a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate add to the long and storied history of the region with the world's most intractable political problem? Plenty of inspiration, if we are to judge by Jennifer Miller's new book, "Inheriting the Holy Land."
yeLAdim
This section of the page is a way for you as kids to sound off about an issue. This month's Kein v' Lo (yes and no) is about camps. Should Jewish kids go to Jewish camps or other kinds of camps?
A Circle of Friends
For several weeks, I had been visiting Nathan, a 6-year-old boy diagnosed with autism. We had been brought together through the Conejo Valley Friendship Circle, an organization that extends warmth to families in the community that have children with special needs.
Why I Became a NFTY Freak
Debbie Friedman, celebrated Jewish songwriter and singer, wrote the words, "The youth shall see visions." For decades, this song has had a profound impact on Jewish youth of America, instilling value and hope among a generation in search of themselves.
Taking—and Giving—Stock
Move over fountain pens. If the Blue and White Fund has its way, the trend in bar and bat mitzvah gift giving might be instruments of the financial kind.
7 Days in The Arts
7 Days in the Arts
Survivor Voices Come to Classrooms
In the backlot at Universal Studios, somewhere between the lake where Jaws lurks and the courthouse square where Michael J. Fox sped back to the future, researchers in nondescript trailers are finishing up one of the most ambitious projects involving the Holocaust.
Youth Groups Are Worth the Fight
Here is a dreaded conversation familiar to most parents of Jewish teens: Them: "Hi, this is your synagogue youth adviser calling to make sure you received the flyer about our upcoming youth group event. Will your child be joining us?"
Iran’s New Export—Suicide Bombers
Behind the horrible scenes left by four explosions in London on July 7, loomed a more fearsome reality: The perpetrators, most of them very young, had voluntarily turned themselves into living bombs.
Teens Take a March to Remember
David Grossman, 18, wanted to make the Holocaust more personal. Eliya Shachar, 18, wished to understand her grandmother's pain. And Max Kappel, 17, wanted to find a tangible place to comprehend the Shoah.
They were among 51 teenagers from Los Angeles who took part in last week's March of the Living 2005 in Poland, which retraces the nearly two miles from Auschwitz to Birkenau, following the path of concentration camp inmates forced to walk to the gas chambers. They were accompanied by survivors for whom that trail once meant death, including Nandor "Marko" Markovic, 82, a Holocaust survivor, and his wife, Frances, who squeezed into the slow-moving and untidy line of about 20,000 people from almost 50 countries.
The Circuit
Shoshanim, a magazine for Jewish teenage girls, is celebrating its fifth year in publication with a newly designed Web site, new features and an upgraded layout.
Tragedy and Triumph Comes Alive for Teens
As 14-year-old Lisa Jura said goodbye to her mother at a Vienna train station in 1938, Jura’s mother spoke words that would inspire her for a lifetime: “Hold on to your music. It will be your best friend.”
Jura didn’t imagine that these words — and how her life came to embody them — would inspire subsequent generations of teenagers, even 70 years later.
MATCH Puts Giving in Students’ Hands
At Temple Emanuel in Beverly Hills, a unique program is giving teenagers the opportunity to put those lessons to work by serving as board members of their own philanthropic foundation.
esedse
The Tuesday after Labor Day found many kids returning to school from summer vacation. While those at Beverly High showed up in summer tan-revealing tanks and short shorts, at Milken Community High School, neither tank top, nor short shorts, nor T-shirt could be seen.
Milken Dress Code
The Tuesday after Labor Day found many kids returning to school from summer vacation. While those at Beverly High showed up in summer tan-revealing tanks and short shorts, at Milken Community High School, neither tank top, nor short shorts, nor T-shirt could be seen.
7 Days In Arts
7 Days in the Arts
A Mitzvah Is Its Own Reward
"Be not like servants who serve their master for the sake of receiving a reward; instead be like servants who serve their master not for the sake of receiving a reward. And let the awe of Heaven be upon you." -- Pirkei Avot (Ethics of Our Fathers)
Teens Build a Bridge Beyond the Past
On April 19, 12 German teenagers left Heidelberg, flew west for about 6,000 miles, disembarked at LAX, and entered the lives and homes of 12 Jewish American teenagers. None of the 24 teens knew quite what to expect.
During their two-week stay in homes of Kol Tikvah congregants, the German students visited local high schools, attended Shabbat services, took part in a Yom HaShoah program, tried a range of new foods and looked everywhere for Tom Cruise.
Just a Theory
In a sea of competitors, 17-year-old Ilya Gurevich of Israel is alone in the field of theoretical physics. All the other teenagers competing in the physics division at this year's Intel International Science and Engineering Fair have entered projects in practical physics, Gurevich said, but he stuck with the theoretical.
"The world's largest science fair," formerly known as the Westinghouse Competition, is taking place at multiple locations May 9-15, including the Oregon Convention Center in Portland.
Circle of Friends
The Friendship Circle and its Friends at Home program pairs local teenagers with families of special-needs kids in order to provide a social outlet for disabled children and support for their often over-extended parents.
Adults-In-Training Hopes and Fears
"Why are you having a bar or bat mitzvah?" Larry Kligman, dean of students at Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School in Northridge, asks the school's 65 seventh-graders.
Reflections on an Impossible Age
Thirteen is a difficult age. I know this as a parent, and I also know it as a rabbi who interacts with lots of 13-year-olds. I know this as well as a student of Torah. And now I know it as a moviegoer.
Your Letters
Does Gov. Davis expect the 67 percent of the Jews that vote for the Democratic Party to become whores and support him for the $40.2 million donated to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Zimmer Museum and the Skirball Museum ("Davis Recall Fight Plays Jewish Card" July 25)?
Prefer Your Teen to Smoke or to Cheat?
Decades of lecturing around America and of speaking with parents on my radio show have led me to an incredible conclusion: More American parents would be upset with their teenage children if they smoked a cigarette than if they cheated on a test.
Agency Facing Crisis on Funding, Services
Jay Greenberg was eager to hear the therapist from Jewish Family Service (JFS) dole out parenting advice about teenagers last spring.
Going Forth as a Driver
On May 7, exactly 16 years minus 5 1/2 hours after his birth, my son, Gabe, took his driving test at the Winnetka Department of Motor Vehicles office.
‘Raising’ the Bar on Teen Comedies
Peter Sollett's ebullient romantic comedy, "Raising Victor Vargas," about Hispanic teens in the East Village, began as a short film about, well, himself.
Fresh Young Minds
The National Council of Synagogue Youth's (NCSY) Lord of the Regionals Shabbaton weekend was what camp would be like if camp took place in a four-star hotel. Some 400 teenagers from the West Coast gathered -- actually, nearly overran -- the Renaissance Los Angeles Hotel near LAX Dec. 19-22 to bond with Jewish high schoolers from around the region.
On this rainy, winter weekend, the ninth- through 12th-graders from Jewish and public schools in large Jewish cities such as Seattle, and smaller ones such as El Paso, Texas (with five religious families), came together to contemplate God: Who is God? Why does God do what he does? How can people come to believe in God?
2002 terror attacks
2002 terror attacks
Fear of Travel ... Not
Violence in Israel is forcing thousands of North American Jewish youths to cancel plans to visit Israel this year.
Living the Chai Life
They're celebrating the fourth night of Chanukah at the Chai Teen and Youth Center, and, to put it mildly, this joint is jumping.
Seniors 2001: Our Future
As the school year comes to a close, The Jewish Journal profiled eight outstanding graduating seniors from a cross section of high schools in Los Angeles. An examination of their dreams, their hopes, their personal and professional goals -- as well as what has shaped them in the past -- proves that the Jewish future is alive and well.
Not in Vain
The sanctuary of B'nai David-Judea Congregation in the Pico-Robertson area was once a spacious movie theater. Last Wednesday, April 25, it was filled to the nosebleed rows with more than 500 junior-high and high-school students from Yeshiva University of Los Angeles Boys and Girls Schools, Maimonides Academy, West Valley Hebrew Day School, Hillel Harkham Academy and Emek Hebrew Academy. Looming large onstage were photos of two teenagers with L.A. connections who were murdered by Palestinian terrorists: 14-year-old Yael Botwin, killed in a 1997 terrorist bombing in Jerusalem, and 19-year-old Yitzhak Weinstock, grandson of Rabbi Simon Dolgin, who for three decades served as spiritual leader of Beth Jacob Congregation in Beverly Hills. Weinstock was one of the victims of a 1993 drive-by shooting on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
A Scandal’s Echo
The day before a report came out confirming allegations that the Orthodox Union (OU) for years ignored signs that a top rabbi at the National Conference of Synagogue Youth (NCSY) was abusing teens in his charge, Ayelet Fischer and 300 other teens were at the Marriott in Woodland Hills attending NCSY's West Coast regional conclave. And nobody was talking about Rabbi Baruch Lanner.
ADL Passover seder for the schools in Los Angeles Unified School District
All evening Taumisha Freeman sat dutifully, listening to the story of the Exodus out of Egypt, tasting matzah ("It needs salt"), reciting the plagues, without any expression. It was hard to know if she was bored or if, given the fact that she had never been around anything Jewish before, it was just too strange to be here at this intergroup Passover, sponsored by the Pacific Southwest regional office of the Anti-Defamation League.
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