Combating Prejudice
January 11, 2001
Although only 23 miles apart, Milken Community High School in Bel Air and Jordan High School in South Central might as well exist in different worlds.
Jane Ulman
New Year’s Resolutions
December 28, 2000
Four thousand years ago, the Babylonians originated the ritual of making New Year\’s resolutions. Most of them made the identical promise — to return borrowed farm equipment.
Feeding the Hungry
November 23, 2000
\”We have slaves to help,\” Jerry Rabinowitz, the Friday co-captain of the North Hollywood Interfaith Food Pantry, announces. \”We Jews know something about slaves.\”
Operation: GobbleCrying ‘fowl’ on Thanksgiving by feeding, not eating, a turkey.
November 16, 2000
Judaism commands us to be kind to animals.
Sharing Hope for Peace
November 16, 2000
On Nov. 9, five years after the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Milken Community High School students reached across 7,563 miles and 10 time zones to their sister school, Tichon Chadash, in Tel Aviv.
Mitzvah Day
November 9, 2000
Imagine the possibility of having restricted access to your own religion and culture without even realizing it, whether you attend synagogue and study sessions faithfully or not. Such a phenomenon actually exists, and it\’s doing its disturbing work in our own Jewish community. I am referring to the inability to read and interpret the Hebrew language – the original mode of communication of the Torah, rabbis, biblical scholars and personas, and thousands of years of Judaism. I call this disability Hebrew/Jewish illiteracy.
Rampant Rudeness
October 12, 2000
Lack of civility is nothing new. If we had been a kinder, gentler and less stiff-necked people 3,310 years ago, Moses wouldn\’t have had to trek up Mt. Sinai for the Ten Commandments.
Cousin Sima
September 28, 2000
In a perfect world, my cousin Sima and I would have grown up together. Almost exactly a year apart, we would have talked in secret code, tormented our younger siblings and giggled together at family seders. We would have shared our adolescent crushes and angst, and danced at each other\’s weddings.
Paying Kids to Read
August 24, 2000
\”Pay me to read? That would be awesome,\” my son Jeremy says.
Not only is he perpetually in debt, but he was also faced with a formidable list of books to read before beginning sixth grade at Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School in Northridge on Sept. 5.
\”But it would be wrong,\” he immediately adds.
Raising Boys
June 22, 2000
This past year, Toys R Us was excoriated for proposing and, in some instances, constructing separate \”Boys World\” and \”Girls World\” sections. But public outrage quickly forced the 707-store retailer to abandon this gender-based marketing concept, which it euphemistically referred to as \”logical adjacencies.\”Twenty years ago, I would have vehemently condemned Toys R Us\’ discriminatory actions, perhaps even joining the ranks of the politically correct protesters. Girls, I would have argued, have as much right to play with a Tonka truck as boys with a Little Tikes vacuum cleaner. And not only a right, a need.Twenty years ago, I was single, childless and clueless.
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