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Jewish Journal

Connect. Inform. Inspire.

February 1, 2007

Angels in the hood

Leave a Comment / California, David Suissa, United States /

We’ve all seen these great organizations that help the needy and the hungry. We’ve been to their annual galas in Beverly Hills hotels, and we’ve applauded theircelebrity endorsers and prominent honorees.

In the Jewish Orthodox world, we’re familiar with of organizations like Tomchei Shabbat, a highly professional operation that distributes free Shabbat food to observant families. If you ever take your kids to their La Brea warehouse on any Thursday, you will see a distribution efficiency that rivals that of Wal-Mart.

So yes, there are all those great, big successful charity organizations. And then there is a married couple named Yaelle and Nouriel Cohen.

You won’t find them on the society pages of the Los Angeles Times, receiving an award, or at a luncheon at the Luxe hotel, raising money for their cause. You’re more likely to find them shlepping around town, gathering leftover food from weddings, bar mitzvahs, and kosher restaurants, and bringing it to their little house in Pico-Robertson to help the needy families of the hood.

It might surprise you, but there are more than a few families in the hood that have a hard time putting food on their tables. Yaelle and Nouriel estimate that they regularly help feed — very discretely — about 65 families in the neighborhood.

Discretion is a given in the Cohen chesed machine. Everyone is in on it, even their six children. No last names are ever used, and recipients usually stay in their cars while the kids bring them their food boxes.

Yaelle has been known to wake up in the middle of the night to answer the knock of a needy mother too ashamed to come while there is daylight. But not every recipient needs discretion.

The other day, Nouriel and his children took a haggard, grimy homeless Jew home with them on their way back from synagogue, much to the consternation of some people watching. When he got to their home, the man washed and got a fresh white shirt, and took a long nap before eating. The man has been coming back ever since, and often sleeps in their front yard.

The Cohens do more than give food. If you have clothes or furniture or anything of value that you want to donate, chances are they’ll find a recipient. Their phones never stop ringing.

Ever since I moved to this neighborhood, I have been hearing about Yaelle and her family, usually from supermoms humbled by her selflessness. But nobody could tell me about the depth of the Cohens’ motivation.

This I got when Yaelle, a sweet-looking, olive-skinned Moroccan Jew from Montreal, and her husband, a gentle Persian chasid, served me Moroccan tea on a recent Sunday night. A lot of the facts are known: They were living a comfortable life in Beverly Hills, thanks to a thriving beauty supply business.

Eventually, the business went south and they had to sell their house. To this day, they still struggle to pay their bills, and there’s little doubt that this daily struggle has helped them connect with the pain of others.

But there’s more to this story. Many years ago the doctors informed Yaelle and Nouriel that one of their daughters urgently needed a major liver operation. They agonized, and before doing anything, they decided to take their daughter to see the Lubavitcher Rebbe and get a personal blessing.

As they quietly recall the story, their lightheartedness is gone, their tone has sobered up. It’s almost as if they are reluctant to tell me what happened — their daughter miraculously healed, to the shock of the doctors — for fear that no one will believe it. But my interest is in their motivation, and here, one thing is clear from looking at them: their limitless gratitude for the recovery of their daughter animates everything they do. This selfless love for others is one of the ways they say thank you to God.

In the end, though, does it really matter why they do what they do? For the father of four who called last week at 5 p.m. to say that he had no dinner for his children, it didn’t matter why Yaelle immediately got on the phone with Jeff’s Gourmet restaurant to get a full meal donated and delivered to that man’s family. What mattered was that his family ate.

Still, I do marvel at how they do what they do. The Cohens have no mission statements or spreadsheets or strategic plans. Their business model is not old school, it’s ancient school: Gather with your own hands from those who want to give, and give with your own hands to those who need.

Their marketing is from the Kevin Costner movie, “Field of Dreams”: Build it and they will come. No press releases, no ads, no dinners. If the business plan is food to mouth, the marketing plan is word of mouth. Here in Pico-Robertson, quietly, discretely, the word has gotten out over the years that there are neighborhood angels named Yaelle and Nouriel who will do whatever it takes to bail you out, should you ever need it.

Can any organization do this kind of personal, hand-to-hand charity? I doubt it. Professional organizations do a lot of wonderful things at many levels of the community. But, inevitably, things and people will fall through the cracks. Some people don’t know how to ask, others are too ashamed to ask. A caring neighbor with an ear to the ground is often in the best position — literally — to come to the rescue, with the only red tape being the one that wraps the food boxes.

It makes you wonder: How many Yaelle and Nouriel Cohens have come to the rescue of fellow Jews over our history? We hear a lot about the King Davids and the Queen Esthers, but could we really have survived as a people without the quiet angels of chesed that have graced Jewish neighborhoods since time immemorial?Thanks to people like Yaelle and Nouriel Cohen, we don’t have to answer that question.

David Suissa, an advertising executive, is the founder of OLAM magazine and Meals4Israel.com. He can be reached at dsuissa@olam.org.

Angels in the hood Read More »

The Lion in Waiting

Leave a Comment / Israel, Opinion, Politics, Worldwide /

Last Friday evening, I was pacing backstage at the University of Judaism’s (UJ) Gindi Auditorium, rehearsing my introduction for Ehud Barak.

Born on a kibbutz, 36 years in the Israel Defense Forces, fought in three wars, architect of the Entebbe raid, disguised as a woman to kill Munich terrorists in Beirut, Israel’s most decorated soldier, elected Prime Minister in 1999…

That’s when I saw him, sitting on a stage box in the shadows: Ehud Barak.

In person Barak is somehow both more and less imposing than he seems from afar.

He is stocky, with a healthy paunch for his 64 years. Glasses give him the professorial air — he received his master’s in engineering from Stanford University. But when he addresses me — How many people are here? What are their politics? What time do we end? — it’s clear I am in the presence of a man used to quick orders and decisive action. He tells an aide to have his driver come to the UJ on Mulholland Drive.

He turns to me: “There’s a David Lynch film about that?”

“Mulholland Falls,” I say. “A strange movie,” he says. “Very strange, but interesting.”

For an instant, I panic — is he going to order me to explain David Lynch?

For three days last week, Barak’s comeback trail to Israeli politics detoured through Southern California. On Monday he spoke to 6,000 people at the UJ lecture series at the Universal Amphitheatre; on Sunday he spoke at Congregation B’nai Israel in Tustin. And on Friday night he joined 200 guests for a Shabbat dinner at the UJ, followed by an onstage interview with me at Gindi Hall.

To prepare, I’d e-mailed a mutual acquaintance who’d worked closely with Barak at Camp David. I asked him what sort of questions would elicit the most interesting responses. “Barak is a highly educated, well-read person with exceptional (!!!!) analytical ability,” he wrote back. “You will enjoy asking him big picture questions and letting him elaborate.”

Our conversation began on familiar ground — the failed Camp David negotiations between Barak, President Bill Clinton and Yasser Arafat — then quickly circled the globe.

It was the collapse of Camp David in 2000, followed by the second intifada that brought Barak’s term as prime minister to a quick, crushing end. For Barak, it was the risk Israel took for peace that laid bare Arafat’s true intentions.

I realized for him it was not about “undoing 1967” — the occupation of lands captured in the Six Day War — but about “undoing 1947” — the year before Israel became a state.

“They should have taken away Arafat’s Nobel Prize and given him an Academy Award, for Best Actor,” he said.

Barak defended his offer to trade parts of Jerusalem and give the Palestinians control over the Temple Mount. His reasons were brusque and pragmatic. Why should Israel control Arab villages that have nothing to do with Jerusalem?, he said. As for the Temple Mount, it has long been in control of the Muslim waqf; he was codifying the status quo.

Right now, Barak doesn’t see a partner for peace among the Palestinians; not Hamas, and he has his doubts about Mahmoud Abbas. And so, where does that leave Israel? For now, he said, Israel can sit tight. When the Palestinians are ready to negotiate, he said, “we will stretch out one hand, and keep a gun in the other.”

In the meantime, Israel faces grave regional problems, the prospect of a nuclear Iran chief among them. He said that within a short time Iran could “cross the nuclear threshold.” He has no doubt their engineers are capable — he studied with some of them at Stanford.

How to thwart them? A multilateral solution that involves the United States, Russia, China and the Europeans is preferable. Would it work? He was pessimistic. And then what?: “I don’t believe in speaking openly, as some in the government do, about our other options.”

I asked Barak if the Iraq War has made Israel safer. The initial military victory, he said, took out an avowed enemy. But the subsequent occupation, the descent into civil war, and the rise of the Shiite influence, has made Israel less safe. (When I asked him if, as former commander-in-chief, he believes 21,000 more troops would solve anything, he took whatever the Israeli equivalent of the Fifth is).

The war in Lebanon — which Barak made clear the current Israeli government mishandled — did not erase the threat from Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists in southern Lebanon. I asked if he believes the military inexperience of some current Israeli leaders was a factor in the war’s outcome.

He declined to answer directly: “Napoleon said an army is like a noodle. Lead it from the front and it follows straight behind. Try to push it from the rear, and it goes all squiggly.”

The upshot of these events, said Barak, is that Israel faces a Middle East in which radical Shiite power could extend from Teheran to Baghdad to Damascus to Beirut — “the Shiite banana,” he called it. And make no mistake, the virulently anti-Israel rantings of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are but the vocalization of beliefs that even more “moderate” Iranian leaders hold.

Bad as that scenario is, the world would be a safer place, he said, if America would work closely with China and Russia to set and enforce international norms. That means, Barak said, Democrats would have to overcome their revulsion to Russian and Chinese human rights abuses, and Republicans would have to overcome their antipathy to Russia and China. But, Barak said, there is no better way in today’s world to confront the threats of nuclear proliferation, Islamic fundamentalism and terror than for the three most powerful countries to band together.

On a more optimistic note, Barak offered the audience reassurance about Israel’s security.

The Lion in Waiting Read More »

Washington, D. C.: Progress on both sides of the aisle

Leave a Comment / Opinion, Politics /

The partisan atmosphere surrounding the president’s State of the Union address will only get nastier as we approach the 2008 presidential race. So now might be the best time to take a
moment and reflect on the greater good that is served by Jewish activism in all political parties.

For me, that message hit home in a very special place this year: the White House.

For reasons both complicated and simple, last December, my wife, Betsy, and I were invited by the President and Mrs. Bush to the White House to attend their annual Chanukah party. Something unexpected and amazing happened to us there, but not where you might think.

It wasn’t speaking with the president and Laura Bush; it wasn’t wandering the White House staring at portraits of Washington and Lincoln while nibbling on kreplach. It wasn’t the Marine Corps Band playing Chanukah songs or even stepping out on to the balcony overlooking the Rose Garden, spending a moment alone where so many have stood with the world on their shoulders. Nope — amazing as all of that was, none of it stacked up to what was next.

There we were, sharing a brief word or two with the president and his wife while waiting for the White House photographer to take our picture, when Betsy leaned over to the president and asked, “Can I see the kitchen?”

Betsy is a talented cook with a fair amount of training. A TV special on the White House kitchen and its head chef intrigued her months ago, and she figured this was her shot.

“Huh?” the president responded. “The kitchen? Here? Ours?”

You could tell that despite all these years standing in line greeting people, taking pictures and answering questions, this was a first for the president. He looked at me with a sort of husband-to-husband smile on his face and said, “The kitchen? I’ve never seen it.”

After seeing how stunned the president was by the question, Laura. Bush stepped in.

“Well of course you can see the kitchen. Charles,” she politely requested while pointing to one of her aides, “would you please show Rabbi and Mrs. Leder to the kitchen?”

Next thing you know, there we were, smack dab in front of the steam table and the stove.

And that’s when I saw him — the mashgiach. A mashgiach is a rabbi specially trained in the laws of keeping kosher. There he was, beard, kippah, payes, tzitzit and all, watching over the White House kitchen to be sure the food was strictly kosher. A Chanukah miracle if I ever saw one.

“Rabbi,” the head chef shouted from across the kitchen, addressing the mashgiach, “can I put the fish in this oven after I take the chicken out, or is that not OK?”

“Fish after chicken?” the mashgiach responded. “No problem.”

To some this would seem a comical moment — to me it was deadly serious. A little more than 60 years ago, the American Jewish community was so politically impotent that we could not get Franklin Delano Roosevelt to do anything to stop the slaughter of 6 million Jews. Roosevelt’s record on Jewish refugees and their rescue is “very poor” — one of the worst failures of his presidency — according to historian David Wyman. On this point, at least, there appears to be some measure of agreement among historians.

“This is not an issue on which Roosevelt’s reputation for greatness will rest,” said historian Alan Brinkley in a documentary on the Holocaust. “Quite the contrary — the record is quite poor.”

Sixty years after Roosevelt, thanks to hard work and commitment by generations of American Jews, Betsy and I stood next to a mashgiach in the White House kitchen during a time in America when nearly all politicians of import have a profound respect for the role American Jews play in our society.

I am not a Republican. I am not a Democrat. I make my decisions on people not platforms. I am overjoyed that there are Jewish Democrats with influence in the Democratic Party. I am equally glad that there are Jewish Republicans with influence in the Republican Party.

The Torah speaks of the suffering the Jews in Egypt underwent when “there arose a new king who did not know Joseph.” American Jews can never afford to be anything other than close to the president, whomever he or she may be.

I, for one, am grateful to be an American during a time when the Jewish people is embraced not just in rhetoric and public statements but in the White House, in the room where, like in every house, things are revealed in their truest form — the kitchen.

Rabbi Steven Z. Leder is a rabbi at Wilshire Boulevard Temple and the author of “The Extraordinary Nature of Ordinary Things” published by Behrman House.

Washington, D. C.: Progress on both sides of the aisle Read More »

Israel in Wonderland

Leave a Comment / Israel, Opinion, Politics, Power /

These days, I feel a little like Alice falling down a deep dark hole and landing in a world turned so upside down that right is wrong and wrong is everywhere.

Just when you think it
can’t be any more topsy-turvy in Israel than it already is, the president addresses the nation with nonsensical shrieks and accusations in a parody of leadership so bizarre that you wonder whether the Jewish state has turned into Wonderland.

Even in a country accustomed to shocking news, a culture permeated with ad hominem attacks, even for us Israelis, this was beyond belief. The man ostensibly safeguarding Israel’s moral authority is defending himself against charges of rape and sexual harassment, and trying to bring down the whole house of cards — the legal, security, political and media establishment — with him.

Transformed before our very eyes from mediocre president to raving megalomaniac, from small town mayor to Mad Hatter, Moshe Katsav tried to thrust the entire nation into an alternate reality.

The first casualty of the Katsav rampage was Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, whose address to the Herzliya Conference was unexpectedly and completely upstaged by the nearly hour-long tirade. Scheduled to conclude a four-day gathering devoted to exploring Israel’s national strength, security and diplomatic horizons, Olmert, himself under investigation for unlawful influence in the sale of Bank Leumi, chose to speak about Iran and thus avoid mention of the more problematic areas related to his performance, namely the war in Lebanon or the peace process.

Olmert’s focus fit in well with the overall tone of the conference — the clanging of alarm bells for our national and Jewish future. From raging anti-Semitism in Europe to the threat of genocide from Iran, speaker after speaker warned that today we Jews are living in a watershed period, one of the most dangerous times in our history. With his declaration, “Anyone who threatens us, who threatens our existence, must know that we have the determination and capability to defend ourselves, to respond with force, with discretion and with all the means at our disposal as necessary,” the prime minister made clear that this time our muscles are flexed.

“I do not suggest anyone err and conclude that the restraint and responsibility that we are displaying will affect our determination and our ability to act when this is required,” he cautioned.

But for the man or woman in the street, Iran is a long-term problem, a strategic horizon, a geopolitical issue. Of greater immediate concern are the scandals at home. Temporarily titillated though they may have been by the president’s surreal performance on live TV, Israelis came away with a new dose of demoralization.

A modest list of some of the other figures currently under investigation includes not only Olmert, but Finance Minister Hirschson, Justice Minister Ramon, head of Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Tzachi Hanegbi, and top officials of the Israel Tax Authority. And then there’s the hard-working Winograd Committee, which will eventually tell the public which leaders are to blame for last summer’s botched war in Lebanon.

Small wonder, then, that a new survey on patriotism presented to the Herzliya conference by professor Ephraim Yaar of Tel Aviv University indicated a significant erosion of public confidence. While patriotism is an abstract category, Yaar’s reasonable assumption was that “the strength of the state cannot be assessed without addressing the patriotic component of its citizens.”

The good news in his report was that despite the difficult events of the past year and a half, including both the war in Lebanon and disengagement, “not only did the degree of patriotism of the Jewish public not weaken, the emotional affinity to the state even strengthened.”

But, he continued, “the bad message is that an unprecedented decline was measured in regard to the public’s confidence in the government and the Knesset. Moreover, there is a steep decline in the confidence in the defense forces, which have always enjoyed a high level of support.”

Noting that there is a contradiction between the high assessment of the steadfastness of the civilian population and the low estimation of the leadership, Yaar explained: “The public draws a line between the society and the state, especially the leadership. The public says — we are patriotic, we love our country, don’t get us involved in your failures, and we need to rectify the situation.”

Indeed, more than 80 percent of the Jewish public is proud to be Israeli and more than 90 percent of Israelis are ready to fight for their country. The IDF, traditionally a chief source of pride, is now in third place in the public’s estimation, following Israel’s scientific and technological accomplishments, and artistic and cultural achievements. In 2005, 88 percent of the population was proud of the IDF; in 2006 it dropped to 64 percent. In last place, in the public’s view, are government institutions and the Knesset.

There are practical consequences to these shifts in opinion. Following the resignations of Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsch and Major Gen. Udi Adam, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz resigned two weeks ago, and Major Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, former head of the Northern Command and deputy chief of staff, was confirmed this week as his replacement. President Katsav was temporarily relieved of his duties and the race to succeed him is well underway. Tax Authority officials were placed under house arrest, banned from re-entering their offices. And, finally, there is a petition to the Supreme Court to publicize the Winograd hearings so that this entire sorry mess can be made public, play-by-play.

Meanwhile, the country is at a standstill. With everybody fighting indictments and facing commissions of inquiry, we have a right to ask who is worrying about the vital matters of state. The suicide bomber that killed three people in an Eilat bakery this week reminds us that even when quiet abounds for nine months, we cannot begin to pretend that the conflict has been resolved. Peace requires courageous leadership and vision, focus and dedication. In this time of deep national crisis, when the external threats are indeed enormous and when terror has once again burst into our reality, we are suffering what Yaar calls a critical “breach in confidence.”

It may well be that the corruption from within is more terrifying than the enemy from without. The time has certainly come for the country to regain its balance, rehabilitate moral and legal boundaries, and set a new political table, tea cups and all.

Roberta Fahn Schoffman heads Mindset Media and Strategic Consulting. This essay originally appeared at ‘ TARGET=’_blank’>latimes.com, has been around since 1996. I used to do Internet chats on latimes.com during the O.J. Simpson trial, trading opinions with O.J. junkies who amazed me with their knowledge of every detail. But after a promising start, the Times neglected the Web site.

As a task force of Times editors and reporters said in a report run last week on the Web site, The Times, it is a-changin’ Read More »

Palestinian terror reaches Eilat

Leave a Comment / Israel, Worldwide /

Eilat generally has escaped the violence of the six-year Palestinian intifada, but even its remote setting couldn’t forever insulate the Red Sea resort city from the region’s tensions.

A suicide bomber struck Monday morning at a small bakery in the usually serene city, killing three Israelis when he detonated his explosives belt in a residential area. It was the first suicide bombing in Israel’s southernmost city, built on the edge of the Red Sea with views of Jordan and Egypt.

“It was awful — there was smoke, pieces of flesh all over the place,” Benny Mazgini, 45, who ran to the bakery from a building across the street, told Israel Radio.

The scene was a foreign one in Eilat, whose luxury hotels, restaurants and nightclubs have made it popular with foreign tourists and Israelis.

“It’s without a doubt a terrible incident that the town of Eilat is not accustomed to,” Mayor Meir Yitzhak Halevi said. “The thought that infiltrators could enter Eilat alive and disrupt the running of the town is very worrying.”

Israel decided not to resume assassinating Palestinian terrorist leaders in the wake of the bombing. Security sources said Tuesday that Defense Minister Amir Peretz turned down a request by top military brass to permit targeting of heads of Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aksa Brigades, which both claimed responsibility for the bombing.

The Defense Ministry declined comment, but Peretz hinted that Israel wanted more time to decide on its response.

“The initiative will be ours, and we have no intention of relaying what we plan to do,” he told reporters during a tour of Eilat. “We will examine all means available for tackling the conduits, the current threats and the infrastructures” of the terrorist groups, he said.

The suicide bombing came after a relatively long stretch of calm inside Israel, and was the first such successful attack in nine months. Other attempted attacks have been foiled by Israeli security forces.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in a Kadima faction meeting that for “a long time, Israel [had] enjoyed the illusion of quiet.”

Olmert stressed that in recent months, Israel had prevented numerous terror attacks.

The prime minster extended his condolences to the victims’ families and said that he had spoken with Halevi.

“I believe Eilat will overcome this blow and remain a happy city,” Olmert said.
Among the most worried in Eilat are those who work in its tourism industry, the basis of the city’s livelihood. Eilat was just beginning to recover from the wave of tourist cancellations that followed Israel’s war with Lebanon last summer, but some fear the attack could again scare off foreigners.

Miri Eisin, Olmert’s spokeswoman to the foreign press, tried to assuage fears.
“In 2006 we prevented many suicide attacks, and we will continue to do so,” Eisin said. “It’s safe to come to Israel, as it was in the past.”

Several Palestinian groups claimed responsibility for the bombing, but Islamic Jihad said the bomber was Mohammed Faisal al-Saqsaq, 21, from Gaza City.
Mahmoud Abbas condemned the Eilat suicide bombing.

“My position regarding this operation is that I do not accept it, and I reject and condemn it,” the Palestinian Authority president said Tuesday after talks in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

But Abbas voiced optimism that a truce he declared with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in December would hold.

“I do not think that this operation in particular will impact the calm between us and the Israelis in the Gaza Strip,” he said.

Monday’s bombing was an embarrassment for Abbas’ Egyptian hosts, as the terrorist traveled to his target through the Sinai Peninsula.

Although peaceful by Israeli standards, the Eilat area has seen at least one other terror attack. In November 2003, a Jordanian armed with a Kalashnikov rifle crossed the border near Eilat and opened fire on a group of Christian pilgrims from Ecuador, killing one woman and injuring five others. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility at the time.

Israeli media reported that about six months ago, the Cabinet was informed by security officials that Egypt was observing an al-Qaida network operating in the Sinai desert. Several attacks in recent years have targeted Israelis and other foreigners along Sinai’s beaches.

Palestinian terror reaches Eilat Read More »

Debbie Friedman, L.A. Opera, Norman Mailer and David Mamet

Leave a Comment / California, Entertainment, Picks and Clicks, What's Happening /

Saturday the 3rd

Debbie Friedman strums and sings old and new favorites from her Jewish folk repertoire tonight at Shomrei Torah Synagogue. Twenty bucks gets you in the door, or splurge on the $100 patron seats for preferred seating and parking, plus a copy of her new CD, “One People,” and entree to the exclusive meet-and-greet with the artist herself.

7:30 p.m. $10 (ages 18 and under), $20 (general), $100 (patron). 7353 Valley Circle Blvd., West Hills. R.S.V.P., (818) 346-0811.

‘ target=’_blank’>www.ticketweb.com.

Tuesday the 6th

Debbie Friedman, L.A. Opera, Norman Mailer and David Mamet Read More »

Educational programs help seniors fulfill postponed dreams

Leave a Comment / Family, Lifecycles, Seniors /

Retirement brings with it the promise of time to pursue interests and passions postponed due to work and family pressures. But many retirees discover that fulfilling a dream requires replacing the old work-a-day discipline with a new structure.

Regardless of age or physical condition, intellectually curious seniors have many opportunities in the Los Angeles area to participate in an educational program that fits their needs in an enriching, stimulating and affordable environment.

In the Los Angeles area, lifelong learning programs such as PLATO, SAGE and OASIS each provide a framework for mature men and women in search of new challenges and new friendships with like-minded people. These college-based programs vary widely in their approach, so selecting the organization best suited to your needs and aspirations is important.

PLATO Society

The PLATO Society of UCLA is the best known and most prestigious of learning programs for seniors in Los Angeles. PLATO, an acronym for Perpetual Learning and Teaching Organization, is an independent, self-financed program under the auspices of UCLA Extension.

Founded in 1980, PLATO has a membership of about 420 men and women, mostly in their 60s and 70s. Several members are significantly younger, like the woman who left PLATO to have a baby, while others are older, like Seba Kolb-Tomkins, who answered the mail for Eleanor Roosevelt’s syndicated “My Day” column.

PLATO is not a lecture series and features no instructors. Instead, the program offers what it calls “study/discussion groups,” or S/DGs, which deal with a wide range of subjects.

Each group generally features 14 participants, and a different member is responsible for making a presentation and leading the discussion during each weekly meeting. Among current PLATO members are former lawyers, doctors, teachers, professors, psychotherapists, journalists, business executives and artists, as well as a one-time ballerina and a flight attendant. Regardless how accomplished they were in their careers, “members leave their titles at the door” and are addressed by first names only.

The curriculum is planned by a coordinator and a co-coordinator — any PLATO member willing to devote the time and energy can become a coordinator — and the subjects are limited only by the members’ interests. Topics can range from astronomy to zoology.

Among the 26 different subjects currently offered are “A Matter of Opinion,” which examines the way the media influences national policies; “Middle East Quagmire: Part I — Zionist Thought”; “Shakespeare Then and Now,” comparing the original plays with their treatment in films and musicals; and “Natural-Born Killers,” which studies earthquakes, hurricanes and other natural disasters.

PLATO follows the UCLA academic calendar, which is divided into three 14-week semesters. A new selection of S/DGs is offered each semester, although some of the more popular topics may occasionally be repeated. There are no formal requirements for membership in the PLATO Society beyond intellectual curiosity and a willingness to devote the time necessary for meaningful participation. Annual dues are $425, and members may audit UCLA classes with the permission of the instructor.

For many members, PLATO plays a very significant role in their lives. A retired advertising executive who lost his wife to cancer said that PLATO saved his life, and a former Philadelphia broadcaster said, “It provided access to like-minded people when we first arrived in L.A.”

Although not intended to be a social organization, PLATO has also helped a number of single and widowed members to establish new relationships.
In addition to the groups, the society offers a variety of special programs and benefits, such as monthly lectures from distinguished speakers such as LAPD Chief William Bratton; Frank McCourt, author of “Teacher Man” and “Angela’s Ashes,” and L.A. Cardinal Roger Mahoney.

An annual conference regularly addresses a topic of vital concern (this year PLATO is scheduled to examine the state of health care in America), and a special three-day retreat at an off-campus residential setting during spring break provides society members with an informal learning experience.

The PLATO Society is located at 1083 Gayley Ave., adjacent to the UCLA campus in Westwood. For more information, visit