Jews are always talking about how Israel needs better PR — in Hebrew, hasbara, a term that connotes something between promotion and propaganda — so it’s worth asking, with so many Israelis working in Hollywood, what are they doing about it?
The Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) annual Holocaust Education Workshop, which emphasizes Holocaust education in the classroom and will feature four sessions Nov. 3-10, will, for the first time, overlap with “Bearing Witness,” the organization’s long-running, three-day workshop for Catholic-school teachers, seminarians and priests, which takes place Nov. 7-9.
Diplomats from nine different countries joined leaders from Los Angeles’ Jewish, Asian and Latino communities on Sept. 28 to celebrate Asian and Jewish autumnal harvest festivals and commemorate the bicentennial of Mexico’s independence. Organized by the Pacific Southwest regional office of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as part of its existing Asian Jewish Initiative and Latino Jewish Roundtable, the event was intended to help build bridges connecting three of the city’s communities that might not otherwise interact.
In the introduction to his new book about volunteering, “Everyone Helps, Everyone Wins” (Hudson Street Press), Big Sunday founder and executive director David Levinson warns readers not to mistake him for a good person.
An election year that was looking hopeless for Democrats has taken a slight turn for the better. The generic ballot measure has tightened up. Since Labor Day, President Barack Obama has marked off a new, more aggressive political stance that is perking up the ears of demoralized Democrats. The interest level of younger voters, a key Democratic constituency, is picking up. Statewide races in California are looking better for Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer.
If I thought, per his recent television ad, that Gov. Jerry Brown really would take on the government’s employee unions and trump their influence over the obsequious Democrats who control Sacramento — and actually restructure state government, including pension reform, I might vote for Jerry. So, how partisan am I?
As usual in California, voters will face a slew of initiatives in next month’s election. To help sort them out, The Jewish Journal has consulted both sides of the political aisle on each proposition.
Much wailing and gnashing of teeth followed the recent release of the Pew Forum’s survey of Americans’ religious knowledge. The news that, on average, most of us know only half the answers to questions on the Bible, global faith traditions and religion in civic life reveals (pick one) a lax commitment to diversity; a blind spot in religious education; our fear (or at least our willful ignorance) of people not like ourselves; or yet another failure of the public school system.
Can Alzheimer’s research set the tone for the future of the Jewish community?
What is it about Evangelical Christians and their support for Israel that really gets to me? I understand what makes some Jews — especially liberal Jews — nervous about this group: their conservative values (on issues such as abortion and separation of church and state); an uncompromising stance on the Middle East peace process; the theological slant to their support for Israel; and a propensity among some of them to proselytize to Jews.
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