On the same day former Sen. Chuck Hagel, President Barack Obama’s choice for Defense Secretary, was being grilled in the Senate for having referred to pro-Israel advocates as the “Jewish lobby,” newly elected U.S. Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) said that he hadn’t been contacted by any advocates for the Jewish state in his first weeks on the job.
Since its inaugural trip in the winter of 2000, more than 340,000 participants ages 18-26 have traveled to Israel for the first time through Taglit-Birthright Israel. The 10-day excursions have attracted people from 62 countries, bringing together Jews from virtually every cultural and socio-economic background in the Diaspora.
It all started with a wedding cake. When Duff Goldman — the now-famous star of the former Food Network reality series “Ace of Cakes” — was working as a hotel pastry chef in Vail, Colo., a friend asked him to make a cake for his nuptials on the side. It was the amazed reaction of the venue owner more than anything that led him to change career paths.
At The Parish, breakfast is served with a twist. A dainty lineup of four gourmet biscuit sandwiches arrives containing such unusual fillings as fried chicken and maple Dijon; trout and pickles; sage eggs and sausage; and bacon and avocado. Proclaiming the array “beautiful,” restaurant co-owner Bruce Horwitz snaps a photo before the sandwiches are divvied up. Because Horwitz and fellow co-owner Mark Meyuhas have done the selecting — and will also be doing the dining — there is one ingredient that is noticeably absent.
Elyse, 43, is a freelancer for this magazine — but that doesn’t mean she was coerced into being interviewed for My Single Peeps. At least as far as I know. I’ve never met a single person at the office. I write from home. Maybe it’s a tyrannical organization. All I know is she showed up to meet me, and she seemed interested in genuinely finding love.
Branko Lustig, the Oscar-winning producer of “Schindler’s List” and a Holocaust survivor, was named Mensch for All Seasons during an International Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony on Jan. 29 at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills.
I watched President Barack Obama’s second inauguration from the hospital room of my 92-year-old friend Harriet. She was having an EKG during it, even though we all agreed the numbers would not provide an accurate assessment of her condition — her medical condition, that is.
Rebbetzin Miriam Adler-Huttler, a distinguished rabbinic figure in Los Angeles, died on Jan. 3. She was 78. A seventh-generation Jerusalemite and a descendant of the Zhvill and Lelov Chasidic dynasties, she was born Oct. 30, 1934, the only child of Grand Rabbi Elazar Adler and Rebbetzin Bilhah-BatSheva. Raised in Meah Shearim until the age of 9, Miriam and her mother left Palestine in July 1944 to join Rabbi Adler, who had established a congregation in the West Adams area after relocating to Los Angeles in 1938.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.