Harold Willens was born in a small village in the Ukraine in 1914. He escaped with his mother when he was eight, joining his father in the U.S. After becoming a successful businessman, husband and father, he entered a new phase of his life that involved activism against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Though I've shared some of his oral history previously in my blog, yesterday's anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima seems like a good time to share Harold Willens' comments. He was the author of the California Bilateral Nuclear Freeze Initiative that passed, in spite of Ronald Reagan's attempt to prevent it, in 1982. In this short excerpt from our interview, Harold Willens talked about what led to his anti-war activism. He passed away in 2003.
Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.
Editor's Picks



What Ever Happened to the LA Times?

Who Are the Jews On Joe Biden’s Cabinet?


No Labels: The Group Fighting for the Political Center
Latest Articles

Entryism and Jew Hatred: The Case of Doctors Without Borders



The Golden Age of Political Profanity

Disarm, Verify, Withdraw. The Only Path Forward for Gaza

Plea — A poem for Parsha Shoftim

Remembering Elly Katz: She Came to Show Us How
“Her prose disrupted my mind,” I wrote, “confronting me with words I had never seen come together before.”


A Bisl Torah — If They’re Not Ready
The philosopher Maimonides explains that if someone asks you for forgiveness, you should be open to their heartfelt apology. But this isn’t always realistic.


Print Issue: Education for Jewish Endurance | August 14, 2026
The five things we get wrong in Jewish education and what we can all do to improve it.


Elie Wiesel Film Premiere, JNF-USA Golf Tournament, AJC Los Angeles Names Director
Notable people and events in the Jewish LA community.

Dafina, the Shabbat Dish That Brings Us Home
For generations, Moroccan Jewish mothers and grandmothers prepared their dafina on Friday, knowing that it would sustain their families on Saturday.


Education for Jewish Endurance
The five things we get wrong in Jewish education and what we can all do to improve it.


Taking the Gloves Off: New Initiative Says ‘Enough’ to the Boycott of Israeli Academics
We may be able to tolerate an irrational mob that goes after anything associated with Israel, but academics whose lives revolve around the search for truth and knowledge?

A Book That Writes Itself: Dalia Rotter Youngerwood’s Jewish Journal
“Shavua” is an interactive journal woven with Jewish wisdom, inviting readers to pause, reflect and add their own thoughts to an ongoing Jewish conversation.

A Look Back at Israel’s Concert History — and When the Big Acts Might Return
For decades, the world’s biggest musical acts brought their concert tours through Israel: Michael Jackson, Madonna, U2, Paul McCartney, Pearl Jam, Alanis Morissette, Rihanna and Rage Against the Machine.

Why Diaspora Jews Should Care About a New Haredi Political Voice
The Haredi Public Party was created because the Haredi public deserves more than excuses, Israeli society deserves more than permanent confrontation, and the Jewish people deserve an Israel capable of reconciling Torah, responsibility and national unity.

My Teacher Union Ejected Me from a Meeting for Being a Zionist
For more than 30 minutes, approximately 160 delegates took turns denouncing me by name for being a Zionist, and calling Zionism racism.

Beth Jacob Holds Farewell Shabbat for Longtime Rabbi Kalman Topp
Topp is departing Beth Jacob, where he has served as senior rabbi since 2009. He and his wife, Rebbetzin Jordana, are making aliyah.

The Torah on One Foot: Disability Inclusion as the Core of Jewish Life
He didn’t ask the audience to overlook his disability; he showed us how it could become a source of power, beauty and artistic innovation.

One Rabbi’s Crusade Against Qatar’s Global Influence
Rabbi Pini Dunner sees himself as sounding an alarm about what he describes as Qatar’s growing influence and ties to Hamas.

Rosner’s Domain | No Suspension of Suspicion
These countries plotted – or at least one of them plotted – to advance peace agreements with Israel simply to lull it to sleep ahead of a war at a more convenient time. Or so the “sources” say.

