David Suissa is Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of Tribe Media/Jewish Journal, where he has been writing a weekly column on the Jewish world since 2006. In 2015, he was awarded first prize for "Editorial Excellence" by the American Jewish Press Association. Prior to Tribe Media, David was founder and CEO of Suissa Miller Advertising, a marketing firm named “Agency of the Year” by USA Today. He sold his company in 2006 to devote himself full time to his first passion: Israel and the Jewish world. David was born in Casablanca, Morocco, grew up in Montreal, and now lives in Los Angeles with his five children.
Today, one of the great Moroccan sages, Rabbi Chaim Pinto of the city of Mogador, has a living presence right here in our own hood, on Pico Boulevard, just east of Robertson. It\’s at a little shul called the Pinto Center.
Ever since I moved to this country 25 years ago, I\’ve been in awe of how 250 million people stop everything during the fourth Thursday of November to gather around cranberry sauce, stuffing and bread pudding.This year, however, being in the Orthodox hood, where they celebrate a Jewish version of Thanksgiving twice a week — on Friday night and Shabbat lunch, without turkey and TV but with lots of prayers, blessings and songs, and at least as much food — I\’ve been experiencing something a little different: a respectful but slightly blasé attitude toward this big American holiday.
You walk into an elegant, minimalist little building on the corner of Pico and Doheny in the heart of the hood. It\’s Shabbat, and you\’ve come to pray.
This column is not about the future of the Jewish people; you\’ll get plenty of that in this issue of The Jewish Journal.\nRather, it\’s about the story of two Judaisms.
Halloween is seen as the crowning achievement of secular emptiness. You celebrate, glorify, trivialize and idolize something as deep and holy as death, and in return, your kids get to gorge on KitKats and day-glow jawbreakers.
Understanding the unique power of Shabbat. Shabbat does not just come and go every week. In fact, it never really goes away.
There\’s no question that Gino\’s got a thing for Jews. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that for the better part of 40 years, Jewish women have accounted for 90 percent to 95 percent of his hairdressing business.
I can see going a little nuts on Purim, when we celebrate a seminal victory that saved the Jewish people, but going bananas on a day of Torah?
One of the great rituals of Jewish life: The sukkah.
David and Deena Brandes didn\’t need the drama of a fire to know they were surrounded by an extended family.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.