While the Eaton and Pacific Palisades fires may seem like old news to some, for many residents of these communities, the struggle is far from over and will likely continue for years to come. With this in mind, Courtney Mizel and her friend Erin Feniger-Maggio were inspired to open a pop-up boutique in Santa Monica.

The two Jewish friends are no strangers to philanthropy and giving back to the community, so it was a no-brainer for both of them to open the boutique and invite those affected by the fires to come and pick up clothes and some essentials.

Feniger-Maggio, whose parents lost their Montana home to a wildfire in 2020, understood firsthand the devastation of losing both a home and a lifetime of memories. When the fire hit Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7, she got on the phone with Mizel and tried to figure out how they can help.

The two quickly came up with an idea to have a place for the victims to come and get new clothes. They wanted to offer them a real shopping experience just like in any boutique and not have them go through pile of clothes in some donation hub in the hope to finding something that fits. The store is open by appointment-only to ensure the privacy of the shoppers.

“We started as a pop-up in my living room and an owner of a boutique I know asked me if I knew where she could donate eight bags of new clothing. Later that night, a friend came over and we got some clothing racks and set it up,” said Mizel.

Mizel, who serves on the board of six different charities and is involved with the Cayton Children’s Museum in Santa Monica Place mall, asked the mall if they could provide a space for the boutique.

“Within 30 minutes, they showed us five spaces and told us we could pick one — that’s how it started. I wrote about it on Facebook and was connected with a woman who was interested in doing the same thing. She delivered 13 or 14 racks of brand-new clothing, still wrapped and that’s how we started.”

In no time, the 2,500-square-foot “Rebuild and Renew” boutique was filled with clothes, including denim pieces that Feniger Maggio, a fashion designer, provided. The store quickly took shape and before long, they were open for business— the business of giving back to the community.

Speaking with The Journal, Mizel recalled how after Oct. 7, she felt a strong urge to take action and help those who had lost everything in the terror attack. This time, when a different kind of tragedy struck her own town, she seized the opportunity to assist. She started by opening her home to a few people who evacuated their Palisades home.

“I feel blessed to be able to help people in a hands-on way. I couldn’t necessarily respond the way I wanted to in October 2023, so this is gratifying on a deep level. “Rebuild & Renew” became our chance to make a tangible difference in the lives of people facing loss and uncertainty, offering them dignity and a sense of hope when they need it most.”

“I feel blessed to be able to help people in a hands-on way … Rebuild & Renew became our chance to make a tangible difference in the lives of people facing loss and uncertainty, offering them dignity and a sense of hope when they need it most.” – Courtney Mizel

Two high school graduates from Milken Community School were hired, along with two additional workers, to welcome customers, who are invited to pick 10 items each week. New inventory arrives regularly through donations from clothing companies and charities.

“We are serving over 100 families every week,” said Mizel. “We are developing relationships with them. One of the things we said from the start is that it’s not only about providing a retail experience, but also a place to talk—if they want to talk. We let them take the lead.”

At first, most of the shoppers were victims of the Palisades fires; not only people who had lost their homes but also those who needed to evacuate as a result of the fires.

Many of them are struggling with insurance issues — or the lack of insurance — after their policies were canceled just months or even weeks before the fires erupted. The uncertainty of the future weighs heavily on them and the boutique offers a sense of normalcy — an opportunity to pick out new clothes, enjoy a moment of respite and perhaps open up to people who genuinely care. Some who have managed to get back on their feet even return to donate items themselves.

“We, as Jews, come from the perspective of tikkun olam — it’s our responsibility to help others,” said Mizel. “I walk around with my hostage tag and my Chai necklace and it’s important for me to subtly show that we are here to help, that we know it’s our calling.”

The store is scheduled to remain open until the end of April.

For more information, visit rebuildrenew.org

On March 17, a student group called Facts on the Ground at the University of Michigan (FOG) hosted a talk with CNN host Van Jones and Hussain Abdul-Hussain, senior research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). The two discussed the topic of the night, “Policy for Peace in the Middle East” inside the school’s Rackham Auditorium, where students listened intently.

Jones, seated next to Abdul-Hussain on the stage, talked about how when he was younger, he was a leftist activist. Now, because of his experience, he understands what is happening on the left.

“I was woke before ya’ll had alarm clocks,” he told the audience. “I was on the left side of Pluto… any kind of -ist you could be, if it was against the system, I was that. I was a Black nationalist, and an anarchist and a Marxist and any other -ist I could find.”

Jones, who has publicly called for the release of the hostages and wore a yellow ribbon pin in support of them, continued, “It’s really wrong for [activists] to say if you believe in Black liberation, you should therefore support what Hamas did.”

Abdul-Hussain, a former reporter and managing editor at The Daily Star in Lebanon who reported from conflict zones, also touched on the left-wing activism on college campuses and around the world.

“It looks funny to people like us who grew up in that part of the world [when] you’re carrying an LGBTQ (flag) for Hamas,” he said. “Are you crazy? I have no idea how [this activism] passes in this country without being checked.”

While Abdul-Hussain grew up believing one thing about Israel, he saw the truth about the country in 2000, when Israel withdrew from Lebanon during the South Lebanon conflict. From Lebanon, he looked through a flimsy fence separating his country from Israel.

“I thought, ‘These are regular people,’” he said. “This made me curious. I spent the coming 10 to 15 years learning about Israeli society. I became fluent in Hebrew. I started listening to Hebrew debates. I wanted to understand what they were saying in their native language because somehow in the Arab world, you never get this debate. The only books about Israel you get if you grow up in Lebanon or Syria or Iraq are by [Noam] Chomsky or [Norman] Finkelstein or ‘Mein Kampf.’ You never get anything that’s close to reality.”

As an expert on Middle East relations – in particular relations with Iran and Israel, Abdul-Hussain discussed the fact that regional stability must depend on diplomacy and economic cooperation. Jones talked about Black and Jewish unity at the event, and at a roundtable prior to it, he brought together Black and Jewish students. They touched on coalition building and collaboration between the two communities.

No protestors were at the event; the campus has been a hotbed of antisemitic activity in the wake of October 7. There were flyers distributed shortly after that day that said, “Zionists f*** off,” someone crossed out a Star of David with red paint, a student leader posted on Instagram that they wanted to “utter death to every single individual who supports the Zionist state” and anti-Israel protestors dubbed themselves the “Student Intifada” and set up encampments.

Senior Sam Heller, who is director of finance at FOG, said that while antisemitism on campus was bad last year, “this year has been entirely different. The administration has been far more supportive, and pro-Hamas protests have significantly diminished. These experiences shaped me into the leader I am today. I am unapologetically Jewish and proudly pro-Israel. Unlike last year, it’s now rare to encounter students who loudly and aggressively push back against me for expressing that.”

Mia Curwin, a senior at UMich as well as the executive director at FOG at her school, said she helped create the group to “clear the fog” of misinformation she saw on campus.

“We focus on educational initiatives that promote diverse, productive and fact-based dialogue on the Middle East,” she said. “As students, educators and members of this community, we have a responsibility to engage in conversations that lead forward, but those discussions must be rooted in truth.”

Heller and Curwin believe the “Policy for Peace in the Middle East” talk, achieved its goal, which was, “to provide students with a fact-based opportunity to better understand the ongoing war in the Middle East while allowing them to form their own perspectives on the region’s dynamics,” Heller said. “By fostering discussions that acknowledge Israel’s right to self-determination and its role in regional stability, we hope to shift the conversation toward cooperation, progress and a more accurate understanding of the Middle East.”

At the end of the over 90-minute discussion, Jones left the audience with an inspirational message.

“To the young people who are here: It’s not such a bad thing to face a big challenge,” he said. “It’s not such a bad thing to have to straighten your back up and reach in your shirt and pull your star out and know someone may not like that. Breakdowns become breakthroughs when you use them right.”

“You have a strong people, a beautiful people, a generous and resourceful people.” – Van Jones

He continued, “Your parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, all the way back, had to deal with people who were hateful, ignorant, mean-spirited and wrong. Thank God they didn’t back down. Because you have had to stand up to hateful people for generations, you’ve created something beautiful on this earth. You have a strong people, a beautiful people, a generous and resourceful people. No pressure, no diamonds. So now it’s your turn. That’s all. That’s all.”