Jewish Journal

The Invisible Student: A Tale of Homelessness at UCLA and USC

Tabby Refael - November 30, 2020 0

Each of the 68,000 homeless students in the nation has their own story of resilience.

Tisha B'Av

The Forgotten Miracle: Nov. 29, 1947

Judea Pearl - November 29, 2020 0

Last month saw the anniversary of one of the most significant events in Jewish history, perhaps the most significant since the Exodus from Egypt -- Nov. 29, 1947 -- the day the U.N. General Assembly voted 33-13 to partition Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state

Commentary

Obama’s Revisionist ‘Promised Land’

Dov Lipman, JNS - November 27, 2020 0

His memoir, A Promised Land, is filled with historical inaccuracies that I feel the need to address.

Commentary

How Yeshiva Prepared Me To Excel in Secular Education

Jonah Hess - November 27, 2020 0

As a former yeshiva student, it’s challenging balancing higher education, a high-tech career and a significant emphasis on Torah study.

News

Past Tensions Between Biden, Erdoğan Cast Shadow Over Ankara-Washington Relations

Mohammad Al-Kassim, The Media Line - November 27, 2020 0

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is bracing for a stormy four years.

Theology of Thanksgiving: Whom Shall We Thank?

Rabbi Mordecai Finley - November 27, 20200

Holidays

We must give up either Divine power or Divine goodness.

Will the Pandemic Trigger the Next Jewish Revolution?

Steven Windmueller - November 27, 20200

As we experience an unprecedented global pandemic, more Jews than at any other time in history are being exposed to Jewish platforms of culture,...

Philanthropy

Donations of Appreciated Stock Unlock Charitable Currency, Bring Fulfillment

Steve Gamer, Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles (Sponsored Article) - November 24, 20200

A few years ago, the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles (The Foundation) ran an advertisement with an attention-grabbing headline: To open a charitable...

Rosner's Domain

Rosner’s Torah Talk: Parsha Vayetze with Tzvia Rubens

Shmuel Rosner - November 26, 20200

Tzvia Rubens, of Hebrew Union in Ohio, is our guest this week, and we discuss Parshat Vayetze which begins when Jacob leaves Canaan and journeys to Charan. On...

Columnists

Editor's Note

David Suissa - November 24, 20200

Thankful for a Chair and a Table

If we can’t celebrate the holiday the way we're used to, we can double down on celebrating its message of gratitude.

Columnists

Gregory Smith - November 25, 20200

Georgia On My Mind

Why has Biden not gone again to Georgia?

Commentary

Dennis Prager - November 20, 20200

What American Schools Should Teach About Race, Racism and Slavery

In light of the conversations about race sparked by the 2020 killing of George Floyd, many American schools are revising their approach and curriculum...

Blogs

Marion Haberman - November 23, 20200

You’re Not a Bad Jewish Mom If Your Kid Wants Santa...

You’re not a bad Jewish mom if your kid wants Santa Claus to come to your house. You haven’t failed to share your love...

Columnists

Tabby Refael - November 26, 20200

This Thanksgiving, I’m Grateful to Councilmember David E. Ryu

I dedicate this column to thanking Councilmember David Ryu of Los Angeles’s fourth district.

Israel

Court Ruling Means Young Jerusalem Arabs Face Easier Route to Israeli Citizenship

Joshua Shuman, The Media Line - November 25, 2020 0

A previously unpublished regulatory clause, outlining relaxed requirements for young adult legal permanent residents applying to become Israeli citizens, has become public by order of the Jerusalem District Court.

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Commentary

A Time to Redefine Thanksgiving and A Time to Reclaim It

Rochelle Ginsburg - November 26, 20200

A year ago, we were in a dilemma about what to do with too much and too many. This year, our dilemma is what to do, period.

Columnists

Satirical Semite: Learning to Be English

Marcus J Freed - November 25, 20200

After 10 years of living in Los Angeles, I must now relearn how to be English.

Judaism

Thanksgiving: Two Stories, Retold

Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson - November 25, 20200

For our Thanksgiving to do its redemptive work, we must tell the stories that are truly worthy of real gratitude: stories in which we can all see ourselves and hear our voices in all their divergences and disparities, stories too nuanced and complex to be told only once.

Columnists

How We Can Be Happy This Thanksgiving

Randi Braun - November 25, 20200

It’s that time of year: to make the obligatory Facebook posts, Instagram stories, tweets and toasts (albeit, virtual this year) about what we’re grateful...

Commentary

Education-Legal Partnerships Are Needed to Fight Student Poverty

Diego Cartagena and Nick Melvoin - November 25, 20200

Attending school during a pandemic is difficult. Attending school without a stable home is unfathomable. Unfortunately, that’s a reality for more than a quarter...

PodcastsDavid Suissa - November 24, 20200

Pandemic Times Episode 107: Some deep reflections before Thanksgiving

New David Suissa Podcast Every Tuesday and Friday. A conversation with Danielle Ames Spivak, CEO of American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic. How do we manage...

PodcastsErin Ben-Moche and Esther D. Kustanowitz - November 24, 20200

A Very Bagel Thanksgiving

Leading up to Thanksgiving, the Bagels are identifying what they're most grateful for: John Mulaney, the Jewish-adjacent comedian who recently played a Hillel event;...

PodcastsSalvador Litvak - October 27, 20200

Rabbi Reuven Wolf: Who Is The Jewish Messiah and When Is He Coming?

Rabbi Reuven Wolf of Maayon Yisroel Chassidic Center, takes us deep into Jewish mysticism as Sal and his rabbi explore some tough questions: Why...

PodcastsShmuel Rosner - November 25, 20200

David L. Graizbord: The New Zionists

Shmuel Rosner and David L. Graizbord discuss his new book, The New Zionists: Young American Jews, Jewish National Identity, and Israel. David Graizbord is an...

PodcastsJewish Journal - November 10, 20200

The Conservative meets the Democrat: Larry Greenfield and Hailey Soifer

Larry Greenfield is a Fellow at The Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship & Political Philosophy and a frequent columnist with The Jewish...

Rosner's DomainShmuel Rosner - November 19, 20200

Rosner’s Torah Talk: Parshat Toldot with Devorah Tucker-Fick

Devorah Tucker-Fick is a Cantorial student at ALEPH. Our parsha is Toldot. In this parsha, two twins, Esau and Jacob, have complicated relations. Esau is...

JJ Bloggers

Blogs

Interpreting Life’s Artistry Without Originality

Gershon Hepner - November 29, 2020 0

Of life’s artistry interpreters, we find originality a commodity that’s very rare. Artfully we all try to fine-tune without finality great melodies already in the air. Sting (Gordon...

Blogs

From Darkness to Wisdom — Thoughts on Torah Portion Vayeitzei 2020

Rabbi Mordecai Finley - November 27, 2020 0

I can imagine Jacob justifiably bemoaning his fate as he trudges toward Paddam Aram. Jacob was the one, the Bible tells us, who was...

Blogs

The Lucas Project: How You Can Help Boys with ALD

Lisa Ellen Niver - November 26, 2020 0

Lucas' Story When Lucas was 3 months old we were notified that he tested...

Blogs

Love Like Jacob – a poem for Torah portion Vateze

Rick Lupert - November 25, 2020 0

So Jacob worked for Rachel seven years, but they appeared to him like a few days because of his love for her. ...

Blogs

How Jewish Vegetarians Celebrate Thanksgiving

Gershon Hepner - November 25, 2020 0

This is why on Thanksgiving non-vegetarians have a custom to eat turkey. It’s because the tasty bird was thought to come from India, whose Hebraic name is hodu,...

Blogs

Home Shalom Monday Message #32

Naomi Ackerman - November 23, 2020 0

Home Shalom promotes healthy relationships and facilitates the creation of judgement free, safe spaces in the Jewish community. Home Shalom is a program of...

Blogs

The Book Truck READ-A-THON December 6, 2020

Lisa Ellen Niver - November 23, 2020 0

WANT TO READ FOR A GREAT CAUSE? JOIN THE BOOK TRUCK 2020 READ-A-THON! 4TH ANNUAL READ-A-THON! On Dec. 6th, participants will...

Culture
Culture

Food

Breathing New Life Into A Thanksgiving Pumpkin Tradition

Michael Tanenbaum - November 25, 20200

Why stick with the ordinary pumpkin when you can accessorize into a whole line of winter squashes with far more panache?

Culture

MOTs Score Grammy Nominations

Gerri Miller - November 24, 2020 0

This year’s nominees include several Members of the Tribe, including Jerry Seinfeld, Tiffany Haddish, Rachel Maddow and Spike Jonze, in categories that reflect their particular talents.

Entertainment

Talking with Maya Batash About “Talking With God”

Lisa Klug - November 24, 2020 0

Maya Batash was grappling with personal issues when she first ventured to Uman, the renowned burial place of the 18th century mystic and kabbalist,...

Family

An Unconventional Holiday Season

Rebecca Katz - November 20, 2020 0

Last Passover, my mom, my sister and I sat at our kitchen table and ate thick slices of New York pizza. “We are bad Jews,”...

L.A. Stories

Community

Legacy Charitable Foundation Distributes 162 Food Boxes for Thanksgiving

Erin Ben-Moche - November 25, 2020 0

The annual Thanksgiving Turkey Brigade looked a little different this year.

Community

Power of Youth LA Kicks Off Hanukkah with Maccabee Drive Thru Experience

Erin Ben-Moche - November 24, 2020 0

Rabbi JJ and Frumie Duchman, founders of the non-profit the Power of Youth LA (POY), know that Hanukkah tends to be an afterthought during...

News

Remembering Dr. Sharon Gillerman

Joshua Holo - November 23, 2020 0

We mourn the untimely death, on Nov 20th, of our beloved friend, teacher and colleague, Dr. Sharon Gillerman, scholar of modern European Jewish history...

Hollywood

Entertainment

A Dutch Jew Investigates Nazi-Stolen Art in ‘The Last Vermeer’

Gerri Miller - November 18, 2020 0

Like the fact-based historical dramas “Woman in Gold” and “The Monuments Men,” about priceless art treasures stolen by the Nazis, “The Last Vermeer” has...

Entertainment

French Jazz Group Works with Businesses to Perform Live During Pandemic

Erin Ben-Moche - November 17, 2020 0

Los Angeles based French jazz group Paris Chansons used to perform live around the world. Then the pandemic hit. Despite the global restrictions, the...

Entertainment

A Mystery Unfolds as the Syrian Civil War Rages in ‘No Man’s Land’

Gerri Miller - November 16, 2020 0

After the Arab Spring, when anti-regime protests erupted and ISIS gained a foothold in Northern Syria amid the chaos, a full-scale civil war consumed...

Table For Five

Judaism

Table for Five: Vayeitzei

Salvador Litvak - November 25, 20200

One verse, five voices. Edited by Salvador Litvak, the Accidental Talmudist And an angel of God said to me in a dream, 'Jacob!' And I...

Judaism

Table for Five: Toldot

Salvador Litvak - November 18, 20200

One verse, five voices. Edited by Salvador Litvak, the Accidental Talmudist And the Lord said to her, "Two nations are in your womb, and two...

Judaism

Table for Five: Chayei Sarah

Salvador Litvak - November 11, 20200

Edited by Salvador Litvak, the Accidental Talmudist And they summoned Rebecca, and they said to her, "Will you go with this man?" And she said,...

A Bisl Torah

What Do We Need?

Rabbi Nicole Guzik - November 13, 20200

My mom and I began to discuss Thanksgiving, a favorite holiday among the Guzik family. Usually, the dining room is bursting with relatives, new...

A Bisl Torah

Shameful Acts

Rabbi Nicole Guzik - November 11, 20200

As I have watched the election unfold, I have done exactly what I vowed not to do: scroll through Facebook and Instagram. And while...

A Bisl Torah

Those Shtiebel Moments

Rabbi Nicole Guzik - October 27, 20200

A dear congregant gifted me a beautiful memoir about her father growing up in Poland during the Shoah. Prior to the onset of the...

Poetry
Poetry

Poetry

Poem: Vayetzei

Rick Lupert - November 25, 20200

I It’s getting so all my poems about the Torah read like a JDate ad campaign run by old Uncle Laban Jacob, two wives and their handmaidens later and suddenly a baker’s dozen...

Poetry

Poem: Toldot

Rick Lupert - November 18, 2020 0

Jacob and Esau fighting in the womb like kittens one escapes, the other hanging on by a foot. Our first family ladies and gentleman. One grows hair while their father grows blind. One...

Poetry

Poem: Chayei Sarah

Rick Lupert - November 11, 2020 0

I What is it with this this mortal impermanence? You live and do things and the end is inevitable. Like a story called life which begins with...

Poetry

A Prayer for Our Country After the Election

Rabbi Naomi Levy - November 9, 2020 0

Our nation has chosen a new leader To guide us forward in this challenging time. Help us, God, to unite our great country In the wake of...

Poetry

Poem: Vayera

Rick Lupert - November 4, 2020 0

I A child is born. They name him laughter. Another child is sent away as if blood doesn’t exist. The original seeds of a divided Jerusalem are sown right here. Hardly anyone...