January 1, 2012 | 3:18 pm

About

Posted by Orit Arfa

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Orit Arfa is the Executive Director of the Zionist Organization of America, Western Region. Find out more about the ZOA here: www.zoawest.org.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, CA, Orit attended private Jewish day schools in West LA. While most college students were bar-hopping, she was college-hopping in search of “The Truth.” After stints at Columbia University, Stern College for Women, Bar Ilan University, and UCLA, she ultimately graduated with a BA in Jewish Studies and a minor in Journalism from the American Jewish University (formerly University of Judaism).

She began her career as a journalist, first as an intern at prestigious Jewish weekly, The Forward, then as a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Jewish Journal and, eventually, the Jerusalem Post.

In 1999 she moved to Israel, a year before the Palestinian intifada broke out, and took up several PR-related positions while also writing features and op-eds on politics, society, lifestyle and travel for a variety of publications. To catch-up on the bar-hopping she missed in college, she pioneered the nightlife section of the Jerusalem Post.

While in Israel, she completed her MA in Bible and Jewish Thought at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies and complemented her studies with a series of Biblical paintings and creative writing. She returned to Los Angeles in 2008 and served as the Executive Director of the Century City Bar Association before taking her post at the ZOA. She can be reached at oarfa@zoa.org.