If you meet Grace Quinn sunning herself on the patio of her home at Westwood Horizons Retirement Residence or pushing her bright red walker in Trader Joe\’s, you wouldn\’t guess that this nonagenarian is one of the founders of Levitt & Quinn Family Law Center.
Gary Wexler levels the charges that Americans for Peace Now (APN), along with other organizations associated with American Jewish liberals, are obsolete. He writes that
we are ignoring the \”real\” threats facing Israel such as those emanating from Syria and Iran, that we are out of touch with the mainstream for questioning the efficacy of Israel\’s current military actions in Lebanon and Gaza, that we are wrong to believe a peace partner exists on the other side and that our \”knee-jerk\” reactions and inability to recognize and react to the redefining of American Jewish support for Israel will prove to be our ultimate downfall.
With the fighting along Israel\’s northern border showing no sign of letting up, Israel\’s most popular summer tourist region has been turned into a battle zone. Instead of the sounds of kids splashing in swimming pools and canyons, there is a constant booming of artillery shelling and tank fire. Instead of birds quietly hovering in the skies over the Hula Nature Reserve, attack helicopters and fighter jets streak across the sky headed north, into Lebanon.
Just a year ago, the Lenny Krayzelburg Swim School, headed by the four-time Olympic gold medalist, opened with fanfare and big ambitions at the Westside Jewish Community Center (JCC), a once lively place that in recent years has been seeking to reinvent itself. Living up to the center\’s dreams, as of late July, Krayzelburg now has 896 students on his roster.
There is one program in particular that embodies all of the emotionalism and meaning of machon summer: Tza\’adah. Tza\’adah is a five-day, four-night overnight trip that takes campers far from the boundaries of camp and into the nature of Northern California, where we bond with friends, while experiencing the outdoors.
Letters to the editor: Bush administration\’s failure to deal with violence in the Middle East; maintaining Jewish unity instead of deference to the Jewish Left; Torah portion by Rabbi Lisa Edwards on Leviticus; response to Michael Steinhardt on Jewish philanthropy; and more.
Jewish communities are being urged to remain vigilant, be in touch with police and other law enforcement agencies and review their security arrangements after a fatal shooting at Seattle\’s Jewish federation offices. The alleged gunman, identified by police as Naveed Afzal Haq, said he was an American Muslim upset about what was going on in Israel.
\nJohn Bolton\’s tough pro-Israel rhetoric at the United Nations during Israel\’s recent crisis has galvanized Jewish support for the once-embattled nominee — and may have helped secure his nomination as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), a key Jewish opponent of Bolton a year ago, said he now is undecided, principally because of the Israel issue.
For the past six years, my mother\’s often challenging journey and our evolving relationship have inspired much of the writing in my column. Although she\’s no longer here in my life, she\’s definitely still alive in my thoughts and memories.
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