In the introduction to his new book about volunteering, “Everyone Helps, Everyone Wins” (Hudson Street Press), Big Sunday founder and executive director David Levinson warns readers not to mistake him for a good person.
“Worth a Thousand Words: Images of Jewish Reinvention on American’s Pacific Edge” brings together Ellen Eisenberg, Ava F. Kahn and William Toll, co-authors of “Jews of the Pacific Coast: Reinventing Community on America’s Edge,” for a lecture and slideshow examining the Jewish social impact on the West Coast from the 1800s to the present. The event kicks off with a reception and book signing. Tue. 4:30-7 p.m. Free. Loyola Marymount University, University Hall 1000, 1 LMU Drive, Los Angeles. (310) 338-2806. lmu.edu.
Vowing to work for “comprehensive, equitable peace between Palestinians and Israelis and the rest of the Middle-East,” Hesham Elnakib, the new consul general of Egypt to Los Angeles, spoke in a ceremony in the rotunda room of Los Angeles City Hall on Friday, Oct. 8. The event welcomed him and the Egyptian consulate in their move here from San Francisco.
Families, couples and singles relaxed on hay bales, danced to feel-good tunes and tried their hands at a hatchet toss during the first Jewish County Fair, which brought Southern California’s diverse Jewish community together for a day of food, fun and unity in Malibu on Oct. 3.
SAT | OCT 9\n\n(SHABBAT)\nActor-comedian Larry Miller (“10 Things I Hate About You,” “Waiting for Guffman”) joins Rabbi David Wolpe and musician Craig Taubman during Sinai Temple’s ShabbatLIVE to examine the theme “Wrestling, Laughing, and Crying With God” through prayer, song, stories and jokes. Sat. 11 a.m. Free. Sinai Temple, 10400 WilshireBlvd., Los Angeles. (310) 481-3244. sinaitemple.org.
As yee-hawish shindigs go, the county fair has had a long-standing reputation among Jews as a mostly goyish affair. Featuring prize-winning produce, livestock competitions, rodeo demonstrations and pie-eating contests, the annual agricultural showcase doesn’t historically stand out as a go-to destination for the largely urban and allergy-prone Jewish community.
James Franco stars as Allen Ginsberg in “Howl,” a biopic that weaves together the beat poet’s early life in New York City, the 1957 San Francisco obscenity trial that followed publication of his book “Howl and Other Poems,” and an animated interpretation of the poem, considered Ginsberg’s seminal work. Fri. Laemmle Sunset 5, Playhouse 7, Town Center 5 and Monica 4-Plex. laemmle.com.
Croatian President Ivo Josipovic delivers the keynote address at the opening of “Croatian Righteous Among the Nations,” a photographic exhibition that honors non-Jewish Croatians who risked their lives to save Jews from the Nazi puppet Ustasha regime. UCLA chancellor Gene Block, UCLA history department chair David Myers and Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, executive director of UCLA Hillel, also share their thoughts during the opening at The Dortort Center for Creativity in the Arts at UCLA Hillel.
Rabbi Elliot Dorff speaks at Loyola Marymount University’s opening reception for “Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race,” a traveling exhibition from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Through photos, documents, objects and historic film footage, “Deadly Medicine” examines how Nazi leadership, in collaboration with medical professionals, used science to legitimize persecution, murder and, ultimately, genocide. The exhibition is hosted in conjunction with the School of Education’s Southern California Teacher Forum on Holocaust Education. Sun, 2-4 p.m. (opening reception). Through Nov. 24. Free. Mon.-Fri. 8 a.m.- 8 p.m.; Sat. 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sun. 11 a.m.-8 p.m. William H. Hannon Library at Loyola Marymount University, 1 LMU Drive, L.A. (310) 338-5234. library.lmu.edu.
At Yeshivas Ohev Shalom, an all-boys Orthodox high school on Fairfax Avenue, students receive something more than an experimental general studies education — and something less than the universally accepted form of classroom learning.
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