“You shall teach your children diligently” (Deuteronomy 6:7). Rabbi Akiba traveled from town to town in Israel, teaching the Torah, judging cases, settling disputes, offering wisdom and listening to the stories of his people.
Craig Taubman vividly remembers when Bill Kaplan first showed him around the grounds of the Shalom Institute, neatly tucked into the vast Santa Monica Mountains of Malibu.
This Memorial Day, World War II Veteran Bea Abrams Cohen will be attending ceremonies at Los Angeles National Cemetery, paying tribute to all the men and women who have died fighting while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.
In praising the venture capital investment ideas of Chemi Peres, the son of Israeli president Shimon Peres, Rob Eshman writes, “An hour into [a discussion of these ideas], I realized no one had mentioned ‘peace process’ or ‘settlements’ or any of the other sinkholes of Middle East hope” (“The Arabpreneurs,” May 18).
My daughter, Dina, accepted a summer job here in Los Angeles last year. Before being hired, she explained that she was an observant Jew who would have to take off two days in early June to celebrate the holiday of Shavuot. The manager, respecting Dina’s religious commitment, said it would be no problem.
Alex wrote to me asking why I didn’t have any gay single peeps on my site. I told him I do — “you should take another look” — and then offered to interview him sight unseen. Because I’m awesome like that. He took me up on it. Because he’s trusting like that.
Jack Seror didn’t know what to do. He was 25 and knew he had to leave Salonika; it wasn’t safe for Jews. And now a contact from the Greek resistance had come to fetch him. Jack stood with his parents in their living room, crying. They hugged, kissed and hugged some more. “We have to leave,” the contact said. Half of Jack wanted to stay with his parents; the other half wanted to escape. Finally, his father, with tears in his eyes, said, “Go. And remember, if you survive, to say Kaddish for us.”
Once again, nuclear negotiations are taking place, and once again there’s a gap between the gloomy tone of the Israeli observers and the optimistic, albeit guarded, noises on the American side.
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