On the surface, it could have been any other Hollywood industry event: legendary producer Mike Medavoy and actress-director-producer Penny Marshall received awards before the festival-opening movie screening at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Business as usual in Hollywood.
You cannot imagine the incredible feeling of pride that I felt when I heard Natan Sharansky, Benjamin Netanyahu, Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani speak from the steps of the Capitol on Monday afternoon.
By most any benchmark, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell\’s Middle East peacemaking mission was far from successful.
The World Brief, news, media, info, updates from around the world.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10 — By the end of the day, we got the official news. It\’s hard to describe what 14 soldiers killed means in a country like this. Every soldier killed here is an enormous loss — this is a small country. The news carries stories about him, his family and often, why they made aliyah and from where. Funerals, unless the family requests otherwise, are covered on the news. The hourly news announces the location and time of each funeral across the entire nation — it\’s at moments like those that one feels that living here isn\’t a matter of being a citizen of a certain country, but rather, of being part of an extended family.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10 — By the end of the day, we got the official news. It\’s hard to describe what 14 soldiers killed means in a country like this. Every soldier killed here is an enormous loss — this is a small country. The news carries stories about him, his family and often, why they made aliyah and from where. Funerals, unless the family requests otherwise, are covered on the news. The hourly news announces the location and time of each funeral across the entire nation — it\’s at moments like those that one feels that living here isn\’t a matter of being a citizen of a certain country, but rather, of being part of an extended family.
It\’s one of the oddities of world affairs that the worse things get in the Middle East, the more various countries, international bodies and individuals want a piece of the diplomatic action. The region could use some help, but sadly, recent offers by a number of hopeful mediators are likely only to confuse matters and make U.S. diplomacy more difficult.
The Europeans, the United Nations, even Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan all want to lend a hand.
Avner Sharoni, owner of Tempo restaurant in Encino, died April 13 at the age of 49.
In 1977, Sharoni, then a 24-year-old Israeli, moved to Los Angeles after he served in the Israel Defense Force. He bought Art\’s International Sidewalk Cafe and within a few weeks, had added hummus and pita to the menu and changed the name to Tempo, after the popular Israeli soda.
Several years ago I became a Jewish Big Brother. The decision to do so followed fast on the heels of a breakup with my girlfriend, in one of those \”search for meaning\” moments of introspection that only getting tossed out of the house can provide.
All of us have heard, or experienced a variation of the following story, told of a father and his daughter. She, a busy professional; he, a retired widower. In one of their virtually nonexistent exchanges, he asks: \”With your booked schedule, will you be able to attend my funeral?\” Her response: \”Of course, how could you say such a thing?\” His retort: \”I need you in my life now, before I die.\”
At Yom HaShoah commemorations across Los Angeles, the Jewish community and friends looked to the past to remember and to the present to engage.
The Citywide Youth Commemoration at Wilshire Boulevard Temple on April 9 was a by-the-kid, for-the-kids affair, with elementary, middle and high school students presenting artistic renditions of their understanding of the Holocaust. Through song, story, poetry and the testimony of survivors they had interviewed, students from 15 Los Angeles area schools ensured that the memory of what happened will be passed on to the next generation. After the Emanuel Academy sang the Yiddish \”Partisan\’s Song,\” students from Fulton Middle School recounted a survivor\’s testimony, \”Seven Days Locked Up,\” in English and Spanish.
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