Early in her teaching career, Marilyn Lubarsky introduced her ninth-grade history students to the Holocaust by showing \”Nuit et Brouillard\” (\”Night and Fog\”), a 1955 film containing vivid images of the horrors endured by Jews in concentration camps.
\”We didn\’t have the resources and knowledge of how Israel has been changing according to the international arena,\” said Jewish-day-school teacher Ziva London on a break between sessions at an Israel teacher education workshop at the University of Judaism (UJ).
After extensive research, campus tours, a detailed application and an interview, Aidan Buckner was recently accepted into the school of his choice. While his parents may have done the legwork, it is Aidan who will enter kindergarten at the Ronald and Trana Labowe Family Day School at Adat Ari El in Valley Village this fall. The 5 1/2-year-old seems unfazed by the upcoming transition, but for his parents, the news marks the end of a long journey.
Jordan Cinnamon, 15, has been crazy about the ocean since he was a little kid, so when it came to choosing a way to spend the summer, the idea of going to a regular sports camps didn\’t appeal to him.
This summer, Jacqueline Berlin, 7, will leave her mom, dad
and younger sister to enter the world of overnight camp for the first time.
Fran Drescher doesn\’t remember receiving Chanukah presents as a child.
\”With the Dreschers, [Chanukah] was all about the food,\” laughed the actress who is best known for her role in TV\’s \”The Nanny,\” which aired from 1993-99. \”Nothing was as important as the chocolate dreidels and chocolate coins.\”
"If you have a piece of fruit," said Simha Lainer, "throw away the skin and eat only the good part inside." Such a wise and optimistic statement could fit right in with the list of "zayde-isms" that Lainer\’s granddaughter, Lisa, is compiling for the family in honor of his upcoming 100th birthday.
Calling all creative kids. If you have a way with words or an aptitude for art, you can use your unique talents by entering the first annual Jews for Judaism Jewish Students\’ Creative Writing & Art Contest.
Working with the theme \”I Love Judaism,\” future scribes and artists can express their feelings about their young Jewish lives by writing original poems, songs or short stories or creating a piece of artwork. The competition, which is divided into three age groups, is open to Southern California Jews in first through 12th grade.
The contest is sponsored by Jews for Judaism, an international organization that provides a wide variety of counseling services, along with education and outreach programs, that enable Jews of all ages to rediscover and strengthen their Jewish heritage. The group is also the Jewish community\’s leading response to the multimillion-dollar efforts of cults and Evangelical Christians who target Jews for conversion.
On June 1, 2001, Larisa Azyaski stood with her best friend Irina Nepomnyaschy among a sea of teenagers clamoring to get into the Dolphinarium, a popular Tel Aviv club. Suddenly, the place exploded. A suicide bomber detonated himself, and Azyaski saw only darkness in front of her. She felt like her head was on fire. Disoriented and separated from her friends, she walked past dozens of motionless bodies and managed to escape the chaos
Hilla Hayo, 16, was not a victim of the Dolphinarium attack in Tel Aviv on June 1, 2001 — but she could have been. The teenager, who, along with four classmates, spent 10 days at New Community Jewish High School in West Hills this October as part of the Los Angeles Jewish Federation\’s Tel Aviv-Los Angeles Partnership, canceled her plans at the last minute the night of the explosion. She and her pal were planning to go to Pacha, the Dolphinarium\’s neighboring club whose patrons were also struck when the bomb was detonated.
\”My best friend got sick and we decided not to go,\” remembered Hayo.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.