By what criteria should Jewish voters select Los Angeles\’ next mayor? The March 8 election is looming as a referendum on first-term incumbent James K. Hahn.
As professor Raphael J. Sonenshein of California State University, Fullerton noted in an earlier Jewish Journal column, the Jewish community seems split mostly among three candidates.
Miss Smith, my third-grade teacher at Vollentine Grammar School, stood facing the class with her arm around my shoulders. She was a large woman the size of two or three of today\’s fashion models, with gray hair pulled back from a ruddy, round face. All I knew of her personal life was that she was unwed, but mothered 25 third-grade kids. She lived in a small, neighboring town famous for its horse farms.
She looked out to her students, her eyes focused above them. I looked down.
I had just finished reciting a poem to the class and before I could return to my desk, Miss Smith was at my side.
\”Children, Teddy is Jewish. And I like Jewish kids. Teddy\’s people have made some major contributions to the South. How many of you know of Dr. Joseph Goldberger who cured pellagra? How many of you know about pellagra?\”
The High Holidays are a time Jews reserve for themselves. They don\’t seek the approval or participation of gentiles. What if African Americans stopped trying to get white people to celebrate with us and recognized that we have been essential in making this nation?
Scrip. You can\’t join a synagogue or enroll your child in school without being hit up to buy it. Whether in the form of paper certificates, plastic gift cards or e-scrip online, this potent little fundraiser has become a major part of most nonprofit organizations\’ annual budgets.
Scrip first became popular in the late 1980s with grocery and department stores, and is now available for everything from gasoline to The Gap. Organizations buy the gift certificates in denominations like $10, $25 or $100 at a discount, either straight from the company or through a scrip broker. They then sell the scrip, charging the full face value of the certificate and making a profit of up to 25 percent, depending on the type of scrip sold.
Three in five adults report that their level of Jewish involvement has changed substantially over the course of their adult lives. Remarkably, their involvement is nearly as likely to have increased as to have declined.What\’s constant is change. American Jews continually adapt and reinvent their identities throughout their adult lives.
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