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June 2, 2016

UCLA shooter had ‘kill list,’ woman on list found dead

Leave a Comment / Los Angeles /

The man accused of fatally shooting a University of California, Los Angeles, professor in a murder-suicide had written a “kill list” that included a woman who has been found dead in Minnesota, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said on Thursday.

Investigators found the list while searching the suspect's home in Minnesota, Beck told Los Angeles television station KTLA, adding that the investigation extended to Minnesota after finding a note at the crime scene. The list also contained the name of another, unidentified UCLA professor, who was unharmed, and the woman, he said.

“In the residence in Minnesota, we found multiple items, including extra ammunition and also a note with names on it indicating a kill list,” Beck told KTLA.

Police investigated the woman's home in a nearby town in Minnesota and found she had been shot to death, Beck said.

“Professor Klug's name was on that list, as was another UCLA professor who was alright,” Beck told the station.

Mainak Sarkar, 38, shot dead engineering professor William Klug, then killed himself, authorities said, in an attack that prompted a two-hour lockdown of UCLA's sprawling urban campus.

The attack appeared to be provoked by Sarkar's belief that Klug had stolen computer code from him, according to a March blog post by a person of the same name.

“Your enemy is my enemy. But your friend can do a lot more harm,” Sarkar wrote in the post. “Be careful about whom you trust.”

Reuters was not immediately able to confirm the authenticity of the post. The Los Angeles Times quoted an unnamed university source as saying the claims made in the blog were “untrue” and “absolutely psychotic.”

University officials did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday.

The anger reflected in the March blog contrasted with earlier online records indicating Sarkar had gotten along with Klug. In a copy of his 2013 dissertation posted online, Sarkar thanked Klug.

“I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. William Klug, for all his help and support. Thank you for being my mentor,” Sarkar wrote.

Klug, 39, was a married father of two children, UCLA said in a statement on Thursday.

“Our entire UCLA family is mourning the loss of Professor Klug, a respected, dedicated and caring faculty member,” Gene Block, the university's chancellor, said in a statement.

Reports of shots fired, or even sightings of possible gunman, have sparked heavy police responses and lockdowns at U.S. schools because of the nation's history of mass shootings. Last October nine people were shot and killed at Umpqua Community College in southwest Oregon. The 2007 attack at Virginia Tech where a gunman shot dead 32 people was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

University officials said classes would resume on Thursday and counselors will be available for students, faculty and staff.

'CAN'T THINK STRAIGHT'

Students took to social media to ask the university to reschedule final exams, saying they were rattled by the incident and needed more time to prepare.

Students said on social media on Wednesday that they had hidden behind doors that could not be locked while police searched the campus to make sure there were no other gunmen.

“How the hell am I going to study for finals when this just happened? I can't think straight,” Bahjat Alirani, a UCLA bioengineering student said on Twitter.

“Students need time to process today. Hope my colleagues seriously consider postponing finals this week. Let's help everyone heal,” Tyrone Howard, a UCLA associate dean and professor of education, said on Twitter.

UCLA, with more than 43,000 students, is one of the more well-regarded schools in the University of California system.

UCLA shooter had ‘kill list,’ woman on list found dead Read More »

In Southland, the Berniecrat is born

Leave a Comment / Cover Story, Election 2016, United States /

Onstage in Carson, Calif., a working-class city south of downtown Los Angeles,  Bernie Sanders was just getting warmed up when the crowd interrupted him with a chant: “Bernie or bust!”

He ignored it, but the message was clear: If Sanders isn’t part of the general election, those fans won’t be, either.

The campaign to win Sanders the Democratic nomination has outgrown the candidate himself, morphing into a liberal uprising reminiscent of the Tea Party on the right. Fusing progressive movements such as Black Lives Matter and the “Fight for 15” dollar minimum wage campaign, along with what remains of the Occupy movement, some of Sanders’ most ardent fans are dismissive of political authority, contemptuous of party leadership and ready to throw the establishment overboard.

The crowds greeting Sanders as he barnstorms California leading up to the June 7 primary have been a muscular demonstration of the voter base he’s inspired. The message to supporters and opponents alike is that whether he wins or loses, he has super-charged progressive politics.

In local elections, Democratic candidates are already attempting to capitalize on Sanders’ influence on the electorate.

In Orange County, Bao Nguyen, a Vietnamese refugee and the youngest mayor in the history of Garden Grove, sees a window of opportunity to gain votes as he jockeys with two other Democrats to replace Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Santa Ana) in Congress.

“A lot of people are fed up with establishment politics,” Nguyen said in an interview. “And they have a lack of trust generally speaking in government and the political system. And I don’t blame them.”

Nguyen, 34, pointed out that the progressive elements buoying Sanders’ campaign — those agitating for a more humane immigration policy and affordable education, for instance — predate the cantankerous senator’s rise to national prominence. 

“What’s unique about the current environment is that Sen. Bernie Sanders has put these issues onto a national platform, which legitimizes what was once considered fringe or on the margins,” Nguyen said. 

Sanders has called for a “political revolution” to carry progressives into Congress and deliver a mandate for substantive change. Nguyen hopes to be the emissary of that revolution in Orange County, whether or not Sanders proceeds to the general election.

“I will certainly fight to support Bernie Sanders to be our nominee, but if that doesn’t happen, the work will continue,” he said. “Now, you can’t turn back on what has been in the public discourse nationally.”

Just west of Nguyen’s Orange County district, Compton congressional candidate Marcus Musante is badly outmatched by two Democratic rivals in funds and name recognition. Nonetheless, he sees an opening. He hopes having Sanders on the ticket will turn out enough progressives to carry him through the primary. 

“You have to keep what Bernie was fighting for alive, in case he loses, and that’s through me,” he said in an interview with the Jewish Journal, referring to himself as the senator’s understudy: “I’m the junior rabbi.”

“He really does look like a rabbi,” Musante added. “But it’s become a lot bigger than Bernie Sanders.”

Musante first heard Sanders speak while listening to his car radio about nine months ago; he pulled over and took out his phone to record what he was hearing.

“I knew there was more truth coming out of his mouth than anyone else,” Musante said.

A Jew with an Italian father, Musante sees the contest in the 44th California congressional district, which includes Carson, as a microcosm of the national Democratic contest, with him standing in for Sanders, and his top rival, State Sen. Isadore Hall III, standing in for Hillary Clinton. 

“The whole spirit of this ‘Feel the Bern’ is just that — it’s a spirit against establishment politics,” Musante said. “And Isadore Hall represents everything that’s wrong with the politics.”

For Musante, the Bernie moment is as much about the ethos of a scrappy underdog as it is about liberal politics. 

“That’s a Berniecrat,” he said during a recent interview at Langer’s Delicatessen in MacArthur Park, located just beyond his district’s northern border. “You just fight, man. You just fight.”

At the end of the lunch, he asked for a to-go box for the remains of his oversized salad: “I’m a boy on a budget,” he explained.

If Musante lacks the campaign infrastructure that traditionally wins races, then he’s reflective of many of Sanders’ voters and activists who are getting involved for the first time in electoral politics.

Carlos Marroquin, a letter carrier in East L.A., began participating in progressive politics after he lost his house in 2006 because of the budding financial crisis.

“I lost everything, everything that I worked for,” he said. “It destroyed my family. So it became a very personal story for me to fight against the banks.”

While he’s been engaged as a community organizer dealing with foreclosure issues, he’s never actively supported a candidate for political office. Now, he’s a leader of the Bernie Sanders Brigade, an L.A.-based grass-roots group whose motto is, “Get Bernie elected and stay connected.”

“Whether Bernie Sanders makes it or not, we have to stay connected so we can push forward as a group,” he said.

The Bernie effect can sometimes be fractious. At UCLA, the Sanders campaign spawned a Bruins for Bernie group distinct from the Bruin Democrats, who endorsed the senator, but only by a thin margin.

During a recent meeting of the Bernie group on the Westwood campus, around a dozen students spitballed about what to do with the club next year, after getting Sanders elected becomes a moot point. 

One person suggested they reincarnate as the “Progressive Club.” Another student proposed they become the “UCLA Social Democrats.”

“This has never been about a candidate,” said Gabby Martinez, the group’s nominal leader. “This has been a movement to fundamentally change the political system.”

The question is: What happens to this movement if its leader goes away?

Kaitlin Cordoba, who showed up to the Sanders rally in Carson carrying a cardboard cutout of the candidate, didn’t care to discuss that question. 

“It’s not something we’re going to talk about until we need to,” she said.

In Southland, the Berniecrat is born Read More »

If pro-Israel voters had doubts about Hillary, few remain

Leave a Comment / Cover Story, Election 2016, United States /

Hillary Clinton can hardly be called a consensus candidate.

During her decades-long stint in national politics, there has hardly been a more divisive surname than “Clinton” — unless it’s Bush. But among pro-Israel voters, she’s quickly emerged as the candidate of convergence.

Last month, with two weeks left until California’s primary, Bernie Sanders, the first person of Jewish heritage to be a factor in the state’s presidential nominating contest, seems to have more or less broken with the tribe.

On May 23, Sanders appointed James Zogby, a pro-Palestinian activist, to a crucial Democratic National Committee (DNC) organ. 

The next day, Howard Welinsky, a Warner Bros. executive and Los Angeles Democratic leader, logged onto Facebook to register his outrage.

Throwing proper capitalization to the wind, he wrote: “I will never Forgive Bernie Sanders for appointing a supporter of Boycott Divestment and Sanctions [BDS] of Israel to the DNC drafting Platform Committee! BDS is a form of anti-semitism. So what has he done?”

Welinsky, a Clinton supporter, has served three times on the platform committee, the larger body that amends and votes on a party platform written by the inner circle Zogby joined. Welinsky said he’s offered his experience to the Clinton camp as a participant in the July convention in Philadelphia.

“I’ll do anything that the campaign asks of me, really,” he said.

Describing himself as a “two-trick pony” who votes based on the issues of higher education and Israel, Welinsky called his support for Clinton a “no-brainer,” even though he supported Barack Obama in 2008.

As for Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, Welinsky doesn’t see him as much of an option. 

“I’m not sure Trump knows what his position is on Israel, or it changes with whatever comes into his head at the moment,” he said.

The Zogby appointment wasn’t the first time Sanders has had a brush with the world of pro-Palestinian activism. 

Many of his supporters align with political identity groups such as Black Lives Matter, for which the Palestinian cause resonates. A case in point is another Sanders selection for the drafting committee, Cornel West, a patron philosopher of critical race theory who has spoken out for solidarity between the African-American struggle and Palestinian activism.

“[Sanders] is an anti-Israel person, so he acts accordingly,” said Haim Saban, an Israeli-American investor and philanthropist whose donations of more than $10 million to Clinton’s cause put him among her top donors.  

Saban added, “He appoints people who are pro-BDS, that don’t look at the situation in a balanced way, who are very clearly anti-Israel. It’s consistent with who he has been for 25 years. There’s no surprise there.”

By contrast, Saban described Clinton as a staunchly pro-Israel candidate: “If Hillary Clinton ran for prime minister of Israel, she would win,” he said.

Clinton has repeatedly affirmed her support for Israel. Most recently, she urged the United Methodist Church, of which she’s a member, to reject a divestment motion aimed at Israel.

So with Sanders playing the part of her foil, Clinton’s already warm relationship with the Jewish community seems, well – bashert, foretold.

“It remains to be seen what ultimately will happen at the convention,” said Sam Yebri, a business litigator and president of the Jewish- Iranian organization 30 Years After. 

But, citing Clinton’s record on Israel, he added, “I have confidence that given the many leading pro-Israel supporters that are backing Hillary, she’ll stand firmly behind the U.S.-Israel relationship.”

Even among millennials he knows, Yebri said, Sanders has burned up a lot of goodwill that previously existed.

“Virtually all of my friends for whom Sanders’ messages resonated were turned off by his baseless criticisms of Israel and his desire to turn the Democratic Party back on 60 years of supporting Israel,” Yebri said.

In general, younger Jews relate differently to Israel than their parents, said Rabbi Yonah Bookstein, who has an aggressive social media presence and is popular among many millennials.

Their self-conception as pro-Israel voters is based on 21st-century geopolitics: While Jewish baby boomers experienced an Israel defending itself from destruction, their children see a strong nation with an elite fighting force, he explained.

“There’s a huge love of Israel among so many millennials and college students,” Bookstein said. “But it’s definitely not the same kind of instinctual care and love that previous generations might have had.”

Combined with their more questioning relationship to Israel, a creeping sense of disenfranchisement has delivered many young Jews to Sanders, he said. 

“Are those millennial Jews on campus going to throw their support behind Hillary if she becomes the nominee, or are the disenfranchised going to go into hibernation and apathy mode?” he said. “I don’t know.”

The youth vote is by no means a monolith.

“A lot of my young female friends are incredibly enthusiastic about Hillary,” said Laura Donney, 25, who identified herself as a Clinton supporter and lifelong feminist.

She said that members of her generation who instinctually dismiss Clinton are succumbing to a false media narrative that paints the candidate’s internal contradictions — a mainstay of the human condition — as dishonesty.

“She’s this or that. … She’s either rich or wants to help, strong or weak,” Donney explained. “Hillary is and-both. She’s wealthy and she wants to help — and in what world is that impossible?”

Whatever the view from atop millennial shoulders, many Jewish Angelenos are increasingly seeing Clinton as the only viable option.

“For me, in this election right now, it’s been a very easy choice,” said Jesse Gabriel, a business litigation and public policy attorney. “I don’t see Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders as credible presidents.”

In addition to Clinton’s stance on Israel, Gabriel said he believes her domestic policy appeals to Jews by virtue of prioritizing children and other vulnerable groups in a way that is “consistent with the teachings of our tradition.”

An upper-cusp millennial, Gabriel, 34, sits on a generational divide: His younger friends and acquaintances skew Sanders, and those older than him skew Clinton, he said.

But in mainstream Jewish community circles, he sees support for Clinton approaching unanimity. 

As an example, the host committee list for a “Jewish Americans for Hillary” event scheduled for May 31 in Beverly Hills features dozens of prominant rabbis, community leaders, politicians and philanthropists.

“Virtually everybody I meet and speak with is supporting Hillary on the Democratic side,” Gabriel said. “And I think, folks who are involved in a serious way in the Jewish community — I can’t think of many people I know who are supporting Senator Sanders. Maybe one.” 

If pro-Israel voters had doubts about Hillary, few remain Read More »

Moving and shaking: LAJFF, Wexler’s Deli and SoulCycle

Leave a Comment / Los Angeles, Movers & Shakers, Moving & Shaking /

An audience of 900 at the opening-night gala of the 11th annual Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival (LAJFF) was treated to the North American premiere of the Israeli TV show “False Flag” (Kfulim), followed by a discussion with Amit Cohen, the co-creator of the series, and actors in the show, Angel Bonanni and Ania Bukstein (“Game of Thrones”). 

The May 18 event at the Steve Tisch Cinema Center at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills marked the first time a television show and not a movie was the opening screening of the festival, according to LAJFF Executive Director Hilary Helstein.

“After I watched ‘False Flag,’ I just had to share it with the L.A. community,” she said. “It was most exciting and so different.”

The show involves five seemingly ordinary Israeli citizens who get caught up in international espionage drama. An English-language adaptation is in the works.

Among those at the gala were Greg and Bob Laemmle and Jay Reisbaum, all of Laemmle Theatres. The mom-and-pop chain was honored for its commitment to showcasing and supporting independent films since 1938. It also has supported the film festival since its inception 11 years ago. (TRIBE Media Corp., parent company of the Jewish Journal, is the nonprofit sponsor of the LAJFF.)

Festival highlights included the 50th anniversary screening of the film “Shnei Kuni Lemel” and Mike Burstyn — who, at age 19, made his debut in the film based on a Yiddish play — receiving the LAJFF Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by Monty Hall. Burstyn also took part in Q-and-A sessions after both screenings of the film.  

Closing night on May 25 featured the screening of “None Shall Escape,” a 72-year-old black-and-white film on the war crimes against Jews that has been newly restored. It was the only film made during the war years to address atrocities against the Jews in the Holocaust. Although she could not be there in person, the film’s starring actress, 98-year-old Marsha Hunt, was awarded the Marvin Paige Hollywood Legacy Award. –

— Lakshna Mehta, Contributing Writer

Deli-loving Angelenos lined up May 27 for the opening of the new Wexler’s Deli location in downtown Santa Monica, eager for the pastrami sandwiches, bagels and lox that have captured the hearts — and bellies — of locals since the original deli was opened by chef and founder Micah Wexler, a 2000 graduate of Milken Community Schools, and his business partner, Michael Kassar, at Grand Central Market in downtown Los Angeles in 2014.

From left: Micah Wexler, chef and owner of Wexler's Deli, and his business partner, Michael Kassar, take a break from the bustle of the deli's grand opening in Santa Monica to pose for the Journal. Photo by Ryan Torok

But the new, 2,000-square-foot location, housing an indoor and outdoor eating area, dwarfs the 300-square-foot stall and counter at Grand Central Market. Its menu is expanded, too, featuring a double-smoked pastrami lox and “Dana’s Matzo Ball Soup,” named for Wexler’s mother, Dana, and based on her recipe. 

From left: Dana Wexler, mother of Micah Wexler, and her daughter, Keren Geier, attend the opening of Wexler's Deli in Santa Monica. Photo by Ryan Torok

“We’re just so proud of what they have accomplished here,” she said.

The opening was a family affair, with Wexler’s fiancée, Shawna Kornberg, at the restaurant. “I have to eat the babka,” Kornberg said, seated at a table with several of Wexler’s family members, including his nephew, Isaac. “And the lox is my favorite thing in the world.”

Kassar said the deli’s ambitions remain humble, despite the hype preceding the opening, which drew a line out the door for the lunchtime rush. “We just want to give people really good Jewish deli soul food,” he said, helping in the kitchen.

Jon Budish, a 30-something Merrill Lynch employee originally from New York, said the deli reminded him of home.

“It’s the closest thing to New York City since I’ve been out here in L.A.,” he said, eating at the counter and joined by his friend, television producer Jon Zimelis (“@midnight”), who ordered an “Uncle Leo” –— a bagel with lox, egg and onions. Zimelis, a 35-year-old Venice resident, described the food simply: “Delicious.”

Wexler’s Deli in Santa Monica is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week.

Justin Bieber, Meghan Trainor and other pop musicians provided the soundtrack to a May 12 SoulCycle Beverly Hills spinning class-cum-benefit attended by nearly 50 supporters of American Friends of Beit Issie Shapiro (AFOBIS), which raises funds to support children with special needs.

“We were all reminded that as able-bodied [people] we’re given a lot of things. It can be very difficult to work out, but we’re very lucky we have the ability to sweat and work hard. So I was thrilled,” AFOBIS regional board member Shani Fisher, an attorney who organized the event with her husband, Seth, a television writer and actor, said in an interview after the nearly hourlong workout. 

“People did awesome,” she said. “It was such a great, sweaty, hard, fun, intense workout.”

Moving and Shaking highlights event, honors and simchas. Got a tip? Email ryant@jewishjournal.com. 

Moving and shaking: LAJFF, Wexler’s Deli and SoulCycle Read More »

K-8 charter school studies Holocaust through an artistic lens

Leave a Comment / Los Angeles /

Three months ago, eighth-graders at Canoga Park’s Multicultural Learning Center (MLC), a dual-language charter school with a mostly Latino student body, had little more than a basic understanding of the horrors of the Holocaust. 

Or, as teacher Maria Jose Estivarez put it: “They didn’t know anything. We studied World War II and I showed them the movie ‘Life is Beautiful.’ ” 

On May 24, students had a chance to show their families and invited community members just how much things have changed since then, thanks to a partnership with The David Labkovski Project (DLP). The multidisciplinary education program facilitates project-based learning, combining history, art, writing and critical-thinking skills in the service of Holocaust education.

David Labkovski was a Lithuanian-born Jewish artist who survived the Holocaust after being sent to a Siberian labor camp under Stalin’s regime. The project engages pupils with his paintings and sketches of life before, during and after the Holocaust, in an effort to prepare students to curate their own exhibition of his work.  

On the night of MLC’s exhibition, Labkovski’s work was accompanied by student-created art; poetry adorned a chain-link fence just outside the classroom. Text panels, in Spanish and English, offered historical context, while students like Carl MacEwan, 13, delivered their own impressions of original Labkovski works. 

“This shows all the destruction — trees cut down, buildings destroyed, everything that the Germans were able to do once the Jews were away,” Carl said, referencing a painting of a mutilated version of Vilna, Labkovski’s birthplace that was ravaged by war. “But there’s a Jewish star still easy to see on this building here, and it shows there’s always hope.” 

The David Labkovski Project began to take shape in 2013, one year after the artist’s family came into possession of much of his collection. (Labkovski died in 1989 in Israel but his work wasn’t distributed to family in Israel, South Africa and the United States until after a lengthy legal battle that reached Israel’s Supreme Court.) 

Labkovski’s great-niece, Leora Raikin, a South African native living in Los Angeles and an artist who lectures on the history of South African Jews, said, “This is important, historic artwork. … You can’t just let it sit.” 

And so Raikin approached the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust and deToledo High School (formerly New Community Jewish High School) about a joint exhibition in which high school students were heavily involved in curating a Labkovski display at the museum in April 2015. Raikin had the original artworks flown in from South Africa and Israel. 

For the three-month interaction at MLC, the project’s second initiative, Raikin canvassed digitized versions of artwork so students could interact freely with the art without fear of damaging originals.

Raikin, who serves as DLP’s executive director, hopes it offers a model that will catch on. 

“The idea is it will go national,” Raikin said, surrounded by her great uncle’s artwork filling the classroom walls. “It’s such a creative, unique way to educate that requires the students to be the teachers.” 

Eight project board members spent a combined total of 16 weekly one-hour sessions in the classroom with Estivarez’s students familiarizing them with Labkovski’s story and his life’s work. A portion of study was devoted to genealogy, in which students traced back their own family roots. Students created their own artwork, wrote poetry in English and Spanish and were presented with personal Holocaust narratives from visiting survivors. They also heard secondhand accounts from their DLP educators, several of whom are the children of survivors.

Raikin told the Journal that she and the project’s director of education, Stephanie Wolfson, wanted the pilot program to be in a diverse environment. 

“We wanted a real mix of the population, a complete representation,” Raikin said.  “From our perspective, these students are going to be the future leaders of California, and unless you understand the background of the Jewish people and the context of that background, you can’t expect people to understand anti-Semitism. The lessons apply to tolerance today and accepting people for who they are.”

MLC, founded in 2001 by Jewish mother-daughter duo Gayle Nadler and Toby Bornstein, is the first public school in the nation to partner with DLP. 

Nadler said the program was inspirational for the students. 

“I’m blown away. Eighth grade isn’t easy to teach. They can get bored easily. This moved them. The students were just so engaged,” she said. 

At the recent exhibition, Chelsea Taura and Malena Mourino, both 13, stood by the door greeting guests and discussing early Labkovski works. They said they were skeptical at the program’s outset, but quickly changed their minds. 

“To be honest, we thought it was just going to be another long part of the school year,” Chelsea said. 

“We didn’t anticipate how important it all was,” Malena added. “I’m in disbelief that we get to do a program like this in eighth grade at a public school.” 

Consul General of Lithuania in Los Angeles Darius Gaidys was among the evening’s special guests, as were a mix of local school representatives eyeing the potential for future partnerships. They included Viewpoint School in Calabasas, Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School in Northridge, Los Angeles Unified School District’s Daniel Pearl Magnet High School and Chapman University.

Deborah Smith, principal of the Daniel Pearl school, said she resembled a young learner that evening — knowing little coming in and leaving eager to know more. 

“I came here tonight with an open mind, open to receive whatever was being offered,” Smith said. “All I want to hear now is how to make this a part of our world history curriculum.” 

K-8 charter school studies Holocaust through an artistic lens Read More »

Jewish Dems face off in costly state senate contest

Leave a Comment / Los Angeles /

UPDATE: Republican Steve Fazio took 37.5 percent of the votes in the race to become state senator in California’s 27th district. Henry Stern defeated Janice Kamenir-Reznik for the second spot on the November ballot. Though Kamenir-Reznik, a prominent figure in the local Jewish community, led Stern for most of the evening of June 7, by the time all the votes were counted she had taken 19.7 percent of the vote to Stern’s 26.5 percent. All three candidates are Jewish.

“While of course the results in my race were very disappointing, that does not take away from my sense of accomplishment and gratitude,” Kamenir-Reznik wrote in an email to supporters the morning after the election. “I am very proud of the race we ran.”

Until January, Henry Stern, 34, a top staffer for termed-out state Sen. Fran Pavley, appeared to be a lock to replace her: He had an impressive war chest and endorsements from a laundry list of elected leaders. 

Then, Janice Kamenir-Reznik, 64, entered the race with a history in Jewish and civic life longer than her opponent’s entire life. 

If there was ever a question of why California’s primary system is called a “jungle primary,” the lopsided Democratic side of the contest in the 27th state Senate district could provide an answer.

Even though the district leans Democratic, the five Democrats splitting their ticket will likely assure the lone Republican, Steve Fazio, a spot in the November election under the primary rules passed by voter initiative in 2010. And the tone has soured among the competition. 

Amid an unusual wash of campaign money for a state seat, much of the oxygen in the race has gone to barbs traded between Kamenir-Reznik and Stern, whose fundraising and endorsements indicate they are likely the strongest candidates.

Each has accused the other of accepting money from fossil fuel interests in a district where the environment looms large for many voters, sprawling as it does from the Ventura Freeway and the backbone of the Santa Monica Mountains down to the Malibu coastline. 

Kamenir-Reznik’s entry into the race didn’t augur well for a friendly contest with Stern. 

Sheila Kuehl and Zev Yaroslavsky, respectively current and former Los Angeles County supervisors for parts of the same district, pulled their support from Stern to endorse Kamenir-Reznik when she put her name on the ballot. Both claim Kamenir-Reznik as a longtime friend.

“She had been my preferred candidate all along,” Kuehl told the Jewish Journal. “And so I apologetically called Henry and said, ‘I’m sorry but Janice was always my candidate, and I have known her for 35 years, so good luck.’ ”

Kamenir-Reznik said her decision to run for the seat in 2016 came after an unfruitful attempt two years ago to recruit her to run.

She’s perhaps best known to L.A.’s Jewry as a co-founder of Jewish World Watch, an organization fighting genocide and rape in Africa that grew out of Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, and now focuses on Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as lobbying in Washington, D.C. 

She also is a former president of the California Women’s Law Center and presided over Los Angeles County’s Judicial Procedures Commission, where she helped launch a network of self-help legal clinics. Together with her husband, she ran Reznik and Reznik, a large law firm dealing with diverse land-use issues. 

Both she and Stern have worked in environmental law.

Stern’s sell is that even though he has less experience in years, his background is more relevant to the office he’s running for.

“She’s done amazing work in the Jewish community, and I would never, ever try to take that away from her,” Stern said.

But, he added, “The policymaking process is different than running a nonprofit or being a land-use environmental attorney.”

Stern promises a different kind of Jewish candidate. He styled himself as a “millennial Jewish man” in an interview with the Jewish Journal, saying because he is conversant in the ways of Sacramento politics, he can deftly represent his generation and their concerns in the capital.

As Pavley’s senior policy adviser, he wrote many of her bills, including the bulk of her environmental legislation, since he began working for her in 2011.

Both candidates’ appeal aims at the same political bases, and their support splits California’s Jewish community leaders. 

Though Stern earned the endorsement of the California Jewish Legislative Caucus, Kamenir-Reznik boasts support from Sen. Dianne Feinstein — the highest Jewish officeholder in California politics — and many recognizable names in the local Jewish community, such as actress Mayim Bialik (“The Big Bang Theory”) and Abby Leibman, president and CEO of the nonprofit MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger. Stern, who along with his father, actor Daniel Stern (“Home Alone”), helped pass a statewide film tax credit in 2014, also has some backing from Hollywood circles, including Billy Crystal and “Homeland” creator Howard Gordon.

In large part, the race is animated not by the differences between the two candidates, but by their similarities, said Herbert Gooch, a political science professor at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.

“Both are very liberal; both happen to be Jewish and are very much tied into human rights,” Gooch said. “In fact, they’re very similar, which unfortunately has meant kind of a nasty tone that has been developing.”

Much of the tit-for-tat between Kamenir-Reznik and Stern focuses on money pouring in from outside the district.

Together, the candidates in the race have raised more than $2.5 million. Stern’s campaign leads the pack in fundraising at $890,396. As of May 26, Kamenir-Reznik, with less time in the race, comes in second at $685,007, according to filings with the California secretary of state.

But in addition to funds raised by the candidates themselves, money has flowed into the race from political action committees (PACs), which can spend for or against a candidate without the candidate’s cooperation. 

Together, PACs representing the California Dental Association (CDA) and the California Apartment Association have spent nearly $300,000 to support Kamenir-Reznik. 

Another $180,000 from the dentists’ PAC and a second real estate group has gone to opposing Stern without explicitly supporting any of his opponents.

Candidates are legally barred from communicating with such interests-spending on their behalf. But that hasn’t stopped Stern from suggesting Kamenir-Reznik is linked to oil interests via independent expenditure PACs supporting her.

A Stern campaign mailer features a picture of Pavley under the headline “A message from State Senator Fran Pavley.”

“Big Oil smeared me in 2012,” it reads. “Now they’re coming after Henry Stern, the most qualified candidate for State Senate.”

As evidence that the oil company is sneakily spending for his opponent, Stern’s campaign points to the relationship between the dentists’ PAC and a Chevron-supported group called Keep Californians Working .When it comes to dark money groups, Pavley said in an interview that what’s alarming is not “who or how much or which one.” 

She told the Jewish Journal, “Money should come from people who know you and work with you in the district in which you live.”

Stern’s campaign charges in a second mailer that $17,300 was channeled to the dentists’ group by the Chevron-funded PAC, which also receives support from the insurance and real estate industries.

“I’m just saying you can’t wash clean that 17 grand from that PAC,” Stern said. “They play a shell game, the oil companies, and I don’t even think it’s Janice’s fault necessarily. My beef isn’t with her — it’s with the oil guys.”

However, a spokesperson for the dentists’ association said the $17,300 from Keep Californians Working was “a non-monetary, in-kind contribution” in the form of polling data, and that it does not accept money from that PAC. (The money goes the other way, though: The dentists’ PAC reported a $500,000 donation to Keep Californians Working on March 17.)

Nonetheless, the Stern campaign has doubled down on the charge that his opponent benefits from oil money. 

In a Stern campaign video posted to Facebook on May 27, “Seinfeld” creator Larry David tepidly referred to the candidate as a “good guy,” saying he only endorsed Stern because his ex-wife “prevailed upon” him to do so. In the next frame, David’s ex-wife, Laurie David, calls the Jewish TV star to say, “Big oil is spending a fortune trying to defeat [Stern].”

Kamenir-Reznik called the Chevron money charge “a patent lie.” In an interview, she pointed out she openly opposes offshore drilling and favors an outright prohibition on fracking for natural gas, giving the energy giant scant reason to support her.

“He’s created this complete fabrication about the oil industry coming after him,” she said in an interview. “To me that’s the most obnoxious part of this campaign. He’s created a boogieman that doesn’t exist.”

In response to the accusation, Kuehl recorded a robocall rejecting it.

“There would be no reason for [Chevron] to invest in [Kamenir-Reznik] – and of course they didn’t,” Kuehl said.

She said the robocall makes a counterclaim, connecting Stern with money linked to SoCal Gas, the utility company responsible for the massive Porter Ranch gas leak that displaced thousands of residents in the 27th district.

Last June, Sempra Energy, the parent company of SoCal Gas, which administers the Porter Ranch gas storage site, donated $1,500 to Stern, and an employee of the utility gave $250. Seven months later, Stern’s campaign gave away $1,750 to the American Lung Association to offset those sums.

Stern has also received $9,000 from employees of a Washington, D.C.-based law firm where he worked for two years in 2009 on climate change, among other issues. The firm represents Sempra, a fact Kamenir-Reznik has brought up.

Of the Sempra claim, Stern said: “It’s silly season in politics, so I’m not surprised that things like this come out. In terms of my work at the law firm, I’m incredibly proud of that.”

The 27th district contest’s other candidates seem content to sit back while Stern and Kamenir-Reznik go after  each other.

Shawn Bayliss, a top staffer for L.A. City Councilman Paul Koretz, and David Pollock, a Moorpark city councilman, are also running for the seat, but they lag behind Stern and Kamenir-Reznik in fundraising. Bayliss has raised almost $530,000 while Pollock pulled in just over $180,000. Each stands to gain if the two top contenders drain votes from each other.

A fifth Democrat, newspaper publisher George Christopher Thomas, hasn’t reported any fundraising and is considered a long shot.

Bayliss called the trading of barbs between Kamenir-Reznik and Stern “the classic pot-and-kettle scenario.” But as far as he’s concerned, “They can beat each other up all day — go ahead.”

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How to implement a Kotel emergency plan

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The leaders of the Jewish Federation system, the leaders of the Conservative movement, and the leaders of Reform Judaism spent some time with the Prime Minister of Israel yesterday in a so-called “emergency meeting” concerning the Western Wall compromise. The compromise, as I explained exactly two months ago, is not yet dead, but also not quite alive. The government made a decision, but then the ultra-Orthodox parties reversed their position and made it politically impossible for the Prime Minister to implement the plan.

Netanyahu was conciliatory in the meeting yesterday. ‘I am still committed to implementing this plan,’ he told the group of Jewish leaders. One of them later said in a bitter tone: he is committed to this as he is committed to the two state solution. That is to say: commitment and implementation do not always go hand in hand.

The Prime Minister also used a comparison in order to explain his stance. He did not compare the Kotel compromise to the two state solution, but rather to the approval of the gas deal. The gas deal is something that the PM wanted, but which took very long for him to complete – with some compromises. The message from him was as follows: in parliamentary politics, it sometimes takes time for a plan to be implemented. It takes patience, it takes compromise. If the PM is as committed to the Kotel deal as he was committed to the gas deal, that is indeed good news. But doubt would not be out of order in this case. Netanyahu has a lot on his plate, and the Kotel will become urgent only if and when he feels real pressure to turn back to dealing with it. What is an “emergency” for rabbis Schonfeld, Jacobs, Wernick, Kariv, for the head of the Jewish Federations Jerry Silverman and his Israeli representative Becky Caspi, for Conservative leader Yizhar Hess, and for Women of the Wall leader Anat Hoffman – is not an “emergency” for Netanyahu. He, and we, have been living with a certain Kotel for many years and can live with the same Kotel for many years to come.

And, of course, the Haredi parties see no emergency. They were reluctantly cooperative when the deal seemed like something that cannot be avoided. Then they realized that they have the political power to block it – and they did. If nothing forces them into changing their position yet again, they will stay as adamant in opposition to the deal as they are now. Why compromise?

The meeting yesterday ended cordially, but the leaders left the room frustrated. They are giving the Prime Minister “a few weeks” to come back with new ideas for a solution – there was an initial suggestion to make it a more exact 21 day deadline – or else.

Or else what? That is what the leaders of the movements need to think about – and they are. After leaving the meeting, several of them told me that they are not optimistic about the next “few weeks.” After all, yesterday’s meeting was called because of another deadline that just past without progress: in mid-March Netanyahu appointed the then head of his bureau David Sharan (the new Secretary of the Cabinet) to look into the deal and come up with an implementation plan, but nothing much has happened since. A few more weeks are not likely to change this reality. Netanyahu needs the Haredi parties more than he needs the compromise. If that does not change – the deal will never become a reality.

It has to change, and the people that can change it are the people who came to the meeting yesterday. Currently, they are pondering several options. They can wage a campaign among their constituents, criticize the Israeli government, bombard it with emails, refuse to cooperate on things that are important to Israel. They can further complicate Israel’s relations with US Jewry.

Is that kind of threat tangible enough to force Netanyahu’s hand and make the Haredi parties realize that the time for them to compromise has come? Not necessarily. America is far away, and Israeli politics is always present. What happens in American synagogues and the emails in English that they will send to the PM’s office won't make a serious impression on the MKs of Shas and United Torah Judaism. Impressing them, and making the battle for the Kotel more concrete for Israelis, might require a more severe measure – one that was raised in conversations among the leaders: to begin a civil resistance-style fight on the ground. That is, to send groups of progressive Jews to the Kotel to pray in mixed groups. Reform and Conservative prayers at the northern plaza of the Kotel.

Just imagine this scenario: a group of American, Canadian, and Israeli Jews coming to the Kotel – say 200 strong – and beginning to daven in such a way. The other Jews at the scene react with fury. The police get involved to prevent violence. Cameras click. Videos are posted. A PR disaster for Israel. Jewish worshipers at the Kotel humiliated by other Jews, dragged by the police of the Jewish State, sweating and crying under the August sun – when all they want to do is pray as Jews do all around the world. And the next day, another group, and the next one, another one. If the movements can convince Jews who come to Israel during the summer to sacrifice one day and risk some inconvenience to do that, the “emergency” will become a two-way emergency.

It could be quite a moment for all parties involved. For progressive Jews, who would walk the walk in an attempt to change Israel. For Israeli Jews, who would see how important this is to their fellow Jews. For the government of Israel, which would need to decide whether it truly wants Israel to be a place where all Jews can practice Judaism. For Haredis, who would understand that there are other Jews to be considered. It could be an educational drama that has the potential of changing the conversation about Jewish partnership for both US Jews and Israeli Jews.

If you ask the Prime Minister, he’d probably tell you that this is not a good idea. Too extreme, to aggressive, too risky. But in fact, if Netanyahu is truly committed to the Kotel plan as he said he is, it is a good idea. It is an idea that could help him sell the compromise to his Haredi coalition partners. It is an idea that could help him transcend the politics-as-usual that put the deal on hold. It is an idea that could help him be the leader at the center – holding the Jewish people together by strong-arming a compromise on all parties. Done properly, it is an idea that could make Israel a better place. Done properly, it is an idea that could make progressive Judaism’s involvement with Israel more fruitful.

And it is not that difficult to put such a plan together – that is, if the issue is truly important not just to the leaders that were at the meeting yesterday, but also to the many thousands of Jews for whom they presumably speak.

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