Although members of the Chabad of Santa Clarita Valley were spared the destruction of the Sand fire that burned for weeks, “a lot of them had very close calls,” said Rabbi Choni Marozov, who runs the Chabad house there.
Marking the second anniversary of lone soldier Max Steinberg’s July 20, 2014 death while serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Steinberg’s parents, locals Stuart and Evie Steinberg, and Jewish National Fund (JNF) Ammunition Hill Liaison Yoel Rosby visited the Wall of Honor at Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem on July 20.
“My story really is a fairy tale,” said Shachar, a transgender Israel Defense Forces lieutenant at an event at Congregation Kol Ami (the IDF does not permit the use of the first names of active-duty personnel).
Gal Malachi and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers under his command were stationed in a United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Gaza when the building suddenly collapsed: It had been booby-trapped by Hamas.
This year’s Beit T’Shuvah Circle of Majesty luncheon honored Andrea Sossin-Bergman for her contributions to the organization’s externship program, and raised more than $100,000 for the Jewish rehabilitation center that serves those wrestling with addiction issues.
The Jewish Free Loan Association’s (JFLA) Circle of Hope Tribute Dinner at the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel on June 1 honored Ivan Wolkind, Aaron Bloom, Jessica Rosen and the Zimmer Family Foundation.
In front of thousands of baseball fans on a recent evening in Chavez Ravine, Uri Herscher, founding president of the Skirball Cultural Center, threw out a ceremonial pitch before the Los Angeles Dodgers squared off against the Colorado Rockies, who ended up winning 6-1.
Three seminaries — American Jewish University (AJU), Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) and the Academy for Jewish Religion, California (AJR-CA) were among the local schools holding commencement ceremonies last month.
An audience of 900 at the opening-night gala of the 11th annual Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival (LAJFF) was treated to the North American premiere of the Israeli TV show “False Flag” (Kfulim), followed by a discussion with Amit Cohen, the co-creator of the series, and actors in the show, Angel Bonanni and Ania Bukstein (“Game of Thrones”).
Yale historian Timothy Snyder, author of the 2015 book “Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning,” discussed the causes of the Holocaust on March 21 at Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s Audrey and Sydney Irmas Campus.
