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Gaby Wenig

Gaby Wenig

Twins Bring Hope to Paralyzed Couple

Shmuel and Rivkah Klein have all the hassles of being new parents. Their twins don\’t sleep through the night, and with all the feedings, baths and diaper changes, they have difficulty finding time for themselves.

But the Kleins have an added challenge: They are both paralyzed, and they need to care for 8-week-olds Yosef Netanel and Yaakov Aryeh from the confines of their wheelchairs.

Jewish Advocacy, Guerrilla Style

The set is a converted garage in Pico-Robertson. Eight Hollywood hopefuls dressed in T-shirts and cargo pants, holding shovels and frying pans, are waiting for the camera to start rolling.

A boom mike looms overhead and a klieg light shines in their faces, but for screenwriter Shlomo Heimler, these things matter less than the fact that for him this shoot, which advertises volunteering in Israel, is one with soul.

\”This is the most meaningful work I have ever done,\” the 38-year-old former advertising art director said. \”When you go to work, there are typically no emotions involved, but this is all heart and soul, for everyone.\”

Back to Breed Street

\”Boyle Heights was the Ellis Island of Los Angeles,\” said City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa at the Breed Street Shul Open Day on Sunday, Aug. 22. \”And this shul was the mother of all synagogues.\”

But the \”mother of all synagogues,\” which opened in 1923, was abandoned by its few remaining congregants in 1996, and left to molder away — unused and unprotected from the elements — in Boyle Heights, a primarily Latino neighborhood.

Until now.

Synagogue Perks Entice Unaffiliated

What does $1,000 buy you these days in Jewish life?

Maybe, if you\’re lucky, a full-year family synagogue membership. But what exactly does that mean? Two tickets to High Holiday services? Free parking? Entree to Kiddushes?

At a time when families have limited time and money and so much competing for it, synagogue leaders are realizing the need to offer more to potential and existing congregant.

Anti-Semitic Sing-A-Long

Borat is a fictional Kazahkstanian reporter distinguished by his utter lack of social propriety who allegedly films segments on American culture for Kazakhstan television. Like the spectacularly stupid pseudo black rapper Ali G and the unashamedly vapid gay Austrian fashion reporter Bruno, Borat is a creation of British Jewish comic Sacha Baron Cohen. And, like the other characters, Borat uses his lack of shame to expose people\’s darker sides by asking them uncomfortable questions.

Under The Skin

In the new \”Body Worlds\” exhibit at the California Science Center, a plastic man called \”Chess Player\” sits at a table with his back hunched forward and his hands cupped under his chin. His lips pursed, his eyes stare intensely at the chess board.

Melrose: Avenue of the Stars of David

The street was made famous by the TV show \”Melrose Place,\” and for years, scores of tourists have trawled Melrose Avenue every day, hoping that some Los Angeles stardust will rub off on them.

‘Flicks’ for Generation Y

Kenny Schnurr and Micah Smith are concerned about Jewish education. \”One of the problems is that students are not interested [in what\’s being taught],\” Schnurr said. \”The students are used to this very engaging visual language [of the media], and the teachers don\’t have anything to compete with that.\”

So Smith and Schnurr, both filmmakers in their 20s, teamed up to create J-Flicks, a series of educational \”trigger\” films that repackage esoteric Jewish concepts in a slick neo-MTV style garb for a media savvy audience.

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