JJ Editor's Picks
"There is a famous line, variations of which have been used since the 20th century, that has been attributed (without evidence) to Vladimir Lenin. The first version of the mysterious quote goes like this: "When it comes time to hang the..."
"One enduring thing of value that ought to come out of the Trump administration — ought, but apparently won’t — would be to finally drive a stake into the heart of these deathless twin superstitions: that the skills and talents that enable..."
"There is no agreed criterion to distinguish science from pseudoscience, or just plain ordinary bullshit, opening the door to all manner of metaphysics masquerading as science. This is ‘post-empirical’ science, where truth no longer matters, and..."
"That morning, the door of the testing room was propped open, allowing for sunlight and a line of students and parents to snake inside from out on the sidewalk. We were waiting for the results of the math placement test that would let us know how..."
"It’s the end of millennials as we know them. No, not the 73 million younger adults born between 1981 and 1996; they’re fine. But the death knell is tolling for the way we tend to overuse, and misuse, the literal term millennials. The latest peal..."
"Of all the terms to gain prominence in 2019, few have provoked more pontification, more pearl-clutching, or more caustic dismissal than “cancel culture.” Depending on where you get your discourse, you’ve probably already seen the phenomenon..."
"In a bizarre quirk of fate, Russia is trying to trade Israeli Na’ama Issachar, just sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison for possessing cannabis, for Alexei Burkov, arrested by Israel for perpetrating cyber fraud in the US. Welcome to..."
"Democrats tackled several issues on the debate stage Tuesday night that had previously gone untouched. One of those was automation — the idea that robots and technology will replace workers and destroy jobs. It prompted a confusing discussion..."
JJ Inside The Print
I knew the Kol Nidre crowd at the Beverly Hills Hotel was probably expecting me to talk about big issues. Since I deal with such...
This Yom Kippur, I relied on three pastimes to help me through synagogue services: connecting with God as a loving redeemer, imagining what glorious food...
The 19th-century Danish Christian theologian Søren Kierkegaard lamented about many of his co-religionists that their form of religion was merely “Sunday Christianity” and, even more...
Next week, we begin again to read the Torah from Page One. In the opening chapters, we will be confronted, as we are every year,...
You are reading at Simchat Torah time, the joyful high point of the High Holy Days journey. I am writing on the day after Yom...
Last Yom Kippur, soon after my then 9-year-old son Alexander and I got home from services, we heard a gentle knock on the door. “Hi,...
On Simchat Torah, we enliven our senses.After spending a week joyously immersed in Creation while sitting in a sukkah, we now take the Torah, the...
Late on the night of Oct. 6, the White House issued a statement announcing that after a call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President...
Ruth Kabbesa Abramzon invites me for a ‘Shabbat Yerushalmi’ at her Jerusalem home with her husband and four small children. “We have a small room...
The civil war in Syria started almost a decade ago. Millions were forced to flee. Hundreds of thousands were killed. Condemnations aside, the international community...
Most Los Angeles Jewish voters support liberal positions on domestic policy issues, identify more as Democrats than as Republicans, and strongly disapprove of President Donald...
Funny how the things that bothered are the things I miss jumbled pj’s in the closet toothpaste landscape in the sink feather tickle that raised...
One verse, five voices. Edited by Salvador Litvak, Accidental Talmudist Never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face...
For me, Tuscany is a place where time slows down and afternoons stretch out like golden pathways leading toward long, soul-nourishing meals. In the United...
Unpleasant odors wafting into Rabbi Yonah Bookstein’s office sometimes prompt closing the windows. The stench is not from exhaust typically clogging the heavily trafficked West...
In Orthodox synagogues on Shabbat and holiday mornings, men are called up to the Torah, while the women sit in a separate area divided by...
Internationally famous recording artists such as Lady Gaga, Madonna and Bruno Mars are prime targets for the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS), in part...
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Oct. 11 signed into law an Assembly bill establishing the California Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which provides grants for security...
New Zealand Jewish director Taika Waititi’s “Jojo Rabbit” takes the tropes of World War II movies and flips them on their head. Tipping his hat...
On a brilliant Sunday afternoon in September, actress-comedian Wendy Hammers bounded onto the stage at the American Jewish University’s Shapiro Hall, barefoot and dancing. Hammers...
Israeli director Lilach Dekel-Avneri likes to break all the rules of traditional theater. With a background in interdisciplinary arts and post-dramatic theater as well as...
Amid the dire headlines out of the Middle East, we sometimes lose sight of the good news about Israel. That’s exactly what we find in...
Shirley Bean died Sept. 16 at 98. Survived by daughter Barbara; son Stuart; 3 grandchildren; 1 great-grandchild. Mount Sinai Seymour Bessen died Sept.16 at 96. Survived...
Simchat Torah is a time for rejoicing, and one way to spread the joy is with these miniature Torahs made with Tootsie Rolls. They make...
In 2013, Ron Wolfson published “Relational Judaism: Using the Power of Relationships to Transform the Jewish Community,” designed to boost Jewish affiliation in Jewish organizational...
At the Larger Than Life gala event in the Beverly Hilton, 37 children stood onstage singing “Yad Beyad” (“Hand in Hand”), a song by the...
FRI OCT 18 “Sukkot in Mexico” Young professionals in their 20s and 30s should feel as if they are in Mexico when entering this exotic-looking...
Praise for Sukkot Edition Stories by Kylie Ora Lobell (“The Work of Sukkot is Worth It,” Oct. 11), Paul Starr (“The Sukkah Challenge”) and Louis...
