April 10 is the ultimate day at the track for the nation\’s second-largest school district. Never before has so much ridden on the backs of campaign horses as in the current race for positions on Los Angeles Unified School District\’s (LAUSD) Board of Education.
The Jewish community in the West Valley and surrounding areas was rocked Feb. 5 by the murder of William and Bertha Lasky, former members of Temple Solael.
It was the kind of exchange that is perhaps all too rare in a Jewish community divided by belief, language and geography into many distinct enclaves.
In 1997, an Israel-based rabbi, Yehoshua Kohl, dreamed of returning to his native Southern California and opening a center of learning for all Jews. After obtaining initial funding of about $150,000 from local donors in the Los Angeles area, along with seed money from benefactors in New York and São Paulo, Brazil, Kohl realized his dream in the fall of 1999, opening the Valley Kollel. It\’s been growing ever since. Although the Kollel offices and many of its classes are in donated space at Orthodox shul Shaarey Zedek in North Hollywood, the Kollel is itself unaffiliated, and courses are taught at private homes throughout the San Fernando Valley and at Cal State Northridge. There are classes somewhere every day except Shabbat — and even on Shabbat there is a learner\’s service. The instructors are young and energetic, well-traveled and from a variety of backgrounds, all passionate in their love of teaching Torah. Most amazing of all, however, in this day of ever-soaring tuition and enlightenment-for-the-right-price kabbalah seminars, the Kollel\’s instruction is totally, completely free of charge.
The ceremony was lovely. There was music, wedding cake, a love song and plenty of sentiment to go around.
Four local synagogues have banded together to create the first West Valley Winter Kallah, an adult education lecture series taught by Reform, Conservative and Orthodox rabbis, which is expected to become an annual event.
While most outsiders equate Burbank with NBC studios, Carson and Leno, townsfolk see it as a small haven amidst the chaos of Los Angeles.
Angered by the mainstream media\’s portrayal of his country, Uri Ben-Zur has joined with other Los Angeles area physicians to create the nonprofit organization Spirit of Israel.
One of the wonderful things about the Brandeis-Bardin Institute (BBI), the Jewish retreat center nestled in the mountains of Simi Valley, is the devotion it attracts from those who have stayed there.
Arthur Pinchev\’s retirement came as something of a shock to the vast yet close-knit network of \”BBI\’ers,\” many of whom grew up spending summers with Pinchev as their counselor and now send their children to benefit from his wisdom.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.