For the next few weeks, you will be hearing about girls and sex. \”Oprah,\” \”Leeza,\” \”Charlie Rose,\” The New York Times, even The Jewish Journal — media great and small will focus airwaves and inches on a topic that, while hardly new, rarely gets serious, sustained attention.
Rabbi Baruch and Michal Finkelstein are developing a sex-education curriculum for Jewish day schools.
Chances are, there are not many singer-songwriters whose oeuvre contains subjects as disparate as the \”Shecheyanu\” and a visit to the dentist. But such is the nature of Craig Taubman\’s career.
In \”Ragtime,\” the part of Tateh, a widowed, immigrant Jew who comes to New York with a young daughter in tow, is in many ways a role that is especially close to the heart of actor John Rubinstein.
After the countless ads, fluff pieces and an advance press packet thick enough to choke a horse, the question hung in the celebrity-studded lobby of the Shubert Theatre last Sunday evening: Could \”Ragtime\” pull it off?
Doctorow was wary when the call from Toronto came four years ago. Garth Drabinsky, the maverick theater producer who runs his company like a 1930s movie mogul, had a proposition: He wanted to turn Doctorow\’s 1975 best seller, \”Ragtime,\” into a musical. Drabinsky had won Tonys and made millions with \”Show Boat\” and \”Kiss of the Spider Woman,\” and wanted to repeat with \”Ragtime.\”
Fortunately for Elisa, she landed in a caring and effective public-school program, which taught her to make the most of her abilities. But Lora was determined that her child also have the opportunity to learn about her Jewish heritage. She found that opportunity at Shaare Tikva.
A mission to Israel that\’s billed as the largest ever in the history of the Los Angeles Jewish community is scheduled to take place between Nov. 1 and 10 of this year. About 500 Southern Californians are expected to participate in the Golden Anniversary Community Mission, which is being coordinated by the Jewish Federation Council in commemoration of the Jewish state\’s first 50 years.
Notes from a visit with a senior class: After seeing friends and peers smoking marijuana and using other drugs , students at Shalhevet High School didn\’t wait for their parents or teachers to educate them about the harmful effects of narcotics. Instead, they undertook the challenge themselves. \”We were obligated…. Something had to be done,\” said Brian Orgen, president of this year\’s graduating class.
