\”We have always intended to go to Israel,\” said Rich Brownstein, an Orthodox Jew from Pico-Robertson. \”And in terms of the perceived danger, I don\’t think it is very different to any other time in Jewish history. They have always been shooting at us, there have always been wars and there have always been difficulties.\”
The emerging ethnic commercial district, akin to better-established Little Saigon in Westminster and Los Angeles\’ Koreatown, is further evidence of the county\’s evolution from suburbia into a more diverse, urban environment.
\”What we\’re trying to do is build a world that is a more decent place,\” Rabbi Allen Krause said in his book-lined office. \”I\’m doing what I can do. I don\’t know whether I\’m having an impact, but that doesn\’t mean I\’m going to stop trying.\”
Good can come from every situation, Judaism holds, and so does Irvine\’s Rabbi Joel Landau. The Beth Jacob Congregation leader has searched for good amid the unceasing bloodshed in the Middle East and found that empathy for victims of violence could be the sympathetic lifeline that tugs American Jews closer to their religious roots.
Facing a looming leadership shortage within its own ranks, the Jewish Leadership Network started the boot camp on a $10,000 shoestring budget and invited some 30 synagogues and Jewish agencies as well.
Having pulled himself out of poverty through hard work and two California real estate booms, Allen Alevy, 67, said he doesn\’t want other cash-poor Jewish families, particularly those in the military, to be guided by their pocketbook this summer.
Jay Greenberg was eager to hear the therapist from Jewish Family Service (JFS) dole out parenting advice about teenagers last spring.
We do lack Vision with a capital V — that big, sweeping Idea that will upset the poached-salmon-and-after-dinner-speech orderliness of Jewish life and force us to confront the meaning of our mission as Jews, Americans and human beings.
For someone only in his 40s, actor-director Robby Benson already has had a busy career. He also has had his fill of Hollywood.
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