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Jewish Journal

Connect. Inform. Inspire.

January 12, 2017

Are you willing to grow?

Are you willing to GROW? Finding Inspiration

Leave a Comment / Travel /

Ani Pema Chödrön was invited to give the commencement address to the 2014 graduating class of Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. Her speech was inspired by this quote from Samuel Beckett: “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

Are you willing to Grow? Fail Again

As Chödrön writes: “No one ever knows what is going to happen next. Anything is possible.” I have wanted to know what will happen next to me, to my site, in the world.

As I have shared many times, I wrote once a week when I began We Said Go Travel in 2010. Many people told me again and again it would never work.

Are you willing to Grow? Fail Again 1

As of Jan 3, 2017, We Said Go Travel is listed by USA Alexa at 98,947 which means it is in the top 100,000 websites of the United States of America. The world wide web went from 1 website in 1991 to 1 billion in 2014 with 80,818,367 in the USA. So being in the top 100k means we are the top .12%!

Chödrön recommends that “there is one skill that is not stressed very much, but is really needed, it is knowing how to fail well. The fine art of failing…There is a lot of emphasis on succeeding. And whether we buy the hype or not, we all want to succeed, especially if you consider success as ‘it works out the way I want it to.’ You know it feels good in the gut and in the heart because it worked out. So failing by that definition is that it didn’t work out the way you wanted it to. And [failing] is what we don’t usually get a lot of preparation for.”

Are you willing to Grow? Fail Again 2

Travelers know that things do not always work out. The train is late, the plane is canceled, the hostel you booked does not exist. But the things that do not turn out as you planned can often be the most remarkable part of an adventure.

We just have to remember that what we think might be failure or a “mistake is the portal to creativity, to learning something new, to having a fresh look on things…It’s a little hard to tell what’s a failure and what’s just something that is shifting your life in a whole new direction.”

Are you willing to Grow? Fail Again 4

As Chödrön states: “It was the worst time of my life, and it resulted in a really good life that has a lot of happiness and well-being, a profound well-being pervading my life.” This has happened to me and I did not believe it was possible at the time but life is really turning out fantastic.

Chödrön asks us: “Can you allow yourself to feel what you feel when things don’t go the way you want them to? When things don’t go the way you hoped and wished for and longed for them to go?…Maybe what is happening here is not that I am a failure—I am just hurting. I am just hurting.”

Are you willing to Grow? Fail Again 4

Chödrön shares the advice Trungpa Rinpoche gave her about failure and starting again:

“Well, it’s a lot like walking into the ocean, and a big wave comes and knocks you over. And you find yourself lying on the bottom with sand in your nose and in your mouth. And you are lying there, and you have a choice. You can either lie there, or you can stand up and start to keep walking out to sea. So the waves keep coming,” he said. “And you keep cultivating your courage and bravery and sense of humor to relate to this situation of the waves, and you keep getting up and going forward.” Trungpa then said, “After a while, it will begin to seem to you that the waves are getting smaller and smaller. And they won’t knock you over anymore.”

Are you willing to Grow? Fail Again 5

Are you ready to train yourself to say:  “I haven’t done anything wrong; I’m not a bad person. I’m not a failure; I’m not a mess-up; I haven’t blown it.”

Sometimes things do not go your way. Chödrön says: “In your life you fail. It’s just part of life that things will happen that you don’t want to happen. It is part of everyone’s life experience.” The question is what do you do next? Do you lay in the sand or do you get up and keep going?

Are you willing to Grow? Fail Again 6

I love her definition of bravery or courage which is “the willingness to stay open to what you’re feeling in the moment, the willingness to feel what you’re feeling…The warrior is one who cultivates courage and is willing to feel what he or she feels. To be completely human and be okay with being completely human, and the willingness to feel it.”

Are you willing to feel your fear and keep going? Are you willing to take a risk and have it turn out fabulous or will you let fear convince you to never begin?

Are you willing to Grow? Fail Again 7

Chödrön  tells us that “when you follow your heart—with a career change, or writing the book, or whatever it might be—there is no guarantee that the whole thing won’t be a total failure, and there’s no guarantee that you’re not going to get criticisms. You’ll get praise and blame is the usual scenario. And you just want to hear the praise and don’t want to hear the blame…The question is, are you going to grow or are you going to just stay as you are out of fear and waste your precious human life by status quo-ing instead of being willing to break the sound barrier?…Are you willing to go forward?”

For our Winter 2017 Inspiration We Said Go Travel Writing Award the theme is: “How travel has changed your Life” Tell us about a place in your life or a place you visited where you took a risk and fought against fear and were willing to grow forward.

Inspiration:  How travel has changed your Life

Finding Inspiration: Are you willing to GROW? Anything is Possible Ani Pema Chödrön writes: “No one ever knows what is going to happen next. Anything is possible.” Sometimes things do not go your way. Chödrön says: “In your life you fail. It’s just part of life that things will happen that you don’t want to happen. It is part of everyone’s life experience.” Are you willing to feel your fear and keep going? Are you willing got take a risk and have it turn out fabulous or will you let fear persuade you to give up or never begin?   For our Winter 2017 Inspiration We Said Go Travel Writing Award the theme is: “How travel has changed your life” Tell us about a place in your life or a place you visited where you took a risk and fought against fear and were willing to grow forward. Thank you for your participation! Lisa Niver, We Said Go Travel

Date: Enter from January 9, 2017 to February 14, 2017 Theme: Inspiration:  How travel has changed your life Deadline: Enter by midnight PST on February 14, 2017 Fees: This competition has a $15usd entrance fee. (We want everyone to be able to participate, please apply for a scholarship to enter the award as necessary.) To Enter: CLICK HERE 
Prizes 1st Prize – $500 usd 2nd Prize – $150usd 3rd Prize – $50 usd Winners will be selected by our judges and We Said Go Travel Team. Cash prizes will be paid through PayPal in United States Dollars. All winning entries will be promoted on We Said Go Travel.
RULES

Publication is dependent on proper use of English language and grammar, appropriateness of theme topic, and being family friendly (G rated). If your post is written in a language other than English, please also send an English translation. Travelers of all ages and from all countries are encouraged to participate. Entries are 500-800 words with 1 photo. You may submit multiple entries. Your article must be an original and previously unpublished piece. All posts, which meet the requirements, will be published on this site, WeSaidGoTravel.com. Void where prohibited.

To Enter: CLICK HERE 

JUDGING
Amanda Castleman

A former wilderness guide, Amanda Castleman has published photos and stories in Afar, Outside, Journey, BBC Travel, Sport Diver, Bon Appétit, Delta Sky and The International Herald Tribune, among many others. Her 30-odd book contributions include Frommer’s and National Geographic titles.Now based in Seattle, Amanda has lived in Oxford, Rome, Athens, Cyprus and Turkey. She has taught travel writing since 2003. 

www.amandacastleman.com

Richard Bangs, the father of modern adventure travel, is a pioneer in travel that makes a difference, travel with a purpose. He has spent 30 years as an explorer and communicator, and along the way led first descents of 35 rivers around the globe, he is currently producing and hosting the new PBS series, Richard Bangs: Adventure Without End www.richardbangs.com

Are you willing to GROW? Finding Inspiration Read More »

Dancing on Jewish Graves in Vilna

Leave a Comment / Blogs, Domain's Guest, Israel, Worldwide /

Vilna was one of the most illustrious Jewish communities of pre-Holocaust Europe and a European Union financed project is about to pour millions of tons of concrete on its Old Jewish Cemetery.

Invading Germans and their Lithuania collaborators murdered 206,800 Jews — including almost all the Jews of Vilna shot in the Paneriai  forest— in 1941. They burned all the synagogues and destroyed most of the cemeteries. Under Soviet rule, Jewish relics were further demolished.

For 500 years the Jewish community buried their dead at the Old Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt. But after the war the gravestones were removed, and a Soviet sports arena was built in the middle of the cemetery without removing any remains.

Although the remains of Vilna’s most famous scholar, the Vilna Gaon, Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman, were removed from the Old Jewish Cemetery, the remains of hundreds, perhaps thousands of Jews are still buried there. “>wrote a comprehensive article in Times of Israel in 2015 when the plans were revealed, detailing the international opposition to the convention center idea. The government had promised in 2009 to leave the cemetery alone. “So why would the Lithuanian government continue to pursue the project with ever more political capital instead of simply moving the project elsewhere?” Theories range from nationalistic reasons to political graft and beyond. Meanwhile, plans are moving forward, as opposed to being altered.

If the Jewish community, and other who stand against this desecration keep up pressure on the EU and Vilna’s government, they will have to find a new place for the conference center.

Fighting for the cemetery is mitzvah. As Prof. Leiman points out it seems to be a case of Meis Mitzvah, an abandoned corpse whose burial is obligatory on the one who finds it.

More that 25,000 “> DefendingHistory.com.

Dancing on Jewish Graves in Vilna Read More »

Greediness and political mayhem. Reading list

Leave a Comment / Domain's Guest, Israel, Israel, News, Rosner's Domain, Worldwide /

 

 

Not wanting to burden you with too much to read – here’s a short guide to some of my other writings.

 

Today at the ” target=”_blank”>he was given? Few Israelis would say no to such gifts. Employing dozens of police officers and lawyers to figure out whether a disreputable agreement between a newspaper publisher and a prime minister is illegal? Few Israelis have illusions about either their press or their prime minister. We know that there are deals. Greediness is not a great quality, but a pinch of it does not justify the political mayhem that the recent investigations have been causing.

 

In “>Israel’s Poll tracker was updated with some of the latest polls.

 

Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party continues to show impressive poll numbers, consistently receiving more votes than PM Netanyahu's Likud – 27 to 22 in the latest poll. This still doesn't mean that Lapid, who has shaky relations with the ultra-Orthodox parties, could ever manage to form a coalition. 

Greediness and political mayhem. Reading list Read More »

Netanyahu will not attend Trump inauguration

Leave a Comment / United States /

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not attend the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, quashing earlier reports that he had been invited to attend.

Netanyahu was not invited to the inauguration in Washington, D.C., and leaders of foreign countries do not usually attend U.S. presidential inaugurations, the Israeli daily newspaper Israel Hayom reported, citing the Prime Minister’s Office.

Earlier this week, Netanyahu canceled his trip scheduled for Jan. 18 to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, leading to further speculation that he might be planning to attend the inauguration.

The Prime Minister’s Office also said in a statement that the cancellation of Netanyahu’s participation in Davos, where he was scheduled to speak and had meetings planned, had nothing to do with a police investigation into possible bribery and fraud charges.

A day after Trump’s election victory in a phone call with Netanyahu, the president-elect invited the prime minister to meet with him in the United States “at the first opportunity.”

Netanyahu will not attend Trump inauguration Read More »

Open letter: Rabbi Hier, please do not go to the inauguration

Leave a Comment / David N. Myers, Opinion /

January 12, 2017

Rabbi Marvin Hier
President, Founder, and Dean
Simon Wiesenthal Center
Los Angeles, CA

Dear Rabbi Hier,

I write to you out of respect for the work you’ve done in fighting intolerance, bigotry, and specifically anti-Semitism in Los Angeles and in this country.  While you and I have serious political differences in some areas, that does not detract for a minute from my admiration for you, Rabbi Cooper, and your team in making the Museum of Tolerance an important shield against prejudice in this country. 

I have resisted writing to you because I had believed that you have the right to choose whom you bless.  Your decision to offer a benediction at the inauguration of Donald Trump reflects, as you’ve stated, not a political preference, but your own commitment to the peaceful transition of power, a hallmark of democracy in this country.

And yet, what changed my mind was Mr. Trump’s tweet yesterday—and follow-up comment at his “press conference”—suggesting that his treatment at the hands of the press was reminiscent of Nazi Germany.  This was the last straw for me.  And, frankly, it should be for you.  As someone who has dedicated his life to fighting to preserve the memory of the Holocaust, you cannot be associated in any way with this kind of cheap and inaccurate invocation of Nazism.

There were clear warning signs about the danger Mr. Trump posed when he refused to denounce unequivocally the alt-right antisemites supporting his campaign.  And many of us, yourself included, were jolted to attention by his hinting at the prospect of a registry of all Muslims in this country.  And of course, his dismissive or inappropriate comments about women, African Americans, disabled people, and Jews shocked us to the core.

All of this was cause for grave concern.  But now the claim about Nazi Germany.  In the first instance, this remark betrays a complete ignorance of history.  Shortly after assuming the role of Chancellor on January 30, 1933, Hitler began to suspend the normal rules of democracy by granting himself the power to override parliament; boycotts were introduced in April of that year against Jewish businesses and then Jewish civil servants, professors, and university students.  As we know well, his assault on democracy, the rule of law, and the Jewish people bore ahead with ferocity from that point onward.  While there are danger signs about the health of democratic institutions in America today, we are a long way from the oppressive dictatorship of Hitler’s Germany.  To lend your support to someone with such blatant disregard for an historical chapter so central to your life’s work would be, I’m afraid, a very serious error of judgment on your part. 

What is perhaps more galling—though sadly consistent with Mr. Trump’s bullying personality—is that he is not the victim here.  To the extent that there are new authoritarian trends in American society, they do not emanate from the free press or supporters of Hillary Clinton.  They emanate from Donald Trump himself.  He is not the chief victim of fake news, damaging insinuations or disparaging rhetoric.  He and his team are the perpetrators of all of these tactics, and in a way rarely seen in American political culture.  And in a starkly personal way, these tactics add up to the opposite of what stands at the heart of your institution: tolerance. 

In light of Mr. Trump’s most recent degradation, I urge you, Rabbi Hier, to announce that you will not grace his inauguration with your presence.  I fear that if you were to go to offer a benediction, you would lend credence to Mr. Trump’s willful distortion of history and bring injury to the principles and institution on whose behalf you have labored so tirelessly.

Sincerely,

David N. Myers

Sady and Ludwig Kahn Professor of Jewish History, UCLA

Open letter: Rabbi Hier, please do not go to the inauguration Read More »

Holocaust survivor Evi Blaikie denounces Trump over Nazi reference

Leave a Comment / Jewish Insider, United States /

Evi Blaikie, 78, does not use Twitter, but when she was made aware of President-elect Donald Trump’s tweet comparing U.S. intelligence officials to Nazi Germany she was astounded.

“I was angry, I was really angry,” Blaikie, the founder of Hungarian Hidden Children of the Holocaust, told Jewish Insider outside City Hall on Thursday. “I was astounded that he would make such a statement that is so ignorant of what Nazi Germany was about.”

Blaikie came to the United States in 1960 at the age of 21 after surviving the Holocaust and being transferred from one orphanage to another. Her father and grandparents were murdered in Auschwitz, and her mother passed away shortly after the Holocaust.

On Wednesday, following the publication of unverified documents containing allegations about his activities in Russia, Trump claimed himself a victim of U.S. intelligence officials, invoking Nazi Germany. “Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to “leak” into the public,” Trump “>Trump’s reference to Nazi Germany, organized by the NYC Jewish Caucus and the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect.

“I have a message for our President-elect: Mr. Trump when it comes to your prejudice attacks, shut your tweeting face,” Steven Goldstein, Executive Director of the Anne Frank Center, said as he was joined by members of the city’s three legislative branches. “Your words injure. Has our President-elect have no shame? He’s gone after Mexicans, he’s gone after Muslims, he’s gone after women, he’s gone after people of color, he’s gone after LGBT people, who would’ve thought he would go after Holocaust survivors. But he has, and our President-elect has reached a new low in American politics when it comes to the concept of mutual respect. Words injure. Words matter. It’s beneath the dignity of the office of President of the U.S., and it is an insult to Holocaust survivors and to our entire nation and its intelligence, for Donald Trump to equate the American patriots who fight for our nation with Nazi Germany. That is outrageous.”

Goldstein challenged Jare Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law who was just appointed as a senior advisor to the President in the new Administration, to reprimand his father-in-law for denigrating Holocaust survivors with his comments.

Holocaust survivor Evi Blaikie denounces Trump over Nazi reference Read More »

Calendar: January 13-19, 2017

Leave a Comment / Los Angeles, News, What's Happening /

FRI | JAN 13

MLK WEEKEND

Wilshire Boulevard Temple

To celebrate the anniversary of the birth of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Faithful Central Bible Church, led by Bishop Kenneth Ulmer, and Wilshire Boulevard Temple, led by Senior Rabbi Steve Leder, join to honor the values of the slain civil rights leader in their respective houses of worship as part of a continuing interfaith exchange between the two congregations. At 7:30 p.m., gospel music performed by the acclaimed Sacred Praise Chorale, Hebrew liturgy and readings will resound in the historic temple sanctuary. On Jan. 15, the temple “goes to church,” joining Faithful Central Bible Church for 9:30 a.m. services. Open to the public. Free. Wilshire Boulevard Temple, 3663 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. (213) 388-2401. wbtla.org. Faithful Central Bible Church, 400 W. Florence, Inglewood. (310) 330-8000. ” target=”_blank”>templeisaiah.com.    

SHABBAT IN ALGERIA

Experience Shabbat, Algerian style, with Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa (JIMENA) and Sephardic Temple Young Professionals. David Pilcer will discuss Jewish life in Algeria. Authentic Algerian food provided by Pat’s Restaurant and Catering will be served. This event is for Jewish professionals ages 21 to 39. 7 p.m. services; 8:30 p.m. dinner. $18 early bird special until Jan. 13; $30 general admission. Tickets available at eventbrite.com. Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel, 10500 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. ” target=”_blank”>israeliamerican.org.

SUN | JAN 15

BERNARD-HENRI LÉVY

In a rare appearance, leading European thinker, author and filmmaker Bernard-Henri Lévy visits Wilshire Boulevard Temple for a conversation with guest Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple. Lévy examines the roots and consequences of rising hate and anti-Semitism and offers a new vision of what it means to be a Jew in his latest book, “The Genius of Judaism.” 7:30 p.m. Free. Registration required. 3663 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. (213) 388-2401. ” target=”_blank”>hopegroups.org.

TUES | JAN 17

GREGG HURWITZ’S “NOWHERE MAN”

New York Times best-selling author Gregg Hurwitz is back with another book in his “Orphan X” series. He will celebrate the launch of “The Nowhere Man” at this event. Follow the adventures of Evan Smoak, who was taken from a group home at age 12 and trained as part of an off-the-books intelligence asset. Smoak has disappeared and reinvented himself as “The Nowhere Man.” Hurwitz is writing the screen adaptation of the Evan Smoak novel “Orphan X” for Warner Bros. 6:30 p.m. Free. Diesel Bookstore, 225 26th St., Santa Monica. (310) 576-9960. 

MINDFUL PARENTING WORKSHOP

Raising teens can be turbulent and can make parents feel out of control, but there is an alternative. “Mindful parenting techniques” can help adults step back, take a breath and be present in the heat of the moment. Learn to respond instead of react. 7 p.m. Free. Temple Menorah, 1101 Camino Real, Redondo Beach. (323) 761-8048. RSVP at j” target=”_blank”>yala.org.

WED | JAN 18

CARLY ROBYN GREEN

With songs featured in more than 120 popular television shows and films, Carly Robyn Green is a modern adult-contemporary/smooth jazz recording artist and songwriter. She and her six-piece band will share fresh takes on American songbook standards, stylize some contemporary classics and introduce original music co-written with Broadway composer Frank Wildhorn (“Jekyll & Hyde”). 8 p.m. $20 cover. Herb Alpert’s Vibrato Grill, Jazz, and Etc., 2930 Beverly Glen Circle, Los Angeles. (310) 474-9400. ” target=”_blank”>booksoup.com. 

THURS | JAN 19

BOOK LAUNCH AND SYMPOSIUM

Conceived as a sequel to the 1992 volume “Probing the Limits of Representation,” edited by Saul Friedlander, the new “Probing the Ethics of Holocaust Culture” is a review of the debates and controversies that have shaped Holocaust studies. A half-day symposium will assess the influences of the two protagonists, Friedlander and Hayden White, in shaping the field of Holocaust studies. 1 p.m. Free. RSVP at cjs.ucla.edu/rsvp-to-event. UCLA Faculty Center, 480 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles. (310) 267-5327. Calendar: January 13-19, 2017 Read More »

Moving and Shaking: Clippers’ Jewish Heritage Night, challah-baking event and more

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

The Los Angeles Clippers’ Jewish Heritage Night on Dec. 26 at Staples Center drew local Jewish leaders, students from the Marlton School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and others. 

“The Clippers lost the game that night [to the Denver Nuggets, 106-102], but Marlton students were winners!” said a post on the school’s website. “We had the marvelous opportunity to meet wonderful people, learn about their culture and celebrate their culture with them. It was truly an honor, and with great pride we can say that we have friends in Israel.”

Before the game, Consul General of Israel in Los Angeles Sam Grundwerg lit a chanukiyah to mark the third night of Chanukah. Among those joining him on the court were Rabbi Aharon Wilk, head of school at Gindi Maimonides Academy, and his family; and Marlton School students, who were treated to sufganiyot in honor of the holiday as well as backpacks inscribed “I have a friend in Israel.”

Fifty young professionals and six Holocaust survivors come together at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust for  “L’Dough V’Dough: Light and Miracles.” Photo by Jordanna Gessler

Fifty young professionals and six Holocaust survivors came together Dec. 18 at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust for “L’Dough V’Dough: Light and Miracles,” a challah-baking event.

“This [was a] special program that celebrated intergenerational conversation, Jewish traditions and the miracle of Chanukah,” said the museum’s Director of Education Jordanna Gessler.

The program was part of the Infinite Light series of Chanukah-themed events organized by the NuRoots group that brings together people in their 20s and 30s for events across the city.

During the event, the young professionals shared life stories with the survivors, baked Chanukah cookies and crafted chanukiyot that were then donated to the Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles’ Israel Levin Senior Center.

Attendees included Galit Prince, a representative of 3G@LAMOTH, a community for grandchildren of survivors committed to Holocaust remembrance. 

Sarah Klegman, co-founder of Challah Hub, teaches Russian-Jewish children how to bake challah. Photo by Olga Grigoryants

More than 35 Russian Jews and several children gathered on the afternoon of Dec. 18 to braid and bake miniature challahs at an event sponsored by The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, The Jewish Agency for Israel and Genesis Philanthropy Group.

Jane Tavyev, who moved from Latvia when she was 3 years old, said she enjoyed hosting the party at her Beverly Hills home because it allowed her to connect with other Russian Jews. “When I’m surrounded by members of the Russian Jewish community, it reminds me of my childhood,” said the 39-year-old mother of two. “We share so many commonalities.”

The event also helped Tavyev’s two sons, Jacob and Rafael, learn how to make challah and practice Russian with their friends.

For Katya Stromblad, 40, who moved from Moscow 26 years ago, the event was an opportunity to learn how to bake challah for the first time.

“I love to bake, but I never made challah before,” said Stromblad. “It’s an amazing experience.”

Some called their challahs pierogi — Russian dough pillows filled with potatoes or jam — as guests stuffed their ropelike strands with chocolate and nuts. At the end, each guest left with a bag of freshly made dough so they could make another challah at home.

Olga Tsiroulnik, 37, who moved from Russia when she was 15 years old, said the event is a fun way to connect with other Russian Jews. “It’s important for us to preserve Jewish traditions,” she said.

For some participants, the event provided an opportunity to practice their Russian. Dan Lozovatsky, who moved from Russia, learned about the event through a Facebook group and said he couldn’t resist attending the party. “We want our children to experience the Russian-Jewish community because our children speak only Russian at home,” said Lozovatsky, who came to the event with his wife, Margaret, and their two children.

Elina Tilipman and Sarah Klegman, co-founders of Challah Hub, helped teach the children how to make the traditional bread. “I think it’s important to teach kids how to make challah,” Tilipman said. “It is also a lot of fun.”

— Olga Grigoryants, Contributing Writer

From left: Laemmle Theatres’ Robert and Greg Laemmle and Laemmle brand manager Marc Horwitz appear before the annual Laemmle “Fiddler on the Roof” screening on Christmas Eve. Photo by Ryan Torok

Laemmle Theatres held its ninth annual “Fiddler on the Roof” Christmas Eve singalong and screening at six of its theaters across Los Angeles on Dec. 24.

“I love being here with the entire community,” Greg Laemmle, president of the Laemmle Theatres, said in an interview during intermission at the Laemmle Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills, where more than 400 people watched the 1971 film adaptation of the Broadway musical. “We’re all having a great time. It’s a great audience, enjoying a great movie, and I’m feeling really good about being Jewish.”

The annual event got its start in 2008, when a film distributor decided to change the release of a film from Dec. 23 to Dec. 25, which meant the theater chain would have nothing to show on Dec. 24. Laemmle decided to have a “Fiddler” singalong that night.

When the library first opened, more than 20 volunteers helped with cataloging and organizing books. Now, only three volunteers work there.

One is Arnold Libman, a Russian Jewish immigrant who has been a library volunteer for two years.

“My heart breaks thinking about this library,” said the 70-year-old West Hollywood resident. “Amazon replaced paper books. Once in a while, we see young people, but not many of them are interested in Russian books.”

The library opened in 1997, after Naum Reznik, the late professor of mechanical engineering and founder of the Association of Engineers and Scientists in West Hollywood, received several boxes of books from private donors. Other donations followed from Soviet immigrants who saw their books as the way to preserve Russian culture in a foreign land.

For a few years, the library occupied a small room in the Chabad Russian Synagogue in West Hollywood. But as the population of Soviet immigrants continued to grow in the 1990s, the library’s shelves kept filling with books, magazines and vinyl records. Two patrons each donated 2,000 books.

The library moved to a room in Plummer Park, then outgrew that space and in 2011 moved to the current location in a two-story stucco building sandwiched between a pharmacy and a framing shop, near the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Martel Avenue.

The dusty smell of fading books lingers in the library’s overstuffed room. Several rows of white bookcases hold such books as Tolstoy’s novels and a history of the Holocaust; most of them are in Russian and a few in Yiddish. The oldest book, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s “Faust,” dates to 1898.

Israeli, Russian, American and California flags are attached to the top of a shelf. An outdated computer gathers dust next to three mismatched wooden chairs. There are no electronic security systems in the room.

Over the years, the library collected more than 25,000 books, but the limited space and decreasing interest in reading led volunteers to donate books to other libraries. Now, the organization keeps only 10,000 texts. The city of West Hollywood, which owns the building where the library occupies a room, pays for its maintenance and provides $1,800 a year to buy new books.

Fikhman became a volunteer after a colleague told her about the opportunity to help preserve the Russian library. Her life could have served as a plot for a novel.

She was 2 years old when the war between Germany and the Soviet Union began, and her father left home to join the Soviet army. Fikhman, her mother and grandparents were forced to live in a Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Odessa, Ukraine.

In the ghetto, they shared a small room with 13 other people, Fikhman said. One night, a group of guards took away Fikhman’s mother. Young Fikhman couldn’t stop crying and begging other inmates to bring back her mother.

Finally, a Romanian man whose wife had given birth with the assistance of  Fikhman’s mother, who was a midwife, left the room. Fikhman doesn’t know what happened next, but a few hours later, the man returned with Fikhman’s mother. It was a bittersweet reunion because neighbors learned later that more than 100 Jews were murdered that night.

Despite those troubled days, Fikhman said she learned that the world is not without good people.

Once, a German guard approached Fikhman and gave her a slice of bread.

“I don’t know how I would survive without that bread,” said Fikhman as she struggled to hold back tears. “He gave me bread every day. I couldn’t speak or thank him because I didn’t know German, but he will forever stay in my memory.”

She spent four years in the ghetto until the Soviets freed her family in 1944.

Today, Fikhman likes to spend time in the library, where she socializes with fellow Russian seniors, including some who commute from as far away as the San Fernando Valley.

The average reader is 80 years old, Fikhman said. But despite the patrons’ advanced age, a section with romance novels remains a hit.

“We used to say there is no sex in the Soviet Union,” Fikhman said. “Now, every modern book has a bed in the center of its plot, and our patrons enjoy reading about it.”

Lyubov Zagrebelskaya, a Russian Jew and resident of West Hollywood who moved from Ukraine 25 years ago, said she visits the library frequently and already has read most of the romance novels twice.

“I love different types of books, but lately, I fell in love with romance novels,” she said. “It helps me to relax and forget my problems.”

Over the last three years, the library has seen a new wave of book donations, Fikhman said, as people died or moved to nursing homes and their children found no interest or space to keep faded books.

The library is open only three days a week, from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. But there is no limit to the number of books people can take, said Grygoriy Golodnytskyy, a Russian Jew, who has been a volunteer at the library for five years.

“We allow our readers to take any number of books and keep them as long as they want to,” said the 82-year-old Santa Monica resident who moved from Ukraine 12 year ago.

Recently, Golodnytskyy purchased a record player for the library to play vinyl records donated by patrons.

Now, the staff is preparing to hold more gatherings and literature discussions.

“People in this area are lonely and don’t have many friends,” Fikhman said. “The library is one of a few places where they can be entertained.”

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Board contenders differ sharply on LAUSD issues

Leave a Comment / Los Angeles, News /

Even as candidates at a Jan. 9 forum for a seat on the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) board promised civility and a break from the bitter politics of the day, they were free in their criticism of the incumbent.

“Reasonable people can disagree about complex areas of policy,” said Nicholas Melvoin, a prominent challenger for the District 4 seat. “It doesn’t have to be mean.”

But a short while later, when the conversation turned to the district’s multibillion-dollar unfunded pension liabilities, Melvoin was on the attack.

“This board has consistently, going back years, kicked this can down the road,” he said as he sat onstage next to the incumbent board president, Steve Zimmer.

Melvoin has raised more than $160,000 in just under a year as a candidate, making him Zimmer’s top challenger in terms of fundraising for the March 7 school board primary elecion in a district that stretches from the Westside to the San Fernando Valley. 

Both men are Jewish, but the two share a great deal more than that.

“Nick Melvoin and Steve Zimmer have so much in common they could be brothers,” an April article on the website EdSource by Michael Janofsky stated. “Both are progressive Democrats, Jewish, adjunct college professors and former public school educators from Teach For America.”

But issues of teacher tenure, charter schools and how to deal with $1.46 billion deficit produced sharp disagreement at the event at The Rose restaurant just blocks from the beach in Venice.

Zimmer and Melvoin sat center stage, flanked by fellow candidates Gregory Martayan, a public relations specialist, and Allison Holdorff Polhill, an attorney and high school teacher, under wicker lamps in the heated outdoor patio of the upscale eatery, as some 150 guests sipped red wine and sampled from cheese platters. The event was hosted by Speak Up, a grass-roots parents organization, on the first night back from winter break for LAUSD students.

It was the first time all four candidates found themselves onstage together.

Where Zimmer saw a district that had struggled but triumphed through hard times, Melvoin painted a picture of a board that has lost touch with the needs of parents and students.

“Through the many difficult times that this school district has endured over these past eight years, we have been able to stabilize LAUSD through the Great Recession,” Zimmer said.

He touted the November passage of Proposition 55, an income tax extension to fund health care and education in California, as a positive development for the district.

Meanwhile, Melvoin mentioned that more than 100,000 LAUSD students are in charter schools, with more on waiting lists, despite the board’s reticence to adopt charter schools wholesale, calling the situation “an indictment of our failed status quo.” He depicted the district’s deficit as a sign that its affairs are in disarray.

“The board has failed to heed the warnings of financial experts for years that said we’re heading for a cliff,” he said.

Melvoin first made his name in the education world working on a lawsuit against LAUSD, Reed v. California. After being laid off in 2010 from a two-year stint as an LAUSD teacher, he joined the class-action suit that challenged seniority-based layoffs, which resulted in a settlement. Since then, he’s spent time as a legal clerk for the American Civil Liberties Union and an education consultant. 

Zimmer spent 17 years as an LAUSD teacher before his 2009 election to the board.

Much of the conversation among the candidates revolved around a school board that is seen as oppositional to charter schools. Melvoin skewered the board for rejecting philanthropists such as Eli Broad in their attempts to fund a ramping up of the district’s charter school enrollment. 

“Philanthropists and community members want to spend billion of dollars … and they’re told no,” Melvoin said. “So when schools and faculty are being encouraged to vote against incoming funds when we have this fiscal situation, that’s a shame.”

Zimmer rejected the charge that the board is anti-charter. In a school district with more than 1 in 6 students in charter schools, “the idea that this board is somehow opposed to [school] choice … it’s just a fictional narrative,” he said.

The other candidates were no more gentle in their criticism of the incumbent board than Melvoin.

“Teacher tenure happens too quickly and too soon,” Martayan said.

During the forum, Martayan — who said he recently returned from a trip to Israel — touted his plan to introduce Hebrew education and kosher food to LAUSD schools. Though he’s not Jewish, Martayan claims to be supported by much of the Orthodox Jewish community.

Polhill, meanwhile, slammed the board’s inaction on pension liabilities as “fiscally irresponsible and dangerous.”

Despite Melvoin’s promise of an amicable debate, he presented himself as a change candidate who represents a sharp contrast from the incumbency. But Zimmer rejected the tactic of “blaming LAUSD for everything.”

“Whether that is a good narrative or not is less important than whether it works for kids,” he said.

Board contenders differ sharply on LAUSD issues Read More »