Peter Wollstein lived in the Shanghai Ghetto when he celebrated his bar mitzvah in 1947. But now, looking back more than six decades later, he says he is unhappy with his Chinese simcha.\n\n“I memorized a couple of prayers, and that was about it,” said Wollstein, whose family fled Nazi Germany prior to the start of the Holocaust. “It wasn’t very demanding.”\n\nWollstein, 75, has become more deeply involved in Jewish life in recent years, and his cursory bar mitzvah in China has inspired him to go back and give it another try. Last year, after the High Holy Days, he joined a class to study for a second, more authentic experience.

The Los Angeles City Planning Commission ruled unanimously on Jan. 28 to approve an expansion project proposed by Valley Beth Shalom (VBS) in Encino.

“Thank God, you’re speaking up. You’re speaking for us.” “You’re saying what I want to say, but I can’t say it.”