\’Saved\’ was not an easy sell for co-writers Michael Urban and Brian Dannelly (who also directed the film). There was concern over the potential controversy of a religiously flip teen comedy, especially with all of the \”Passion\” fervor.
What was buried in those two containers? Could it have survived 65 years, the decimation of the town, the deportation of 12,000 Jews , the burning of the dozens of synagogues?
What does it mean to \”resist history\”? What is \”historicism,\” and why would there be \”discontents\” toward historicism in German Jewish thought, or in any intellectual society?
\”Revenge\” revolves around a 1998 staging of Stephen Fife\’s acclaimed adaptation of Sholem Asch\’s Yiddish classic, \”God of Vengeance,\” directed by his idol, the legendary Joseph Chaikin. The book recounts Fife\’s misadventures during that Atlanta production — such as his frantic attempts to find free places to crash — between astute insights into the play, the American theater and his colorful past.
The Brandeis-Bardin Institute (BBI) has had its share of crises in the last year — from toxic well water to wildfires. But one of the more damaging forces the Simi Valley institution has had to weather recently is the pervasive rumor of discord within its leadership following the departure of its former president, Rabbi Lee Bycel.
The Kalsman-Levy family has donated $5 million to the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) to buy the property for a new camp in Washington state. Camp Kalsman, named for grandparents Lee and Irving \”Red\” Kalsman, will become the movement\’s 13th camp in North America.
You can hear envy in the voice of Los Angeles City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel. It is a subtle envy but one well known to certain parents in Studio City who, like Greuel and her family, live next to, but not in, \”The Promised Land.\”
\”We\’re actually just outside the boundary of Carpenter,\” Greuel said.
She refers to Carpenter Avenue School, where about 900 kids from kindergarten through fifth grade receive arguably the finest primary education in the notoriously dysfunctional Los Angeles Unified School District. To live within the boundaries of Carpenter, or to get a rare waiver permit allowing your child to go there, is a sought-after prize.
Day schools are fine for school days. Synagogue is great for Shabbat and High Holidays. But for those weeks when children are in cabins, singing and laughing with friends, Jewish camp is a singular experience of 24/7, full-tilt boogie Judaism.
\”Although I attended religious school, summer camp is where I first became connected with being Jewish,\” said Fred Reisz, a Brentwood attorney and father of two toddlers who was a Camp Hess Kramer camper from 1975 to 1979, then a camp staffer from 1980 to 1985. \”I think it\’s important to realize that these summer camps are \’Jewish summer camps\’ as opposed to summer camps for Jews; you get a sense of your heritage and it instills a pride and joy in being Jewish.\”
My school has trained us for the academic rigors of a university. However, it has failed in preparing us for the necessities of the real world, or what my grandmother calls the \”nuts and bolts of life.\” We aren\’t alone. Today, this lack of practical skills among high school seniors is an epidemic. Web sites across the Internet list instructions for college students on everything from how to use a dishwasher to balancing a checkbook.
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