May 22, 2003

Dear Rabbi

Leave a Comment / Dear Rabbi / Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson

Tattoos and Bar Mitzvah

Dear Rabbi,

I am an 18-year-old male who has just recently become more interested in my religion. First, am I too old to have a bar mitzvah? Second, I have a tattoo. What kind of problems does that create with heritage?

Stan

Dear Stan,

First, mazel tov on your renewed interest in Judaism and Torah. Judaism is an ancient and profound way to bring God into your life. I commend you for your determination and your seriousness, and I congratulate you on your awakening.

You are never too old to celebrate a life of mitzvot (commandments). The truth is that you became a bar mitzvah (someone responsible for fulfilling God’s commandments) when you reached your 13th birthday. That happens automatically and is built into becoming a mature Jew.

Now that you are realizing what this means, you certainly should celebrate this publicly by learning how to lead the service, read from the Torah and chant the haftarah. That would serve to affirm your newfound conviction and would inspire countless others by your example.

As for tattoos: Torah law forbids them and you should not have any more tattoos applied to your body. But the one you have you did without awareness of its being prohibited. It doesn’t affect your status as a Jew or as a child of God in the least.

Three Gods in One

Dear Rabbi,

I have a very hard time with the concept many Christians use — that of three Gods in one.

In my study of the Old Testament, I find only one God with many titles, names or manifestations as He deals or works with men.

How do the Jewish people look at or perceive God?

Martin

Dear Martin

Judaism affirms that there is only one God, and that God’s oneness is complete and total. That people perceive this oneness through their own culture and understanding is inevitable, but we affirm that to compromise God’s oneness would mean that God is somehow limited, and that cannot be true of God.

We also understand God to be the force that created all that is, and as a loving and good Creator who reaches out to humanity in a variety of ways. For Jews, that relationship is our covenant, the link between God and the Jewish people, embodied in Torah and Jewish tradition, and expressed in a life of mitzvot.

By the way, we do not refer to the Tanach (or Hebrew Bible) as the “Old Testament” because we do not believe that a new one superseded it.

Threat of Secularism

Dear Rabbi,

The Supreme Court in Canada regularly imposes rulings that override the convictions of various religious groups and believers.

Are there situations (or potential situations) where observant Jews might be forced into actions against their convictions as a result of secular laws and court rulings?

Do you regard today’s secular governments and judiciary as a potential threat to Jewish religious convictions and practices?

Mark

Dear Mark,

Thank you for your inquiry. There are certainly many instances in which secular governments have a moral obligation to overturn specific theological convictions of particular religions for the sake of preserving a neutral public space for all its citizens (those of different faiths and those not affiliated with any public religion). There is a fine line separating religious conviction from public policy. Both policy and faith suffer when that line is ignored.

Are there instances where secular governments can cross the line and infringe on the free expression of Judaism? Yes, sadly, anti-Semitism and misguided understandings of “enlightenment” have led some governments to legislate against kosher slaughter and preparation of meat, and have lead other governments to legislate against brit milah (circumcision).

To my mind, the difference between permissible legislation and improper legislation is whether or not the legislation is to protect citizens of all faiths and cultures, or simply to interfere with the practice of a particular faith. The anti-Jewish legislation listed above is wrong because it prevents Jews from practicing Judaism.

I know that it is fashionable to label secular governments a danger to faith among some circles. Personally, I’m much more alarmed by the danger coming from the mediocrity of religious organizations and leaders in showing the welcoming, compassionate and loving nature of the God in whose service we are called, and in a similar hesitation to take stands on behalf of social justice. More people are turned off to religion by what they see inside their synagogues, churches and mosques than by what they see on television or read in the papers.

Mail letters to Dear Rabbi, c/o The Ziegler School of
Rabbinic Studies, 15600 Mulholland Drive, Bel Air, CA, 90077-1599; or e-mail to
bartson@uj.edu .

Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson serves as the dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the University of Judaism, and is the author of “The Bedside Torah: Wisdom, Visions, & Dreams” (McGraw Hill, 2001).

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Heschel’s ‘Visionary’ Principal Retiring

Leave a Comment / Community, Education / Jane Ulman

“You always have to wait for Shirley,” the receptionist at Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School announces to the people congregated in the office.

Inside, Shirley Levine, the school’s founder and head, confers with her assistant. She meets briefly with three teachers who have interrupted with an urgent student matter and apologetically fields several phone calls.

Between appointments, Levine attempts to straighten the stacks of papers covering her desk and glances at the nearby security monitor that continually scans the school parking lot and entrance. Behind her the shelves overflow with books, student art, gifts from appreciative parents and awards.

Clearly, nothing indicates Levine is retiring at the end of July.

But on Sunday evening, May 18, more than 400 people gathered at the Beverly Hilton Hotel to honor her 32 years of service to Heschel. The tributes flowed copiously and wholeheartedly, hailing her as fabulous, inspirational, dedicated and visionary.

But, as Levine herself teaches the students, actions speak louder than words.

Thus, a bigger tribute to Levine’s success is the fact that Heschel alumni are now enrolling their own children in the school.

A bigger tribute is the fact that many Heschel teachers and staff remain at the school for 10, 20 and even — in the case of kindergarten teacher Lee Shaw and Admissions Director Doritt Diamond — 31 years. And that former Heschel students Larry Kligman and Mayan Benami teach there.

And a bigger tribute is the fact that the synagogues that rented classroom space to Heschel during its early peripatetic years — Stephen S. Wise, Valley Beth Shalom, Adat Ari El and Temple Beth Hillel — now host day schools of their own, validating Levine’s belief in the importance of a combined Jewish and general studies education.

Heschel began when a group of parents in the San Fernando Valley, under the leadership of Mark and Ellie Lainer, sought to establish a community Jewish day school, a novel idea in Los Angeles, but not in Mexico City where Mark Lainer had grown up. The group tapped Levine, then a full-time consultant with the Los Angeles schools, for advice. “It soon became clear that Shirley was the person to head up the school,” Mark Lainer said.

Heschel opened a year later, in fall 1972, with three kindergartens on three synagogue campuses, with about 50 children combined. It added a grade each year, with Levine writing, implementing and constantly perfecting the curriculum.

Today, Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School, with nearly 500 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, sits on a three-and-a-half-acre site in Northridge. And Levine is still diligently working to improve the school.

“The times have changed dramatically since 1972,” said Doug Williams, board of directors president for the past five years and a Heschel parent, “but Shirley has maintained the integrity of her original program.”

And that program aims to give children an exemplary and integrated general studies and Judaic education, with an emphasis on accommodating the individual learner. “Shirley’s mark on education is understanding that one size does not fit all,” said Rabbi Jan Goldstein, who served as Heschel’s rabbi-in-residence for 20 years.

Levine also believes that teaching should be developmentally appropriate as well as experiential, personally involving the child in thinking, problem solving and creative activities.

“The thing I’m most proud of is how we treat kids. We respect them and we teach them to respect themselves,” she said.

There are parents who disagree with Levine. Many would like to see school uniforms. Others object to calling teachers by their first names. But all agree that she always has the children’s best interests — educationally, developmentally and Judaically — at heart.

In their best interests, she believes, is the need to transmit Judaism as a vibrant way of life — and a responsible one, requiring students to perform tikkun olam, to make a difference in the world.

She also sees a need for students to meet and reach out to other cultures.

“Once you learn who you are, you can accept the beauty of other cultures,” she said.

She is especially proud of the third-grade exchange program with the Navajo Indians in Arizona that began in 1980 and incorporates pairing up Navajo and Jewish pen pals who learn about the other’s way of life and visit each other’s school.

But not in the students’ best interests are the changes she has witnessed over the years. She worries about the media’s negative impact on children and the rise in learning difficulties. She believes parents are busier now, spending less time with their children, relegating certain parenting tasks to teachers and struggling with increased tuition costs.

Levine herself grew up in a labor Zionist family with immigrant parents. As a young girl in Cleveland and then Los Angeles, she attended cheder, where she learned to read and write Yiddish so she could communicate with her grandparents living in Poland.

She credits her parents with giving her a deep respect for the dignity of every human being and a love of learning. Her father often reminded her, “You can lose wealth, you can lose everything, but you can’t lose your education.”

And Levine has dedicated her life to transmitting that respect and love of learning to hundreds of Heschel Day School students.

Abraham Joshua Heschel once said, “What we need more than anything else is not textbooks but text people.”

Luisa Latham, who served as Heschel’s director of Judaic studies for 25 years, elaborated.

“Shirley Levine is the quintessential text person,” she said. “You can really read out of her actions, out of the passion she has, what it means to be an educator.”

And what will this “quintessential text person” do upon retirement?

“I haven’t made any commitments yet,” Levine said. “But whatever it is, I will be available to Heschel always and forever.”

Heschel’s ‘Visionary’ Principal Retiring Read More »

Book Preps Jewish Students for College

Leave a Comment / Education / Sharon Schatz Rosenthal

Jeff Gabriel knows that when he arrives at the University of Colorado in Boulder this September, connecting to his Jewish roots won’t be a priority. As the Calabasas High School senior prepares for college, his primary concern is adjusting to his new lifestyle, while living more than 1,000 miles from home.

“I love Judaism, but it won’t be the No. 1 thing on my list,” admitted the 17-year-old Reform Jew from Calabasas. “If I have time and I can go [to synagogue] with my family friend, who is a senior there, maybe I will.”

Like many incoming freshman and older students, Gabriel is already anticipating the challenges of staying in touch with Judaism while in college. For the first time, young Jews find that observing the Jewish holidays and traditions, as well as engaging in the local Jewish community, is not a requirement but a choice.

Rabbi Scott Aaron, education director at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute in Simi Valley, believes part of the problem is that American Jewish education neglects to focus on students after high school.

“Once children leave the nest, we assume they are on their own,” said the educator, noting that many Jews reconnect when they marry and have children. “We as a community say, ‘It’s college,’ and we let them go. We skip a crucial life step in there.”

To help students over the hump, Aaron, who worked as a Hillel director at several East Coast colleges, including New York University and Ohio State, wrote “Jewish U: A Contemporary Guide for the Jewish College Student” (UAHC Press, 2002).

Aimed at both affiliated and nonaffiliated students, the book offers suggestions for “Jewishly” preparing for college, dealing with anxious parents, communicating with roommates, handling holidays, finding Jewish resources and practicing without parental guidance. Early on, Aaron advises students to think about what being a Jewish college student means and to consider finding the Jewish community on campus.

“Even if you have no interest right now in being Jewishly involved or identified, just find out some basic details in case you ever need to know,” Aaron writes.

For some out-of-state students, like Alison Peck from Houston, establishing an on-campus Jewish connection can be crucial. “Where I grew up, it was not a strong Jewish community, so it was important for me to find it in college,” the 20-year-old admitted.

Peck, who just completed her sophomore year at USC, chose the school, in part, because of its growing Jewish population, which is now up to 10 percent. She considers the campus Hillel center her “home away from home.”

The filmic writing major attends services and has Shabbat dinners at Hillel every Friday night. She is also a member of Alpha Gamma Gamma, a local Jewish sorority.

For students like Linda Alpert, a senior a Milken Community High School, choosing a school close to home may be enough of a Jewish connection for now. Alpert, 17, plans to continue her Conservative observance with her family when she attends USC in the fall.

“That’s the attraction for going to USC — to come home for the holidays,” the Encino resident explained. In addition, Alpert takes comfort in knowing that many of her Milken classmates also plan to attend USC. “If I were going away to college, I’d probably try to get involved with Hillel or the Jewish Student Union,” she explained.

While Peck and Alpert are more concerned with simply staying connected, other students feel that college is an opportunity to grow religiously. Chad Rosen, a UCLA freshman, arrived from Scottsdale, Ariz., with hopes of reaching beyond his Reform roots.

“I came to UCLA with the knowledge that I wanted to be more traditional,” said the 19-year-old, who is a double major in psychology and Hebrew. “Living at home, I had more limitations, and at college, I’m able to explore Judaism more.”

Involved in both the campus Hillel and JAM (Jewish Awareness Movement), Rosen believes that college has allowed him to learn more about Jewish politics, community and text.

While some students may opt to disengage from Judaism in college, Aaron said that many students — particularly those with strong religious backgrounds — will eventually turn back to religion.

“Going to college into your first adult freedom and choice experience is overwhelming and [students] have to adjust to making their decisions,” the rabbi explained. “They know that they are supported and that their Jewish identity is there for them. They come back.”

Book Preps Jewish Students for College Read More »

Support for Summer CampAddicts

How to Talk to Your Kids About Death

Leave a Comment / Education / Rabbi Earl A. Grollman

These last few months we have seen scenes of bombs falling and troops marching through Iraq. We wish to protect our children from frightening topics, yet they know that a war took place, and that people died in battle. We must discuss death with them now, if we haven’t already done so.

“To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heavens: a time to be born, and a time to die.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)

The basic themes in Jewish mourning rites are kavod hamet (respect for the person who died) and kavod hachai (respect for those who survive). Many of the traditional customs pertaining to death are presented in the Shulchan Aruch, prepared by Joseph Caro in 1565 in Venice. Yet there are wide variations and practices within Jewish life.

Death, a universal and inevitable process, is faced by people of all ages.

Do not avoid the subject of death in the home, the school or synagogue.

Since the subject matter is so sensitive, the first discussion should ideally take place before a death occurs and should not directly concern the eventual death of a specific person close to the child. Don’t begin by asking, “Have you ever thought about what you will do when I die?” Such an introduction rocks the security of both the adult and the child. Similarly, do not couch your explanation in terms of a dogma, belief or a theology that is difficult for children to understand. Children easily misunderstand abstract concepts and reach erroneous conclusions.

Rather, talking about natural processes is a good way to introduce the concept of death. Change and growth occur each day — from larva to butterfly, from tadpole to frog. New leaves replace the old ones that die. A living tree produces seeds so that life may continue. Point out the diverse forms, shapes and colors of nature, such as bugs, slugs and butterflies. When they are alive, they move. After they die, they are quiet and still.

Alternatively, an experience such as the death of a pet or witnessing death on television is a good springboard into a discussion about how animals live and die and its accompanying sadness. You should emphasize that, while separation is sad and painful, it is an essential part of life and nature.

Children are confronted with the reality of death each day in the news, on TV and on the radio, in words or in songs. It is not a question of whether they should have death education. The question is how families and synagogues will provide it. When a loved one dies, good mental health requires not the denial of tragedy, but the frank acknowledgment of painful separation.

Do not discourage the emotions of children’s grief.

Grief is an emotion, not a disease. It is as natural as crying when hurt, eating when hungry, sleeping when weary. Grief is nature’s way of healing a broken heart.

Children undergo many emotional reactions to death, as do mature adults. They have needs that must not be overlooked and feelings that must be fully expressed. Repressed emotions lead to further distress and even mental illness. It is vital that those painful sentiments be expressed when first experienced.

A Yiddish proverb tells us, “Not to have had pain is not to have been human.”

Do not tell youngsters something that they will need to unlearn.

Fairy tales and half-truths are not proper explanations for the mystery of death. Never cover up with a fiction or a confusing interpretation what you will someday repudiate. For example, to say “Your daddy has gone away on a long journey” is to give the impression that he may someday return. Similarly, to say “God took your young mother because God needs good people” is contrary to Jewish theology as seen in Book of Job. Good people do die young; so do evil people. Unhealthy explanations can create fear, doubt and guilt, and encourage flights of fancy that are far more bizarre than reality. There is no greater need for children than trust and truth. Do not place unnecessary burdens upon youngsters.

The living child cannot replace the dead sibling. When a parent dies, a youngster does not suddenly become the “man” or “woman” of the house. Children should be encouraged to be with their friends and to assume their usual activities.

Do not avoid talking about the person who died.

The child needs to talk, not just to be talked to. Be willing to listen. If only given the opportunity, many youngsters have an insatiable need to pour out their feelings. Ask questions such as, “What are you thinking about now?” “What frightens you?” “What would you like to do together?” Recall not only the sad moment of death but the wonderful shared memories of when the loved one was alive.

Do express your own emotions of grief.

If you repress your feelings, your children are more likely to hold their own emotions at bay. Children receive permission to mourn from adults. Rabbi Joshua Liebman, in his book, “Peace of Mind” (Simon & Schuster, 1946) wrote, “A child can stand tears but not treachery; sorrow but not deceit.” To be able to show grief openly and to mourn without fear or embarrassment helps both children and parents to accept the naturalness and pain of death. Denial, numbness, anger, tears and despair are normal reactions to the loss of a loved one for people of all ages.

Do be honest about your own limitations.

You do not diminish yourself in your children’s estimation when you tell them you do not have all the answers. They probably realized this a long time ago. Adults are not all-powerful and all-knowing. You demonstrate maturity when you display honest uncertainty. It is far healthier for you and your children to seek understanding together rather than to attempt to protect parental authority with glib half-truths, evasions, and omniscience.

Don’t be didactic; leave the door open.

You might help the child struggle with the problem by saying, “Lots of people think about death in different ways. But no one has the final answers. Tell me what you think.”

Your children will both challenge and help you. In your quest to find answers for them, you may discover explanations for yourself. Their honest and direct doubts may compel you to come to terms with your own thoughts and feelings. Not all questions have final answers. Unanswered problems are part of life.

Do encourage a child to participate in his/her family’s sorrow.

Children, too, need to express their emotions through the ceremonies of death-the visitation, the funeral, the shiva, the burial. They should be told that a funeral is a significant occasion to say goodbye, shalom, to one who died. Explain the funeral arrangements and the meaning of our age-hallowed rituals and traditions.

No matter how helpful and therapeutic the funeral might be, children should not be forced to attend. If apprehensive youngsters elect to remain at home, don’t place any “shaming” pressures upon them or insinuate that they did not love the person who died. Gently suggest that together you might visit the cemetery at another time. Be sensitive to the age, level and needs of each child.

Do explain that the sorrow of death continues past the yahrtzeit (anniversary of death).

Judaism does attempt to limit mourning to the given periods of traditional observance. That is why Psalm 23 says: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” The important words are “walk through.” You cannot remain in perpetual grief. Death, “the loss of innocence,” can either lead you to the edge of the abyss and threaten your existence with meaninglessness and futility or help you and your children start to build a bridge that spans the chasm with those things of life that still count — memory, family, friendship, love. Whatever your concept of a hereafter for your beloved, Judaism requires that you strive to find purpose in this world. When you have sorted out your own feelings, you will be better able to understand your troubled children who come to you filled with questions and beset with fears. The real challenge is not just to explain death to your children but how to make peace with it yourself.

Reprinted from JewishFamily.com, a service of Jewish Family & Life.

Earl A. Grollman was the rabbi of the Beth El Temple Center in Belmont, Mass., for 36 years. He wrote “Talking About Death: A Decalogue Between Parent and Child” (Beacon Press, 1990),” which won the UNESCO Award, and “Straight Talk About Death for Teenagers” (Beacon Press, 1993).

How to Talk to Your Kids About Death Read More »

Community Briefs

Leave a Comment / United States / Jewish Journal

Music, Israel Bring 950 Educators to BJEConference

Participants at the Bureau of Jewish Education of Los Angeles’s (BJE) 23rd annual Early Childhood Spring Institute had the opportunity to take a special journey to Israel through music. In a workshop called “A Musical Trip to Israel,” three music educators from the Ministry of Education in Jerusalem demonstrated an entertaining way to teach children about the Holy Land through song and movement.

“I think the exposure to meeting the people from Israel and talking to them is important [for Jewish educators],” said Esther Elfenbaum, director of BJE early childhood education services. “I think we have to focus on the positive to help kids deal with what’s going on in Israel.”

More than 950 nursery school and kindergarten educators from Southern California gathered at the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills for the conference on Monday, March 10. Participants had the opportunity to attend more than 60 workshops led by educators, rabbis, child psychologists and children’s book authors, where topics included “Creating a Jewish Environment in Your Classroom,” “Bringing Music and Drama to Every Subject” and “Talking to God: Teaching Children to Speak From Their Souls.”

During the conference, the BJE presented select teachers and administrators with special awards. The BJE Lainer Distinguished Educator Awards went to Tara Farkash, teacher at Temple Adat Elohim Preschool in Thousand Oaks; Kimberly Shapiro, teacher at Westside Jewish Community Center Nursery School in Los Angeles; and Audrey Freedman-Habush, director at Valley Beth Shalom Nursery School in Encino. Several educators from various Southland schools received BJE Smotrich Family Foundation Early Childhood Educator awards. Highest distinction: Debra Cohen, Niki Egar, Susana Ezon, Laurie Healy, Wendy Smith, Miri Hever and Michelle Stein; excellence: Esther Posin and Kimberly Shapiro; and merit: Terri Sigal and Diana Pakdaman.

Sherry Fredman, principal of Temple Israel of Hollywood Nursery School, said she and her staff were inspired by the conference and look forward to enhancing the Judaic aspects of their program.

“My teachers came back [from the conference] motivated with excellent ideas,” she said.

For more information, visit www.bjela.org . — Sharon Schatz Rosenthal, Education Writer

Camp Gets ‘Creative’ at WilshireBoulevard

While most camps boast activities like swimming, archery and arts and crafts, campers at Creative Space Summer Camp will learn break dancing, aromatherapy, yoga and fencing. Creative Space, the award-winning Hollywood enrichment school, has teamed up with Marcia Israel Day Camp of Wilshire Boulevard Temple to create a new summer camp, which will be housed at the shul’s Irmas Campus in West Los Angeles.

Creative Space, a unique children’s program, is owned by three Jewish women who believe that creativity fosters self-confidence. Building on this principle, they are taking their imaginative classes into a camp setting.

While the new camp prides itself on artsy activities like stunts, hip-hop dance, cheerleading and magic, the summer program will also offer sports. And rather than recruiting recent high school graduates or college students as counselors, Creative Space Summer Camp has hired many of the professionals who teach their classes during the school year. The creative arts camp will be open for 4- to 12-years-olds for a series of two-week sessions. A separate camp, with age-appropriate programs, is open for 3-year-olds.

When Rabbi Steven Leder of Wilshire Boulevard Temple approached Creative Space about coming together to create an arts-based camp, the owners knew he was onto something.

“For the temple and for us it’s an opportunity to expand community,” co-owner Gayle Baigelman said.

Baigelman said that the nondenominational environment will be a plus for campers and their parents.

“I think that is the beautiful thing about the Jewish tradition — it’s all-inclusive,” she said.

For more information about Creative Space Summer Camp,call (323) 462-4600 or visit www.creativespaceusa.com . — SSR

OU Offers Jewish Parenting 101

What do you do if your child refuses to listen to you? More than 125 parents attended the Positive Jewish Parenting Conference on Sunday, March 2 to address this common dilemma and others like it. The conference, which was put on by the Orthodox Union (OU) with the support of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, included a series of interactive workshops led by psychiatry, psychology and social work experts.

Attendees gathered at the Museum of Tolerance and the Yeshiva University of Los Angeles Nagel Campus with hopes of strengthening their parenting skills and incorporating Jewish values into child rearing. The keynote speaker was Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, the OU’s executive vice president, a clinical psychologist who combined the worlds of Torah and psychology for parents.

Workshops included topics like “Bringing Spirituality Into Our Homes,” “Conflict Resolution in the Family” and “Overcoming Sibling Rivalry.”

“By participating, parents learn that a lot of what goes on in their house is normal,” said Frank Buchweitz, director of special projects for the Orthodox Union in New York.

“I got a few pieces of practical advice,” said Irwin Nachimson, a father of two who lives in the mid-Wilshire area. “But more importantly, I was impressed to see that there are people who focus on [parenting topics] on a daily basis. It’s not something readily offered in any other segment of the Jewish community that I’ve seen.”

Dr. Larry Eisenberg, president of the West Coast OU, feels that the religious slant of the program drew the community in.

“I think it’s the fact that it was done under an Orthodox program and people could ask questions that were religious,” he said. — SSR

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L.A.’s ‘New Jew’ Hits First Birthday

Leave a Comment / Education / Diane Arieff

In the Valley suburb of West Hills, a small bit of history is being made: It’s home to the first and only all-Jewish lacrosse team at any school in the country. The sport’s newest fans are the ninth-grade boys at the New Community Jewish High School (NCJH).

When history teacher Neil Kramer signed on as part of the new faculty, he doubted he’d have a chance to coach the sport at a small start-up school.

“But remarkably, out of the 20 boys we had, 16 of them signed up,” he told The Journal.

Lacrosse is just one example of this kind of can-do enthusiasm at NCJH (or “New Jew,” as it has been dubbed), which is headed by educator Bruce Powell and currently housed at the Bernard Milken Jewish Community Campus.

One hears a lot about this adventurousness of spirit during a visit to the “New Jew” campus.

After years working at Yeshiva University of Los Angeles, Milken Community High School and as a national consultant, Powell said of his student body, “These kids are unique. Many of them could have gotten into any private school they wanted to, but they chose to come do something completely new. This is a lively, gutsy class. The idea that they could be pioneers, this really appealed to them.”

Powell said that a girl came to his office to request a photography elective. “I said, ‘Fine, what are you going to do about it?’ She handed me a sheet with a dozen names she had collected of other interested kids.”

Now they have photographer Bill Aron as a faculty member for spring semester.

Students share the feeling.

Shira Shane said that the kids are great, and they’re from “all different backgrounds,” but what she liked most about her new school is the teachers, because the students are close with them and the teachers provide unique learning experiences.

“In honors’ biology we went to the UCLA Medical Center. I had never really thought in-depth about science before. I didn’t know I’d be any good at it. Now I love it,” Shane said.

Powell said a supportive board was critical for attracting an exceptional faculty. Twenty-something wunderkind Lisa Ansell, a Harvard graduate who heads up the language department, is fluent in Hebrew, French, Spanish and three Arabic dialects, and is proficient in Farsi, Russian, Portuguese and Turkish.

Kramer holds a doctorate in history and has wide-ranging experience at exclusive private schools and Jewish communal institutions.

Rabbi David Vorspan, the Jewish studies director and “rabbi-in-residence,” has an impressive track record as both a pulpit rabbi and an academic. The rest of the faculty is equally seasoned.

Like the students, the teachers seem jazzed about building a fresh school from scratch. During a recent class discussion, kids expressed impatience with homelessness, declaring that they didn’t understand how anyone could be unable to get off the street. The next day, Vorspan brought in a homeless — and Jewish — mother and son he was acquainted with to speak to the kids about their struggles. The students were riveted. After that visit, the kids flooded the school with donated items they wanted to pass along to the family.

“One boy came up to me,” Powell said, “and told me, ‘I have $65 dollars that is just burning a hole in my pocket. I really want to give it to them.'”

This is a unique chance to have an effect on the students, Vorspan said. “We see each other every day. They come to my house for Shabbat dinner. I have the real opportunity to be a role model.”

Sina Monjazeb, the school’s athletic director, came from the public school system. “Until now, I have never been in a job where I feel guilty coming to work every day because it’s such a pleasure, but that’s how much I love it here,” he said. “We don’t stop teaching values when we get to the playing field.”

Kramer praised his fellow faculty members as inspired by common values, vision and a high degree of “kid-centeredness,” noting that “I’ve never seen anything like it before in the 26 years I’ve been doing this.” Too often, he said, parents mistakenly look at the wrong things, like the flashiness of the campus, the number of AP courses, or how many “greeters in cashmere and pearls are posted at the door [during open house]. School is about the humans,” he said. “Look at the faculty.”

His advice to parents is to avoid the list of stock questions that he dismisses as “catalog information,” and instead, to ask teachers the kind of things that will prompt a story.

Teacher morale is one measure of success. Powell will continue to augment his staff, and is adding a college adviser next year. Another test is retaining students and attracting new ones. Here, too, results are positive. With the first class of 40 heading into 10th grade, a new class of ninth-graders will double the population next September. Ultimately, Powell said, he’d like the school to top out at a maximum of 400 kids, 100 students per grade.

But growth, he insists, will not be at the expense of the school’s soul.

“The beauty of starting a school is that you put together a good culture from the get-go, and then you don’t become complacent,” he said. Part of that culture is a strong values education, or what Powell likes to call “Advanced Placement kindness.” Another part is not turning away families who can’t afford the full tuition.

West Hills parent Bob Goldrich is a case in point. He and his wife originally dismissed private high school for their son, Michael, as out of their financial range.

“We were going to move to the El Camino Real school district,” Goldrich said. “But they made it affordable for us to send our son here, and now I can’t imagine him anywhere else.”

L.A.’s ‘New Jew’ Hits First Birthday Read More »

Women Directors ‘Reflect’ on Israeli Life

Leave a Comment / Entertainment / Naomi Pfefferman

After Keren Margalit’s boyfriend died in an army-related accident a decade ago, she envisioned the drama that would become "All I’ve Got," the opening-night film of the 2003 Israel Film Festival. The story revolves around a young woman who loses her boyfriend in a grisly car wreck; 50 years later, she must choose between accompanying her first love or her husband into the afterlife.

"In the first years after you lose someone, you’re just struggling to feel better," Margalit, 32, said of the film’s genesis. "Then you continue your life, you marry and have children, but at one point you wonder, ‘What if some day the one I loved knocked on my door?’ Actually it’s a common experience in Israel because everyone knows someone who went to the army and died young."

Margalit’s intense but intimate work is typical of the eight movies by female directors that make up a quarter of the festival’s films, according to program director Paul Fagen. They include Dina Zvi-Riklis’ Cyrano-like "The Postwoman" and Hadar Friedlich’s "Slaves of the Lord," about an Orthodox girl’s descent into madness.

The films indicate the progress women have made — spurred by the establishment of a second Israeli TV channel — in a field long dominated by male directors such as Amos Gitai.

In fact, Channel Two’s pioneering "Reflections of Women" program — a series of four made-for-TV movies, all of which will screen during the festival — gave Margalit the chance to direct her debut feature, "All I’ve Got." "Reflections" provided a similar break for esteemed documentarian Dalia Mevorach of "1,000 Calories."

Speaking by phone from Tel Aviv, the jovial Mevorach said she was drawn to Nava Semel’s comic script about three best friends at a health spa because, "My life is a continued diet, a big struggle. Israeli women are nervous about the political situation, so we are going to the refrigerator."

The 47-year-old director said she made the severely overweight character, Avigail (Esthie Zakheim), the heroine to combat lingering Israeli myths about female body image. Apparently the strategy worked.

"Esthie was in the mall recently and women kept coming up to her and saying, ‘You are like a queen,’" Mevorach added. "They see the message as, ‘I’m fat and I’m still beautiful.’"

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Arab-Israeli Tension, Love Focus of Fest

Leave a Comment / Entertainment, Film / Tom Tugend

The 19th annual Israel Film Festival will showcase 33 movie features, television films, documentaries and student shorts from the Jewish State from May 28 through June 8.

CNN talk show host Larry King, Hollywood producer Laura Ziskin (“Spider-Man”) and Israeli director Erez Laufer will be honored during the May 28 gala opening night at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills.

The featured film of the evening will be “All I’ve Got,” part of the festival’s “Reflections of Women” series.

A dozen Israeli producers, directors and actors will attend the festival and participate in panel discussions and symposia.

Originally scheduled for early April, the festival opening was postponed because of the war in Iraq. The film fest originated in Los Angeles but now also plays in New York, Chicago and Miami.

Meir Fenigstein, founder and executive director of the festival, estimates that some 500,000 Americans have gotten a close-up of Israeli life and culture through the festivals’ 500 theatrical and TV films over the past 19 years.

Of special interest, in light of the hostilities and brutalities engendered by the long-running intifada, are a number of films focusing on relations between Israel’s Jews and Arabs.

Where, in times of terrorism and warfare, Hollywood might produce a series of super-patriotic, John Wayne-like action movies, Israeli filmmakers have opted for sympathetic, even romantic, depictions of relations between two peoples, generally seen as antagonistic in news stories.

In “A Trumpet in the Wadi,” a Russian Jewish immigrant musician and an Arab woman slowly fall in love.

Genders and nationalities are reversed in “2 Minutes From Faradis,” when a rebellious Jewish teenage girl and an Arab boy start romancing each other.

“In the 9th Month,” by Arab director Ali Nassar, tells a darker story of Arab-Jewish suspicions through a folk tale dating back to the days of the Ottoman Empire.

“Dugit Over Troubled Water” is a documentary on a business partnership between Jewish and Arab fishermen in the Gaza Strip, ultimately split apart by the intifada.

The TV film “Two Minutes From Faradis” is of much fluffier stuff, but shows another little-seen aspect of Israel — the life of the upper class. At the center of the film is Yuli, a 17-year-old girl, who feels it’s her teenage duty to rebel against her parents. The trouble is that her psychologist mother, spouting the clichés of her profession, and her wild-haired, pot-smoking father are so laid back and permissive that nothing she does can shock them.

Then Yuli encounters Amir, the handsome son of the family’s Arab maid, and the girl figures that romancing him will finally shake up her parents. The ploy works, but is Amir actually a terrorist using Yuli to smuggle explosives past a checkpoint? Stay tuned.

“A Trumpet in the Wadi” is one of the most sensitive and accomplished films to come out of Israel in a long time. Updated from the novel by Sami Michael, familiar to every Israeli high school student, the film is directed with a sure touch by Russian-born Lina and Sava Chaplin.

The protagonists are Alex (Alexander Senderovich), a newly arrived Russian trumpet player, and Hooda (Khawiah Hag Debsy), a 30-year-old Arab woman, working in a Jewish-owned travel agency. Both live in the Wadi Nisnas section of Haifa, but despite their wildly disparate backgrounds — and the fact that Alex is short and homely and Hooda is stately and beautiful — the two share an offbeat sense of humor and gradually fall in love.

What is striking at a time when Israeli Arabs are usually pictured as hassled second-class citizens is that Hooda’s extended family lives a quite normal, middle-class life.

Hooda’s mother kvetches constantly about the pickiness of her two unmarried daughters, brings in unsuitable suitors and cooks up a storm — in other words, like the stereotypical Jewish mother.

Not all is sweet harmony — Hooda’s family explodes in anger against the Jews when a cousin is killed during a demonstration, and there’s a bitter scene between the lovers when Alex reports for reserve duty — but one leaves the theater with a slightly more hopeful outlook.

“Wadi” opened the recently concluded Chicago leg of the festival circuit. Despite earlier concerns that the Israeli-Arab romance theme might upset some American Jewish viewers, Fenigstein said that the film was received enthusiastically.

Fenigstein has no answer why, precisely at this time, Israeli filmmakers are creating works that center on the common humanity, rather than the antagonisms, of the two people.

Maybe, just maybe, it’s an augur of better times to come, he ventures hopefully.

One tip for history buffs: The documentary “Moledet” (Homeland) resurrects footage of Jewish and Arab life in Palestine, shot between 1927 and 1934 by the country’s first movie company, happily named Moledet. The film becomes a bit repetitive, but it’s a cheerful antidote to those who picture the early yishuv (the Jewish community of the time) consisting solely of sweating pioneers constantly tilling the soil or draining swamps.

From the documentary’s evidence, the Jewish population rarely missed a chance to stage a lively parade, Purim or otherwise. Interspersed are commercials of the era shown in movie theaters, and hard as it is to fathom, they were even more terrible then than now.

After the opening night, all screenings will be at theLaemmle Fairfax Theatres, 7907 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles (corner of BeverlyBoulevard and Fairfax Avenue), and at the Laemmle Town Center 5, 17200 VenturaBlvd., Encino. For information and ticket reservations for all events, call(877) 966-5566, or visit www.israelfilmfestival.com .

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