Alex Kurztman gets personal in ‘People Like Us’

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on June 20, 2012

Moral hazards and the health care debate

Published on April 3, 2012

Last week, many of us followed with much anxiety the Supreme Court debate about the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, referred to in some circles as “Obamacare.”

Q & A With George Nolfi of “The Adjustment Bureau,” Coming Soon to DVD

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on April 26, 2011

Jews Should Oppose Universal Health Care

Published on September 4, 2009

In the always lively Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, Rabbi Elliot Dorff writes in a cover essay that "support for universal health care is an imperative in Jewish law." Is it now? On health care reform, Rabbi Dorff has his classical sources all lined up -- most having to do with obligations on the community to rescue its needy, the captive, and those otherwise endangered. The communal court system can compel a person to give charity in support of the poor. Proper medical services are a necessity in a Jewish community. And so on. Whether through socialized medicine or government health insurance, something must be done: the fact of there being 40 million uninsured Americans is "intolerable."

Why We Must Support Universal Health Care

Published on August 26, 2009

Whether or not we are believers in the Obama plan, or any of the particular plans for universal health care currently winding their way through Congress, support for universal health care is an imperative in Jewish law. Although what is available in medicine and its cost have changed radically, particularly over the past century, the fundamental right to receive good care — and to be compensated for giving it — goes very far back in our heritage, though perhaps, ironically, not all the way to the Torah or even the Mishnah.

Steven Spielberg dreams anew

By Tom Teicholz
Published on October 1, 2008

What does it mean that Spielberg's other founding partners, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg, are no longer with the company?

The dream of a beautiful bat mitzvah—but whose dream would it fulfill?

Published on September 11, 2008

When I look at my daughters, I see their faces as both azoy shayne and uruwashii, "so beautiful" in Yiddish and in Japanese.

Beyond sicko

By Marty Kaplan
Published on July 17, 2008

Beyond sicko

By Marty Kaplan
Published on July 16, 2008

Because this was happening a short taxi ride from the White House, I half expected someone from Dick Cheney's office to burst in at any moment, grab the
microphone and proclaim the conference kaput, dissolved like an inconvenient parliament.

For the Kids

Published on December 25, 2003

head over to Universal Studios Hollywood

Ten Days in L.A.

By Michael Aushenker
Published on May 9, 2002

A Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles reception welcomed 18 students participating in a cultural exchange sponsored by the Federation's Tel Aviv-Los Angeles Partnership. Fourteen students from Tel Aviv's A.D. Gordon School and four students from their paired partner, Northridge's Abraham Heschel Day School, gathered to reflect on their experience as the Israeli students -- all ages 13 and 14 -- wrapped up their 10-day visit to Los Angeles.