fbpx
ADVERTISE
pick up locations
donate

Jewish Journal

Connect. Inform. Inspire.

Category

Orange County

Adding Soul to the Syllabus

Andrea Adelson December 4, 2003

One by one, a class of sixth-graders read aloud a passage and title that each has selected to go with one of Zion Ozeri\’s striking black-and-white portraits.

Seated with the young critics at Morasha Jewish Day School, the New York photographer seems pleased when students accurately discern the context of his untitled images, which the students have filtered through their study of Jewish values.

Neither does he hesitate to crib from one who summoned a particularly apt metaphor for a photo of candle lighting. \”What was that title?\” he asked, scrambling for pen and paper during a morning-long session last month.

License to Date

Sharon Lynn Bear December 4, 2003

When I went to the JDate Web site to sign up, I discovered that they had my profile from four years ago. For my preferences, I had checked single (never married), separated, divorced and widowed. But I\’m older (48) and wiser now and \”unchecked\” single and separated. Such men do not carry a \”license to date.\” Although our mothers wanted us to \”marry Jewish,\” they had the wisdom to warn us that any Jewish man over 40 who has never been married is not \”marriage material.\”

Phillip was 49 and never married, but told me, \”There were women who wanted to marry me, who I didn\’t want to marry, and there were women I wanted to marry, who didn\’t want to marry me.\”

Do We Have Anything Left to Give?

David Suissa December 4, 2003

Do the Jews have anything left to give to America?\n\nThis question was on my mind recently, after I was on a panel at Brandeis-Bardin Institute to discuss the Jewish influence on American culture. The popular view on this subject is invariably, \”Just look at all the Jews who run Hollywood and the media; look at the humor, the attitude, the Yiddish terms, etc. Jews are everywhere.\”\n\nThis is true, but when you start to look beneath the surface, you see a more complicated picture, one that suggests the waning influence of Judaism and the need to re-examine the Jews\’ role in America as we begin the 21st century.

Opportunities and Changes Abound

Rabbi Marc S. Dworkin December 4, 2003

This month, as I started my work with the American Jewish Committee (AJC), my wife\’s father, Sol, celebrated his 90th birthday with his friends at Leisure World of Laguna Woods. Like many of us, Sol is a transplant to Orange County from Brooklyn, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and finally reaching this day at Leisure World.

We are a people that move as life changes. For Sol, this has been a fortunate journey, and he has his community to support him. For the rest of us, finding our place in a community of transplants can be a challenge.

Think Global, Cook Local

Judy Bart Kancigor December 4, 2003

\”The Jewish Kitchen: Recipes and Stories from Around the World\” by Clarissa Hyman (Interlink Books, $29.95)

Clarissa Hyman\’s new cookbook, \”The Jewish Kitchen,\” is alive with miracles — stories of Jewish life and war-torn Jewish communities, bringing with them their glorious history, rich culture and a cuisine passed through the generations, itself a story of miraculous survival.

This award-winning author crisscrossed the globe, visiting eight families in nine months, recording their stories and recipes.

Chanukah Concert Picks Up the Pace

Andrea Adelson December 4, 2003

About three weeks before an annual Chanukah concert, Kathleen Abraham renews a Jewish ritual little practiced outside the county\’s borders.

On her day off, Abraham left home at 5:30 a.m., stopping at a convenience store to fill a 64-ounce coffee mug before heading to the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. Besides java, Abraham\’s other provisions include a nosh, cell phone, PalmPilot and beach chair.

Her goal: to be at the head of the box office line to buy a block of 100 prime seats at the Dec. 7 Chanukah show for parents and congregants of Newport Beach\’s Temple Bat Yahm.

Walk for Hunger

Andrea Adelson October 2, 2003

Organizers of the third South Orange County Interfaith Walk for Hunger and Cultural Fair invite the public to participate in the Oct. 26 event, which promises to build bridges between faiths while fulfilling the mitzvah of feeding the hungry.

One Sweet Sukkah

Lisa J. Solomon October 2, 2003

I have been thinking a lot about roots lately. About where I would like to settle with my daughter, buy a house, adopt a puppy. When we left our hometown of Atlanta eight years ago, I didn\’t know how long our adventure would last. I didn\’t know we would live in small, but charming apartments, first in calm, rainy Portland, then in frenetic, sunny Los Angeles. And that after a while, the temporary nature of our dwellings, and so much time spent far away from where we started, would pose a question of its own. Where do we belong?

It seems the core ritual of Sukkot, building the sukkah, has something to say about just that. According to tradition, this temporary, four-walled structure with a branch roof open to the sky is a reminder of the Israelites\’ huts in the deserts, as they wandered from place to place for 40 years. The sukkah also highlights one of the themes of the holiday — the impermanence of our lives, says Michael Strassfeld in \”The Jewish Holidays, A Guide & Commentary\” (HarperResource, 1993).

A Tabernacle Full of Knickknacks and Love

Andrea Adelson October 2, 2003

Sukkot, the eight-day festival that begins Oct. 11, commemorates a central event in Jewish history: the 40-year desert trek that followed the exodus from Egypt when Jews lived in portable shelters or booths.

People celebrate the holiday by building, eating in — and sometimes sleeping in — a temporary structure topped by a \”natural\” covering, such as tree branches or a bamboo mat which allows star-gazing. The structure is a show of trust in God\’s protection. During the festival — sometimes called \”Tabernacles\” and \”The Harvest Festival\” — we also say a blessing over the four species: the lulav, etrog, hadas and arava.

The Self-Imposed Death of Institutional Judaism

Douglas Rushkoff October 2, 2003

But New York\’s official institutions of Judaism would say that I\’m not, and, most likely, neither are you. No, it\’s not because my mom\’s not Jewish (the usual racist excuse), but because, like so many other intelligent, engaged people on this bagel-fueled island — I don\’t happen to belong to a synagogue. As a result, they label me \”lapsed\” or, in the optimistic language of the market researchers charged with saving Judaism, \”a latent Jew.\”

Actually, these days they\’re calling me an atheist, an Israel-hater and an anti-Semite. Not because I\’m saying anything bad about God, Israel or Judaism, but merely because I\’m asking that we be allowed to discuss these ideas, together.

New Articles

More news and opinions than at a
Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

Jewish Journal

Connect. Inform. Inspire.
© Copyright 2024 Tribe Media Corp • Powered by Lightdrop

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.