It started with a cup of coffee. About two years ago, Effie Braun and her husband, Nate, sat down with Rabbi Noah Farkas of Valley Beth Shalom (VBS) in Encino to discuss an idea — VBSnextGen.
Sitting with his back hunched, his wife by his side and a kippah on his head, a 23-year-old bearded Orthodox man nervously told a gathering of parents at a private residence near Pico-Robertson that a young man named Mendel Tevel had sexually abused him when he was 14.
Nearly 2,500 Jewish youth and 450 coaches from 62 delegations from around the world converged Aug. 4 on the Merage Jewish Community Center in Irvine for the annual JCC Maccabi Games & ArtsFest, held Aug. 4-9.
Danny Danon, Israel’s deputy defense minister and a Likud Party leader, said in an interview in Los Angeles on Aug. 1 that he and most Israelis “are not very optimistic” about prospects for peace talks with the Palestinians: “If you look at the last 20 years, we’ve had a lot of negotiations, a lot of ceremonies in the White House, and nothing major happened.”
For 13-year-old Odelia Safadel, serving lunch to Pico-Robertson’s poor and homeless puts things in perspective.
The only Jewish day school (K-5) between Los Angeles and Phoenix officially closed on June 30 due to lack of funds and an anticipated drop in enrollment for the upcoming school year. The last day of school was June 13.
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